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CEOs’ secret tips on leadership

Feature
Apr 24, 20063 mins
Small and Medium Business

Nine NW200 CEOs tell us what makes them tick.

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Bobby Johnson Foundry Networks (NW200 No. 61)

Patrick Lo

Netgear (NW200 No. 86)

Art Coviello

RSA Security (NW200 No. 105)
Favorite business bookNo-Nonsense Management: A General Manager’s Primer, by Richard Sloma (I first read this in the early 1980s and it is still all true today.)The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.The Slow Pace of Fast Change, by Bhaskar Chakravorti.
Favorite meeting place other than the officeA hotel in Carmel, Calif.Paris.Library Room, at Stonehedge Inn, in Tyngsboro, Mass.
First thing done after arriving to workRead e-mail.Check e-mail.Check the flow of business from the day before.
Telephone or e-mail:E-mail for regular information and casual status; phone for panic attacks.Skype.Either.
Early riser or late-night worker:1 a.m. late work night.Sometimes both! (Especially when traveling.)5 a.m. early workday.
Charts & graphs or text & written explanations:Yes (both)!Whatever fits on my Treo 650 screen.Numbers and written analysis.
Favorite way to beat stressA gym work-out normally, but when traveling on business, a museum visit or when in Japan, a weekend at a hot spring inn.Tai-Chi in the morning; Karaoke in the evening.Running.
If not networking, would be or try:Many, but if I have to pick one, a professional baseball player.A tenured professor.A high school teacher and baseball or softball coach.
 

Tom Noonan

Internet Security Systems (NW200 No. 101)

John McAdam

F5 Networks (NW200 No. 106)

Umang Gupta

Keynote Systems (NW200 No. 179)
Favorite business bookGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins.The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen.Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.
Favorite meeting place other than the officeAny customer site.Starbucks.The Peninsula Golf and Country Club, in San Mateo, Calif.
First thing done after arriving to workGreet our security personnel at the front desk and review my priorities list prepared for each day.Check e-mail.Check e-mail.
Telephone or e-mail:

Neither. Personal,

face-to-face dialogue is best. E-mail has become more unproductive than productive.
E-mail.E-mail.
Early riser or late-night worker:4 a.m. early workday. (Mornings rule.)5 a.m. early workday.1 a.m. late work night.
Charts & graphs or text & written explanations

Both are necessary.

Neither is sufficient alone.
Charts and graphs.Written explanations (preferably with charts and graphs).
Favorite way to beat stress

Work more. (Staying busy

relieves stress, but I rarely ever feel stressed.)
Work out and/or “hot” Yoga.Walk with my dog Max on Carmel beach.
If not networking, would be or try:Never thought about it.A professional soccer player/coach.Can’t think of any. I’m having too much fun with this one!