Believe in Good to Great

Several years ago, I read “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. What stood out to me was the transformation a company must go through to become a truly great company. This transformation does not happen based on pioneering technology, but identifying where best to apply that technology. Good to Great companies are motivated internally to seek excellence in delivering the very best technology to their customers. Good to Great companies are not motivated by the fear of being left behind due to technology changes. They know that they have built a company that by following their core concepts, will lead them to product differentiation and eventual success helping their customers transform their business.?

Every company that has successfully transitioned from Good to Great has one thing in common, they are led by a Level 5 leader. Finding a company that is led by a Level 5 leader is no easy task. In fact, a very high percentage of companies are not led by a Level 5 leader.??A Level 5 leader combines humility with a relentless adherence to excellence. Think about what Steve Jobs once said: “We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do, we hire smart people to tell us what to do.” Truly great companies, trust that they hired great people and trust them to adhere to a relentless pursuit of excellence.?

I recently completed my first 90 days at proteanTecs, a start-up focused on harvesting deep data from semiconductors and combining it with machine learning and analytics to provide?“Visibility from Within”.?I knew when I interviewed with our CEO Shai Cohen that he is a Level 5 leader and is building a truly great company. There have been many examples that I made the right decision to join this incredible team.?

The most visible to me was the recently concluded “Hackathon". A Hackathon as defined by Wikipedia is a sprint-like design event where computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, product managers and domain experts and others collaborate extensively on ideas. Roughly six weeks ago the company announced our first ever Hackathon. The goals of our Hackathon were to promote a collaborative work environment, drive innovation and enhance team building. Teams were formed and a site was created to submit ideas.

As I watched the finals of the Hackathon, I felt an immense amount of pride for each team that took an idea, built a solution or demo, and presented their idea to the company. Ideas came in multiple flavors: 1) new technology that could be added to our portfolio, 2) enhancing our current technology, and 3) improving the customer experience. You could sense the excitement of each team as they presented their work to the company. The presentations were excellent and in some cases were presented with the use of storytelling (if you know me, you know I love using storytelling). The support of our management team is the key to building a GREAT company. The effort put forth by each team proved to me I have joined the right company.?They proved that we are all in when it comes to driving excellence for our customers. If you are interested in joining a truly GREAT company, WE ARE HIRING. Go to www.proteantecs.com/careers to learn more.

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