Tribal Courage with Guy Golan - by Angela Shearer

Since the beginning, we couldn't stop time.?Do not waste it on things that you cannot change or influence.?Just keep moving, and always take the shortest route.?

Guy Golan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Performanta, is multifaceted and disarming. His exceptional presence is born from a deep and personal understanding of life’s rhythms.?He is comfortable in his own skin, tough in his nerves, and kind in a way that only a truly strong person can be.

With lockdown lifted, we took the Underground from different corners of London to meet in the heart of an ancient structure near Bank Station. It’s the sort of place that plays tricks with time. Wrapping you up in its stone tables and medieval presence, it tugs at the knots around your best stories, shakes them loose, and lets them run free with the gargoyles in whatever direction they choose.

For appetizers, we have a little philosophy, tossed, flavored with depth, and served with wisdom.

I asked, “What makes a person worth knowing for you?”

“Their experiences and the life stories they’re happy to share,” he says.

From his own experience, he knows what ignites people’s imaginations, what breaks or hurts them, and what inspires them to new altitudes.?Respect for others is a must, it is not negotiable.?It does not matter where they are on the hierarchy.?All of us find ourselves at different levels throughout life, so no matter our current social standing or financial circumstances, they cannot determine our intrinsic value. ?Guy is no stranger to sacrifice or frugality, and he’s had his courage tested many times over. Hardship happens to the best of us, it is the tonic that builds strength of character and makes our storytelling richer.

Beating the tough stuff is often what puts the sparkle in our eyes.

Guy is a champion of new ideas, a seeker of continuous growth, and a gatherer of tales that he shares generously.?He places a lot of emphasis on people, referring affectionately to his team as a tribe and family.?

He says, “People only want to be part of something if they feel like they belong.?If you can nurture a “why” in them, you give them a larger purpose.?When they have a purpose, they integrate, and they don’t need to think about it or explain it. In a family, everyone has a role to play, and they do what needs to be done despite any drama, comedy, tragedy, or triumphs, and disasters. Even when things get hard, a strong family sticks together without question. They remain loyal to one another, and loyalty has become very rare these days.”

Life is an ebb and flow, a tapestry of opportunity, ideas, and activity.?It is about much more than just winning.?Experience always takes us somewhere; peaks and valleys are inevitable.

The last time things got a bit too real for Guy was when Tim Morty, a friend, and team member, passed away unexpectedly from Covid.??

The specialness of Tim Morty will not be forgotten. He was a man among men, solid in his nature, generous, dedicated, and intelligent. He inspired trust and affection from all who knew him. He will remain in our hearts and memories forever.?

Guy says, “I was close to Tim.?His death came as a huge shock and it really knocked me.?It’s really hard to think that he won’t be here anymore.?He was an incredible man and I feel the loss very personally.”

?Covid-19 really put everyone to the test.?What inspired Guy the most during the pandemic was his team’s ability to feel each other’s pain despite not being able to see one another. In some cases, they even empathized with colleagues who joined during the lockdown period, teammates they’d never had face-to-face interactions with.

His thoughts and principles are his own, nurtured through years of being hands-on in the business and dedicated to excellence. His focus remains set, above all else, on doing more, adding value, and being decent about it. ?

He plays a multitude of roles.?As a son, husband, father, friend, entrepreneur, leader, and believer in people, he says, “The two most energizing things you can have in a day are great people and useful outcomes. On the flip side, things that destroy energy and momentum fast are politics and excuses.?The best way to avoid politics is to create as much clarity as possible.?I demand clarity. Having data-driven discussions are the most effective way to achieve it. Excuses are for people who fail. The only way to avoid confusion and excuses is to make sure people really understand, beyond any doubt, what is expected of them.”

The main course brings us to bigger topics like long shots, transformation, cloud migrations, leadership, and the dumbest thing that Guy ever had to do.

He reflects on the footprints he’s left across the world.?Imprints he’s left on his own terms.?

“This is most satisfying for me,” he says, “that I got here on my own steam.?The best long shot I ever took was moving from Israel to South Africa.?South Africa was full of so much possibility.?It was the best decision I ever made.”

On the topic of transformation, the first thing that springs to mind for Guy is “CONSTANT CHANGE THROUGH PAIN.”

His own steepest learning curve was learning to speak and correspond in Portuguese in less than 3 months.

He says, “It was a prerequisite to get a job I wanted. I felt challenged and ready for it. I did it with the support of a great teacher and lots of books.?I invested 6 hours a day, almost 600 hours in 3 months.?Before I do something, I need to understand the structure.?In this case, it was the grammar.?Movies and TV series came in very useful.”

The next revolution in education is a topic that he’d like to explore deeper, time permitting, but off the cuff, Guy describes the ultimate learning culture in the following steps:

1. Research online
2. Read more
3. Debate with others
4. Form your knowledge
5. Repeat step 1

“A healthy high performing culture develops when people are driven to grow, to know, to serve, to create, and to assist. To nurture this kind of environment you must let your employees know and feel how important they are and how much they are needed.”

Social Media platforms and business books are littered with catchphrases and memes on leadership and management practices, and although some are thought-provoking and useful, others have become so overused they have lost their meaning.?I asked Guy if any such phrases exist for him.

“Overused phrases for me include, You should not mix business with pleasure, Going back to basics, and People don’t leave organizations – they leave managers.”

And what about cloud migrations? I asked Guy about his observations on common mistakes he sees companies making and what advice he’d offer from a security perspective.

“A cloud program is like giving your child (data) over to a stranger whom you’ve heard good things about and expecting that your child will be returned to you when they turn 18, and all will be well.?If you want your child to be safe in the hands of a stranger you must interact with the child, keep track of its wellbeing, progress, safety, whereabouts, and growth.?In a move to the cloud, YOU MUST be involved in all the steps and you must lead the way.?Don’t blindly follow a cloud provider or just take instructions from top management.?You need to own it.”

I ask, “If you could snap your fingers and change anything in the world, what would it be and why?

Guy says, “I would eradicate too much power and corruption. I would also give people a fairer chance in life by making sure they get a proper education. Education paves the way for people to make the right choices in life. We can only hope they choose well.”

People often ask Guy for advice on starting their own business, and although he says he is not in the habit of giving advice because everyone’s journey is different, he does recommend this:

• Have a plan.
• Ensure you can sustain yourself until you can make it on your own.
• Whatever you planned, add at least 50% for anything you may have missed.

Useful books that he recommends from his own purchases over the last 12 months are ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Homo Deus,’ both written by Yuval Noah Harari.

“Sapiens was a life-changing book in my view,” he adds.

The most likely thing to break the internet one day, according to Guy, is a massive solar storm or natural disaster, “Something that will take us back decades. Other than that, I do not think anything else will break it,” he says.

When the going gets tough, we all engage in different coping mechanisms.?Guy relies heavily on having strong sounding boards.?He says, “This includes both family and business partners. I also need to be able to meditate. This helps me tackle matters step by step rather than seeing an issue as one big insurmountable challenge.?When it’s just one big thing it can overwhelm you too easily.”

Some of his biggest lessons and realizations that have come out of the Covid-19 pandemic are:

• People are far more adaptive than what they think.
• As Mike Tyson said – Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.
• Work from home is here to stay, but people need social surroundings to operate.
• The biggest lesson when it came to changing countries was that while people may speak the same language, they often do things differently. We need to remember that 'different' does not mean wrong.

Working across continents, Guys says, “The best way for me to keep my finger on the company pulse across borders is to keep things simple, and I use dashboards for tracking major KPIs.?Convinced managers never need to be motivated.”

The purple tribe unites through joint effort and new strategic partners bring a new sense of excitement and possibility, “With our new partner we can achieve so much more, so much faster.”

Other topics that he would like to spend more time exploring, when time permits, are anthropology and human behavior, “Data is powerful and human behavior is key to keeping this world sane.?I’d also like to explore how to replace currency as one of the most artificial forms of trust,” he says.

When asked what technology he would invent if anything was possible, he says, “That’s classified.?It’s my next big thing ??.”?

And even though he plays some cards close to his chest, it’s not all work and no play for Guy.?The last time he tried something new, he took some lessons in roller skating, he says, “I tried it briefly many years ago but was never successful.”

I ask, “What is something small that you do every day that makes a big difference?”?

“I say my prayers.”

He is honest and passionate about his thoughts and feelings, “My parents are such great people.?I’ve learned a lot from them, and I love them so much.?They are very blessed in life that it makes me smile.?I just have so much love for my family.?They have taught me that one small act of kindness can go a very long way.”

The gargoyles shift the story clock forward and Big Ben drops a hand.?Dessert brings the smell of cappuccino; cinnamon is speckled in the froth like little full stops getting ready to end the tale.?Guy doesn’t order anything, but I discover that ice cream is his favorite sweet - or anything vanilla.

He tells me a love story about a friend, a moving tale of how she found love later in life.??The story is heart-warming and delightful, and Guy reflects, saying, “In life, it is rare to find someone that you can connect with.?It is rarer to find someone that really cares for you, and it is most rare to find someone that is your rock that you can trust.?There are two things that everyone should experience at least once in their lives, true love, and great Irish whiskey.”

His philosophy on being a good person is simple, “Don’t do to others what you do not want them to do to you. Always choose good over evil. Focus on what is important and do unimportant stuff at your leisure.”

On a lighter note, some of Guy's most recent favorite series on Netflix and Disney+ include How to become a Dictator, The Queens Gambit, Fauda, and Mandalorian.

He’s a sport when I ask for a Dad joke, and he gives me two, adding that there’s more where those came from.

1.????In which country do people carol but never make money? Singapore

2.????In what Asian capital do you become upset just by being there? Hanoi

Guy is a man who lives his philosophy every day no matter where he is or who he is with. He leaves you with a feeling of having played, instead of just talked.

The hour strikes 3 and we herd our collective stories together once more, tying bows around them and knotting them in the places where we didn’t quite finish; little tangled reminders of where to pick up the story again when time permits.

On a final, more practical note, I ask Guy if he sets personal goals for himself, he says, “Yes. I always look at the final goal and plan it backward with major milestones, then I break it down into measured steps and continuously monitor my progress. No matter what, I always, always, start at the end.”

More about Performanta

Find out more about Performanta on their website or follow them on LinkedIn to learn more about Cyber Security and their other services.

https://www.performanta.com/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/guygopurple/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/performanta/