From Pateo's Principal, Andrew Herrington:
Communicating is far more business-effective than olde fashioned "Managing". Good communication is all you need to run a highly competitive, successful business. In fact good communication is the only successful way to run a knowledge based business.
Reviewing my high tech engineer-manager-leader-executive career recently I realized that I had stopped "managing" people long ago; instead I had learned to depend on communicating the needs of the business in a carefully described context to motivate people to apply their knowledge to the key issues at hand - the creative, time-critical, resource-limited, technically-challenging realities of delivering high tech products. I found that inspiring a team of people to solve problems by this route led to technical-business problem solutions that were totally relevant yet unforeseen by any of the individuals involved - including me. I and the people involved had created these solutions by working on the communication needed to (i) develop a sharply focused 'necessity' (to 'mother' the innovation needed) and (ii) to inspire the synergistic, overlapped working of the team of individuals (tapping into each individual's knowledge in such a way that their knowledge was efficiently applied to the issues at hand).
I have found this communications based approach to creating innovation personally exciting and highly effective for the business of creating new products and solving problems. Because I think it is valuable I want to take it to market. Pateo is the vehicle for doing that.
Along the way I have been criticized by old-style, tough minded, ego-driven managers who not only wanted their results they wanted them their way from their (apparently !) subservient people. I was described as being 'too close' to the people to be a successful 'manager' ! My problem (in the eyes of this type of manager) was that I recognized the obvious reality that I did not know everything that the people working with me knew. Equally I recognized that for people to be motivated and excited they have to have a very complete understanding of the constraints within which they work, and the reasons for the existence of those constraints.
My experience closely parallels the current major thrust of leadership and management change in the high tech business - the recognition that to develop innovative, competitive solutions it is necessary for people to see - via effective communication - the business's direction and immediate needs sufficiently sympathetically that they apply their knowledge to the business in a such way that they enjoy what they are doing. People must enjoy what they are doing to do it well. And teams comprising such individuals working this way produce dramatically better business results than groups of traditionally 'managed' individuals.
I have been fortunate to build broad experience in applying communication skills to situations involving a wide variety of "Knowledge Workers" and in the "Development and Management of Knowledge" for the business. I have used these skills to solve many critical business problems and to create significant opportunities in a variety of team-based, knowledge worker businesses. I have routinely made teams comprising many different skills work well together. I know when teams are working and when they are not.
As general background I have extensive experience in many aspects of the management of high tech businesses, including many years of leading-edge product development leadership. I also have extensive market driven-new technology exploiting product-definition and business-case development experience - the application of knowledge of technology, of the business and it's needs, and of the customers needs, to creating the business's future. My education includes a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, an academic postgraduate management training background and an enduring interest in business management issues.