Richard Bravman, Executive Chairman of tracking solutions company, Intelleflex, has 27 years of software, marketing, sales, and general management experience in wireless, mobility, and automatic identification technologies. Formerly Vice Chairman and CEO of Symbol Technologies, Inc. Mr. Bravman serves on the boards and as an advisor of several venture-backed technology companies. MaaS360 Magazine spent a few minutes emailing with him about technology, mobility, and team building.
MaaS360: You’ve made your career so far as a man who comes up with innovative ways to solve business problems. You’ve even been named one of the “Pros to Know” by Supply and Demand Chain Executive. Where do you typically start – with the problem or with the technology?
RB: I think that the challenge is to develop a vision for the possibilities at the intersection of emergent customer needs and the potential forward trajectory of your technology. To do that, you need to ask yourself, “What problems will our customers and prospects be tackling in the future, and how might our technology be pushed forward so as to enable new solutions to those problems?” If you do that, you’ll be in a strong position to bring your customers innovative solutions that matter to them more consistently than your competition, and you’ll start earning a reputation as a thought leader. Combine that with great execution, and you’re on your way to the coveted “Trusted Advisor” status. It’s likely easier for you to think of how your technology might be advanced than how your customers’ concerns will evolve, so it’s probably important to start by forcing yourself to think about the world through your customers’ eyes.
MaaS360: Intelleflex is known for tracking things accurately anywhere in the world. Growing up, were you interested in knowing where things were? Were you the kid who was constantly looking for his backpack?
RB: Forget about the kid stuff — I can still forget where my car is parked when I get back to the airport after a day trip! All kidding aside — the problems we’re helping our customers with are pretty universal, since they all have to do with capturing information from the physical world (the world of atoms) into computer systems (the world of bits), so as to allow life to be a bit simpler, businesses to be run better, costs lowered, and customers served better. Today we’re doing that with sophisticated “Extended Capability RFID Technology” capable of finding that lost car in a large parking field (or more likely a tractor / trailer combination in a freight yard). In my earlier career, we used bar coding technology to connect atoms to bits in many other applications. I’m certain that the technologies we’ll be employing in the future will be different, but the ability to amplify the power of IT solutions by enabling them to interact more effectively with the physical world will be just as compelling. It’s a good place to build a business.
MaaS360: You work across many industries — construction, transportation, retail, agriculture. Is there one right now that you think is particularly primed for an economic recovery?
RB: The world is pretty interconnected these days, so ups and downs tend to impact all sectors in relatively quick sequences. We’ve seen the equity markets price in recovery for the financial services sector dramatically over the past six or seven months. Recent operating results seem to be justifying much of that move. Construction will likely be more on the trailing edge of the recovery. While capital budgets to invest in IT solutions are freer in companies that are experiencing expansion, even businesses under stress will invest by spending a buck to save two, if you can show them how. That’s our challenge in any economy, up or down: show our customers exactly how investing our solutions will save them money, or make more of it.
MaaS360: Mobility is clearly a huge part of your business. Everything is moving at all times. What single breakthrough do you think has most enabled this business revolution and how have you used it in your business?
RB: Wireless technologies of all sorts are pretty close to the epicenter of this trend. (Of course, microelectronics, driven ever forward as predicted by Moore’s Law is very important too.) Wireless data networks allow everything from mobile phones to laptops to be connected, real time, all the time. They connect “smart objects.” Our work in RFID is directed toward connecting relatively “dumb” objects (pallets, container, vehicles, tools, etc.) to information systems. The design details and architectural trade-offs are different between these technologies, but they all leverage the mobility-enabling world of wireless communications.
MaaS360: Your staff is made up of many different people – some that develop technology, some that work with clients in the field, some that are in sales. How do you create a culture of teamwork when some of them never even come into an office?
RB: Communications is key. Making sure that everyone is kept up to date, and on the same page regarding company developments, and just as importantly making sure that your field teams have a voice inside the company that’s heard (and that they know is being heard). It’s not possible to communicate too much, or in too many different complementary forms. Some people prefer written communications, some verbal, some one-on-one, some in groups. You have to make sure that the cultural fabric of your company is woven together with trust. You do that with regular communications, repeated often, in different forms… and by being sure to listen as much as talk.
MaaS360: Clearly working the supply chain business, you know better than most how consumer products end up on the shelves. Is that something you think about every time you pick up a bottle of shampoo at the store?
RB: You know, it is pretty cool to know that your technology enables solutions that you see manifested everyday in real life. It’s that atoms-to-bits stuff we touched on earlier. It’s everywhere.
MaaS360: Your degree from SUNY is in computer science. When you were a student, what role did you think computers would play in the year 2010?
RB: Some things I saw, some not. I’m sure I understood that computers would continue to grow more powerful, more flexible, and more mobile… and that as a result, their application would become more and more pervasive. I likely also wouldn’t have been surprised with developments in networking, including the
Internet and its primary functions. I don’t think I would have had a clue as to the possibilities and impacts we’re seeing in areas like social networks today. They’re changing behaviors, at individual and group level, in rather fundamental ways it seems to me. I didn’t see that coming thirty years ago.
MaaS360: When you were at Symbol Technologies, you said that your “number one principle” of maintaining a motivated, happy workforce kept productivity and sales high. Is that also the case at Intelleflex, and how do you now keep your workforce happy?
RB: I think it all comes down to making sure that everyone feels part of a winning team. That’s what turns people on, and keeps them motivated: contributing to a shared effort, seeing that their work has a positive impact toward (ambitious) team goals, and that they’re recognized for their contributions. You need to make sure that everyone understands not just what they’re supposed to do, but why it matters — how it helps the team win. You need to recognize progress — put a spotlight on your wins, and the team members that helped bring them about. Since big wins don’t come every day, you need to start by celebrating the small ones.
MaaS360: As the CEO of a successful mid-sized company, what advice would you give to small business owners and entrepreneurs just getting started?
RB: Get ready to work very hard, to persevere, and to find and spread passion about what you’re doing. Business isn’t easy, and success doesn’t come overnight (except to the very lucky, I suppose). Working harder than your competition is part of the formula of most winning companies, persevering through challenging times also. I think passion is pretty key, too. It’s what makes people work harder, and allows them to get through the tough times. Passion is both cause and effect. It leads to winning, and is deepened with each accomplishment. Show me a company where there’s a passion from top to bottom, and I’ll show you a winner. Show me one where most people think about their company “as a job,” and you’ll have found an also-ran.
MaaS360: Do you have a Facebook page or Twitter handle? If so, how do you use them?
RB: Yup, I have both (and LinkedIn, too), and they’re connected (posts on Twitter show up automatically on Facebook). I use them to keep in some kind of regular touch with folks within my network of friends, colleagues (and even family) that I couldn’t otherwise connect with on an everyday basis. It allows me to keep them up to speed on what I’m doing, and thinking about, and vice versa. I also have a blog that I use to share thoughts in a longer form from time to time, and I use Twitter to spread the word that I’ve put up a new post. Finally, by using the real-time search features of Twitter, I’ve found that I often learn about developments important to my business first there, before any of the more traditional news services. As a result of all this, my circle of friends and professional contacts is both larger and more connected than it was a few years ago. Life is a little richer as a consequence, and I’m likely a bit more productive. 360
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