Informational Interview — Randy Newell, IBM Cloud Director of DevOps Marketing
For this interview of a leader, I chose to interview IBM Cloud DevOps Marketing Director, Randy Newell. Randy graduated with an MBA in marketing and international business from New York University. Before becoming an IBMer in 2003, Randy held executive leadership positions at several noteworthy companies including DataEase International, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Rational Software. I chose to interview Randy as he is currently my second-line manager at IBM and I aspire to be in a leadership role similar to the role he currently holds.
The Contact
Name: Randy Newell
Title: IBM Cloud Director of DevOps Marketing
Company: IBM
Industry: Information Technology
Questions about the Contact
Career, Company, Industry, Skills, Success
KS: Can you tell me more about your current role and the kinds of decisions you make on a day-to-day basis?
RN: My primary goals of my current role include utilizing the available resources available including both people and funding, and determining where IBM can get largest business return based on what we choose to invest our resources in. At a high level, this means taking the available people we have on our team and the marketing budget we have available and determining the best strategy and how we will execute to generate the highest yield and create the most pipeline opportunities for our sales team. The main decision I make is looking at what the yield is from our previous investments and creating the right balance of investments across our marketing campaign. Additionally, IBM as a whole has the goal to increase awareness of our products and solutions while also becoming a thought leader in the current market trends.
KS: Can you tell me more about the journey that led you to your position as the director of DevOps at IBM?
RN: To provide some background, I have been working for over 32 years. Across my career, I have worked at a variety of companies including start-ups, mid-size and mega-size companies. Throughout my career, I have had a growing progression of increased responsibility however this did not necessarily translate in an increase of staff or money. The common thread throughout the various roles I have taken is that I have always had the opportunity to create something new. When I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company was beginning a new approach by going to market by industry for the first time and I had a pivotal role in the success of this project. Additionally, I have experience in start-up companies where we literally were creating something from nothing. At IBM, I first was tasked to create a new software industry initiative which then led to my next project launching service-oriented architecture. I later rejoined the Rational Software team where I had worked when the company was acquired by IBM, and I grew within the Rational team to become the director. Rational later evolved into what is now known as DevOps.
Questions about Communicating for Leadership
Best Practices, Problem-Solving, Motivating Others, Change/Innovation
KS: How would you describe yourself as a leader?
RN: The largest compliment that I have ever received is being called a leader who leads from the front meaning that I am at the front of every project with my team and helping them go through the motions. It can be easy to not understand challenge that you give your team to deliver against if you are not on the front lines or have not lived it and are executing from the ivory tower. I try to show my teams that I am willing to go through the same learning curves, same pain, and the same trials that they are facing.
KS: Could you tell me story about challenge you faced as leader and how you solved it? How did it change you?
RN: When I think of challenges I have faced, I like to look at both challenges that have both positive and negative tones. A challenge I faced that had a positive outcome was when we first defined the point of view for DevOps back in February 2013. We brought 40 people from various disciplines across IBM into one room to create the DevOps point of view. We had a very narrow definition and we had to gather the best available information and utilize input from as many sources in a reasonable timeframe. With this information, we had to make a well-informed strategic bet but it did include some risk. Really, we were skating to where the puck was going but the industry was not quite where we were at the time. We could have easily defined the point of view as the industry defined it, but it did not satisfy our growth objectives. Instead, we laid out where we thought it would go and where IBM could take it. In order to do this, we had to put trust in our people, ensure that we had gathered enough information from outside company in order to avoid blue lenses, and just know that it may be imperfect. Ultimately, the project turned out well. We made the right decision and I played strategic leadership role in that result.
One of the biggest challenges I face which has negative tones is having to perform a resource action. At one of my former employers, we were faced with a situation where two large companies were merging together and both had similar infrastructure in place. We found redundancies across sales, marketing, finance and human resources. One of the worst days of my career was when we let go of 15% of the entire staff. The process was highly orchestrated but still very painful and often is hard to discuss. One these days, I have to think back to what my role is in the situation: to maximize the resources we have available to generate business results and having redundancy provides limitations in funding and does not create solid business decisions.
Questions seeking Advice for you
Background, Skills, Resume, Job Search and Interviewing
KS: Is there something you wish you had known earlier in your career or a skill you wish you had starting out?
RN: I wish I would have done a better job paying attention to the evolving nature of the craft of marketing. You can never stop learning and the requirements of marketing have changed dramatically throughout my career. Marketers need to understand and be able to leverage digital marketing. Also, you cannot always rely on your employer to grow your craft. IBM does have many educational programs for marketers include the New Work of Marketing workshops and eSchool. You should be sure to take advantage of any of these types of educational opportunities. Lastly, watch the marketplace. Your company may not be keeping up with the changes happening so it is vital to be up to date on the latest trends before they are happening.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
The interview with Randy was incredibly enlightening. I have known Randy for approximately 5 years but have not had a conversation of this depth with him so it was a great experience to learn more about his background and leadership style. One of the most interesting parts of the interview for me was our discussion on the impact that the resource actions have had on him. In one of my previous roles, I was a financial analyst who looked a spreadsheet with headcount numbers and I helped to determine what percentage of people we had to cut to make financial goals. To hear Randy talk about the other side of the coin and include details about the actual conversations where employees were told they were no longer going to be with the company was incredibly overwhelming for me. It brought a whole new perspective and an emotional aspect to a previously emotionless task. As I will be having future conversations with Randy since he is my second-line manager, I believe this interview opened the door to future career discussions.
