What I personally learned from Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others…
Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft
M&T publishing offered a number of software development tool magazines back in the day. Their audience was programmers… techno-dweebs, if you will. What was interesting is that their ad reps were all very pretty girls. As you can imagine, they were quite successful in selling ad space. I can still see it now, “just sign here and here.” “OK” [slobber, drool, slobber]. — Genius!
So I’m at a convention and I go to M&Ts soiree one night. I’m networking as usual and then my ad rep comes up to me and says, “Robert, can you help me please?! Bill Gates has been following me around so I told him that I had a date with you tonight. Is that OK? We don’t have to go out I just didn’t know what to say.” I reassured her, “I’d be happy to escort you from the party.”
So we headed for the elevator and you’ll never guess who followed? Yep, Bill Gates. He followed us into the elevator and then down to the main floor. But when we got off he stayed on the elevator (I can only assume that he went back up to the party).
Let’s face it. Who hasn’t had an awkward moment in their life? But look at Bill today… he’s a polished individual that has done amazing things (both professionally and with his foundation). I think we’d be friends.
Moral of the story: everyone has their nerd.
Steve Jobs, co-founder Apple
I only met with Steve Jobs once but that was enough for me. He acted like a horses ass in the way I witnessed him treat people (he wasn’t kind to me but I didn’t care because I didn’t have to work with the guy — not that he would have wanted me to). In spite of this, I’m in awe of the things Apple accomplished while he was there.
Moral of the story: even if you’re the smartest guy in the room you can still be nice.
Alan Ashton & Bruce Bastian, co-founders WordPerfect
Alan Ashton, was my computer science professor and asked me to apply for a position at his company. He’s the nicest guy. At the close of our interview he said that I’d make a great addition to their team but “as a formality, I’d like you to speak with my partner, Bruce.” What followed was truly bizarre. Alan took me into Bruce’s office, introduced me, and then left. I gave Bruce the computer program listing I had brought as a sample of my work. Saying nothing, Bruce thumbed through the pages for several minutes. Finally, he looked up and proclaimed, “You know Robert, it doesn’t matter what you write… I can write it better.” I had no idea why he would say this. It wasn’t a question and yet he paused for an answer. Where was he headed? What reaction was he trying to invoke? Having no filter whatsoever, I fired off a number of possible responses.
After I left his office I went back in to see Alan and said, “That was the worst interview ever. I don’t think he wants me to work here and I don’t think I should.” He said, “It couldn’t have been that bad!” He went in to see Bruce and a minute later emerged and said, “Well, you’re right. I’m truly sorry but I have to respect his wishes.” (I would have called it something else).
Moral of the story: it’s not always about you [Bruce].
Ray Norda, CEO Novell
In the mid 1990’s my company was involved in acquisition discussions with Novell. This company was very political and I didn’t have much of a filter (if any). At the time, my CTO and I had an inside joke to raise and shake our hand (as if holding a flag) every time someone said something that caused a red flag to appear in our minds. Unfortunately, this spilled over during a meeting with Ray and some of Novell’s executives. I didn’t actually raise my hand but apparently I shook it slightly a few times because when the meeting was over, someone from Novell asked me if I had MS or Parkinson’s.
Ray (known as the father of network computing) was a sharp businessman; always learning. You could tell by the way he carried himself that he was listening even when the conversation was way outside his technical proficiency.
Moral of the story: you communicate a ton through your body language.
Phillipe Kahn, founder Borland
Borland was a high flyer back in the day. I remember being forced to listen to Phillip Kahn’s band at one of their parties. You know the golden rule, he who pays for the food gets to provide the entertainment (or lack there of). I experienced this again just recently at a Kramer party (but the Kramer kid had talent). What I remember about that night was when Phillipe introduced one of his senior executives, Eugene (Gene) Wang (pronounced wong not wang). So, Phillipe mispronounces his name and I’m standing right next to the guy and Gene says, “I’ve been working for this ****ing guy for years and he still can’t say my name right. “That’s nothing,” I said. “I met this guy from Germany named Klaus Fuckner” (pronounced fookner). I have no idea of the origin of his last name but I told him he should definitely change the spelling (i.e., to something like Füchnah) if he was going to hand out a business card. I told Gene that he should really blame Wang Laboratories for not setting the world straight years earlier.
Moral of the story: be quick to forgive and slow to take offense.
Martin Plaehn, CEO Control4
I was leaving the Control4 booth at a trade show and ran into an integrator (i.e., professional installer of AV systems) from Belgium that I had met the night before at a VIP reception. He said that he’d watched the intro video on our website and loved it so much that he forwarded the link to all of his integrator friends. He asked me how he could help us and wanted to know if he could introduce me to Martin. Our product works very well with Control4 but I wanted to keep a low profile with them so I told him that I was on my way out but that he was welcome to tell Martin his impressions about our product.
Then this other guy comes over and inserts himself into the conversation (no big deal) and the two of them start talking in another language. Then the integrator casually says, “Do you know this company?” pointing to the logo on my shirt. The guy said, “Yes, I’ve heard of them.” I thought… I don’t know you and we’re new in this market… how would you have heard of us? Then, I reached out and turned the guy’s badge around to see if I recognized the company or name. It was Martin.
Moral of the story: know who you’re talking to.
President, RCA Globecom
Back in the early 1980s I had a meeting with the President of RCA Globecom and a few of their executives. I’m embarrassed to admit this but for the life of me, I can’t remember that guy’s name and he was so nice to me. I was only there to be the demo guy. That being said, the president of the company I worked for apparently didn’t get that memo because he kept deferring to me to answer their questions. When the meeting concluded, I got up and the RCA guy said, “Gentlemen, I’d like a few minutes alone with Mr Bishop please.” So, everyone left except me. I’m thinking, “What did I do?”
He said, “Robert… may I call you Robert?” “Sure,” I said. He continued, “You remind me of me when I was younger and I’d like to give you some advice. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something… or that you don’t have enough experience. Often I find that 10 years experience is 1 year of experience and 9 years of repeating. I see it in you. You can do or be anything you want.” I thanked him for his kind words. He reminded me of my dad and I’ve always remembered what he said.
Moral of the story: you may have no business doing what you’re doing but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t.
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” — Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Robert is 58 years-old, married, father of 8 children (4 girls, 4 boys), and lives in North Salt Lake, UT. He describes himself as an technology entrepreneur, family man, traveler, movie lover, and cyclist.
