As a young CEO, recently elected to the job by my Silicon Valley Board of Directors, I had the ambition to build my young high-tech company into a successful and profitable enterprise. To help me make the best of my talents, the Board connected me with an older and more experienced CEO who had built his company and its management team. He had devised a successful growth strategy and had created a business and a team that dominated its business.
I met with him regularly to talk through important strategic and operational decisions. His experience in making both good and bad moves in his career helped me immensely in the early years of my CEO career. As I achieved success in my first assignment and went on to lead the growth of four more companies during the next twenty five years, I never forgot the lessons I had learned from my mentor.
Shortly after moving to San Diego, I was presented with the opportunity to become one of the Chairmen’s Roundtable volunteer mentors. I saw this organization as a way to give to others the help I had received from my mentor.
Now, after twenty years of involvement with the CRT, I have had the opportunity to work with the leaders of many businesses. I have seen the success these businesses have achieved, partly because of the help that I and my co-mentors have provided. Additionally, I have had the pleasure of working with a great group of people, both with other CRT members and client company management teams.