Right brained...

It should be obvious at this point...I am right brained. The thing that drives me are the connections I make with people, the big pictures I tend to see and the excitement that comes (and shows) when the machinery works and ideas that were once big picture distill themselves down into functional, shippable 'things'. It is the right side of the brain which can make that kitten-herding-through-the-door-process achievable...making gaggles of predominantly left brained folk believe and execute and ultimately successful.

It has its moments....

Funny thing happened to me this Christmas. I opened up no less than 4 copies of the SAME book. Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. Each of the cards said nearly the identical thing....something along the lines of: "I read this and it's you!".

Now, I am a notorious cynic of self help or 'next big thing' books. honestly, I know they have a value and may help some folks tremendously, but I dunno...I've always just lived and felt my living and pursued my passions with nothing other than coffee and a vision. Maybe it's about the focus required to keep pushing...and that the horizon has success founded in 'real' things like happiness and pride versus other 'drivers' some are attracted by.

But the book as I read it was a mirror of things for sure. Its premise is interesting...in that the global economic change to practices like outsourcing and the prototypically left-brained strength required in those types of jobs being outsourced will be replaced by labor overseas...leaving this massive vacuum for those with left brained tendencies....but opportunities for right brained skill sets to step forward and allow vision to be articulated and leadership qualities to capitalize on what will certainly be critical management needs of overseas resources executing on product envisioned here.

So I guess, we now are truly poised to be the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.

So this gets me to thinkin'....(be careful a) when this happens and b) when I stop droppin' g's from my words....). Now more than ever our leadership within the company must play and even greater an elevated role as we too resource ourselves in places like Russia, Romania and elsewhere. Positions like Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers and Program Managers must ensure their A game is on as it relates to communication, vision and ability to lead and get it done.

As an example, when I managed groups of products/product lines over the last decade or so, my greatest joy was performing what I called 'the swivel chair' practice. It's a pretty precarious place to be but most notably demonstrated by true career product management types...when you have to swivel to one audience and chameleon-ize to them....e.g. facing your customer and being able to empathize, inspire, listen and respond authoritatively to ensure they have your confidence that you will be able to deliver. And swiveling radically the OTHER way...to your staff that will execute: Engineers, business resources, etc...folks with very serialized ways of thinking about problems which also need a specific kind of leadership, cooperation and massive empathy to their plight to execute.

It all amounts to being a one-legged man in an ass kickin' contest most days...but I wouldn't want it any other way.

A macro level example of this is the growth of the 'PAC' or Product Advisor Council here at Embarcadero. It is a collection of unbelievable souls...customers who bleed for our company, will call us on our faults, but also praise us for what we do right. The PAC is like a macro level example of this swivel chair phenomenon...in operation. Customers with significant investments...and some with little investment in our tools...but each hand selected as they offer something of immense value to the company....specifically to help us prioritize that the RIGHT stuff is being developed and pursued and ultimately fed back to the greater community for us all to succeed. It's a massively right-brain-intensive exercise to fuel debate, temper ideas with realism (while not stifling innovation) and ensuring that our engineering team know they are tapping keyboards which will lead their products to the proverbial fiscal promise land.

Anyhoo, the book's worth the read. Think about your place in the 'practice' and where your communication and leadership skills are. It's going to be a fun ride this next decade....