MS Award Experience Report

I’m honored to be among the winners of the Manfred- Swarovski Award 2019.

After an intensive research I decided to participate in the course ,Innovative Technology Leader’ at Stanford since I wanted to gain out of the course as much as possible for my position as VP of Hardware Engineering. The focus of the program was on three areas: Strategy, Innovation and Leadership. 

Reza Roozitaleb

My Learnings

What I learned in the course is that being able to react to changes and working agile is one of the key characteristics of a successful company. Successful business results out of constant rethinking and renewing technology in a fast growing and dynamic world. At our course we heard about some interesting case studies such as the strategy of Amazon and Netflix. But also of examples that failed in organizational change as well such as Sears and Blockbuster.

Interesting content for my work at McCain

The Innovative Technology Leader Program at Stanford taught me that management is about execution and Leadership is about strategy and change.

As an example, management is about ensuring that the train runs on time; leadership is about ensuring that the train is heading to the right destination. The research shows the organization that are surviving have both good management and good leaderships.

How I can apply the newly gained knowledge in my day-to-day work

To exam and re-exam that what we have been practicing in many years still make sense in today’s world. To realize that the world is changing at higher and faster rate in the human history and we must be in sync with the changing world to exist.
While we must defend our core products, we will constantly renew and adopt to changes.

What I personally gained from the course

• In an organization the culture is everything. If you let, culture will eat your strategy for breakfast, will eat your technology for lunch and the rest of the company for dinner.
• Changes and transformation from desperation always fail.
• What gets you here may not get you there.
• Ambidexterity helps organization through transformation.
• Design thinking: always design via the customer’s lens.
• Don’t look back; look forward.
• It doesn’t matter where you start – all it matters where you finish.
• Type 1 mindset: does not act because “afraid of failing” – Type 2 mindset: does act “not to lose the opportunity”.
• Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in the information? (T.E. Eliot)  
•  Wisdom > knowledge > Information > data
  
  

Reza Roozitaleb

Vista, California, February 2020