Develop Great Managers

It is a new year, time to think about goals!

I will cover the value of goals, some possible downsides and how to tie goals to vision, mission, and strategy. This is for work. For personal goals, a similar process will be followed.

I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to the first Develop Great Managers podcast for 2020.

This will be a new and fun year!!

I start by celebrating 2019. We then move into what will be different. Before I get to that, I would like to stop and celebrate 2019. Number one on the list was the launch of this podcast as well as growing subscribers well above the goal of 500 to more than 900!

Thank you!

Now on to 2020.

In order to make the podcasts more valuable, I will move to focus more deeply on the topics that are most important to you. This will give me more time to get into the details.

I will spend one to two months on each topic. During this time, some of the podcasts will be just me, and others will include invited guests. There will continue to be interviews with great managers. These will be interspersed with podcasts on the various topics.

Before getting into the topics that I plan to cover, I discuss why managers are so important. I share information from Google and Gallup.

I then get into what makes a great manager and how the topics will address these.

Thank you again for the great 2019. Here is to an even better 2020!

In this podcast, I talk to Stanimir Markov, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder at Runecast, about his career path.

Prior to Runecast, Stanimir worked for IBM where he held a number of roles. He started in Windows Technical Support, expanding into VMware and Citrix, and then becoming the first member of a new team of Virtualization Architects. And prior to IBM, Stanimir was in Technical Support at Aplus.net.

Stanimir is a VCDX, the highest level of certification from VMware.  He also has additional certifications from VMware and Citrix. He received his degree in Computer Science from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridiski.

I got to know Stanimir while I was at VMware. I was working on VMware Skyline, a support product that has some overlapping capabilities to Runecast. We met so that I could share what we were doing in the hope that Stanimir could evolve Runecast in a way that complemented rather than competed with Skyline.

These conversations were excellent. I had the opportunity to watch Stanimir continue to drive his company forward, even while VMware was delivering new products at an accelerated rate. All of this demonstrated the skills and leadership that Stanimir has and led me to interview him for the podcast.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with Stanimir!

In this podcast, I interview Stanimir Markov, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder at Runecast, a company that provides real-time VMware SDDC issue analysis & security compliance.

Prior to this, Stanimir worked for IBM where he held a number of roles. He started in Windows Technical Support, expanding into VMware and Citrix, and then becoming the first member of a new team of Virtualization Architects. And prior to IBM, Stanimir was in Technical Support at Aplus.net.

Stanimir is a VCDX, the highest level of certification from VMware.  He also has additional certifications from VMware and Citrix. He received his degree in Computer Science from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridiski.

I got to know Stanimir while I was at VMware. I was working on VMware Skyline, a support product that has some overlapping capabilities to Runecast. We met so that I could share what we were doing in the hope that Stanimir could evolve Runecast in a way that complemented rather than competed with Skyline.

These conversations were excellent. I had the opportunity to watch Stanimir continue to drive his company forward, even while VMware was delivering new products at an accelerated rate. All of this demonstrated the skills and leadership that Stanimir has and led me to interview him for the podcast.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with Stanimir!

In this podcast, I talk to John Dolan, Strategic Advisor and Board Member at Ascend Cloud Solutions, about his career path.

Prior to taking on this position, John was Global Vice President for the Software-Defined Data Center Support at VMware.

John spent more than 14 years at VMware in the Technical Support organization, where he led global organizations across EMEA and APJ. He did this from Cork, Ireland where he also held the role of Campus Site Lead.

Prior to VMware, John spent a number of years working for EMC in Technical Support, helping them to build a support team in Ireland.

I got to know John while at VMware when I was in engineering within the Integrated Systems Business Unit. I was working on designs for VMware customer deployments and John was providing support of these same customers. I then had a chance to spend a lot of time with John and his team when I joined the leadership team in Global Services.

I really enjoyed working with John. He was incredibly focused on helping customers to be successful. I was helping redefine how we supported customers by moving us to a proactive model, delivering new capabilities such as chat, and delivering in product support. To do this, John and I had to work through the many challenges in scaling this to the huge number of customers that VMware has.

I am super excited that John has taken on a new role with Ascend Cloud Solutions. His experience, expertise, and work ethic will help Ascend to be successful.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with John!

In this podcast, I interview John Dolan, Strategic Advisor and Board Member at Ascend Cloud Solutions.

Prior to taking on this position, John was Global Vice President for the Software-Defined Data Center Support at VMware.

John spent more than 14 years at VMware in the Technical Support organization, where he led global organizations across EMEA and APJ. He did this from Cork, Ireland where he also held the role of Campus Site Lead.

Prior to VMware, John spent a number of years working for EMC in Technical Support, helping them to build a support team in Ireland.

I got to know John while at VMware when I was in engineering within the Integrated Systems Business Unit. I was working on designs for VMware customer deployments and John was providing support of these same customers. I then had a chance to spend a lot of time with John and his team when I joined the leadership team in Global Services.

I really enjoyed working with John. He was incredibly focused on helping customers to be successful. I was helping redefine how we supported customers by moving us to a proactive model, delivering new capabilities such as chat, and delivering in product support. To do this, John and I had to work through the many challenges in scaling this to the huge number of customers that VMware has.

I am super excited that John has taken on a new role with Ascend Cloud Solutions. His experience, expertise, and work ethic will help Ascend to be successful.

I hope you enjoy my interviews with John!

In this podcast, I talk to Simran Singh, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Hyperwallet, a Paypal company acquired in 2018, about his career path.

Prior to Hyperwallet, Simran was a Senior Product Manager at VMware where he joined after graduating from business school. Before business school, Simran worked at Baring Private Equity Asia, the largest private equity fund in Asia. Simran was one of the earliest employees of Parthenon's education practice and helped launch schools in more than 25 countries around the world including Chile, Zambia, Mexico, UAE, Singapore, UK, etc. 

I got to know Simran while he was at VMware. He worked in my Product Management team. I knew from his first days at VMware, that Simran was a superstar. I have stayed loosely connected, watching his rise to where he is today.

I have always been impressed with Simran's thoughtful and humble approach to solving problems and his strong commitment to delivering on time and with high quality.

I think that you will enjoy my interview with Simran!

In this podcast, I interview Simran Singh, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Hyperwallet, a Paypal company acquired in 2018.

Prior to Hyperwallet, Simran was a Senior Product Manager at VMware where he joined after graduating from business school. Before business school, Simran worked at Baring Private Equity Asia, the largest private equity fund in Asia. Simran was one of the earliest employees of Parthenon's education practice and helped launch schools in more than 25 countries around the world including Chile, Zambia, Mexico, UAE, Singapore, UK, etc. 

I got to know Simran while he was at VMware. He worked in my Product Management team. I knew from his first days at VMware, that Simran was a superstar. I have stayed loosely connected, watching his rise to where he is today.

I have always been impressed with Simran's thoughtful and humble approach to solving problems and his strong commitment to delivering on time and with high quality.

I think that you will enjoy my interview with Simran!

In this podcast, I talk to Joel "Thor" Neeb, CEO of the consulting firm and corporate events company Afterburner, Inc., about his career path.

In his role, Joel leads more than 70 former elite military professionals, including fighter pilots, Navy SEALS, and Army Rangers, in achieving strategic objectives and fostering elite teams for Fortune 100 companies and professional sports teams.

Joel joined Afterburner in 2012, was named president in 2015, and assumed the role of CEO in July 2019. Joel initiated Afterburner’s expansion from an events-based business into transformational business consulting. This focus developed into Afterburner’s newest business unit offering, Impact Consulting, where Afterburner’s team works along-side clients to identify challenges and improve performance.

As a former F-15 mission commander, United States Air Force, Joel continues to go by his pilot call sign, “Thor,” in his business career. As a pilot, he’s both escorted the President and performed flybys at football games. He was the tactical leader of 300 of the most senior combat pilots in the Air Force and oversaw the execution of a $150M/year flight program. Joel was named the Top Instructor Pilot at the Air Force Flight Training Headquarters in 2010. In 2012, he was selected out of 62,000 people to receive the Air Education and Training Command (AECT) National Public Service Award.

In 2010, Joel was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given a 15 percent chance of recovery. During treatment, Joel founded CureCare, a community outreach program for at-risk students in San Antonio. To date, CureCare has reached more than 15,000 kids. Additionally, he co-authored the upcoming book Survivor’s Obligation, out in October 2019, to tell the story of his cancer journey and his resolve to live an intentional life.

Joel sits on the board of several national organizations and is the co-founder of a military support corporation including PCSgrades.

Joel holds a BA from the USAF Academy, an MA from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and an MBA from the University of Texas. Joel enjoys competing in sporting events; he completed the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon in 2015 and was a contestant on American Ninja Warrior in 2018. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

I got to know Joel while I was at VMware. Joel and the Afterburner team provided training for VMware Executives and then all organizations across the company. Joel kicked off the training and found a way to meet and get to know most of the leaders at VMware.

More important than how I met Joel, is why I decided to have him on the podcast. Up to this point, every person that I have had on the podcast are managers that I have seen in action. I selected them not because they were all the same, but rather because I saw something in them that I thought was exceptional and important to share.

I have not seen Joel in action, managing his team. But based on what I have seen, it is clear that he is a great manager. That he has an amazing rapport with his team. That he cares about them and they reciprocate. That they are aligned to the vision, mission, and culture of the company, and are executing.

I also understand Joel's personal story. His recovery from stage IV cancer and how it has changed him. I have read his book "Survivor's Obligation: Navigating an Intentional Life". I know about the events that he has participated in. And can see the good that he is doing.

In short, I think that Joel is perfect for the podcast. His experience is something that is important to share. I hope that you agree!

In this podcast, I interview Joel "Thor" Neeb, CEO of the consulting firm and corporate events company Afterburner, Inc.

In this role, Joel leads more than 70 former elite military professionals, including fighter pilots, Navy SEALS, and Army Rangers, in achieving strategic objectives and fostering elite teams for Fortune 100 companies and professional sports teams.

Joel joined Afterburner in 2012, was named president in 2015, and assumed the role of CEO in July 2019. Joel initiated Afterburner’s expansion from an events-based business into transformational business consulting. This focus developed into Afterburner’s newest business unit offering, Impact Consulting, where Afterburner’s team works along-side clients to identify challenges and improve performance.

As a former F-15 mission commander, United States Air Force, Joel continues to go by his pilot call sign, “Thor,” in his business career. As a pilot, he’s both escorted the President and performed flybys at football games. He was the tactical leader of 300 of the most senior combat pilots in the Air Force and oversaw the execution of a $150M/year flight program. Joel was named the Top Instructor Pilot at the Air Force Flight Training Headquarters in 2010. In 2012, he was selected out of 62,000 people to receive the Air Education and Training Command (AECT) National Public Service Award.

In 2010, Joel was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given a 15 percent chance of recovery. During treatment, Joel founded CureCare, a community outreach program for at-risk students in San Antonio. To date, CureCare has reached more than 15,000 kids. Additionally, he co-authored the upcoming book Survivor’s Obligation, out in October 2019, to tell the story of his cancer journey and his resolve to live an intentional life.

Joel sits on the board of several national organizations and is the co-founder of a military support corporation including PCSgrades.

Joel holds a BA from the USAF Academy, an MA from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and an MBA from the University of Texas. Joel enjoys competing in sporting events; he completed the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon in 2015 and was a contestant on American Ninja Warrior in 2018. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

I got to know Joel while I was at VMware. Joel and the Afterburner team provided training for VMware Executives and then all organizations across the company. Joel kicked off the training and found a way to meet and get to know most of the leaders at VMware.

More important than how I met Joel, is why I decided to have him on the podcast. Up to this point, every person that I have had on the podcast are managers that I have seen in action. I selected them not because they were all the same, but rather because I saw something in them that I thought was exceptional and important to share.

I have not seen Joel in action, managing his team. But based on what I have seen, it is clear that he is a great manager. That he has an amazing rapport with his team. That he cares about them and they reciprocate. That they are aligned to the vision, mission, and culture of the company, and are executing.

I also understand Joel's personal story. His recovery from stage IV cancer and how it has changed him. I have read his book "Survivor's Obligation: Navigating an Intentional Life". I know about the events that he has participated in. And can see the good that he is doing.

In short, I think that Joel is perfect for the podcast. His experience is something that is important to share. I hope that you agree!