Rittener Reflections

Please join me for episode 12, part one of Rittener Reflections as I am joined by Ken Wilcox the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2001 to 2011 and CEO of SVB's joint venture with the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in Shanghai until 2015.

Ken is also the author of two books. The first published in 2020 is "Leading Through Culture: How Real Leaders Create Cultures That Motivate People to Achieve Great Things" and the second published in 2024 is "The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice.

In the first segment of Episode 12, Ken and I will explore his perspective that culture takes precedence over strategy and will discuss several key leadership practices that inspire individuals to achieve exceptional outcomes.

Involuntary separation, also known as layoff, termination, job elimination, or sometimes dismissal, is the outcome of corporate decisions to reduce their workforce. It has been exactly six months since my involuntary separation from Intel Corp. In episode 11 of Rittener Reflections, I provide a concise update on my activities over the past six months. More importantly, I will discuss the realities associated with involuntary separation and offer five tips for effectively navigating through such an experience.

In this episode, we explore various topics in geopolitics, technology, and trade, including supply chain weaponization, export controls, tariffs, decoupling, nearshoring, tech diplomacy, and twelve strategic technology power multipliers.

Join me for Episode 9 of Rittener Reflections featuring Robb Gordon who is a good friend and former colleague from Intel. Rob and I worked together and often ran together when we were at the same place at the same time. In this episode I will reflect on two of my favorite topics: Trade and Running.

In addition to describing some of our memorable running adventures we dive into some timely and important geopolitical topics including US/China relations, Taiwan, Intel and more. I also offer some reflections on running marathons and provide a real time update on the iconic Boston Marathon.

In this episode of Rittener Reflections, I had the honor of spending a few moments with Sheldon Bernard, who is the founder of A440 Management LLC, a firm focused on Special Situations and decision making under uncertainty. He is a trailblazer in the world of applied decision sciences. With over 15 years of experience in "special project" work for Fortune 100 boards and executive teams, Together, we discussed the critical necessity for entities to engage in scenario planning during times of uncertainty.

Today is March 20 and I am publishing the third and final part of this special episode of Rittener Reflections.  I am excited to have Julie Whitt, Jose Vega and Robert Kearsley with me as we wrap up our conversation on the last day of the Bureau and Industry's Annual Update Conference on export controls and policy in Washington DC.   Listen to hear these amazing experts provide more in-depth analysis of key topics and their final assessment of the conference.  Thank you for joining!

Today is March 19th and this is day two of my special three-part episode where we are enjoying real-time daily report outs, analysis, and insights from three export control experts who are on the ground in Washington DC attending the Bureau and Industry's Annual Update Conference on export controls and policy.  You will want to listen in as they offer key take aways from the plenary sessions on multilateral controls and export enforcement.

Please join me for a special three-part episode of Rittener Reflections where I receive real-time daily report out, analysis, and insights from three export control experts attending the Bureau and Industry's Annual Update Conference this week in Washington DC.

As the title of this episode suggests, I intend to keep the discussion of tariffs front and center as the Tariff War continues to escalate and has become even more relevant and turbulent since my last episode. I will catch you up on where we stand with tariffs, explore the rationale behind President Trumps obsession with tariffs and at the end announce plans for a series of updates next week.

Welcome back to Rittner Reflections, a forum to address the dynamic, complex, and essential nature of cross border trade in our world today. For this episode, we will focus our discussion on one of the hottest, most controversial, and potentially disruptive topics of our day. Tariffs. Given the fluidity of the situation under the Trump administration, details and use of tariffs around the world may have changed multiple times before we get a chance to listen. However, let us go ahead and jump in with where we are at currently. I am really excited to have with me today, Brian White. Who is the Senior Director of Global Trade Compliance and Facilitation at Intel Corporation. Brian is responsible for leading a team of global customs and trade facilitation professionals to ensure barrier free trade while identifying strategic global customs opportunities. Assessing risk and advocating in government and industry forums.