While I was still a computer science student at the University of British Columbia, I joined a young software startup called Robelle, named for the two founders Robert and Annabelle. I was the first employee.
As a requirement of my employment Bob and Annabelle insisted that I had to write my first technical paper, submit it to the 1980 International Hewlett-Packard General Systems User Group, and if accepted travel to the conference to present my paper.
When a group of people get a sailboat to sail to its full potential, such as when you are racing, you have to come together. This is my definition of synergy–the cooperation of two or more people to create something greater than the sum of the individuals.
Thirteen years ago, we sailed from Kos, Greece to Bodrum, Turkey. It was the last and shortest crossing between two countries of the two years that we lived and sailed in the Mediterranean. Our son Kevin was twelve as we sailed across the Aegean Sea. We have seen enormous change in Kevin over the intervening years as he met challenges, changed, and grew.
My goal is to help entrepreneurs step into and through their biggest challenges. One way that I am getting entrepreneurs to do that is by sharing my 35+ years of entrepreneurial experience in my new book Wind In Your Sails.
As I wrote in Pursing A Vision, great performing organizations learn how to set a vision and then motivate all leaders and employees to collaborate together to follow that vision. For many organizations, building trust, between leaders, between employees, and between each other is critical to becoming a high performing organization.