I always thought it would be interesting to pen this one. TJ Rodgers (TJ) has stepped down as CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. Lot of people would have good, bad or an in-different opinion on this. Watching him operate in boardroom environment has been a very interesting experience of late. The New Product Ship Review (NPSR) meetings, Ops reviews, EoDB meetings, etc are always interesting meetings. You like him or hate him - one thing you would never do is ignore him.
A few days back - with some turn of events, I got invited (thanks to a key customer who came to our Corporate HQ) to wine-tasting and an evening at his shop / winery. The close to 2-hour car drive was the icing on the cake. As fate would have it, got paired to drive in his car with a colleague from Europe. It was fascinating to watch him talk about wine-making, real-estate, beer varieties, his favorite movies, how he drives on the car-pool lane and his motto in life in the brief car ride.
Watching from close quarters reinforces the lurking suspicion you've always had - that you are in the midst of someone special. Genius (though the meaning gets diluted as it gets attributes to many people) is a term you could truly attribute to him. Someone who is equally fluent in technology as he is in business or finance or wine making or movie critiquing or real estate or stock speculating.
I wouldn't disclose the exact conversations as that would not be fair on my blog. But through the day - one statement of his struck in my mind. A man always has two things to choose in life - "be someone" or "do something".
I think I have learnt quite a bit about management - both business management (how to operate a tight ship in a tough environment, have the right processes in place) and people management (especially what not to do) from watching him. Only time would say if his stepping down would have an impact or not.
You see,... in the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
Thank you TJ.
Ciao till next time...Harsha
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