Customer Success – An Argument Against the LAER Model

If you find this article useful please repost, tag, or share with like minded folks. You can also subscribe to updates on the right ----> Warning - this is a long article.  Its purpose is to create an “oral history" and rationale for a different approach to Customer Success.  I considered posting it in chapters … Continue reading Customer Success – An Argument Against the LAER Model

Job Titles – the dangers of the “Senior Principal XYZ”

One controversial topic when building an organization is how to handle job titles.  In my first leadership role my Director always used a very simple email signature, “- Name”. I asked him why he didn’t have a formal signature and he shrugged “if people are contacting me it is because they already know who I … Continue reading Job Titles – the dangers of the “Senior Principal XYZ”

What is it like to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq and IPO?

A Wedding This past Friday I joined 50 of my fellow co-workers at Zscaler to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq and observe our shares being traded on the public stock market for the first time.  The president of Nasdaq described the events of the day as similar to a wedding along with photographers, people … Continue reading What is it like to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq and IPO?

How do you know when it is time to leave your job as an SE?

You can subscribe to email updates on the right.  If you find this post valuable please share to your social networks.  Knowing people are finding value is a driver to continue posting content. When you are hiring at a rapid pace you find yourself having similar conversations over and over.  A key tenet of my hiring philosophy "Is … Continue reading How do you know when it is time to leave your job as an SE?

Leadership Philosophy

Originally posted to LInkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/leadership-philosophy-lessons-learned-bill-lapp/ In 2008 I was finishing up my Babson MBA and undertook an independent study class.  Sort of.  I was actually taking a required leadership class at Cisco and I figured I could get double credit.  As an output of that class I had to write a paper explaining my leadership philosophy. … Continue reading Leadership Philosophy

Leadership Lessons Learned – Cisco Goodbye Email

Originally posted to linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-lessons-learned-goodbye-email-bill-lapp About a week before I left Cisco I was on a 3 hour plane flight without WiFi.  To keep busy I decided to write down all of the lessons learned I had from my time there.  People have recently asked for a copy of the list so I am sharing … Continue reading Leadership Lessons Learned – Cisco Goodbye Email