G’day Crocodile Biarritz

I killed a snake this morning as it slithered into the stables. A necessary evil because horses are apparently very scared of them, (although it seemed to me to cause more problems for the three female riding teachers and elderly stable hand than the horses as they all nervously hid behind each other as I finished the rascal off). That however wasn’t the highlight of my week. In fact it’s been a very interesting first 7 or 8 days at EMC and my feet are now almost under the table so to speak (at least when they’re not stamping on a snake’s head that is).

Over the last week or so I’ve talked to management and guys at the coal face; to people in my group and other people in other service lines; to guys in Continental Europe, the UK and the US; and even to some clients albeit very briefly. The whole listening process will continue for another few weeks and there are more key stakeholders I need to meet with, but a few things have already struck me.

The first thing is that there is an immense amount of talent in my group and EMC more generally – one of my most enjoyable and insightful conversations this week was with EMC’s Global Creative Director – even the fact there is a Creative Director was refreshing after some of my other experiences (basically it is nice to find someone who is even more anal about communication, presentation and pretty PowerPoint slides than me!). While remaining ruthless, especially with the sales force, the culture of the place is one where there is a real respect for technical skills and letting people be technologists – I’ve met a lot of really experienced and impressive guys who weren’t forced into project management at the age of 26 and a half. As a consequence some of the stuff they do is genuinely very good. Another key thing that struck me is something that I have found in many other places – setting aside the obvious need for a clear vision for what you are doing, if you don’t have a clear set of roles and responsibilities for people, with a clear agreed way of working, then you’ll struggle to make them successful, and it’s unlikely you’ll be able to motivate them over the longer term. The overriding analogy that keeps popping into my head is that we are a (rather sexy) jigsaw puzzle with all the bits mixed up in the box, and that we just need to be put together in the right way to have a very special, premium, result. I just wonder how long that will take and that’s what I can’t judge for the minute.

As for downsides, I am pleased to realize that it’s just a collection of technical teething problems relating to my laptop, email account and the absence of a Blackberry (which I am actually convinced is a blessing). All in all I start the weekend a pretty contented bunny and am looking forward to the show jumping competition that “Sandie 1” (the domestic boss rather than the professional one of the same name), has organized in our front garden this weekend – on Sunday we expect that 120 horses are going to be prancing around about 20 metres from our front door from 8AM till 7.30PM in 30 degrees heat. Thankfully the snake population is now under control.