I’ve always been impressed that the financial scandals that have plagued so many companies have been largely absent from the electronics industry, as is the tendency to pay outrageous salaries to top officers. Check out the salaries of the top people at major electronics companies; you’ll be surprised how small they are in relation to the company’s revenue and the employees’ level of responsibility. Yes, many people have made substantial fortunes, but largely through shares they received when the company, which they founded or helped build, went public. Such situations differ greatly from someone coming in as a highpowered gunslinger and pulling in big bucks simply because he or she is now running the show. I suspect that there is a relationship between these factors.
The key may be passion. These people love what they are doing individually, as you’d expect. But they are also passionate about what the industry as a whole can do, given the right tools, people, and opportunity.
This passion can sometimes be unnerving to an observer. But the intensity is genuine and sincere. It also means that, although money is a driving factor, it’s not the dominant one. Instead, there’s the personal drive to do something great, different, distinctive, and noteworthy. Companies that fail to deliver as promised, or mislead their customers, don’t last long in our world.
After making all the pitches and promises, vendors have to deliver a product that does what the data sheet says it will do. It’s not a
subjective matter of fashion, taste, or trends; measuring product performance against alleged specification is quantitative.
The problem is that true passion, like true love, is sometimes hard to separate from well-done imitations. It’s especially tricky these days, when consultants sell companies courses that will purportedly instill passion and pride in employees, as if it can be injected. True passion comes from within, and actions speak more truly than talk.
That’s what the Analog Devices event reminded me: The folks with true passion are the ones you can recognize by what they have done, as much as what they have said.
You can reach Bill Schweber at
bschweber@edn.com
