Two weeks ago, Chicago and the global technology community lost one of the giants of our time, Bob Galvin former CEO and Chairman of Motorola. Among his accomplishments he led the creation of the global cellular industry.
One of the things that Bob was known for was creating a culture of “warring tribes” at Motorola. These diversified and fast growing businesses were at the forefront of new industries in communications, handheld devices and safety to name a few.
I had the privilege of interacting with Bob on several occasions as a young Motorola executive and those experiences influenced me as an entrepreneur to this day.
Bob was making the rounds at a Motorola shareholder event in the mid-90s walking from booth to booth with an entourage including the FCC chairman and other luminaries. He greeted me by name and asked me to share what the cable modem was going to mean to the future. I proudly described our prototype hoping that the demo would work. After some questons, he thanked me and moved the group along to the next area.
About an hour later Bob stopped at our booth to thank our team and remind us that the work we were doing was really important. I remember him saying that cellular started with a team as small as ours.
Thinking back on that conversation, 15 years and 4 start-ups later, I realize the magic behind the myth of warring tribes. The secret wasn’t in creating a warring culture, but in letting the team know that what they were doing mattered. As entreprenuers that is the fundamental challenge- taking on a task worthy of our lives, our investors capital and our team’s precious commitment.
