Thrive on Pressure

October 13, 2010

Thrive on Pressure

Software executives can adopt four skills of mental toughness in order to lead, succeed, and make a real difference in their organizations.

By Graham Jones, Lane4

The rapidly evolving technologies and business models impacting the industry make running a software business incredibly challenging – not to mention tremendously stressful for its top executives. A new book by Dr. Graham Jones, Thrive on Pressure: Lead and Succeed When Times Get Tough, outlines the opportunities inherent in pressure situations. This excerpt outlines four skills of mental toughness which enable executives to perform at consistently high levels and remain cool, calm, collected and in control – even in the worst of situations.

Breakfast Briefing: The Future of Work

Software vendors will need new platforms of collaboration to unleash greater productivity and levels of business performance for their clients as new technologies and globalization combine to redefine the fundamental nature of organizational structure. Join SandHill.com's MR Rangaswami and Jimmy Livingston, Vice President, Cognizant Business Consulting at an executive breakfast briefing at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto on Oct. 14 to discuss “The Future of Work” and the findings of a recent study conducted with the Economist Intelligence Unit. Click here to find out more and register now.

6 Tips if Your Customer Wants You to Use Their Form Agreement

Businesses and customers all want things specifically tailored to themselves and Jeremy Aber of Aber Law Firm divulges in six key points when negotiating form agreements in this post to the SandHill.com Blog on SaaS.

Managing Customer Expectations

Company success depends on its ability to manage customer expectations in association with the company’s product, and Serhiy Kharytonov and Khrystyna Kosyk of SoftServe discuss key points of managing customer expectations in this post to the SandHill.com Blog on Best Practices.

Embedded Talent Analytics in the Cloud: The Next Wave in Business Intelligence

As enterprises move forward in the cloud, so does the demand for quality business intelligence. Kamesh Pemmaraju dives into how cloud computing is dealing with business analytics in this post his SandHill.com Blog, Leaders in the Cloud.

Clouds, Big Data, and Smart Assets: Ten Tech-Enabled Business Trends to Watch

Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment. Learn more in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Plug Into the Indian Software Ecosystem
SandHill.com’s MR Rangaswami Co-Hosts the Nasscom Product Conclave

The NASSCOM Product Conclave brings the entire software product ecosystem together under one roof to look ahead at the evolving industry landscape. This year's event will take place Nov. 10-11 in Bangalore, India and will focus on opportunities in cloud computing and lean startups. The Product Conclave has become a hub for connecting the world to the Indian Software Product Ecosystem, with last year's event attracting more than 1,000 C-suite executives, system integrators, venture capitalists, and mentors from 600 companies across India and abroad.

Get more details here.

Poll: Pressure Power?

Does the stressful environment of the software business create unique opportunities for leadership?
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The Latest Software Business News on SandHill.com

All Headlines: India creating new operating system.

VC Activity: NitroSecurity obtains $6 million in Series B funding.

M&A Deals: Microsoft may potentially acquire Adobe.

Executive Moves: Sunnyvale, Calif. Blue Coat Systems named Mike Borman President and Chief Executive Officer.

Quote of the Week

“This is about showing that Java is still going to be invested in and that the two biggest players out there are in agreement that it must be evolved rapidly. More than that, that they are on the same page as far as the current roadmap, namely to have what was proposed initially as a single release has now become two quick releases, Java SE 7 and Java SE 8. I think it means that Oracle is very passionate about evolving Java and that they are willing to work with archrivals in good spirit to keep Java relevant and important.”

- Ali Hilwa, IDC analyst on Oracle and IBM’s cooperation on Java

This Week's Sponsor

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