ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott on Entrepreneurship, AI, and Automation

Channel: Alex Kantrowitz

Published at: 2023-07-04

YouTube video id: 6QhsU98dydw

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QhsU98dydw

let's start with the deli at 16 years
old you bought the Amityville country
Delicatessen in Long Island not far from
where I grew up for seven thousand
dollars so I want you to just give the
story of like how and why you did that
just so we can learn a little bit more
about what makes you tick in the
beginning well I actually there was a
couple of reasons one I was trading in
three part-time jobs
for one full-time job which was the
Delicatessen so you know bussing tables
stocking shelves pumping gas doing all
the side jobs that lots of guys like us
who came from Long Island did
and I had an opportunity to work in the
deli and then ultimately make an offer
to buy the deli
because the owner was selling it and it
was pretty obvious after a year on the
market that there were no takers and I
ended up getting it for fifty five
hundred dollars seven thousand with
interest and the rest is history I think
the big idea behind the deli that I
always found inspiring is I had no money
but I did have relationships with the
vendors and I asked them to give me the
first order on consignment I told them
you might even charge me a little too
much but I'll always pay you back at
some point you'll always get that money
back on the First Consignment order
and I had great relationships with the
customers and just knew what they liked
whether it was their coffee their brand
of cigarettes that was pretty big back
then and whatever beer they like to
drink or whatever sandwiches they liked
you know I really could customize it to
them but the the key to the whole thing
was really the early days of video games
um because I built a video game room on
the Delicatessen to draw the young
people a block and a half past 7-Eleven
to my store
and what was fascinating is I went down
to 7-Eleven one day and I realized there
was four kids in the store and like 40
online waiting to get in and I asked
them why are you all waiting online out
here when there's a big store in there
and they said well they think we're
going to take things I said don't worry
about that you come down to my store
and I let him in 40 at a time playing
video games hanging out treated with
respect and it really underscores
um what it means to treat people as you
wish to be treated because at the end of
a long day one of the young people said
to me Bill when we want to have good
food and get treated with respect and
play video games we come to your store
and when we want to steal stuff we go to
7-Eleven so Bill it's interesting
because so many kids by the way like
this is like actually the true Long
Island childhood I can say authentically
that's the case
um
but like so many kids when they're
younger they say Okay I want to start a
business maybe they do a lemonade stand
very few actually go out and buy the
Delicatessen they were working at so I'm
just kind of curious like what do you
think made you take that that extra step
was it something about being in control
of of your future and your destiny that
was something that that made you want to
go ahead and do it I mean you know it is
a very unusual step to do so what was
behind that well I really wanted to make
a living and I felt like you know
working full-time and building up enough
cash to at least have a chance at buying
it gave me Freedom it gave me the
opportunity to build something
and it gave me the opportunity to pay
for my education uh so you know I was
able to contribute a little bit at home
I was able to get a car and do the
things that young people want to do and
I also put myself through school and
really set myself up for what I really
wanted which was to take a shot after I
graduated from college and go into the
Big Apple
and work for a big Corporation and start
my career so it was just an evolution of
leadership you know the desire to lead
the desire to control your own destiny
the desire to make a living the desire
to be a winner
you know and that's that's one part of
your bio that I don't fully understand
I'll explain why okay because when you
when you actually set up and are running
a successful business right when you're
running it it's one of the things that
actually it's it's much easier to set up
a business than a lot of people imagine
it's just about putting in the work to
sustain that and then you go ahead and
you trade that in for being somebody
else's employee so that's actually a
very difficult thing to do I'm curious
why you decided to do that because you
know at the time my dreams were bigger
right then
being a delicatessen owner
and you know I would there's nothing
wrong with it obviously I'm very
grateful for the opportunity but you
know if you get up at five o'clock in
the morning enough days to get the
coffee ready get the rolls buttered and
get the hot you know Grill going so you
can make egg sandwiches and serve people
by the hundreds
um do that for a while
and then finish the day at midnight
where you wax in the the floors so
everybody the next day can come into an
Immaculate store
and just the grind of being a sole
proprietor and doing that to make a
living it's really no Cakewalk and at
the end of the day I really wanted to be
part of a giant Corporation and people
would come into the deli and their suits
and their Ties on their way to the Long
Island Railroad and I would say to
myself I'm gonna do that someday yeah in
fact I even got into conversations with
them asked them about their jobs what
they were doing and I just found that
intellectually so interesting so
essentially I did a direct mail campaign
to several companies that were highly
prestigious at the time I got a result
Xerox invited me and so did a few other
companies but I was really excited about
Xerox because of the training program
the brand and at that time you know that
was you know one of the most prestigious
tech companies in the world and it was
just a thrill to have a shot at the big
city in New York and I went for it yeah
it is interesting I mean obviously I
think trading in the deli for your
career turned out to be a good decision
you're running 110 plus billion dollar
market cap company today and there is
something about growing up on Long
Island and I'm not going to spend the
whole show talking about this but I feel
like you know having you here this is
sort of the environment that I grew up
in also that inspires it's it's sort of
you grow up with maybe you tell me if
I'm wrong about this but you kind of
grow up with a chip on your shoulder you
see everybody in the suits going into
Manhattan but you know somewhat
internally you're not part of it and
there is that that bigger show out in
the city and you want to be part of that
and it sort of does I think maybe that
is something that inspires people from
Long Island to like maybe put harder
work in or just go for it in ways that
other folks can't match because I do
think there is this ethos from Long
Island not to knock all the other
boroughs and everything else but it's
there's something about that place
growing up there and it gets this
reputation as like a rich place but it's
actually quite working class and it is
I'm curious what you think about that
about that hypothesis yeah well as you
know you know Long Island is a pretty
diverse place and socioeconomically you
know it runs the gamut and I came from a
blue collar working class family and I'm
really proud of that and at the time I
loved Long Island because the people
with dynamite I uh I love the water you
know so the Great South Bay or Robert
Moses or Jones Beach you know I think
about those places and literally driving
in my car over the bridge three hours in
traffic to get to the beach was like
such a privilege so you do grow up
hungry you do grow up humble but you
also do have a desire
to get out of Long Island and be
somebody and so you kind of spend your
whole life thinking about how am I gonna
make it what am I going to do to get
there and then once you get on your path
you have that built-in blueprint of hard
work
determination in fact I would just say
like wanting it more and then ultimately
being in a position mentally physically
and emotionally to do whatever it takes
momentum and be a winner and that to me
was the gateway to Prosperity just to
really want it more than everybody else
I remember my first interview at Xerox
and uh you know my dad oh I know the
story drove me to the railroad station
that day as you know my house flooded
and my brother basically carried me to
my dad's car so I wouldn't get my new
suit wet I got a 99 suit at the mall
charged it on my credit card first
credit card
and uh I get out of the car finally at
the railroad station I told my dad I
intend to come home tonight with my
employee badge in my pocket and my dad
said Bill like you're a good guy just do
the best you can I said no no I
guarantee it
I go up to you know escalator get on the
Railroad and I read the annual report
about this guy David Kearns who was
Reinventing this company called Xerox
and I started out going to interview for
a sales job
by the time I got to Manhattan an hour
and a half later I wanted to be the next
David Kearns so that dream inside you is
the reason I named my book when is dream
because all the winners I've ever read
about or seen began with a dream a bold
dream
and I get to the interviewing Center top
of the sixes in Manhattan and I'm
looking around the room
and you know this this person graduated
from Notre Dame this one's Yale this one
is you know some other prestigious
school like Columbia and they came from
you know the pedigree for the most part
of families that were either wealthy or
had white collar workers in their past
because I asked them you know what's
your dad do what do you do and starting
conversations with everybody waiting
room yeah exactly and so as I'm waiting
I'm getting warmed up just talking to
them and what I realized Alex is they
would say well I'm interviewing here or
I'm interviewing their IBM boroughs
Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley you know
and play in the field
and that was the moment
that my superpower kicked in
and all the nerves went away because I
knew I wanted it so much more than they
wanted it
and I'll never forget getting to the
last interview that day with the big
boss Emerson fullwood in his office in
Nine West 57th Street
and I'm on a couch sitting next to this
gentleman David and Michael can you
believe this who's a great friend of
mine to this day
and Joanne Siciliano was the
receptionist and I go up to Joanna I
said Joanne you know I've been here for
a while I just want to let you know I'm
here to see Mr fulwood and I'll wait as
long as he needs me to but I just wanted
to make sure he knew I was here
next thing you know boom I get an
interview into his office
a walk to the office man is beautifully
groomed I'm looking over his shoulder on
Central Park from Nine West 57th Street
on the 38th floor and I realized as I
went through the Hearth of that door to
sit down with him that I wasn't going
for a job interview at all I was in a
fight for my life because if I could get
that job the destiny of my life was now
within my personal control
we sit down we have an unbelievable
meeting at the end he said to me Bill
very interesting young man thank you
very much for your time and the HR
department is going to get in touch with
you within the next couple of weeks I
guess some of your listeners might have
heard the HR department story before
and I said you know Mr fulwood I don't
think you completely understand the
situation sir
and he kind of looks at me tilts his
head
and he and he's like what's this kid up
to and I said I haven't broken a promise
to my dad in 21 years and I guaranteed
him I'd have my employee badge in my
pocket when I get home tonight
and he kind of tilts his head again
looks at me and he said
Bill McDermott as long as you haven't
committed any crimes you're hired and I
said I certainly haven't committed any
crime so you mean it I'm hired we shake
hands I kind of embrace him carry him
around a little bit put him down safely
blow past Joanne Siciliano get on the
elevator go down 38 floors go to 6th
Avenue and 57th Street to bunenberger
throw quarters in the phone call up my
mom and dad now this is Long Island
style and I said Mom and Dad I got the
job we're going to celebrate tonight
break out the corvelle and the rest is
history yeah and it's interesting when
you talk about the vision that you saw
at Xerox at the time it was one of
reinvention and it is sort of the
challenge that's facing every company
right now and it's one that maybe Xerox
you know handled for a while but
ultimately didn't and you've you were
there you know for the Heyday and you
were also there as the company sort of
started what began as decline um I won't
say you were there for it but you
definitely saw it in action what lessons
do you think now look the the
conventional wisdom is Xerox didn't see
the shift to digital coming and it was
so slow that by the time it realized
uh what to do it was it was toast
um I bet there's a more nuanced story
than that
yeah there definitely is more nuanced
story there is you know first of all I
got there in 1983.
um and and that's um the summer of 83
um when I got the job
um at that time Xerox had already
been in a situation where it was facing
an onslaught of offshore competition and
the competition was building a product
building a product that actually
performed better than many of xerox's
products
and they were selling that high quality
product for the same price that it was
costing Xerox to build a product
that perhaps in many cases was inferior
in terms of the performance but the
company still had a great brand
and the company had a CEO that wanted to
reinvent the company as you said based
on total quality management and really
followed the Deming principles from
Japan on quality
and essentially the main lesson in
quality is do the job right the first
time because the cost of quality when
you don't build a great product and you
know take care of your customer with a
great service
is you're chasing your tail trying to
clean up the mess in the market and even
if you sell things you don't make a lot
of money doing it that way so the whole
force field towards quality reinvented
the company so they did see digital but
they saw digital through the prism of
printing and copying
and while I was there one of the real
breakthroughs in the company was the
division I had the pleasure and the
privilege of being responsible for which
was called Xerox business services and
at that time it was very clear that the
market was moving away from
owning boxes
and paying maintenance on boxes
they were really interested in procuring
a service
a digital document Management Service
and my division went from 700 million to
over four and a half billion in just a
few years by providing the document the
people that managed the documents and
the digital nature of the document as a
service and that was the early days of
cloud computing
so what might have been missed is that
business came at a lower margin
than just hard selling boxes because it
had a labor mix in it like many of the
cloud computing companies do today
and companies have to be willing to
change their business model and lean
into where the world's going not where
the world has been if you want to
transform yourself and win so if there
was any lesson to be learned
digitization was one aspect that you had
to lean in but also providing everything
as a service was another one and if you
think about cloud computing and
distributing things on demand Xerox had
all those ideas but didn't necessarily
lean into them with a single purpose at
the time I think that could have made a
really big difference
now how much of this is the actual
decision making versus the amount of
work that it takes to maintain the
flagship product because you have a book
about this always day one which talks
about how the tech Giants have sort of
reduced some of the and this is going to
be a nice setup for us in a bit but
reduce reduce some of the work they're
doing on internal processes so they've
actually more room to reinvent than the
others who like you know they'd like to
make these decisions to go towards these
future products but they can't because
they're just so loaded down on
maintaining the flagship and they know
that without the flagship their toast so
talk about what you've seen in Xerox and
elsewhere in terms of like what is the
thing holding back most companies is it
is it the will and the deter because
like you mentioned Xerox had the vision
they knew digital was coming or is it
the fact that they just are so
overloaded on maintaining Flagship that
they can't think about anything else
culture is the number one thing you have
to have a great company culture that's
built on
simplifying everything so you can do
anything
you have to distribute net new
innovation
to the marketplace you have to build
products the world doesn't know it yet
needs but once it gets them it doesn't
even realize how it ever lived without
them so this whole bias has to be net
new innovation-led where you're building
things that are really changing the game
and the marketplace that's where the
Leverage is to pull that off you have to
have a company culture that's not
looking internally but it's seeing the
World Through The Eyes of the customer
and understanding everything from the
external Viewpoint and it sounds simple
it sounds basic and it is
but basic things done extraordinarily
well have proven hard to do for a lot of
folks so my feeling on it is you have to
have an uncommonly great vision
because people have to see themselves in
a beautiful picture the culture has to
be radically simplified
and ultimately it has to be Innovation
driven and customer-led and if you could
pull all that off you got a good chance
at doing some big things well you can't
always listen to the customers so here's
one example that I learned in
researching my book that in Microsoft
there was Chief Information officers who
were responsible and chief technology
officers responsible for maintaining the
on-premises servers and Microsoft
brought this idea of cloud up to them
they laughed it off and they said no
we're not moving to the cloud we like
the setup and the reason was because
they would lose their power if they
moved to the cloud and then Microsoft
looked as a level deeper and said hey
wait a second you know after really
going through the economic analysis they
realized that these people would either
be a
on board with cloud in a few years or be
fired and so they said okay we're
actually going to put and this was under
saiya and that's how Azure was really
turned into what it is is they didn't
listen to the customers and went ahead
and moved forward I'm curious what you
think about that well I'm I'm really
fortunate with service now because we're
in natively
built in the cloud architecture and
Company so we were in the cloud and the
21st century as opposed to taking a 20th
century architecture and trying to
reinvent it from on premise to Cloud so
this has been refreshing for me because
I've been in both worlds and it is true
that you have to see past
the corners that your existing customer
base might be caught in but it's also
true that it's not only about technology
and the technologists that use your
product
it is also about the business people and
this is why I believe it and business
have to be co-joined in a shared vision
for the future so you have to spend a
lot of time not just with the technical
people but also the business people on
what their dreams and goals are and how
I think it has really
transitioned is the I.T strategy because
of digitization has become the business
strategy so now the business people are
going to I.T saying take me someplace
new because these are the goals that I
have to hit these are the things I have
to do whether it's taking cost out
improving productivity or putting growth
into the business
and I T now has become the Catalyst in
helping business do that so we're in a
new era now and you're right you can't
just simply serve what got you from
there to here what got you from there to
here will not get you from here to there
and it is the here to there
that you have to spend your critical
thinking and your resources on to create
that net new innovation
so I'm going to hand you a challenge and
uh I think you can pull it off so I'm
going to ask you to describe because
this is kind of my level of
understanding sometimes your business
describes what what service now does to
the level of let's say a later in their
career high schooler and maybe do it
within under two minutes just for people
who haven't really been introduced to
the company can get a sense of it
because it goes down to it really goes
to this idea of reducing some of the
processes that properties are working to
you know well anyway I'll get I'll lend
it to you but I do think there's
something to be said about this let's
tell that latest uh stage high school
individual what's going on
companies have spent billions and
billions of dollars
trying to digitally transform their
companies so they become a digital
company
so the experience you have with your
digital phone on your living room couch
and that great user experience you get
from Google and many other wonderful
companies needs to come into the
Enterprise
and the reason that the Enterprise has
not provided that great consumer grade
user experience is because there's 50
years
of sludge and mess in these Enterprises
and 80 percent
of those billions of dollars that got
invested
by these companies in digital
transformation has failed to deliver a
positive Roi return on investment and so
then the question becomes why
and the answer is one word integration
the I.T system doesn't talk to the
employee system that doesn't talk to the
customer system and the smart people
like yourself a young person coming out
of school that just wants to build an
app and do something different and
innovate can't do it because the
platform doesn't allow for easy low code
or no code development what if we had
one platform
that could lift up an entire company
and integrate that mess so you never had
to see it again and your user experience
in a corporation could be as simple as
using that smartphone on your living
room couch on the weekend and the
consumer grade experience could be just
as good what if we could do that for you
would you be interested in that
okay and so that's servicenow that's it
so it's great because it sounds like we
talked about it in the beginning but
just like the amount of processes the
amount of work companies have to
maintain their Flagship product right
they're in all these Point Solutions and
they just can't handle it
um and you know by the time they are
able to get a task done
they don't have time to think about
what's coming around the corner which is
why I think that your company is very
interesting and it also gives you an
unbelievable perspective into what all
these debates about automation like what
they're actually going to amount to
because that's something that you are
working or hoping to work with clients
on is to automate a lot of these
processes that they end up spending time
on giving them more time to invent and
create that next reinvention so why
don't you sort of give your perspective
on on these big automation questions
it's interesting I'll tell you Bill when
I speak with you know people speaking
publicly they always say automation will
lead to more productivity and more
employment and then you know behind the
scenes people say yes that's going to
happen but we're going to have to lay
off 50 of our Workforce to get there so
talk a little bit about what this will
do to the human
side of this question yeah I think first
and foremost
the service now vision
is all about people what good is
technology
if it doesn't help people
have a little bit better experience in
the office do something that they were
probably incapable of doing before
because technology got in the way this
is about liberating people
so if you think about an employee and a
day in the life of an employee in most
companies let's go for that one let's
take this high schooler that wants to
come into the workforce
how do you recruit them
how do you actually hire them
and then once you hire them how do you
onboard them they get their computer
they get their phone they know where
their office is they have a complete map
of what to expect when they get there
then when they get there you train them
you certify them you teach them what
they need to know and then once they're
now smart they know how to do their job
they have a question about that comp
plan they have a question about their
health care 401K long term this
maternity leave the other thing
all of these things should be so simple
and it should just be on there
cell phone
and they should be able to do everything
on their smartphone without going
anyplace else
think about that
think about that for starters let's
think about a customer now
a customer doesn't necessarily want to
go to your bricks and mortar store
anymore to buy something they want to
have a direct to Consumer relationship
with your company
how do I get my smartphone
to look at your product order your
product and the form that I wanted the
configuration the price ship it to me
where I want it to go and then service
me you made me a promise that this is
going to perform well
but unfortunately the size didn't fit
something went wrong with the delivery
how are you going to recover from that
because if you don't do that really well
especially if you can't recover well
I'll likely not do business with your
brand anymore
this is all digital transformation on
the servicenow platform but here's
another big one
there's going to be a billion apps built
in the next two years by the customers
we serve on our platform
how do we make it easy for you to take
an idea maybe you now have been promoted
you're a new manager and you want to
have a Rewards program for your team I
want to recognize three people that did
a great job
I don't want to go to the HR department
and the finance department and six
months later come up with a solution to
that I just want to build a simple
rewards recognition program on the
platform and let that app roll out in a
few minutes not a few hours or a few
days or months like is the case in a lot
of companies just do it on the
servicenow platform and you don't think
that this is going to lead to lots of
people like in those other functions
losing jobs
no and here's why here's why
the big thing about jobs is growth so
when you think about the generative AI
opportunities in front of Enterprises
today
think about this
with servicenow and great companies like
Nvidia
we're taking large language models
and we are building them in use cases
specific to the servicenow platform
and Within These Enterprises there's
literally
thousands of opportunities
to build conversational
Next Generation applications on the
platform
so you say well what if you reinvent a
call center
and the call center instead of a
thousand people only needs a hundred
people
well the call center right now is
experiencing 40 percent annual turnover
anyway so the people you hire
can't stand the work they're doing
because they don't have the information
at their fingertips that servicenow can
give them so they basically leave
because they can't handle answering the
same 10 questions
a hundred different ways without the
real insight on solving the problem for
the customer
so now with AI on the servicenow
platform the human has all the
contextual information they need to
solve the problem so you need less
humans doing that
so the company is spending less money on
things that technology can do better to
make The Human Experience better and
instead of having 40 turnover maybe a
five percent turnover now we're at the
900 Jobs go they're going to be
retrained and retooled to do things that
can actually help the company grow
and get bigger and when you get bigger
and you grow you need people and you
create jobs so there's going to be
retooling there's going to be
re-skilling there's going to be
retraining but there's also going to be
new vectors of prosperity and that's
what's missing we have to focus on
growth again so right now everything is
cost out productivity in where's growth
so the winners will focus on that growth
and they will use technology as the
weapon
to get them from here to there and I do
want to say a little something about
servicenow for your listeners we have a
program right now rise up with
servicenow where we're actually putting
our money where our mouth is and we're
training reskilling retooling and
certifying a million people
in the economy in the next year
and you say that sounds like a lot I
think we'll blow past that number but
that's one that we stated publicly that
we'll do we already have 400 000 on
board now you're like well is that
self-serving I mean how are you going to
hire a million people I'm not we have a
vast ecosystem of Partners and customers
that have now realized that servicenow
is the intelligent platform for
end-to-end digital transformation
so all things that get done in a company
can now be activated on the servicenow
platform so we need the people in the
ecosystem to do it that's going to equal
enormous job creation on the servicenow
platform and opportunity for your
listeners if they want to be in Tech and
they want to win
so you mentioned artificial intelligence
which is obviously going to play a large
role in this automation you're the CEO
of a large public company I want to get
your response to this so this is a quote
from Scott McNeely who is the CEO of sun
Microsystems yeah talking about what
happened after the.com collapse so he
goes two years ago we were selling at 10
times revenues when we were at 64. at 10
times revenues to give you a 10-year
payback I have to pay you 100 revenues
for 10 straight years in dividends that
it seems like that assumes I can get my
shareholders on board I mean that
assumes I have zero cost of goods sold
which is very hard for a computer
company that assumes zero expenses which
is really hard for 39 000 employees that
assumes I have to pay no taxes etc etc
and he goes now having done that would
any of you like to buy my stock at sixty
four dollars which was 10 times Revenue
the amount of enthusiasm about AI is
blowing past that Nvidia one of your
partners is Now 37 times Revenue
isn't this a like glaring alarm Bell
right now that like we should all slow
down in terms of our enthusiasm not that
it's not going to have an impact but the
public market seemed to be just
completely
um nonsensical in some ways about the
valuations they're ascribing to
companies that AI touches well if you
look at Nvidia in particular I don't
know of too many companies that had a
quarterly forecast as you look into the
next quarter that goes up about four
billion dollars
so what you have there is a company that
has reinvented the computer
and basically taking 60 years of
computing
into a new platform that's based upon
generative Ai and if you believe like I
do that this is now a secular movement
that's undeniable
and one that will fundamentally change
the Enterprise then you'd have a bull
case on Nvidia and all companies in the
Enterprise that can be generative AI
Market leaders and why do I think that
the Enterprises and not everyone's going
to win here but the ones that have
permission to win and brands that can
resonate are gonna tremendously change
the rules of the game in the Enterprise
so for example I started my day-to-day
talking to a CEO that's in the travel
industry
we're going to take his chatbot
and reinvent it on the servicenow
platform
and the idea there is not just applying
the logic of large language model and
generative AI on huge oceans of data but
that's Enterprise data
and that's not purely off the internet
data where a lot of the hallucinations
exist this is clean Enterprise data not
perfect which is why you have to govern
it and you have to manage the process
and you have to make sure you're doing
this properly but with that data now
this particular company can reinvent
how he Services the air industry
globally he completely rethink the
consumer experience of what his
customers are doing for their customers
that is a completely new business model
and potentially takes massive friction
out improves productivity dramatically
and helps him get more Revenue
and when he grows and he beats
expectations he can hire people expands
his operations and do so in parts of the
world that he's not covering right now
so we have to think differently
we have to see things differently before
we can do things differently
and to debate whether a particular share
or a particular buy-in on the capital
markets it is too frothy right now
because generative AI has too much hype
around it I would basically distinguish
that by saying
what hype what kind of hype because with
businesses and Tech businesses in
particular that can put that to business
use cases
on platforms like servicenow with
fundamentals that come with a great
company like Nvidia you go from the chip
all the way through to how you help the
customer solve their customers problems
that's Game Change
yeah for sure it's just a question of I
mean I guess this is one of the things
that's sort of out of your control is is
how exactly you know the market price is
it but it does seem quite high so
Isn't it nice to have something that's
working in the market I mean listen I
mean I'm sure investors are happy but we
saw we've seen recently that like you
know something's working that's great
but eventually it faces the music like
the market is no longer able to sort of
run on phone
you know it depends I mean I think you
know this is an iPhone moment
um for the industry and it just depends
on who's doing it how Innovative it is
and how much value it creates but I will
say this
I've never been a guy in terms of stock
and valuations that looks at the r
measures meaning the actual result of
the actual price what you have to look
at especially in quality terms is the
process measures the in process measures
are you building a great product
does it have unique Market
differentiation
are you providing an uncommonly good
service
do you have the ability to articulately
tell a clear and specific story on how
you're impacting value
are you inspiring a new generation of
employees customers and partners to
aggregate around that vision
and finally are you creating the next
net new innovation machine because it's
all about Innovation and it's all about
a pipeline of innovation and that's
really where we started this
conversation net new innovation equals
immense opportunity how people price
that that's a TBD but I wouldn't get
caught up in that as much as I would
right now look at the brands that are
built to win because the market
opportunity is gigantic for example you
know there's a seven trillion dollar
opportunity just in Reinventing data
centers
that have existed in a similar fashion
for the last half century
so think about that opportunity
yeah all right bill I want to close the
one question that I'm curious about
because having spoken with people who
know you one of the things they say is
deal is stuck at ninety percent you put
bill on the plane that deal closes what
do you do in those meetings after you
fly into the client that will will sort
of yeah make that deal go across the
Finish Line do you watch yourself there
yeah you know going back to the
beginning you can get anything in this
life you want if you help enough other
people get what they want so everything
that I do
everything I compose is always based
upon helping