Cool Person of the Day

The Internet has produced many billionaires.  The dot com bubble may have burst, but some business owners made a lot of money very fast.  One of the few such executives who are still standing at the head of a successful dot com is Jeffrey Bezos.  Jeffrey Bezos is the President, CEO and Chairman of the board of Amazon.com.

Jeffrey Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994 as the Internet was still growing.  As brick and mortar stores were slowly developing an online presence, Bezos created the virtual bookstore with a robust inventory and a commitment to customer service.  A year before eBay was launched, Bezos had Amazon.com online, selling books and building a customer base.  Quickly realizing the site was underperforming for its potential, Bezos expanded Amazon.com to sell movies, music and other products alongside books.  Bezos transformed the business he ran from his garage to an international online retailer that increased his net worth to approximately 18 billion dollars!

While many billionaire CEOs of technology-related companies achieved their prominence from having a fresh, new idea, Jeffrey Bezos simply exploited, first and best, the emerging technology.  There is nothing particularly audacious about the idea of using the Internet to sell goods.  What made Amazon.com impressive at the time of its inception was that Bezos effectively exploited the new revenue channel to reach an exceptional marketplace.  While established brick and mortar stores were looking to supplement their income through occasional online sales, Bezos realized the potential of the virtual storefront and built Amazon.com.  Bezos pioneered the idea of the virtual storefront, selling a product online without an accompanying physical store.  When Bezos’s model proved successful, Pierre Omidyar would take the idea a step further and build an online sales site without any product (eBay)!

While many Internet stores have since risen and fallen, Amazon.com has remained strong.  Many attribute the strength of Amazon to the leadership Jeffrey Bezos exhibits as founder, CEO, President and Chairman of Amazon.  It is hard to argue with that logic.  By commissioning the creation of the Kindle, Bezos helped to ignite the entire e-reader market as well as a renewed interest in reading by the general population.  The success of the Kindle Fire, which many industry analysts suggest Amazon is selling at or below the cost of production, illustrates Bezos’s commitment to a long-term approach for Amazon.com’s success.  Bezos sees the value in selling more of a product at a loss when the virtual product – the e-books – has the potential to make his company billions!

A pioneer in the Internet retail market, Jeffrey Bezos is a CEO who was at the right place, at the right time, with the right vision!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Every executive in charge of a big company has a story.  Some of those stories are intriguing and complex, others are surprisingly mundane.  One might suspect a consumer revolution would occur if most Americans knew just how many CEOs became CEO by simply being in the right place at the right time.  Few CEOs, however, have had the complicated and fascinating careers of Meg Whitman.

Meg Whitman is the new Chief Executive Officer and President of Hewlett-Packard.  Whitman’s rise to CEO is not a happenstance and her ascension comes after a particularly rough business year for HP.  Whitman’s new role as CEO of HP is generally seen as a desperate move to put Hewlett-Packard on a more successful track after a particularly tumultuous series of failing CEOs.  Whitman’s predecessor served as CEO for only eleven months before the Board of Directors showed him the door!

Since the mid-1980s, Meg Whitman has been a powerful executive.  Her first executive position was as a senior vice president at Bain & Company.  From there, she moved to various executive positions at the Walt Disney Company, FTD, and Hasbro.  Her big leadership opportunity came when she assumed control of eBay as its CEO.

As CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman made eBay from a minor Internet sales site into an international powerhouse.  The company grew from thirty employees to a significant international company.  More importantly, Whitman helped eBay achieve its success by completely reorganizing the corporate structure as well as the site’s functional organization.  Under her guidance, eBay became a publicly traded company, adopted the iconic four-colored logo and purchased Skype!  Whitman ran eBay for a decade before moving on, leaving the company as one of the most powerful women in business and one of the most influential CEOs of the last decade.

Immediately before taking on the job of CEO of HP, Meg Whitman ran for governor of California.  As a Republican candidate, Meg Whitman hoped to continue Arnold Schwarzenegger’s style of leadership over the traditionally Democratic state.  While she lost in the general election, her campaign made a good showing after several scandals that would have taken down a lesser person.  Following her failed gubernatorial run, Whitman joined HP’s Board of Directors where she served until the Board promoted her to CEO.

If Meg Whitman’s past successes are any indication, she represents the best chance Hewlett-Packard has to restructure and survive as a powerful business in the tech sector!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

If you are alive and living in a First World or Second World nation, you probably know what an iPod is.  In our world today, the iPod is a universally-recognized device.  While Apple Computers would prefer its trademarks not be infringed upon, “iPod” is used far more frequently to refer to any portable digital music player.  That sort of meteoric product launch and instantaneous word association does not just happen.  The smashing success of the iPod and the products that have followed it from Apple Computers came from effective marketing.  In fact, you would find it difficult to find a person in the United States today who cannot recall a single Apple advertisement.  That level of cultural penetration from advertising is largely the work of Philip Schiller.

Philip Schiller is the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Apple.  When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Schiller became an integral part of Apple’s executive leadership team.  He ascended to the post of Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing after a strong marketing career with software companies Macromedia and FirePower Systems.

As Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Schiller was responsible for rebranding Apple and his success speaks for itself.  In his tenure, Apple Computers went from being a floundering computer company to the dominant computer manufacturer on the planet.  While Steve Jobs and Tim Cook deserve a lot of credit for pushing the company’s direction into the emerging markets of portable digital music players and handheld computing devices, all of their efforts would have been for naught had it not been for the effective marketing Schiller and his team provided.  As the leader of the marketing department at Apple Computers, Philip Schiller made the first iPods seem indispensible and easy-to-use.  Even more important, through his targeted advertising strategy for the iPod, Schiller made the iPod cool.

As Apple has risen to dominate the portable digital music player market, Schiller’s marketing teams have made the career of many musical artists through their association with Apple’s advertising.  Schiller is an executive who is not content to rest on a single success.  As such, Schiller effectively led the Apple marketing arm through an entire rebranding.  Well in advance of the product releases for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad, Schiller and his marketing department created such hype that each of those product releases became an event.

It is one thing to have a successful product launch, it is entirely another to market so effectively as to create a culture surrounding a company’s entire product line.  That sort of result requires a leader and Philip Schiller is just that type of leader for Apple!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Recently, we did a little profile on Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Computers.  Cook is hardly the only interesting professional in the computer industry. We would like to continue to present a look at some of the others who make the multibillion dollar computer industry work.  Today we take a look at Lisa Brummel, the Chief People Officer for Microsoft.

Lisa Brummel is a name that most people have probably never heard associated with Microsoft, but she has been an integral part of the Microsoft company since 1989.  As “Chief People Officer,” Brummel has the coolest title of any of the executives on Microsoft’s corporate directory.  She also has one of the few photos on the Microsoft corporate directory where the subject actually looks genuinely happy.  By all accounts, that is because Lisa Brummel has worked hard and now has a fun job with Microsoft that she actually loves.

Brummel took a risk in joining Microsoft back in 1989 before Microsoft truly dominated the software and OS marketplace.  She came aboard Microsoft after working for Prentice Hall publishing.  Brummel worked her way through various management positions to become the head of Microsoft’s Human Resources Division.  Before taking over as head of Human Resources, Brummel managed the Microsoft teams that marketed Microsoft’s Interactive Media Division, which helped to make it a success from its inception.  Brummel worked for a long time managing Microsoft’s Macintosh line.  So, if you use Windows for Mac, you have Lisa Brummel’s management skills to thank.

Lisa Brummel is distinguished from many of the other Microsoft executives by her casual speaking style and just how in touch she is with consumers.  As the former head of the Home and Retail Division of Microsoft, Brummel had to manage a billion-dollar division of Microsoft.  Part of the way she successfully managed the Home and Retail Division of Microsoft was through her ability to explain the complex workings of Microsoft in simple terms.  Brummel has a knack for making complicated ideas simple. When she speaks, Brummel communicates in a very casual way free from much of the jargon that makes speeches from other Microsoft executives intimidating to those not in the business.  In addition to having a mind that is adept at keeping all sorts of facts and figures straight, Brummel is known for having a great sense of humor.

That sense of humor is an asset to Brummel as she helps staff Microsoft as the Chief People Officer.  Since 2005, as Microsoft’s business models have changed and the company has grown in new directions, Brummel has been responsible for finding the right people for the new jobs.  Certainly part of the success Microsoft has had in recent years is because Lisa Brummel has put the right people in the right place within Microsoft.  If you’re looking to work for Microsoft, she is the woman to know!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

If you rabidly check every computer-oriented or technology-related site on the Internet to keep up with the most current events in the technical world, you may well be confused by a name you keep seeing there.  For the last few weeks, one name keeps appearing with a frequency that has not appeared on technical news sites and blogs since the death of Steve Jobs.  The new name on the tip of virtually every technology geek’s tongue is Louis C.K.

Louis C.K.?

Louis C.K.?!  Who is Louis C.K.?  If his name is on the technical sites, he must have taken over one of the big computer companies!  Is Louis C.K. the new CEO of Microsoft?  No, Louis C.K. is none of those things.  Louis C.K. is a stand-up comic and comedy writer.  He has, to date, illustrated no particular aptitude for anything computer-related or innovative in the electronics field.  Why then, are so many technical sites that usually focus on Internet security issues, forthcoming computer product releases and everything concerning the minutia of smartphones paying so much attention to Louis C.K. all of a sudden?

In mid-December, the 44 year-old comedian decided to skip the networks, bypass potential FCC censorship and all of the other potential middlemen who might have profited off his talent and presented his latest stand-up comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live At The Beacon Theater.  The reason this has become such an issue for the computer sector of the blogosphere is that Louis C.K.’s direct-to-consumer offering has several significant technical aspects that have been untried until now.

On the most technical side, Louis C.K. has attempted to make his program exceptionally easy to view.  Louis C.K.’s website sells the program directly and after paying via PayPal, you return to the site where you get access to the video and have the ability to download it.  Louis C.K. presents the video without digital-rights management programming or regional encoding, which means you may view it on any computer or smartphone around the world.

The computer and electronics industry place a huge premium on intellectual property rights and protecting those who create programs and media.  The reason so many technical sites are interested in Louis C.K.’s direct-sale from his website experiment is that Louis C.K. is counting on fans to not pirate his work for free distribution.  That’s it; Louis C.K, is using the most advanced technology on the planet to test the most basic human instinct.

The experiment appears to have worked.  After almost a week on the market, Louis C.K. claims that 110,000 paid downloads streamed from his website.  To date, there appears to be only one pirated source of the program on the Internet and that means Louis C.K. might have hit on something many of the multi-billion dollar media companies have not.

If people like what you produce, they will buy.  Maybe it truly is that simple.  Louis C.K.’s success certainly makes that argument.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com