Stephen Kruger’s Post

Attitude is everything. As this week comes to a close, I want to share some thoughts on what truly matters in building a great company and team. During my 15-year tenure at NetApp, I learned many valuable lessons. What set NetApp apart was our belief that Attitude is Everything. No one emphasized this more than Tom Mendoza, (NetApp President and co-chairman.) We at Planera, Inc. are doing amazing things as we embark on a journey to disrupt dated construction technology and build our company. Our sales are led by Scotland Foss, who is assembling a high-impact salesforce. Nitin Bhandari, our CEO, and co-founder, leads an incredible team alongside Erik Swenson (Co-founder CTO), building game-changing products. We have an amazing global team working across multiple time zones. What sets us apart is 'The Attitude.' Culture matters. It attracts the best minds, as well as customers and their loyalty. Customers don't do business with vendors based on great products alone. The best relationships are formed when we provide solutions to hard problems and share common values. As we enter our next phase of growth, as a co-founder, I couldn't be more proud of the team we've built and what we are building. Have a great weekend everyone. #Attitude #culturematters #values #contech #leadership

Accidental CTO: "No. That's impossible." Flexing CTO: "Yes! Nothing is impossible for me." Seasoned CTO: "No. That's not worth doing." Executive CTO: seizes the initiative, proactively collaborates with C-Suite colleagues, offers tech pathways to achieve business outcomes. P.S. I've played all the above parts. SaaS CTOs and engineering execs:  - Build your C-Suite influence, and - Transform from technical leader to strategic business executive.  Smash the glass ceiling via my upcoming 2-day workshop. DM me the word "OUTCOMES" for details.

It is our annual planning season here at @Microsoft, and to hit the ground running for July 1, the Americas Sales Enablement & Operations product teams recently gathered in Dallas, Texas. The offsite was key to laying the foundation that will set our sellers, customers, and partners up for success in the year ahead. As a COO, planning is a critical function that allows us to identify areas of opportunity. To achieve our objectives, we must: - Be Customer-centric: continuing to drive a customer-centric mindset and using customer feedback to improve. - Communicate & Integrate: ensuring we have the right team in place and work together across all revenue-related functions. - Be forward-thinking: anticipating the market, we can maximize innovation and craft strategy to drive revenue accordingly. - Examine data, KPIs, & metrics: data is key to driving our success; establishing practical KPIs and maintaining accountability based on the right metrics. - Consider technology: Our ability to utilize the best sales tools and technologies available, like Microsoft Copilot, will be key to our success. Thank you to everyone who participated; I am proud of how this team executes at the highest level in Q4 while also planning for growth and new possibilities. These are the times when leadership relies most heavily on its people, and I cannot wait to see the fruits of our labor come to life in the months ahead.   #MicrosoftLife

Starting a new leadership role is tough, but don’t let an outdated tech stack make it even harder. According to @Microsoft, 64% of employees say their tech tools don’t integrate with their business processes or work style. Failing to optimise your tech can create serious roadblocks, raise costs, reduce morale, and expose security risks. So, first task in your new role? Address these challenges head-on. Find out how in our latest blog: BLOG LINK If your tech stack is holding you back, book a free software architecture planning consultation with Genolis today: https://lnkd.in/gsYvm3bH  #techoptimisation #leadership #efficiency #newjob #techroles

🌟 Farley Fireside Chat Recap: Sales and Marketing from a Microsoft Perspective 🌟 This week, I had the privilege of learning from three exceptional leaders at Microsoft: 🔹 Jacquelyn Crowhurst - Chief Architect 🔹 Cathy Clement - Director of Engagement and Communications 🔹 Tony Surma - Chief Technology Officer Here are the 5 essential takeaways that left me inspired: 1️⃣ Find What Truly Matters List everything important to you and systematically eliminate 40% at a time. Stop when only 3-4 words remain—your focus is now clear. 2️⃣ Own Your NOs to Protect Your YES Saying "no" isn’t rejection — it’s prioritization. From a sales perspective, this means avoiding over-committing and staying focused on the bigger goal. 3️⃣ Know When to Pull the Switch It is essential to recognize when a product or strategy isn’t working and move on to what truly delivers value. 4️⃣ Position First, Scale Later Marketing sets the tone with product positioning. Sales then takes charge of scaling it to ensure adoption and impact. 5️⃣ The Sequence of Success First, identify yourself . Then, identify the value you wish to deliver. Finally, identify the customer —because clarity in your purpose drives everything else. Special thanks to Prof. Eduardo Acuna and the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern University for organizing such an insightful seminar and bringing together these exceptional leaders from Microsoft to share their valuable perspectives. Which of these lessons do you resonate with most? #SalesAndMarketing #MicrosoftInsights #Microsoft #LeadershipLessons #TechLeadership #Innovation

Are CTOs truly valued decision-makers in the boardroom? In today's tech-driven world, CTOs should be pivotal in steering strategy. Yet, many struggle to secure an equal seat at the table due to a gap between tech expertise and business acumen. The modern CTO must go beyond coding—aligning tech with business goals, driving innovation, and communicating value to the executive team. From my experience, bridging this divide requires learning, strategic communication, and strong C-suite relationships. Look at Satya Nadella: he moved from a technical role to become Microsoft's CEO, showing the power of mastering business strategy. Is your organisation leveraging its CTO’s full potential? Share your thoughts below. If you want to attend my webinar on "How to find a CTO role in tough job market" or if you want £100 off my course on how to become a successful CTO in 1 year, please sign up to my waiting list: https://lnkd.in/eZS86fTG #cto #ceo #reengineeringleadership #executivemindsetcto

We spent roughly 40 hours (an entire workweek) reading through leaked internal emails and memos from Fortune 500 executives. At companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla and others. Pulling out exactly what sales teams focused on complex deals need to know. Join this 25-minute workshop next week for a detailed breakdown that teaches you to: - Land larger, more strategic deals with top brands. - Enable your champions with exec-level messaging. - Speak directly to what actually matters to executives. See you there? https://lnkd.in/g-8NTipN

About a year and a half ago, I found myself in the middle of a high stakes technology decision. I was asked to evaluate technologies for a piece of critical infrastructure that would cut across all of our products—an area where every decision carried weight, scrutiny, and, honestly, controversy. Five vendors. Countless demos. Endless opinions. If you’ve ever been in a similar position, you know the juggling act: trying to make everyone happy and ending up feeling like you’re holding the weight of the world. This week, I share with 1000+ leaders 3 ways to communicate tradeoffs for better decision-making—a must-have skill for navigating complex priorities. Don't miss the issue: https://lnkd.in/gUejkeNi

Fabulous day yesterday with Microsoft's sales managers at the MCAPS Start event. Beyond grateful for this partnership over the years – working with #Microsoft and their phenomenal leaders is always a highlight. Deb Cupp – it was an absolute pleasure sharing the stage with you! A dynamic, growth-minded audience that's committed to learning and winning makes all the difference. Microsoft shows up strong! We dove right into some of my favorite comms content: conversational confidence (Keynote: “Elevated Board Room Conversations)... mastering presence in high-stakes moments, pivoting to your audience's needs, and balancing your authentic self with their expectations. Really honing into: staying curious, connecting deeply, and building trust as core practices of communications excellence. Behavior change = practice presence, breathe, remember it's not about you, pivot your connection, and stay concise. Dynamic audience, energetic atmosphere, and fantastic participation... a speaker’s dream. Huge thanks to everyone who attended, hope you had as much fun as I did! Special shoutout to Amanda Wilson and Sarah Repicky for your help in orchestrating such an extraordinary event. Thank you for having me. #MCAPSStart #ExecutiveCommunications #KeynoteSpeaker #LeadershipDevelopment #PublicSpeaking #ProfessionalGrowth #Innovation #GrowthMindset #BusinessStrategy

Join fellow engineering leaders on November 19th for an insightful conversation led by industry leaders Pete Hamilton (Co-founder & CTO at incident.io) and Yujin K. (SVP of Engineering at Justworks), as they dive into "Aligning Engineering and 'The Business' When Things Go Wrong." In today’s fast-paced environment, keeping engineering goals aligned with business priorities during critical incidents is more challenging than ever. This panel will provide practical strategies to bridge these gaps, sharing valuable insights from the front lines of some of the tech world’s most respected organizations. You'll be joining an exclusive audience of engineering executives and thought leaders from top companies like Booking.com, Experian, LinkedIn, Netskope, Square, Stripe, Twilio, and Workday for an interactive session on navigating these challenges. Reserve your spot today and gain actionable insights into aligning cross-functional goals during high-stakes moments. 🔗https://lnkd.in/gTBMkm8N #EngineeringLeadership #EngineeringCommunity #TechWebinar #IncidentManagement #EngineeringExcellence #BusinessAlignment