The CTO is always my favorite member of a leadership team. Most people are dying to work with CEOs, but not me. I love innovators. I love engineers.
Why? Because there’s nothing more inspiring than humans who create things. Because great innovators have both the desire and the capacity to invent whole worlds in their heads. Because they have the vision, the intellectual discipline and the mind-blowing skill to make what they see in their heads real – and beautiful – and useful. For all of us. Who wouldn’t want to be around people like that?
I’ve been exceptionally lucky to work with some incredible innovators who have envisioned and immersed themselves in world-changing ideas in software and in medicine. This is what I see:
- Great innovators are courageous – they have an unwavering commitment to delivering a brand new thing
- They are resilient – they stick to their vision through obstacle after obstacle, in service of the idea
- They are principled – they are deeply committed to creating the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons
- They are idealists – they are in it for the quality of the thinking, the beauty of its implementation, and for the opportunity to improve the world around them
In technology, in medicine, in the arts – the characteristics of true innovation and creativity are the same. In my long career I’ve seen every type of hungry executive ego, every type of power. But that’s not where I’m focused. I’m not interested in the powerful person, I’m interested in the person with the powerful idea.
Nothing is more moving to me than the beautiful humility of a true innovator who is 100% focused on serving a profound idea. I built poseycorp to support the innovators who are building our world. Helping these great people and their great ideas thrive is an honor!
