Jim Heppelmann is CEO of PTC, a technology software company with 6,500 employees in 30 countries. Jim was named one of seven IoT leaders to watch in 2017 by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and was recognized as IoT CEO of the Year by Postscapes and technology CEO of the Year by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.
For decades, there’s been a mentality that leaders need to have a long-term plan and stick to it. But Jim believes leaders actually need to have short attention spans if they want to thrive in today’s rapidly changing world.
Jim often wakes up in the middle of the night with new ideas or ways to solve a problem. The joke at PTC is that it’s around the time that Jim gets bored with something when it really starts to work. That’s because as long as he is focused on solving something, he comes to work with those middle-of-the-night ideas to keep tweaking and fixing things.
Jim believes CEOs should be a little impatient and have a short attention span. Why? Because he says the biggest problem with experienced and tenured CEOs is that they are entrenched in old thinking.
About some CEOs, he says, “They made a decision five years ago, and for a couple of years, they improved it a little bit. And then they spent the last five years telling everybody why it works and saying they weren’t going to change it. But I’m different. I acknowledge that we improved something, but we’ve got to think about what’s next. And then let’s not wait until it’s not working to think about what’s next. Let’s start thinking about what we’re going to do next, even while this is still working pretty well.”
Jim is always looking for the next round of changes that will make PTC better or protect it from a new threat headed its way. This is a quality that he believes all CEOs should have: always looking to the next thing, not just riding current success. Why Leaders Need A Short Attention Span: Jim Heppelmann, CEO of PTC Jim Heppelmann is CEO of PTC, a technology software company with 6,500 employees in 30 countries. Jim was named one of seven IoT leaders to watch in 2017 by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and was recognized as IoT CEO of the Year by Postscapes and technology CEO of the Year by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. For decades, there’s been a mentality that leaders need to have a long-term plan and
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Over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking and working with some of the world’s top leaders. Here are 15 of the best leadership lessons that I learned from the CEOs of organizations like Netflix, Honeywell, Volvo, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and others. I hope they inspire you and give you things you can try in your work and life. Get the PDF here.
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