Advice for Aspiring Future Executives: Bring Back the Missing Value “Pat Gelsinger announced Intel’s plan to spin out the company’s Programmable Solutions Group (PSG). He said that PSG had underperformed under Intel’s management.” – EE Journal, 10/3/2023 Altera had a great set of company values: Innovation, Winning Mindset, Accountability, Integrity and Teamwork. Intel also has a fine set of company values (https://lnkd.in/geW6d4BC). But one value is missing from Intel’s list: Accountability. My advice to people at the new FPGA company is “Bring back accountability.” Apply accountability from the CEO down to the individual contributor. Granted, you cannot hold departed PSG management accountable for their underperformance. But as you launch the new company, accountability will help you streamline your strategies and execution.
Emre Onder
6mo
Hi Dave, Thank you for doing these thoughtful posts. What you said about Accountability is so true everywhere, not just Altera! It seems that at a certain scale, companies fall into a bureaucratic pattern where a corporate “echo chamber” replaces the customers’ voice and market priorities. A strong culture of accountability towards customers and within the company can help avoid this trap. Another “cousin” of Accountability i would add is “Sense of Urgency”. For companies like Altera, Xilinx, etc. where the lag time between actions/decisions and the results is very extreme. The impact of a lack of accountability and sense of urgency (you could say bias for action), is seen many years later. Both of these values can counteract the innate challenges of running a long lag time business. IMHO.
Chris Maryan
6mo
Hey Dave, what kind of policies do you suggest for ensuring accountability? Is this just pay for performance, bonuses tied to goals, or something more?
Thank you Dave. Great feedback.
Ann Kam
6mo
Altera is a great Company. Nothing more, nothing less.
James Doyle
6mo
Intel has a history of killing Any new business accountability starts at the top Seems intel like a leap ard can’t change its spots seem to be betting on foundry being on its own Funny
B Dweik
6mo
Well said David Kehlet, Altera was always a strong company and maybe went thru an identity crisis being part of a larger company. It's time for Altera to get back to its root and focus on delivering solutions to customers!
Blamah Sarnor
6mo
Absolutely crucial! Bringing back accountability will set a strong foundation for the company's success. 👍
Technology Executive and Corporate Leader
6moDave, great advice and something that you would certainly understand having spent quite a bit of time at Altera and then making the transition into Intel and working there for a number of years. The Altera/PSG team is lucky that there is something left to spin out. Many Intel acquisitions resulted in completely killing the acquired company (Nervana, Level One, etc.). Altera wasn't really a fit from the start as FPGAs are a very broad-base product with thousands of customers in hundreds of applications while Intel's success has come from one product (x86 processors) in two markets (PCs and servers) with a small number of key customers.