Hello
Hope this helps. Pulled this from Forbes.
GEOFF TATE IS LIVING PROOF that you can be dull and still
run a dynamic company. That's not dull as in "dim-witted" but as in
"unflamboyant."
"He is not Mr. Charisma by any stretch of the imagination," says
venture capitalist Bill Davidow, who pegged Tate as CEO of Rambus in
1990. "He is proof of the fact that if you produce results, people pay
attention." Among those heeding this 43-year-old chief executive are
those on Wall Street. Last year's 52-week high for the company was
more than $86-impressive, considering that underwriter Morgan Stanley
priced Rambus shares at $12 when the company went public in May
1997. The stock's first close was a noteworthy $30.25.
Why all the institutional interest? Rambus is the leading provider of
an interface technology that eliminates bottlenecks in microchip
performance. It has licensing deals with the 13 biggest DRAM
companies in the world. Its technology is in approximately 1% of all
DRAMs now, but is predicted to end up in nearly 50% of the memory
devices by 2001. Need more convincing? Revenues jumped from $11
million in 1996 to $26 million in fiscal '97.
The understated Tate deserves credit
for this success. Sure, the technology is
great, and Rambus defined its
market-something that virtually
guarantees a company will be dynamic.
But by all accounts Tate turned a
technology into a viable company. Says
investor Davidow, "He is the best
president of any startup that I've ever
worked with. He is probably the most
no-bullshit guy in the business, aside
from Andy Grove."
That means a stripped-down
personal and management style. Tate is
more likely to show up in his Mountain
View, California, office cubicle wearing a
polo shirt than a tie; United Airlines
once sent him a letter complaining that
a Rambus employee sat in first class in
shorts and sandals "with newspapers all
over the place." The "employee," of
course, was Tate.
His casual dress
is more than just
comfortable. It's
deliberate. A 10-year veteran of Advanced Micro
Devices (where he was a senior VP), Tate despises
big-corporate culture: "Too easy to get defocused,"
he says. He believes effective management is direct,
no-frills. So the 7-year-old company has just 140
employees, more than 75% of whom are engineers.
No one, Tate included, has an administrative
assistant. He favors email over meetings, although
he organizes weekly breakfasts with random
employees to push, prod, and motivate.
Yet few of Tate's management techniques have
human-resources overtones. He likes to hire "people
he can fire, as in guided missile, and forget," says
Dave Mooring, vice president and general manager of
Rambus's PC division. Hyperorganized, he lets no
detail escape him. "His interaction with employees
is not left to chance," says vice president and
general manager of the logic products division
Subodh Toprani. Says Tate: "I'm an introvert. I don't
rant and rave and do a lot of rah-rah. I say, 'We're
closing in on this deadline,' or 'Let's get this done
this week.' I suppose some people might say I'm a
little pushy."
That doesn't seem to matter for now. Turnover at
the company hovers around 1%, thanks to
near-flawless execution and Rambus's stock price.
Tate will have to give up his micromanagement style
as the company grows, though, and some
employees openly worry that he will find that difficult. He won't if he's
smart. With a 5.6% ownership stake, Tate is worth more than $60
million when the stock trades in the $50 range. And one analyst told us
he expects the price to double this year.
-David Raymond |
