CEO Monthly August 2017

CEO MONTHLY / AUGUST 2017 17 important asset, so deploying personnel requires a great deal of diligence. Therefore, project goals must be defined explicitly and measurement systems must be agreed to, by both parties. “Timelines must be agreed to and synced continuously. You can best define our approach as precise and objective - driven with the end goal of exceeding our customers’ expectations.” John moves the conversation to focus on what being part of the 2017 Global CEO Top 100 means to him and his team. “Being selected for the 2017 Global CEO Top 100 is a great honour. I have never set out to win awards as an individual, because my primary responsibility is to our shareholders, customers and the employees at Pivotal Systems. “This award is really an award for all the employees at Pivotal Systems. Our company has been built by great people and plenty of hard work. The most important thing about this award, is that it brings attention to all their great work and success. It is a pleasure for me to go to work each day and spend time with so many inspiring people. They deserve all the credit.” Staying on this note of positivity, John shares with us the firm’s ongoing strategy, including the techniques employed to ensure that this is achieved. “Pivotal Systems continues excellent growth year after year, as we are constantly improving our existing products, while adding new ones to serve new markets. We started out with flow control products in the plasma etch portion of semiconductor manufacturing. This market was growing quickly and it was by far the most demanding, from a technical standpoint. “We understood that success in this market would enable us to be highly competitive, in every market. We also knew that the semiconductor industry is unforgiving if you have a false start. Billions of dollars of product A CEO in the Global Semiconductor Industry g come out of our customer’s factories each year and our products are directly involved in the production process. “Therefore, our suppliers and our manufacturing organisation must operate at the very highest levels of quality. Pivotal Systems has daily Sales, R&D and Operations meetings every morning without exception. Our Executives call in from around the world to provide insights and information. Therefore, Pivotal Systems operates off a common understanding of our customers’ reality each and every day. This allows the top 10 executives to assist each other in timely, synchronised, meaningful actions. In many cases, more than one organisation is required to deliver the solutions our customers need.” John then directs his thoughts towards the wider industry and the impact this has on firms, such as Pivotal Systems. He also reveals the secrets of his leadership style, including how to ensure that all his staff understand the vision and strive towards it. “Currently, the global semiconductor industry is in a cycle of rapid growth and continued consolidation. While Moore’s law has slowed, innovation has accelerated to find new ways to fit more transistors per cubic centimetre of silicon. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the abundance of semiconductor opportunities continues to accelerate. The opportunities to improve healthcare, general wellbeing and productivity in our global society have never been greater. I could not be more excited to live now and contribute to this great industry. “I operate with a very simple approach. Understand your customer’s needs, understand how you can best support their needs and then set your priorities. Those priorities need to be validated by our board of directors and modified if necessary. Those priorities then are turned into six to seven measurable enterprise level objectives that are then cascaded down the entire organisation. “Each employee should feel that their work enables successful achievement to one or more of these objectives. We spend management time reviewing in depth how various organisations support each Objective as either a ‘primary owner’ or as a ‘supporter’. If an organisation is doing something outside the boundaries created by these objectives, we eliminate that effort.” The interview then finishes with John’s concluding remarks, which includes the challenges and opportunities that face a CEO, as well as his future aspirations for the firm. “In any high growth company, the CEO must make sure that the enterprise has the cash and talent required to navigate through all the perils of a dynamic global marketplace. This is both never ending and critically important. I once had breakfast with the retired chairman of the board of Applied Materials, James Morgan. He asked me: ‘Hoffman, what’s is the biggest surprise you had becoming a CEO?’ I replied: ‘Jim, I was truly surprised at just how great you were at what you were doing. As general managers, we focused on our products and the customers. We had no idea how hard you were working to make those our only priority’. That lesson has kept me focused on making sure Pivotal Systems key leaders have exactly what they need to be successful. “Looking ahead, I would say that Pivotal Systems is poised to be one of the great technology engines in the high-tech market. Flow control is a great start and we have much work to do to fully reach our potential in this space. The scientists and engineers we have are fantastic. Our relentless pace of introducing new products each year will continue. We will always strive to meet the needs of our great customers and the rest will take care of itself.” Company: Pivotal Systems Name: John Hoffman Email: [email protected] Web Address: pivotalsys.com Address: 48389 Fremont Blvd. Suite 100 Fremont, California 94538 USA Telephone: 510-770-9125