Talking heads: Warren Tobin

Warren Tobin

Position: Executive vice-president, sales

Company: StayinFront

Staff: 200


What makes your day at work?


When I see customer references roll in from big corporations around the world.

We started the company in a Ponsonby villa eight years ago, with just four people.

We had grandiose ideas of selling software around the world, but, like a lot of Kiwi companies, we were short of cash and investment was tough to get. We've built the company on customer references, and knocked on a lot of doors without giving up.

What was the most important lesson you learned on your way up?


You are your word.

If you ever make a commitment to a client, a colleague or an employee, you'd better make sure you back it up. Never leave anything unresolved. If you make a commitment, do it.

When did you first become a manager?


In the 1980s I led a sales team for a company called Financial Systems, which was an early provider of personal computer technology in New Zealand.

I'd joined in a technical position, but moved into the sales role.

Managing for the first time reinforced to me that it is all about people - you have to try to get in and work in partnership with people to help them achieve.

I don't believe in dictating or sending e-mails.

What has been your best moment in business?


About four years ago we were really competing for the first time for a multi-thousand-user system in the United States.

We were against every major competitor there is, and we were still at the stage of getting on planes with our bags and knocking on doors.

The best day was the day I walked in, agreed to a deal, and walked out with a $2.5 million cheque in my pocket for the first instalment.

It wasn't just the financial side of it - it was knowing we had beaten everyone there was to beat.

How have you dealt with the pitfalls in your career?


Things don't always go as you would like them to, and it does hurt.

I allow myself to have a little bit of self-pity time, and then I just change the channel and move forward.

It's natural to feel disappointed or upset, but you can't dwell on it for long. There's a big world out there where you can achieve plenty of other good things.

What annoys you most?


My pet peeve is the concept of what I call "middle men" selling IT fashion.

A lot of organisations will go out to a third party to help them to buy or select a system that will give them some benefit.

Quite often the consultants they bring in add very little value, and the only ones who win are the consultants.

Not all consultants are like that, but I often see organisations paying a lot of money to people who really have no idea about their business. It's rife in the technology industry.

What management wisdom is most overrated?

The idea that reading a couple of books will do it. It's life skills, people skills and working as part of a team that does it.

I don't believe managers have to be born, but you can't just read it out of a book.

There used to be a saying in rugby, "deeds, not words," and I think that sums it up. Actions speak louder than anything else.

If you were starting over again, what would you be?


I'd be a professional sailor. I'd be out on the sea every day, and there would be fewer phones.

I've got a launch, and it would be great to get out to watch the next America's Cup.

What will be the big business issue of the next decade?


Determining how to get real value out of e-hype. People buy products and services off other humans, and technology can help us streamline that and provide benefits.

But technology isn't everything - it must be related to how it can help a customer. You can almost over-automate for the sake of it, when there's not really a good business reason for doing it.

How do you relax?


Anything to do with the water. Surfing, swimming, windsurfing, sailing, fishing - you name it, I do it. And I enjoy reading, too.

I don't find as much time for them all as I'd like, but I do make an effort.

* Warren Tobin talked to Paula Oliver.