Leadership Curveballs, Blind Spots and Black Holes, Episode 5

IN THIS EPISODE we’re featuring a special In the Fire Segment with Mike Hamilton, formerly IT exec at MuleSoft and Salesforce, now Vice President of IT at Databricks. In an earlier episode of LCBB, Mike shared how he successfully navigated the Salesforce acquisition of MuleSoft as well as multiple role changes while he was at Salesforce. Mike returns today to give us an update on what he’s learned since his last guest appearance on LCBB and the latest job and organizational changes he’s navigating through.

We know from our survey of tech executives that reorgs continue to be the biggest curveball today’s facing execs. Mike is one of the most resilient, transition-hearty and self-aware executives we know. His advice will certainly have value for everyone. Be sure to also listen to Mike’s past episode on LCBB as well.

Podcast Transcript

Hi everyone, this is Bobbie LaPorte, your host of Executive Aid Stations, Leadership, Curveballs, Blind Spots, and Black Holes. Each week we help busy leaders navigate through complex and uncertain times with practical solutions for real life. In this week’s episode, we’re featuring a special in the fire segment with Mike Hamilton was formerly an IT Executive MuleSoft and Salesforce, and now vice-president of IT at Databricks.

In an earlier episode of LCB, Mike showed how he successfully navigated the Salesforce acquisition of MuleSoft as well as multiple role changes while he was at Salesforce. Mike returns today to give us an update on what he’s learned since his last guest appearance on our show. And the latest job and organizational changes he’s navigating through in his new role at Databricks.

At Executive Aid Station, we recently conducted a brief survey of tech execs and learned that reorgs and job changes are the biggest curveballs facing today’s leaders. Uncertainty is definitely a condition of employment and our current business environment.

It can put you on the defense avoiding risk instead of embracing opportunity. Mike Hamilton knows this all too well. And it’s now putting what he has learned to work in this new role at Databricks.

Mike, welcome back to in the fire. It seems like you’re in the fire quite often. We’d love to hear about your transition to Databricks and, kind of how you charted your course in the very beginning and some of the lesson.

Awesome. Happy to share. So, yes, I started the job as vice president of it over at Databricks recently. And, as with anything changed, you know, being the new norm in life, I think. It’s a, it’s a case where they hadn’t had someone at this level before, but they had had a practice there before they had actually had basic IT team, as well as the business applications team and coming in sort of gaining the landscape.

Generally speaking, my strategy has to be, you know, what’s working and what’s not, and focusing a little bit on where can we get some wins and where can we showcase the team’s talents while also looking for assessing the technical debt that we may have enhanced. We may still have going on as well as, plotting the course for where we can make an impact quickly and make a difference in the way the business runs.

And I think the most important thing to call out those kind of the psychology behind change in general. So with a new leader coming in, for example, that’s a change, it’s a change for me because I’m new and I’m coming into this company and then there’s a change for the team as well. And in my case, in this new role, there were actually two teams being brought underneath me that hadn’t worked together much before.

And so having a little bit empathy and understanding for those folks in terms of like, Hey, so where does everybody see their value coming from? And, how do we knit these two teams together so that they’re able to work together? And so that was, that’s been a really interesting transition for me. , but it’s really good too, to get in there and understand how my team perceives the change and what they’re looking to get out of it. And then lay out very clearly where I see us going.

I think people want to see the leader set a direction early on. In terms of what they can expect from them, how could they expect to see things change, even when you see it coming, it’s always a little bit shocking.

But I think the worst kind of change people can go through is when they don’t see a change coming and managing through changes that we know are going to happen is really setting expectations, making yourself available for feedback, making yourself available, to just talk through and actually seeking people out, especially key players or people who are visibly affected by something and really digging in and understanding what they think about it and how they see it.

As you know, Bobbie, a lot of my philosophy of leadership revolves around my success being derived from the success of my team and the individuals on that team. And that’s why to me, the empathy side of this is such an important facet of it because I really need to make sure that the team is understanding exactly that I care, first of all. But then also that whatever direction I am planning on setting that there’s a little bit of context for them upfront, as well as some inclusion of what they see as valuable.

So that as we’re sending this direction together, it definitely looks like something where I’m taking their input or I’m taking what I’m seeing the landscape and then bringing them along on that journey to set that kind of tone for the team going forward.

So it’s been a really interesting, journey so far. But I think it’s going really, really well. And I’m excited about it.

Well, one of the things we’ve talked about before is that, there is no you say, you know, uncertainty is a condition of employment, right. And there is no certainty.

So you can’t really give that to your team, but what you can give them is some promise of what, you know, what might like what direction you’re heading in, as you said, and talk about what you’ll share with them. So, I’m guessing that that was well received. I’m wondering, kind of, what kind of response are you seeing from them? From you. And from that approach that you just described.

In general, people are, are really positive about it. I think the thing that’s making it easier for my team is the fact that the other value that I sort of like to espouse is enthusiasm and passion for my job.

When I come into the office every day, I’m really upbeat. I’m really excited. I say hi to everybody on my team right now, because they came from two different parts of the company. And they’re merging into one and they sit in different parts of the building, for the time being, we’re growing so fast that we’re out of real estate.

And so I make sure to make the rounds and while I’m making the rounds also say hi to other departments that happened to be in the area like people operations, but I always do so with a level of enthusiasm.

And it’s like, Hey, you know, I’m psyched to be here. I’m really excited to be a part of this team. Let’s go. and I think setting that tone, really helps as well as then more on the one-on-one level and then team level, being able to set expectations. And that seems sort of sensation of like where we’re going as clear.

I had a say in where we were going, things that were important to me are important to Mike, and things that maybe are important to me that Mike says we can’t do yet, that I have a reason why. , and it is really about bringing the team along with me. Again, if my success comes from my individual contributors, then I have a responsibility to know what they think.

And with layers of management and everything else, just working the way it is, it takes some extra effort, especially initially to make those connections with people at every level and try to understand what they see and how what their view of the world is. And then really try to knit that into and stitch it into where I’m taking the group so that everybody feels like they’ve been a part of the journey.

But it does take some, some research, you know, and it takes caring about the people on my team. But, without that extra concern and that enthusiasm, I think people don’t necessarily think it’s authentic. And I think authenticity is really what people want more than anything.

Right. Totally agree that it does take time, but I think it’s a very worthwhile investment for you to be getting to know people and kind of bringing them into the conversation and connecting with them early on, which I know is challenging with being in a new, a new, new role and a new company and trying to navigate the whole landscape of the executive team and all the other people that are your internal stakeholders.

Well, that’s very, very helpful. Thank you so much for coming back to visit with us and giving us a quick update on where you’re headed, and I wish you all the best at Databricks and, in any future moves you make. We’ll definitely want to know about those as well.

And thanks to our listeners. We hope this week’s episode of Leadership Curve Balls, Blind Spots, and Black Holes provided you with some practical solutions and insights to the challenges you face. As you navigate your own leadership journey

Be sure to visit our website www.bobbielaporte.com to hear Mike’s original, episode. And don’t forget to join us next week for another episode of Leadership, Curveballs Blind Spots and Black Holes.