Oracle

Often the media puts a famous celebrity or successful businessman under the spotlight, and the world is treated to a view of that person for a short while before they are passed over for a new story. In these cases, only one aspect of the person of interest is ever shown. For example, a movie star is only ever considered in the light of their career as a movie star. A businessman is considered purely in light of their business or their fame and notoriety because of their success in business.

The truth that is universally understood but seems to be ignored is that these people are far more than the caricatures that the media portrays. They are fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters, artists and painters, lovers, thinkers, and doers. There is more than meets the eye to every person who has ever existed, and sometimes looking for that something else is worth the time.

Mark Hurd is known as a successful businessman. He has worked for NCR Corp, HP, and now Oracle Corp. His time as CEO and President at each of these companies has always led to increased profit, higher efficiency, and improved customer service. In addition, he has overseen each of the companies growth while maintaining efficient operations.

Follow Mark Hurd on his Twitter @MarkVHurd

While Mark Hurd was CEO of NCR, the company’s net profits increased fivefold, and total revenue increased by 7 percent in one year. When HP hired Mark Hurd as their CEO and President in 2005, positive changes were seen almost immediately. Within a year he brought HP to number one in laptop sales, and the year after, desktop sales hit number one as well. His 4 year tenure with the corporation yielded 22 years of consistent increase in profits, and a total revenue increase of 63%.

Now that Mark Hurd is President at Oracle Corporation, his emphasis on customer service and increased efficiency is as pronounced as ever, and the company looks to grow just as his previous businesses thrived. But in his spare time, Mark Hurd is much more than just a successful businessman.

Mark Hurd is a husband, and a father to two daughters. He is devoted to his Alma Mater, Baylor University, where he played tennis and where his oldest daughter attends. Who would have imagined the successful businessman of three computer companies was once the president of a fraternity and a tennis star? It’s a big load to carry, and having so many responsibilities requires some incredible time management skills, but Mark Hurd excelled while at Baylor.

He still goes to Baylor football games, and has donated generously to the Baylor tennis program. His philanthropy made possible a renovation of the entire tennis facility, renamed the Hurd Tennis Center. The Hurd family also donates to the Baylor Bear Foundation and to the Men’s Tennis Excellence Fund. Mark Hurd will always have a place in his heart for the national championship Baylor tennis program, which helped him grow so much during his collegiate years.

Oracle’s Bellevue location:
Bellevue is located just east of Seattle, Washington. The drive time is about 16 minutes. Seattle is constantly growing in the technical space and was one of the reasons Oracle moved to Seattle. They have a training center here and are constantly hiring developers and programmers in the Seattle area. Phone: (425) 945-8200

We’ve all experienced bad mangers in our careers.  Seattle is a fast paced environment and every company is looking for the fastest and best employee.  However, often times their expectations or egos get in their way of managing others.

This is a great piece on how to be an effective manager.  You maybe one right now in Seattle or working to be one in the future.  Just remember these skills and maybe one day you’ll be the best manager ever.  You too can build these key personality traits.

First lets talk about Mark Hurd because this guy is a leader in the business World.

Mark Hurd is an experienced leader and President of the Oracle Corporation. A former President of NCR Corporation and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Mark Hurd met a number of men and woman with characteristics defining a strong and effective leader. For some men and women, these skills come naturally while for others, the skills are practiced and developed while climbing the management ladder.

Before looking at a person’s qualities as a manager, Mark Hurd first looks at what makes a manager effective. A manager has many responsibilities and duties and only one of them is leading a team. Managers must have their own talents and skills while coaching and mentoring the employees under their watch. Managers need to be organized, efficient, and productive to be profitable for a company. A good manager can motivate a team, support the goals of management, work as a negotiator when there is trouble, and encourage a team to be innovative.

There are also a number of key personality traits that make one person more effective than another. It is important to look beyond sales numbers to spot who the best manager may be. Mark Hurd recognizes a number of personality traits common along strong leaders. The strongest leaders have the ability to communicate, lead others, develop themselves and others, build strong work relationships, and drive positive performance.

Communication is important to Mark Hurd because it is the first key to success and understands the goals and expectations of a business. An effective manager should be able to instruct others and listen just as effectively. Effective managers need to learn to hear more than what is spoken. Mark Hurd believes managers need to be attentive to non-verbal communication and how their own nonverbal actions speak to others.

The ability to lead isn’t as easy as it may seem. Mark Hurd understands a natural leader is one who can drive positive results by providing direction and feedback in a positive way. Leaders should inspire trust and be responsible for making sure tasks are completed when expected. The best performing employee may not be a skilled leader and a negative attitude can negatively affect business performance.

Self-development and developing the skills of others is important. Mark Hurd worked on his skills as a leader for years developing his business skills and knowledge. Effective managers praise employees for performance while encouraging them to develop further as an employee. Managers must improve themselves and be grateful for the opportunities of themselves and others to grow without being too controlling.

There you have it!  Build your key personality traits to be the best in the future and even perhaps the best business manager in Seattle.  There are so many great career and job opportunities in Seattle (including Oracle in Bellevue) so get out there and make a difference.

Living in Seattle Washington, I can tell you first hand it’s difficult to pay the bills and live with the stress of a full time job.  It’s very difficult to find the time to play sports or just unplug from work.  We all want to enjoy our weekends right?  I’ve heard other countries handle this aspect of their lives much easier than us.  It seems like in American we live to work and miss out on just living.

We all know we need to do it better and that is unplugging and taking a break from our stressed out 9 to 5 jobs.  This article goes into how you and I can and should use more recreational activities in our lives.  By adding more recreation into our lives it can actually help improve our careers.

Lets look at someone who knows how to do it. He has seen it all and is at the top of his game. His name is Mark Hurd from Oracle. If you don’t know Oracle is a very successful company (billions of dollars) and even has an office just east of Seattle in Bellevue Washington.

Mark Hurd is a passionate leader and an accomplished tennis player. In 1979, Mark Hurd graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. As a student, Mark Hurd attended on a tennis scholarship and his passion for the sport never diminished. He remains a strong advocate for the sport, and encourages everyone to find a hobby or recreation to enjoy outside of work.

Hobbies are a great to enjoy life outside of work. Participating in physical activities is linked to many health advantages, but not all hobbies need to be physical. Hobbies can be enjoyed every day or every week, but all serve a positive purpose. What is more, hobbies enjoyed regularly can help recharge a person so they perform better at work.

Mark Hurd provides three main reasons participating in a recreational activity or hobby compliments work:

1. Renewed work perspective: While engaging in an activity you enjoy, you have more time to think about your work. A vexing work problem may not look so bad once you’ve been disentangled from it for a few hours. Stepping away from the problem and not thinking about it for a while can also relieve stress and get rid of any negative emotions associated with work.
2. Encourage greater creativity: Skills associated in your preferred hobby or sport might be applied to your career. Talking casually with another person while playing a sport might generate new ideas that can be applied as a solution for change or opportunity. A sport requiring strategy can also help generate new ideas for work once you are away from it.
3. Career building: Not everyone will include hobbies on a resume, but it may help in interviews. Engaging in recreation is a great way to meet new people and build social networks. Hobbies may include volunteer work too, which can be highly beneficial to a person applying for jobs in the medical or service fields. How much a hobby helps with career building is only as relevant as it applies to the field of work you are interested in.

There are numerous reasons why participating in recreation is good for your career. Mark Hurd knows participating in a sport, like tennis, shows a capability of working in a team environment or individually. It demonstrates a sense of discipline and working towards a greater goal. Engaging in recreation also keeps the mind and body sharp. According to Mark Hurd, that may mean a person is better focused in every aspect of their lives, including their careers.

Mark Hurd has been the head of several successful technology corporations. Each of these corporations has increased in size and profits during Mark Hurd’s tenure, all while increasing efficiency. In fact, increasing efficiency has become one of Mark Hurd’s trademarks: During his 25 year tenure at NCR, he was noted for increasing operational efficiency in the Teradata Division, of which he was first vice president and then COO. As President, COO, and CEO of the entire corporation for 4 years, Mark Hurd was once again noted for increasing the company’s operational efficiency.

When he was hired as President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard in 2005, he was immediately recognized for his improvement of the company’s operational efficiency. By the time he left HP, they were number one in laptop and desktop computer sales for most of his tenure, and the price of stocks had doubled.

Now, as President of Oracle Corporation, Mark Hurd is standing by his mantra of increasing efficiency and continual growth. In all business, growth is important for a company’s survival. In the field of technology, where rapid industry-wide developments can take place in single 24 hour period, standing still can be fatal. Mark Hurd is well aware that a company must always be moving forward, always innovating, and always striving to produce better products.

For Mark Hurd, one of the best ways to grow is to focus on customers. In his keynote speech at Oracle OpenWorld 2013, Mark Hurd stressed two issues. Firstly the importance of recognizing value in big data, and secondly the importance of customer service. Big data is something that all companies have to deal with as levels of technology users grow exponentially larger. Customer service is an issue that companies have had to deal with since the beginning of business.

For Mark Hurd, customer service is about relationships. He makes it a priority to visit with and answer the questions of his customers. He wants potential clients to understand that he cares about them and their business, and that by working with him and Oracle, a mutually beneficial partnership will emerge.

In every transaction, there must be a level of trust. In technology, that trust is based upon the assumption that the product or service will work as advertised, and that if there are glitches they will be fixed. Mark Hurd goes out of his way to show customers why doing business with the Oracle Corporation is the best choice for them.

For the Oracle Corporation to grow, Mark Hurd needs to find new customers, and to find ways to network with existing customers to generate profit for both parties. That is why Oracles’ goal is to spend 5 weeks of every quarter, 3 days a week, talking with and building relationships with customers. The goal is to talk to 50 customers a day. While this may sound ambitious, Mark Hurd recognizes that it is necessary for a company to grow.

Mr. Hurd understand the importance of a customer relationship and always building upon that. Every customer should be talked to in the loop about new services or even helping them with training.

The Bellevue office just east of Seattle was created just for that. They call it the Oracle Training University and it helps educate and train their employees for current and future Oracle products. Oracle not only builds and invests into their employees, they want to have the sharpest and most educated team in the Seattle area.

If you like to get a feel for Mr. Hurd, his experience, and leadership, be sure to watch his speech below at Oracle’s OpenWorld event.

Mark Hurd has shown the world time and again that he knows how to run a business. While President and CEO of NCR Corp, Mark Hurd improved the company’s operating efficiency, set up a strong panel of leaders, and enhanced product quality. In 2004, NCR showed a net income jump of nearly fivefold from the previous year, and the amount of total revenue generated increased by 7%.

As CEO and Chairman of the Board at HP, Mark Hurd led the company through a difficult period following the much criticized merger with Compaq three years earlier. Along with successfully executing the combined company, Mark Hurd was able to lead HP into 22 consecutive quarters of increased profits, and a total revenue increase of 63%.

Now, as the President of Oracle Corporation, Mark Hurd hopes to continue his string of successes. Despite these successes and his 30 years of experience in the technical business field, however, Mark Hurd began his career not as a CEO or even a high level manager. Mark began like most businessmen: as a junior salesman for NCR Corp. He worked his way up through the company for the next 14 years in various management, sales and marketing positions before becoming the successful CEO and President he is today.

What Mark Hurd’s journey taught him was how the different facets of business operate, from the level of salesman on up to CEO. He never forgot the lessons he learned as a junior salesman, and the customers with whom he built relationships. That is why Mark Hurd understands even now the importance of customers, and why he has made customer service a priority at every company he has worked for.

Below are some of Mark Hurd’s tips on being a master salesman and building a company with a strong and loyal customer base.
• Be open. Don’t try to trick your customers, and don’t mislead them. Share your vision and your strategies with your customers, your investors, and anyone else who is interested in doing business with your company. If you include your customers in your dreams, then you show your trust in them. In turn, you will earn their trust and they will support your business for as long as they can.

• Be relational. Meet with potential customers face to face, and give them your time. Nothing is more important to the success of your business than having a strong client base, and every possible client deserves your time and respect. At the same, time, customers understand that businessmen are busy, and so they will be grateful for any time you spend with them and will respect your company all the more for it.

• Become a customer-experience evangelist. This is a term that Mark Hurd uses to show companies how important it is to satisfy customers. Many corporations consider a 95 percent customer satisfaction rating to be the highest they can expect, and that satisfying the final 5 percent won’t be worth the effort. Mark Hurd strongly disagrees, and considers every customer problem worth handling personally.

“We are living in an interconnected world, and because of the internet every customer can affect 100 other customers,” says Mark Hurd. “We need to make sure that every customer has a good experience so that they can become ambassadors for our company.”