CEO Profiles With The Most Effective CEOs Thriving in Today's Attention Deficit Workplace
DAVE ALBERGA, CEOThe Active Network, Inc.
Despite his chaotic schedule and endless number of responsibilities, Dave Alberga’s friendly disposition and quick and enthusiastic sense of humor are anything but typical for an executive in today's Attention Deficit Workplace.
Emily Nesselroad, Chief Editor of The Attention Deficit Times, recently caught up with the CEO of Inc. Magazine’s 99th fastest growing company on the Inc. 500 list -- The Active Network, Inc. (http://www.theactivenetwork.com/) a software, marketing and registration powerhouse based in San Diego, CA.
Emily Nesselroad (EN): What advice would you give today’s attention deficit executives?
Dave Alberga (DA): Unplug if you can. Getting access to greater technology and thus information faster and more readily, in some respects, has been really positive. It has also led to an environment where it’s very difficult to unplug oneself, where you’re kind of deluged with more and more information every day on a real time basis. The result is, it’s really hard to be productive because you’re always in reactive mode to what’s coming across your Blackberry, email, voicemail, Skype or your instant messenger. I’ve found myself getting caught up in the whole cycle where I am waiting for the next email to come in, just trying to keep my head above water. The fact is that you can spend a whole day responding and realize you haven’t pushed the business forward at all.
EN: Is there a solution?
DA: My advice is, unplug, close your email, and don’t answer your calls for certain parts of your day. Get yourself out of your email, and schedule times of the day when you’re actually going to respond to email, listen to voice mail, and return phone calls. I personally make good use of my assistant. She schedules phone calls for me so that I’m not spending all my time volleying back and forth trying to get calls scheduled or trying to respond to emails.
Emily: It is often easy to lose track of whom and what is truly important in our life. How do you maintain quality relationships in both your personal and work life?
DA: Yeah, I don’t. Basically, I fail at that. You know, I say that only “half-kiddingly.” My feeling is that anyone in a leadership position gives up a certain amount of personal time, and time for personal relationships. It’s a matter of managing my time, and I’m not great at it. But the fact is, the demands of the job are pretty high. So, that puts demand not just on me, but on my family as well.
Emily: Does your work creep into your weekend?
DA: All the time. I have to plan well to avoid it. Because if I don’t, once again, I’m going to get caught up in response mode. It’s next to impossible not to respond to all of the data we’re deluged with because of modern technology. You have to step back, and take the time to think about how you are responding. And so, my feeling is, once again, you’ve got to put the Blackberry away on certain weekend days. It also a sign of respect for the people in your life that you love. If you turn the Blackberry off, you clearly communicate to your family that they are the most important people in your life. That said, we live in a 24/7 work world, and with that comes certain levels of urgency, so I’m not saying to go dark for the whole weekend, just try to put it away for part of the time.
EN: What is one strategy that you use to sustain productivity, despite a ceaseless number of demands on your schedule?
DA: Goal setting. Taking the time to actually write down goals for a month, quarter or a year for the company. I tend to work in shorter terms than a year, I kind of look at things over the course of weeks and months. And then lists - just making a lot of lists, to-do lists. And getting things checked off of that list. If you make a list in the morning, or at the end of the day for the next day, at least you’ve got something staring you in the face all day that really matters as to what’s critical for the business.
EN: Do you make that list on a spreadsheet, like Excel, or do you use the old fashioned steno book?
DA: It depends; sometimes I put it into my Task Manager in Outlook. Most of the time, I just do it on a legal pad.
EN: Would you ever throw out a list?
DA: You know, it’s not a matter of throwing out a list. I’d throw it out after it’s done, because I obliterate my lists. I tend to cross things out to the point where they’re not readable anymore.
EN: The scorched-to-do-list sense of accomplishment?
DA: Yeah, the tattered remains go in the trash.
EN: What kind of technology do you utilize most often?
DA: I’ve got a Blackberry, for me a Blackberry is fundamentally for email. So I have a Blackberry, my desktop email and separate cell phones. I don’t really like the phone function of the Blackberry, so I walk around like a jackass with two phones.
EN: Anything else?
DA: I have a separate cell phone and a laptop computer that goes with me most places. Those are the things I rely upon most; cell phone, Blackberry, laptop. What technology really gives you is access to more data at your fingertips, which in some respects is a time suck. And so, you know, I don’t know whether it saves me time or not. It certainly keeps me more attuned to what’s going on and allows us to be much faster in reacting to needs of the business. I’ve yet to decide whether or not the business would be growing faster or slower if I didn’t have a Blackberry.
EN: And how have your time management strategies changed since Active became a cash positive company?
DA: Significantly. It’s a big difference.
EN: And from a “now-profitable perspective” your management of time has changed how exactly?
DA: I’m now spending more time thinking beyond this month or this week. We’ve had the luxury of being able to hire back a level of middle management folks to help run day-to-day operations, so my senior guys are doing less and less day-to-day operations and more actual thinking about where the company should be next year and the year after. And that’s exactly the same for me. So profitability has given us the leeway to hire great middle-level and senior middle-level management to run day-to-day business. It also gives us time to actually think somewhat strategically about the business, even though we’re still pretty tactical.EN: As a manager dealing with many different types of people, how do you deal with an employee who gets bogged down in the attention deficit workplace? DA: I’d say doing some structured goal setting so they know what they’ve accomplished. Get thinking beyond what you have to respond to today, and the bigger picture. They probably suffer from the same things that I do. The best thing is work with your team and managers to set clear, trackable goals.
EN: As an entrepreneur, you’ve experienced the highs and lows of starting your own companies, what factors have kept you motivated and positive?
Dave: My team – it’s all about the team. Recruiting and retaining a team of folks you want to spend your time with. I have an overriding desire to deliver to people who have invested time, money, effort into the company. Whether it’s Investors, board members, or team members, I just don’t want to let them down. Nothing gets done unless you will it to happen. It helps to have the active environment and flexible hours when it comes to stress management. The majority of the team is active, and living an athletic lifestyle. Our team at Active is pretty inspiring.
EN: How have you seen an office romance add to the attention deficit workplace?
DA: Office romance has to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Who’s involved, in what capacity and proximity to those involved at work. It’s silly to suggest that you can have an absolute rule against office romance with the average age of our team, and the considerable amount of time we spend together. That said, there should be rules around proximity and how it manifests itself. i.e. I would view an intradepartmental relationship differently than a romance between folks in different parts of the operation. If it’s a healthy relationship and it doesn’t get in the way, it’s really hard to mandate social behavior.
EN: what do you do in your spare time?
DA: I don’t have much spare time, but much of the time that I do have is spent with my wife and my two daughters. I spend a lot less time on the bike, running, and climbing than I used to – but it’s definitely a worthwhile sacrifice.
END
The Active Network, Inc., is:
- Top 100 fastest-growing private businesses in America (ranked 99 by Inc. Magazine)
- 15th fastest-growing technology company in North America (Fast 500 by Deloitte & Touche)
- Leading online community for active lifestyle consumers
- San Diego’s top ten fastest-growing technology companies (Ranked 8th by Deloitte & Touche)
- Marketing services business was ranked among top ten fastest-growing promotions agencies in the U.S. (PROMO magazine)
Dave Alberga is chief executive officer for The Active Network, Inc., a leading provider of application services technology and marketing access to community service organizations and the leading online community for active lifestyle consumers. Under Alberga’s direction, The Active Network now serves a customer base that includes local governments, park and recreation, golf courses, non-profits, sports organizations and associations, educational and healthcare organizations, and consumer products corporations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to The Active Network, Alberga spent three years in operations for TicketmasterOnline CitySearch (NASDAQ: TMCS), a leading portal and transaction company. In his three years at TMCS, his initial role as general manager of established markets for CitySearch City Guides was expanded to executive vice president and then, Chief Operating Officer. TMCS career highlights include successfully leading local management teams in 35 markets, while overseeing operating and reporting procedures for each field organization, and participating in raising private and public equity for CitySearch.
Alberga has also held a number of senior management positions with diverse, technology-based companies, such as Linear Technology, a leading analog semiconductor manufacturer, and Silicon Valley Technology, Inc. He brings strong management consulting and brand management expertise from his work with the Boston Consulting Group and Procter & Gamble.
Alberga holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of Arts from Stanford University. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Alberga is also a board member of Running USA, a national non-profit trade organization dedicated to improving the status of road racing and long distance running in the United States.
posted by Mitch Thrower at 12:40 PM
2 comments
Lesson: When someone contacts you for the first time, always confirm it is indeed the person he or she claims to be. And always be very careful of the reply button, because some e-mail programs make it easy to confuse “reply” with “reply all.”
