What are the Rules of Engagement Doing Business in China - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 19 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares lessons learned working in a Chinese business environment. Through experience working at a trade show and managing a team, Pryor identifies differences in both communication and management styles. Pryor learns how to establish respect and trust working with Chinese teammates, partners, and customers. To reduce his outsider status, Pryor prioritizes understanding his team's interests and background before getting to business. Pryor earned an MBA from the University of Navarra IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

How MBA Product Manager Measures Success - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 17 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor notes two ways to improve product positioning and performance in business. First, Pryor uses his sales team as a qualitative sounding board to understand competitive positioning. Second, Pryor does decision analysis using marketing data to understand inputs affecting product sales performance. He notes that great products do not always sell and that these two feedback mechanisms help improve product functionality and also drive sales by satisfying market demand. Pryor earned his MBA from the University of Navarra IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

How Profit and Loss Responsibility Motivates Product Managers - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 16 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares how profit and loss responsibility motivates performance in his field. Pryor details the importance of motivating managers financially, comparing East Coast and West Coast Internet business cultures. To Pryor, East Coast product management styles are more financially and numbers driven, imparting a business management feel. Pryor notes how West Coast style differs, as it takes a more developmental and technical specification focus, imparting a more technologist feel.

How Successful Product Managers Communicate Across Cultures - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 15 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares tips on effective team communication in multi-lingual and multi-cultural environments. Pryor references his own experiences working across teams in Europe and China and how focusing on message fidelity, or accuracy, across parties enabled success.

How to Use an MBA in a Product Management Career - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 14 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor how he has used his MBA to develop his career. Pryor applies general management skills - operations, accounting, finance, marketing, sales - in his product manager role working across company divisions. The diversified experiences provide Pryor general management training and experience that prepare him for future career advancement.  Pryor earned his MBA from the IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain and his BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

Why Broad Experience is Useful in a Product Management Role - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 13 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Ramsey Pryor explains why his broad experience has helped him develop an international product management career. Pryor resists specialization and focuses on learning a little about a lot. This "Jack-of-all-trades" approach helps Pryor manage the various relationships - programmers, legal, design, sales, etc. - fundamental to product management success.

How Design Skill Applies in Product Management Career - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 12 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares how his father's design background shaped his own expressive and creative interests in music, language, and communications. Ultimately, this results in Pryor applying his creative process to evolve the ways thinks look and behave in Internet product management.  Pryor earned an MBA at the University of Navarra IESE Business School in Barcelona,  Spain an a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

Why to Embrace Uncertainty When Developing an Internet Career - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 11 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares why the uncertainty associated with Internet careers is attractive, not off-putting. Not knowing what comes next motivates Pryor's innovation focused career pursuits. At a broader level, the uncertainty shifts priorities away from lifetime career, or cradle to grave, one company career options and toward one shaped by many possibilities provided by products and technologies not yet discovered or developed.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spainish at Northwestern University.

How to Transition from Business Consulting to Product Marketing - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 10 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor details how he started his consulting career at Accenture after graduating Northwestern University and migrated to Silicon Valley to pursue work in Internet product marketing. While consulting, Pryor gains technology experience and training he then applies to a fast-paced Internet culture, beginning with a role at search engine Ask Jeeves. Pryor leaves behind a long-term consulting partner career track for the immediate responsibility Silicon Valley presents.

Why International Product Managers Must Be Good Listeners - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 9 of 22 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, international Internet product management executive Ramsey Pryor shares why listening enables him to be successful in his work. Product managers are responsible for bringing an idea to market. They often lack direct reports across groups where commitment is essential to project success. As a result, Pryor notes the importance of both listening to individual group needs and using an open communication approach to secure commitment. As someone with experience working across North America, Asia, and Europe, Pryor also shares how effective communication becomes even more important working in multi-national and multi-cultural environments.

How Entrepreneur Works Through Isolation Challenges - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 15 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen shares the challenges that come with flexibility enabling him to work with anyone in the world at any time. Olsen finds it challenging to build connections over email and the phone and looks for other ways to build rich interactions. As a result, Olsen is prioritizing more in-person interaction on projects to build stronger, more trusted relationships.

How to Assess Kenya Mobile Health Care Project Viability - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2010 Cature Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen walks through the Kilifi Kids non-profit decision making process for its mobile health (mhealth) project. First, Olsen and his team confirm there is community-based support within Kilifi to provide project resources. Two, his team identifies senior public health support, specifically at the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH). Third, Olsen reviews at technology capability, ease of use, cost, and scalability and confirms technology, developed by organizations such as UNICEF, available and ready. Lastly, Olsen then confirms there is a story and an investment pitch that will resonate with project funders. Only after working through these decision inputs does Olsen green light and initiate the mobile health project.

Why Cell Phones Will Revolutionize Developing World Health Care - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 13 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen details the transformative potential of mobile health care - or mhealth - solutions across the developing world. Olsen specifically highlights public health and medical services access issues and how high cell phone penetration, especially in developing nations, can improve services scheduling, messaging, and provisioning in areas long without access to care.

How Non-Profit Assembles Mobile Health (mHealth) Project Team - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 11 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen founds a non-profit, Kilifi Kids (www.kilifikids.org) and builds relationships with Kenya-born project team members. The relationships develop across IT, education, and public health project initiatives and inform the organization's decision to pursue a mobile health care, or mhealth, initiative to use cell phones to improve health care data collection and service provisioning in Kilifi, Kenya local communities.

Why Managing International Project Teams Starts With Trust - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 6 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen shares how lessons learned doing software consulting have taught him the importance of building trusted relationships managing international projects. Olsen's non-profit, Kilifi Kids (www.kilifikids.org) works with a Kenyan team to execute initiatives. While Kenya carries a corruption stigma, Olsen has identified groups, specifically Kenyan Rotary Clubs, to provide a trusted foundation for money transfer, project staffing, and initiative execution. As a result, the organization continues to effectively roll out education and public health programs to support children, from scholarships to deworming to mobile health care.

How Disaster Relief Work Informs Technology Career Choice - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 3 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen shares how his mother's work selling network infrastructure equipment to provide disaster relief shaped his views on the transformational potential of technology. Olsen views technology innovation as problem solving and not problem causing.

How Stanford Symbolic Systems Studies Direct Career - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 2 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen channels his broad interests into studying symbolic systems at Stanford University. Olsen's studies take a multi-discipline perspective - computer science, history, philosophy - in his studies. Upon graduation, Olsen continues to work in insurance industry and founds an Internet consulting firm. The interdisciplinary approach helps Olsen balance pitching clients ideas and technology project execution.

Why Cross Discipline Work Fosters Creative Problem Solving - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 1 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen shares why he believes creative problem solving is so powerful when working at the intersection of disciplines. Olsen highlights his current work for www.kilifikids.org applying mobile technology solutions in context of public health in Kenya. Olsen finds motivation by seeking creative ways to use existing products and services by applying them in new industries.