Feedback Is King (by Dave DeWalt)

I dedicated all of last week to speaking directly with those of you who are our customers, partners and employees. I welcome feedback from each of these groups and take your comments and suggestions very seriously. There’s no better way to improve a business than to talk to the people and organizations most impacted by it, so these meetings will be a big part of my schedule as I continue McAfee’s crusade of driving the security industry forward.

First up was our Partner Advisory Council in Las Vegas, where my executive team and I spent two days meeting with 30 key partners to get their feedback on our strategy, product direction, channel programs, and ways to improve our relationship.

I met with more than 15 partners individually and also conducted a two-hour session with the whole group. The overall feedback we got was very positive, and some great suggestions resulted from our discussions. I came back from Vegas a little poorer from the blackjack tables but a lot richer with information and ideas.

From there I headed to Southern California for more than 10 customer meetings with top commercial and local government officials and executives. Unfortunately my highly anticipated LAPD cruiser experience had to be postponed, but I did meet with superior courts for Los Angeles Country and Orange County. I used to live in Orange County, so thankfully I didn’t have any outstanding parking tickets.

While in SoCal I also conducted a town hall meeting in our Mission Viejo office, home of our Foundstone and Preventsys teams, along with many others. I spent a good deal of time with our consulting and engineering groups and got a little smarter about what makes our solutions so great at protecting our customers’ valuable assets.

It was a long and productive week, and I capped it off with a middle seat facing backward on Southwest Airlines. The Fat Cat made it home safely but was definitely humbled on the way.

Cheers,
Dave

Tags: Dave DeWalt, dewalt