Stories from a Lifetime in Business: Douglas Shinsato
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Douglas Shinsato is the managing director of Anthill Ventures and a member of the advisory board of Via Equity, one of Northern Europe's most successful investment firms.
Currently based out of Hawaii, Doug has been a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii and has served in senior leadership roles at many leading technology companies including IBM, Xerox, as well as on the board of Mphasis and Deloitte Japan.
I love seeking Doug's mentorship around leadership and venture building, and he has been kind enough to advise me on my journey towards tech and entrepreneurship.
P.S. — I will be sharing podcast transcripts for all the episodes I record in 2020 to my newsletter community. Subscribe here 👇🏽
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Summary:
Background:
2:07 Growing up, Education
4:22 Why did Doug study law at Stanford?
30:32 Doug's current work adventures
Anecdotes:
5:42 Doug's role in deregulation of airlines and working for the US Assistant Attorney General
8:29 Anti-trust in the 70s and 80s vs anti-trust now (big tech)
9:26 Working in Japan and learning about working in a new culture
12:40 Role of luck in career success -- joining MPhasis' board when they had 60 employees
55:27 Doug's Xerox story — why it is important to have fun along the way :)
Advice on venture building:
10:45 What new leaders should be really focusing on when they go about expanding their ventures?
34:31 Thoughts on starting up and building an early-stage team
37:45 On leaders
39:59 Amazon vs American Airlines culture
40:56 How is a good board helpful at a company?
54:21 Single most valuable trait you look for when you go about building a team or partnering with someone
Tech Trends:
17:22 Excitement about telemedicine and edtech
19:57 Why is there an opportunity to reinvent the university business model with COVID-19 as a driver of change?
22:37 Bigger universities vs Smaller universities
Advice to students and professionals:
25:36 What would you study if you were a student entering college in 2020?
28:54 Reinventing yourself to scale the career ladder
On Innovation and change management:
43:06 Kodak, Digital Equipment started off as innovators
48:15 Future of air travel
51:35 Change management is about changing management, not management processes
Productivity and Rituals:
15:49 Doug's routine during quarantine
44:39 On networking and building relationships. Role of a personal CRM 30 years ago and now
58:03 How greeting his wife every morning has been the game-changing ritual all these years for Doug