10 questions for IntraLinks CTO John Landy

IDG News Service - Name: John Landy

Age: 41

Time with company: 4.5 years

Education: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Lehigh University; Master of Science in Computer Science, Villanova University; MBA, Babson College

Company headquarters: New York City

Revenue: $184.3 million in 2010

Number of countries: About 15

Number of employees the CTO oversees: More than 50

About the company: IntraLinks is a global software-as-a-service provider, with products that help organizations securely manage content, exchange critical business information and collaborate. More than 1 million professionals in industries including financial services, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer, energy, industrial, legal, insurance, real estate and technology, as well as government agencies, have utilized IntraLinks' cloud-based software. Besides its website, the company has a blog and can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

1. Where did you start your career and what experiences led you to the job you have today?

I started my career working as a software engineer for a small telephony firm in New Jersey that built the software used for testing ISDN [Integrated Services Digital Network] switches. While I was there, I was lucky enough to learn many variants of Unix while developing components and tools to support the product offering. At the same time, I worked on and finished my master's degree.

It was an exciting time to be developing Web software, and I felt I was building products that mattered. In the next 10 years, I moved between product and financial services companies, where I put my experience in IT enterprise architecture to work and developed a broader view of integrating products into a larger architecture.

2. Who was an influential boss for you and what lessons did they teach you about management and leadership?

I have been fortunate enough to work directly for both chief technology officers and a chief product officer, all of whom have taught me valuable lessons in leadership. My most influential boss isn't any one person but a composite of all them, who represent the key traits I have tried to emulate.

What I've learned from theses leaders is that you must focus on your clients, hire the right people and get out of their way, and be unafraid to make the wrong decision.

I learned at an early age that it is very important to manage the business by focusing on a client's needs: A solution is only worth what a client is willing to pay to obtain it.

I also spend a lot of time interviewing and networking to find the right mix of experienced, driven professionals and younger talent. Personal drive is more important to me than skills or degrees, and I try to filter that enthusiasm through the lens of our corporate culture. The lack of making a decision can be as devastating as over-analyzing the perfect solution, an observation I first read in Voltaire and find rings true time and time again.