John W. Thompson
John W. Thompson
John Wendell Thompson is an American businessman and is the CEO of privately held Virtual Instruments and the chairman of Microsoft. He is a former vice-president at IBM and the former chief executive officerof Symantec. Thompson later became an independent director on the board of Microsoft, and on February 4, 2014, he was named the chairman of the board. He led the search for Microsoft's next CEO; as a result, Satya Nadella was selected...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth24 April 1949
CountryUnited States of America
We know what they're going through. We sympathize with them. We're still Southerners and we're still pulling together. It's all sweet tea and casseroles.
I grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. My dad took me hunting, trapping and fishing when I was a kid.
My friends and family are amazed I've done so well. I was not a model student. No one expected that I'd build a Fortune 500 company at Symantec.
What the Snowden scenario proved is that the weakest link is not the technology, the weakest link is the individual; we shouldn't kid ourselves.
I'm an intensely competitive guy who is driven by the idea that accepting mediocrity or accepting defeat is not the way you succeed in life.
I've learned several lessons over the years. First, never take yourself too seriously, or work is boring. Next, people make the difference. You can have great technology, but if it's not complemented by great people, it won't go anywhere. Finally, customers buy from people they like.
The U.S. and Israel probably lead the way in terms of venture investment in technologies companies focused on the security paradigm. That is quite encouraging.
People will point the finger at the U.S. and go on about those wacky Americans and their wacky gun culture. That is a real easy way of diverting attention from the real problems the gang culture presents.
They said it was like a war zone.
Right now we have a closure rate between discovery and exploitation of four to six months. We need to be more in the realm of seven to 10 days. That is an enormous challenge.
The thing we have to be careful of is that the Internet is a global communications medium, and if one country tips the balance in regulating its use or regulating what companies or individuals do on the web, it could have an economic impact that might be unintended, quite frankly, by the regulations themselves.
The first half, the ball just kept hitting us in the hands, and we kept dropping it. It was 'I throw it to you, you drop it. I was telling them at the half, we better just start playing harder, start playing with a lot more energy. That was the difference.
There has been no appreciable improvement in our country's ability to produce the kind of talent we need in this space. There have been some small initiatives around the country that have been noteworthy.
Over the near term there is clearly the opportunity to work with Microsoft to do to a better job of creating a more secure Windows experience for users around the world.