Diane Greene, a luminary in the technology industry, has left an indelible mark through her pioneering work as a co-founder and CEO of VMware, her leadership at Google Cloud, and her influential role as an investor and board member for companies like Alphabet. Her career is a masterclass in technological vision, enterprise leadership, and navigating the complex dynamics of Silicon Valley.

On Leadership and Management

Greene’s leadership style is characterized by a deep technical understanding, a focus on the customer, and a belief in empowering teams.

  1. On the role of a CEO: "The CEO’s job is to articulate a vision, make sure the team is excellent, and make sure you have enough cash."
  2. On building great teams: "You just have to be really focused on bringing in the absolute best people and making sure you have a culture that retains them."
  3. On fostering innovation: "You have to give people the freedom to innovate. You can't command and control innovation."
  4. On authentic leadership: "I think it’s really important to be yourself. If you’re trying to be something you’re not, people see through it."
  5. On decision-making: "You make the best decision you can with the data you have, and then you move forward. You can't be paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake."
  6. On managing engineers: "Engineers want to know that what they’re doing matters. They want to be working on something that’s going to have a big impact."
  7. On company culture: A strong culture is about "everybody being on the same page, everybody understanding what the company is trying to do."
  8. On transparency: "It’s important to be transparent with your team about the challenges you’re facing. They’re smart, they can handle it."
  9. On facing challenges: "It's always better to run toward the problem."
  10. On execution: "Ideas are easy. It's all about the execution."

On Entrepreneurship and Building VMware

The story of VMware is a legendary tale of disruptive innovation. Greene’s insights from this journey are invaluable for any founder.

  1. On the founding of VMware: Greene, along with her husband Mendel Rosenblum and others, saw the potential of virtualization to revolutionize computing. "We really believed that virtualization was going to be a fundamental part of the future of computing."
  2. On disruptive technology: "When you have a truly disruptive technology, you can’t just go to the market and ask them what they want. They don’t know."
  3. On creating a new market: "We weren't just building a product; we were building a whole new market."
  4. On focus: "One of the hardest things for a startup is to stay focused. There are so many shiny objects."
  5. On the importance of the initial team: "The first ten people you hire are the most important people you will ever hire."
  6. On customer obsession: At VMware, "we spent a lot of time with customers, understanding their pain points."
  7. On building an ecosystem: "We knew we couldn't do it alone. We needed to build a strong ecosystem of partners."
  8. On the Dell-EMC acquisition drama: The experience taught her the immense importance of maintaining control over the company's destiny and the complexities of dealing with large corporate partners.
  9. On leaving VMware: "When you’re the founder and CEO, it’s your baby. Walking away is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do."
  10. On her legacy at VMware: She is credited with taking a complex, academic idea and building it into a multi-billion dollar enterprise that fundamentally changed the data center.

On Cloud Computing and Leading Google Cloud

Recruited to make Google a dominant force in the enterprise cloud market, Greene's tenure was focused on transforming the company's approach.

  1. On the shift to cloud: "The move to the cloud is the biggest platform shift we've ever seen in computing."
  2. On her mission at Google Cloud: "My goal was to build the best enterprise cloud."
  3. On competing with AWS and Azure: She emphasized Google's technical superiority in areas like data analytics and machine learning. "We may be number three, but we have the best technology."
  4. On enterprise readiness: "To sell to the enterprise, you have to be an enterprise company. It's a different mindset."
  5. On Google's strengths: "Google’s core strengths in infrastructure, data analytics, and machine learning are what enterprises need to transform their businesses."
  6. On Kubernetes: "Kubernetes is a secret weapon for us. It came out of Google, and it’s the future of how you develop and deploy applications."
  7. On the importance of partners: A major part of her strategy was building a robust partner ecosystem to help sell and implement Google Cloud services.
  8. On transforming Google's sales culture: She worked to build a more traditional enterprise sales organization within Google, a significant cultural shift.
  9. On stepping down from Google Cloud: "It's been a remarkable three years... The cloud space is a fast-moving, high-stakes game, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished."
  10. On the future of the cloud: She sees a multi-cloud world where customers use different clouds for different workloads.

On Technology and Innovation

  1. On the power of virtualization: "Virtualization lets you run multiple operating systems on a single piece of hardware, which was a huge efficiency gain."
  2. On the importance of abstraction: "Virtualization, containers, Kubernetes – it's all about creating layers of abstraction that make it easier for developers to build and deploy applications."
  3. On artificial intelligence: "AI is going to be more transformative than the cloud."
  4. On data as the new oil: "The companies that are going to win are the ones that can effectively use their data."
  5. On the impact of technology on society: "Technology is a tool. It can be used for good or for bad. It's up to us to make sure it's used for good."
  6. On the speed of technological change: "The pace of innovation is accelerating. It's an incredible time to be in the tech industry."
  7. On open source: "Open source is a powerful force for innovation. It allows for collaboration on a massive scale."
  8. On the future of the data center: She foresaw the move towards a software-defined data center, a vision that started at VMware.
    • Source: This vision was the foundation of VMware's strategy.
    • Link: VMware Whitepaper Archives (Early papers from her era show the genesis of this idea).
  9. On security: "In this new world, security has to be built in from the ground up. It can't be an afterthought."
  10. On engineering mindset: "I was trained as an engineer, and I think that's given me a unique perspective on how to build and scale technology companies."

On Career, Diversity, and Personal Growth

  1. On being a woman in tech: While she often downplays the gender issue, she has acknowledged the industry needs more diversity. "We need more women in engineering and in leadership roles."
  2. On her unique background: With a background in mechanical engineering and naval architecture, she didn't follow a traditional path to Silicon Valley CEO.
  3. On the importance of mentors: "Having great mentors has been critical to my career."
  4. On work-life balance: "You have to be deliberate about carving out time for your family and for yourself."
  5. On giving back: She is an active investor and mentor to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
  6. On continuous learning: "I'm a perpetual student. I'm always trying to learn new things."
  7. On her competitive spirit: As a former national sailing champion, she brings a fierce competitive drive to her business endeavors.
  8. On taking risks: "You can't be afraid to take risks. That's where the biggest rewards are."
  9. On her investment philosophy: She invests in founders who are passionate, have deep technical expertise, and are going after big, transformative markets.
    • Source: Based on public information about the startups she has backed.
    • Link: [Her profile on venture capital websites often lists her areas of interest, reflecting this philosophy.]
  10. On her legacy: Diane Greene's career is a testament to the power of a deep technical insight combined with visionary business leadership, fundamentally reshaping the landscape of modern computing.