Zigbee Alliance Tobin Richardson on Building A Tech Ecosystem

Hi, my name is Tobin Richardson. I'm the CEO of the Zigbee Alliance. The Zigbee Alliance is a global international standards organization that's focused on delivering interoperability standards for the Internet of Things. We've been around for about two decades. We have hundreds of companies and billions of devices in the field that use standards from the Alliance. Here today to talk to you about Project Connected Home over IP, which is another flagship project within the Zigbee Alliance focused on delivering a smart home protocol for all devices all over the planet. What's really exciting about Project Chip is that it's the first time that you've got every major ecosystem on the planet working together on an agreed -on protocol for the smart home. and as exciting as it is it's obviously not without its challenges there are a lot of challenges with bringing this kind of a project together getting all these companies to agree and that a lot of that has to do with their comfort level and where this is taking place getting everybody to agree that this is the right thing to actually do and so while a lot of companies will start down this path where they have a really dominant share in a certain technology as it's new, it's really about getting to that open stage when it becomes really, really massive and beneficial for consumers. So my role as CEO in kind of addressing that challenge is really active as a catalyst and in trying to bring all of these companies together. Probably the most important thing. that I can do in that role is listen but also create a shared vision for what we're all trying to achieve. Being able to convince the world's largest companies Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, Comcast, so many others that it is okay to work together on this kind of technology and not perpetuate closed ecosystems and walled gardens is not an easy task but they were ready and so probably the most important thing for me as CEO is being able to listen at that time and know when everybody was ready and then act as a catalyst to bring them bring them together and work together as you look at what kind of leadership skills are needed to make something like this happen I like to think that most of that is in listening Listening, making sure that you hear what these companies and these leaders in these companies are really trying to achieve. And finding that, again, that highest common denominator between them so that you can then really push that forward. So it's really a combination of listening, hearing what's happening, hearing where the interests are, finding that common ground and identifying it, but then also really... hard on that because it's not a matter of just identifying it. You want to turn that into action, you want to craft that. So you have to have really honest conversations with the with the key stakeholders that you're working with about what is driving them, what's going to be the thing that drives them. You have to sit back and analyze that and then you need to put it together and really drive it forward. So it is a lot of honesty that's needed with yourself as well as with the stakeholders that you're working with and then walking that tight pushing hard but also not so hard that you push people away. It's important to keep everybody at the table and a project like this if somebody leaves you've lost the value so you have to find that that balance between really pushing hard but keeping everybody everybody there at the table. So what's next in the project? There's a lot. The team's got more than 1 ,300 individuals who are working in some way shape or form on the project today including well companies so mainly it's about meeting milestones that's uh hitting goals and getting the work done and uh and we really have quite a bit in terms of both the technical side uh starting to test products making some final choices on revision one features as well as getting kind of the launch program going in terms of the name for the standard uh the brand identity and things like that so it's it's a really an exciting product launch and we're right in the thick of going through some of the important milestones for the project okay so what advice would I give for folks based on the insights here be patient keep at it meaning be really persistent and something like this it really takes a vision for everyone to share together but you have to listen you have to hear what that is but expect everybody to give you lip service for a while and then they'll finally come around and they'll be really resistant to change. And then before you know it, the dam will break and everybody will be right on the same page. But you have to have a kind, a kind ear and you have to be patient in delivering that vision and also paint a picture of what's possible. I like to talk about this highest common denominator and that's what we're trying to achieve. If you keep that in mind and you can convince folks that that is the right thing for them, right thing for consumers, you're gonna win in the end. but a lot of patience is needed and a lot of listening. And if you keep a really strong vision through all that and a lot of focus, you're going to be really successful. And if you listen to what people want and what they need and help them work together, you can really achieve some really amazing things.