Cover Story
The Ott file
Smart Business Orange County | May 2008
Born: Pasadena, Calif.
Education: Associate of arts, Pasadena City College; attended Cal State Northridge
First job: I was a busboy at Marie Callender’s. When I was going to college, it was a
good way to pay for dates.
What is the greatest business lesson you’ve learned?
Take nothing for granted. The smallest detail matters. Anything that’s permanent will
change.
How does gathering data benefit your decision-making?
It allows you to make a more researched decision. Very rarely do I not have a report at my
fingertips already or that one of the folks in IT can’t produce for me within 30 minutes.
It’s very rare that I can’t get something I need. Even things that I think up that are very
elaborate and complex, they find a way to get me the information very quickly.
How do you integrate that data?
You have to show it to people. It’s great to have a report that you look at, but if those
around you don’t know the guts of the report and the information inside of it, it doesn’t do
you any good. As far as being collaborative, when they have that information, they have different perspectives, so they may see something in the information that you don’t see.
