Technology
One-track mind
How Patrick Lo keeps NETGEAR’s mission at the forefront of every initiative
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business | February 2010
Page 1 of 4
When Patrick Lo was a child growing up in southern China during the height of the cultural revolution, his parents were in the labor camps, and he didn’t see them for years.
He dreamed of getting out of the country and seeing what else awaited him in the world, and through hard work and opportunities, he went on to eventually co-found NETGEAR Inc. in San Jose in 1996.
[See Smart Business Executive Editor Dustin Klein
talk with Lo on video about inventory and communication]
The computer networking company has evolved over the years, but despite its success, Lo remembers that feeling of helplessness in not knowing what else was out there or what opportunities he had. So he passionately wants to improve the quality of life for everyone on the planet by providing access to information through technology.
“All along, we absolutely believed that technology changes people’s lives around the world, and we’ve looked at how people’s lives around the world get changed with mobile phones and PCs,” the chairman and CEO says. “Every time these technologies change, they improve significantly the quality of life for everybody. We believed that the Internet did the same thing.”
Because of this belief, Lo and his team have been on a single mission: to put a NETGEAR box in every home and every office around the world so that people will be able to better their lives by connecting to the Internet. It sounds like a grand plan, but with the right approach and execution, it’s possible.
“Just last year, the number of Internet users in China has surpassed the U.S., so you can see the improvement of the quality of life in China and the openness of the country,” he says. “And things are starting to look up in India in the same way. More and more of the Indian people are starting to use the Internet to better their life, even in the villages. I think that’s really the right direction that we’ve pegged and chose.”
By focusing on this mission, NETGEAR’s net revenue has grown from $383.1 million in 2004 to $743.3 million in 2008.
In order to execute on your plan, you have to first set the mission, reinforce it throughout the company, and then hire managers who will buy in to it, as well. Here’s how Lo did it.
