Ray Zinn: Must a successful CEO have a big ego
In my experience, just about every CEO has a large ego. But is it necessary? In fact, is it helpful? Those are the questions I asked Ray Zinn, the former longtime CEO of Micrel. He claimed to not have...
View ArticleZinn on the Internet of Things
Ray Zinn, former Founder and CEO of Micrel, and I discussed the Internet of Things (IoT) in this week’s segment. My question for him had to do with “fads” in general, and forgive me if you don’t think...
View ArticleZinn on the Greatest Inventions of Our Time
Ray Zinn, former Founder and CEO of Micrel, has been around for a while and has seem=n more than his share of game-changing inventions. So I asked him what he thought was actually the greatest...
View ArticleZinn on the outsourcing outside the US
Here’s a topic that’s pretty controversial—moving jobs to third-world countries to save money on labor. It’s a very common practice, but it’s not one that people are proud of, and that was the case...
View ArticleZinn on “free college” in the U.S.
One of the current presidential candidates is touting that we should be offering free college tuition to our young people. While in theory that seems like a great idea, when you start to dig into it a...
View ArticleZinn on valuations of hardware companies verses software companies
It’s no secret that software companies are valued higher than hardware companies, even though, in many cases, they don’t have a tangible product to sell. So why are they worth more? That’s a great...
View ArticleZinn on Big Brother
The technology is available to monitor peoples’ action 24/7. Is that a good thing? That’s a good question, and one that I asked of someone who made that technology available, Ray Zinn, the former CEO...
View ArticleZinn on Autonomous Cars
Autonomous cars are coming, whether you like it or not. The biggest unknown to this point is when. The other variable is just how autonomous they’ll be. Do you sit in the back seat and work or snooze?...
View ArticleZinn on Brexit
The UK has ceded form the EU. Does that mean the sky is falling, or is it much ado about nothing, particularly in the technology space? That’s the key question I posed to Ray Zinn, the former CEO of...
View ArticleZinn on the broken education system
Pre-college education differs greatly in the U.S., depending on where you live and how much you’re willing to pay. By the same token, college education also varies greatly, again by how much you’re...
View ArticleZinn: conferences/tradeshows are a boondoggle
There are lots of technical conferences and tradeshows in the embedded electronics arena. Some are local, some are distant, with many outside the U.S. My question for Ray Zinn, the former longtime CEO...
View ArticleZinn: you need to own a fab
Ray Zinn, as the former longtime CEO of Micrel, is a big believer in owning a fab as a semiconductor company, as opposed to being fabless, which is the new trend. Part of the reason has to do with...
View ArticleRay Zinn: Promoting from within vs. looking outside the company
Over 37 years, Ray Zinn, author of Tough Things First and former Micrel Founder and CEO, had more than his share of experience promoting people. But when making that call on whom to promote, is it...
View ArticleZinn: When you should lie
Ray Zinn, as the former longtime CEO of Micrel, tells the truth. At least that’s what he says, and frankly, I tend to believe him. But I asked him whether there is a right time to lie. And clearly...
View ArticleZinn: How do you fire someone
Most of us have encountered this situation, especially those of us that are a little longer in the tooth—having to fire or lay off someone, or worse, being on the opposite end of that discussion. In my...
View ArticleZinn: Is consolidation in our industry a good thing?
In this week’s regular segment with Ray Zinn, the former longtime CEO of Micrel, we talked about consolidation in our industry. It’s a phenomenon that seems to be running rampant of late. I asked Ray...
View ArticleZinn: Reliance on a mobile device can be a scary addiction
Many of today’s CEO are considerably older than many of their employees. Is it different to relate to the younger generation? Particularly with the handsets that seem to be permanently attached to the...
View ArticleZinn: China is eating our (electronics) lunch
For some time now, our semiconductor and electronics industry has been losing out to China, or at least that’s the perception. The other perception is that the quality coming from the Chinese...
View ArticleZinn: The US as the world’s peacekeeper
For as long as I can remember, the United States has arguably served the role as the world’s peacekeeper. Recently, there has been much debate as to whether the U.S. should remain in that role. For...
View ArticleZinn: Are you too old to work?
We can cite many examples of when people should have stepped down from their positions earlier than they did, simply because age had caught up to them. In our weekly discussion, Ray Zinn and I...
View ArticleZinn: Maintaining a healthy work-life balance
Everybody knows the workaholic. In fact, you may be one yourself. Work weeks are also a cultural thing, as 50- to 60-hour weeks are norm in Silicon Valley or Japan, but not so much in Europe. I asked...
View ArticleZinn: ZinnStarter, the Zinn version of Kickstarter
Most people are familiar with Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform that helps Makers get their projects off the ground. Ray Zinn, the longtime CEO of Micrel, and our weekly guest, started his own...
View ArticleZinn: Your supervisor wants you to be unethical
A well-known bank recently found itself in hot water when it was reported that it was conducting unethical business. In some cases, supervisors were telling their subordinates that they need to...
View ArticleZinn: Should you be paid for unused sick time?
In my back of the woods, small municipalities are often required to write big (really big in some cases) checks to retiring workers for unused sick time. In most businesses, salaried employees...
View ArticleZinn: Should the world fear Trump?
As we get closer to the election, just days away now, I’ve been asking folks who are not from the U.S. what they think about our candidates. This was actually a pretty easy exercise as I was at a...
View ArticleZinn: Who is really benefiting in mega-mergers
There have been no shortage of very large companies acquiring or merging with other very large companies. The most recent announcement of Qualcomm buying NXP for somewhere in the neighborhood of $40...
View ArticleZinn: It’s Trump!
Surprise, surprise. Donald Trump shocked the world and won the U.S. Presidential election. While there are so many things to debate with respect to his candidacy, I asked Ray Zinn on our weekly call...
View ArticleZinn: Will Trump’s wall kill the semiconductor industry?
President-Elect Trump says he’s going to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants and do whatever he can to remove those illegals that are already here. Will that have an effect on our industry?...
View ArticleZinn: Help! The big guys are stuffing standards down my throat
Standards are (too) often defined by the larger vendors and they often do so by circumventing the normal channels, simply because they have enough weight to throw around to make this happen. Is this...
View ArticleZinn: Help for those looking to do a startup
A start-up company often starts with a great idea. But it clearly takes WAY more than that. However, many entrepreneurs, or potential entrepreneurs don’t have a clue where to start. Ray Zinn, who ran...
View ArticleZinn: The best and worst of 2016
In our weekly chat, I asked Ray Zinn what he thought was the best thing that happened in our industry, and also the worst thing that happened in our industry this year. In a year that had a lot of...
View ArticleZinn: Predictions for 2017
Predictions are easy, mostly because very few people ever go back to check if the prediction came true. Ray Zinn, who has been in our embedded industry longer than most, has a pretty good track record...
View ArticleZinn: Automotive is hot and getting hotter
Just back from CES, it was clear that the electronics content in today’s cars is huge and growing. The question I asked Ray Zinn in our weekly chat, is whether this content is warranted, or whether...
View ArticleZinn: An aggressive CEO makes a big difference
The CEO of nVidia, Jen-Hsun Huang, spends a lot of time talking about how great his company is and how great their products are. I’d likely agree with that assessment, but the discussion for this week...
View ArticleZinn: What’s better, high volume or high margin?
Generally, semiconductor makers fall into one of two camps: high-volume, low-margin products, or low-volume, high-margin products. The proponents of each style would likely argue that their mentality...
View ArticleZinn: Should we increase military/defense spending?
It’s a pretty common argument, whether we spend enough on our military. That could be on weapons, personnel, or something else. And it’s tough to get a consensus on the question. In our weekly chat, I...
View ArticleZinn: Is it even possible to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.?
More than one President has pledged to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Some may even argue that it’s taking place. But I suspect we’d all agree that the number of jobs created in that space...
View ArticleZinn: The stock market is still going up, to record highs. Is that good?
The stock market continues to rise. A) What does that mean to the embedded/electronics/semiconductor industries? And B) How long will it go on? Clearly these are questions that go way beyond my...
View ArticleZinn: What you can expect in five years
Obviously, future predictions are just that—predictions. But some people are in a better position that others to predict what’s going to happen in our embedded electronics industry. One such person is...
View ArticleZinn: The Finale; Wrapping Up a Year of Podcasts
Ray Zinn is famous in Silicon Valley, as the 37-year CEO of Micrel, and current author, speaker, and podcaster. After speaking with Embedded Computing Design every week for 52 weeks, we’re putting a...
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