Go Big or Go Home:  It’s All About Doing Big Things

February 5, 2011
Maynard Webb, CEO

Maynard Webb, CEO

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m very passionate about what we do at LiveOps – not only because of the role we play in evolving the customer service industry, but because it creates an innovative and quality model for work. I couldn’t help but think about our work as I read the State of the Union address. A number of points struck a chord with me as a CEO but the one idea that resonated the most was:  ”We do big things.”

It reminds me of my time at eBay – we did so many big things – and this same spirit and opportunity is the reason I chose to join LiveOps.  We have been doing many big things.  But, amazingly, the most rewarding part is not in the “bigness,” but in the individual pieces that are ultimately responsible for building a powerful (and big) story.

In the Internet world we used to have a phrase – you probably know it (and you probably loathe it): Go Big or Go Home. Although I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing with every ounce of your being or not at all, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

Going Big in this era is about something else. We at LiveOps are proud of the innovation and leadership role we play in transforming how sales and service work is done in contact centers. Read the rest of this entry »


The Next Killer App: Work

November 24, 2010
Maynard Webb, CEO

Maynard Webb, CEO

Net:Work 2010As a technologist, I’m obsessed with searching for the next killer app. Today, there are many companies that are offering amazing services and products that some may deem “killer apps.” What I find interesting is that many of these are aimed at improving our virtual world—becoming a mayor on a social networking site, getting a hole in one or building an empire on a gaming site. It seems so simple when we escape for a few minutes (or hours) from our real world commitments to the fantastic online world we have created! But what about improving our offline “real” world?

To me, the billion-dollar question on the quest to create the next killer app is this: How can we harness the same spirit and imagination we are applying to make our virtual worlds fulfilling to solve our biggest and ugliest problems? Read the rest of this entry »


Innovation Beyond the Hype

August 24, 2010
Maynard Webb, CEO

Maynard Webb, CEO

Innovation has become an overused buzzword. That’s dangerous because people could tune it out and that would have big ramifications. All great change in the world comes from innovation; it is so vital to building a better future. We can’t afford for it to become overplayed and tired.

We love talking about innovation because it’s inherently attached to hope and wrapped in inspiration. It sounds a lot less scary than previous topics I’ve written about such as Meritocracy or The Spirit of And. And, yet, innovation actually carries much more risk. True innovation rests on trying, failing, and trying again. Read the rest of this entry »


The Power of Giving Back: Nothing “Yeah, But” About It

July 29, 2010
Maynard Webb, CEO

Maynard Webb, CEO

I just returned from Aspen where I participated in Fortune Brainstorm: Tech, an annual gathering of tech leaders, media visionaries, entrepreneurs, and a variety of other big brained folks to talk about trends and changes in technology, culture and society as a whole.

The event, and particularly the public discussion I participated in about how technology can supercharge a new generation of nonprofits, left me newly inspired. It also further convinced me of the role giving back has in empowering businesses. Read the rest of this entry »


The “Spirit of And”: Part 2

July 15, 2010
Maynard Webb, CEO

Maynard Webb, CEO

Miracles don’t only happen on the ice—they happen every day in the workplace.

I’ve been lucky enough to experience several in my career. When I went to eBay in 1999 the company was battling some significant technology issues. Many people said I was crazy to join in the midst of such turmoil. Certainly during those dark days at eBay, no one believed it would evolve into the world’s largest online marketplace and transform the world of e-commerce. But the real miracle I witnessed was not eBay’s rise to greatness, but rather the many moments when I saw teams unleash their potential and brilliantly solve what was previously deemed impossible. Read the rest of this entry »


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