Digital Siege (ePub)

The average age of an S & P 500 CEO is 55. The average age of an ""Internet"" entrepreneur is half that. They are in different worlds and yet engaged in an online battle. The established corporation is like a castle on the hill. The entrepreneurs are like a thousand flowers blooming around the castle walls, each focused on claiming a particular stone in the wall. What can the corporate CEO do with their rigid legacy organization and layers of entrenched managers? As John S. Reed, former CEO/Chairman of Citicorp, says in his foreword, ""I had the opportunity to be innovative while the head of Citi for sixteen years from 1984-2000. In retrospect I should have been bolder, more willing to totally focus and more willing to spend less time on the routine in spite of its importance."" At the other extreme is W. L. (Bill) Schrader, ""father of the commercial Internet"", who says in his comments, ""We had about 200 people in the industry who started the academic Internet in the 80's after the military, CSNet and Bitnet yielded control to NSFNet and then to commercial players. We added a 0 to that beginning 200 every quarter and then every month and then every day, it seems. Now, there ain't no one going to high school without a fucking smart phone, and a laptop to college, in every country, and ONLY to get to the Internet."" Digital Siege is a fascinating insider's look at how the Internet is transforming the economic organization, as we know it, pitting the startup against the establishment, the young technical networker against the executive ensconced in his tower. David Browning, an expert who has been successful in both worlds brings it to life with first hand stories from both the executive suite and the entrepreneur's coffee shop.