Vanguard Magazine

gAme changer 42 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020 www.vanguardcanada.com See the full interview online Q What is your role in your organization today? Sixteen years on, I'm still the CEO for Sentient but prefer to act in more of an oversight role. I have a very talented Business Leadership Team that handles the day-to-day operations, allowing me to focus on other things. This ensures we've got resources to handle important issues when they inevitably pop up. Q What was your most challenging moment? The first time you think "we could go broke". That was back in 2011. The company was growing, our cash burn rate was high. Cash flow was an issue and we came close to running out of money. I asked many of the team if they'd con- sider working for sweat equity and most of them did. It saved the company and worked well. We got through it and I'm extremely proud and indebted to the team from those days. Mind you, those that did participate are now sitting on a 10x return on their investment, which is a nice silver lining. Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? I'm not a person of many habits, but the one that has probably had the most im- pact has been my daily planner. It's still an old paper-based planner from 1996. My tech team occasionally chuckles about my use of a paper-based system, to which I reply, "It is un-hackable, works 24/7, and never needs charging". But it works. They know, if I make a note in there, they're going to be followed up on it. Q What are some of the biggest impediments to innovation in your industry sector? One of the biggest impediments to in- novation for us is the length of time it takes to have new capability deployed in government and defence programs, and the impact that has on funding fur- ther advances for SMEs such as Sentient. Thankfully we have been able to gain support from several defence innovation programs, but the proof of the value of innovation comes when it is making a real difference by being used operationally. Q What people or organizations do you believe best embody the innovation mindset? I think individual people are the drivers of innovation, more than organizations - Steve Jobs more than Apple, Bill Gates more than Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos more than Amazon. Some organiza- tions try to develop processes to gener- ate more innovation within the organi- zation but it's a difficult challenge. It's hard to make people innovative if they're not inclined that way. I think the best approach for an organization is to find the innovative people within the organi- zation, recognize them, motivate them, and give them the responsibility and au- thority to innovate. Then let them do it. Q How has innovation become engrained in your organization's culture and how is it being optimized? Innovation has always been at the heart of Sentient's culture. We have a long his- tory of working with defence, research groups, and industry leaders to develop innovative solutions to complex prob- lems that have resulted in industry-first capabilities for the defence and security industry. As we grow our team, over 60 per cent of whom have PhDs and Masters qualifications, we continue to seek out the brightest and best in our fields from around the globe to drive the company's success through further innovation. Q What technologies, business models, and trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years? Our success has been built through advances in AI, computer vision, and leading-edge imagery analysis. Continu- ing with advances in deep learning and imaging technologies is enabling further breakthroughs in extracting intelligence to provide timely and insightful situa- tional awareness to operators and mission commanders. Coupled with the increas- ing use of UAVs, we see these combining to greatly increase their effectiveness for a wide range of defence, safety, and security operations. Q What is your parting piece of advice? Every good leader knows the people are what make any great company great. They know to find their good performers and treat them well, give them challenges, re- sponsibilities, and rewards and let them go at it. Maintaining a positive, collaborative company culture that adheres to our val- ues of Honesty and Integrity, as symbol- ized by our Kingfisher logo, is one of the strongest assets we have at Sentient. How- ever, it is equally important to keep an eye out for people that don't fit the company culture. If left unchecked, the toxic be- haviour of a couple of individuals can de- grade the performance of a great team. At the time, it can be hard to be objective and see the damage that a problem em- ployee causes, particularly if they've been a high performer. So, I highly recommend fixing any negative behaviours when they first appear. The good news is, once a bad apple leaves the company, things improve immediately. Dr. Paul Boxer Managing Director Sentient ViSion SyStemS

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