tech-company, business-plan, idea, entrepreneurship, ceoI have observed different characteristics among famous tech CEOs.
Some of them never learnt the technology like Steve Jobs but knew very well how to use it to build innovative products.
Some learnt the technology well enough to develop ideas so that they could get those ideas implemented by people who had more expertise with that technology like Kevin Systrom (Instagram CEO).
So how do you figure out the power of a particular technology. Do you have to learn it to know its power? Do you have to understand it without learning it but how ? Or you get other people to explain it to you and be smart enough to kindle ideas yourself?
In most cases, the CEO is an ultimate sales-man.
He/She would primarily be knowledgeable in the business area. They will arrange (read hire) an army of talents from technology, business development, support staffs, and so on to get the business done.
While the CEO need not be a hardcore technology person, but I doubt if there is a CEO who does not have some (barebones maybe) technology knowledge that is related to the business area of the company.
My rule of thumb as a tech product manager is I need to know enough about every subject related to my product to be able to carry on an intelligent discussion about it, both with people who know more than me (my tech team and key customer experts) and people who know less than me (my sales and marketing teams and the overall customer base.) In other words, a “generalist”.
Jobs may have needed Wozniak to create the first products, but I wouldn’t assume he couldn’t program or put together a computer. However, the more important talent for Jobs was to recognize the talents of Wozniak and help to harness and leverage them.
So I’d say, yes, you do need to learn a technology in order to understand the implications of that technology, and ideally, generate insights that can led to useful and desirable innovation. But the depth of your mastery of any given subject is related to your role in the project, and varies based on your individual function in the grand scheme.
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