Joe Gillette, CEO and Chairman of Stage 2 Networks in New York, NY, will Chair the Committee for Final Judging of the management awards categories in The 2013 American Business Awards, the top business awards competition in the USA. (Entries for the 2013 ABAs are still being accepted; request your entry kit here. Finalists will be announced on May 8.)
With his background in telecommunications, we asked Joe about where he thinks the industry is heading.
What new developments in communications do you think will most impact businesses in the next few years?
I think the continuing trend is towards mobility: businesses will increasingly seek cloud-based solutions that allow employee mobility, corporate control over information systems, and better disaster recovery preparedness. - Continued growth in bandwidth solutions (fiber, copper, and coax) will result in more desktop video. Service providers who can successfully unify the user experience across these technologies will win the day.
What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
North Korea’s test missile launch and the U.S. response with public demonstrations of military might. I am deeply concerned that a 30-year old leader about whom we know so little is creating such a potentially volatile situation.
What is your favorite business app?
I am pretty old school and still love my Blackberry for its ability to permit me to send and receive emails from anywhere. I also love my iPad as it has largely eliminated the need to carry a laptop. And I love to use LinkedIn for researching people on the Internet.
What career advice would you give to young people starting out in business?
Learn as much about an industry as you can: Look for what’s changing, or what is lacking in terms of customer satisfaction, and gain a clear vision of how to improve that industry. Understand what kind of business leader you want to become. Be mindful of your own strengths and weaknesses, then partner with—or hire—someone who can make up for the weaknesses.
As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I’ll be the first to admit I really need my coffee in the morning—but my inspiration comes simply from the joy of meeting the challenge of building a successful company and all the ways in which lives are positively impacted as a result.
About Joe Gillette:
Joe Gillette has twenty-five years of experience in the telecommunications industry and is a recognized industry pioneer and visionary leader. Following seven years as a top performer in sales and sales management at Executone Information Systems, Joe founded his first company, Gillette Global Network, in 1995. GGN quickly became one of New York’s most successful competitive local exchange carriers. (CLEC)
In December 2000, Joe merged GGN with Eureka Broadband to create Eureka Networks and ran the combined entity for four years; shortly thereafter, Eureka was sold to Broadview Networks for $100 million. Joe founded Stage 2 Networks in late 2004 and launched operations in early 2005. Since then, Stage 2 Networks has emerged as a leading provider of hosted voice, unified communications, and network services in the New York Metro area and other leading US cities.
About Stage 2 Networks:
Stage 2 Networks provides customized, scalable voice and data communications solutions to businesses throughout the U.S. and abroad. Founded in 2004 by Joe Gillette, it is a fast-growing leader in hosted business phone systems, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and premium Internet services. Its cutting-edge network provides built-in redundancy, security, and disaster recovery.
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