TheBridge profile: Samir Armaly
Name: Samir Armaly
Current city: La Canada, CA
Current job: President of IP Licensing, Xperi
Past job: Strategic Advisor, TiVo
Q. Job advice in three words? Never stop evolving
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. Importance of using relevant data as an input to key decisions: As an engineer by education, I have always been comfortable with using and analyzing data. Earlier in my career, I heard a colleague tell his team “you cannot manage what you do not measure” (which I believe is a a version of a quote attributed to Peter Drucker). This resonated with me and is something that I strive to implement throughout our businesses. While data is not the only input into key decisions, the absence of relevant data makes it difficult to properly understand where our business is today and where it is going in the future.
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech / innovation and regulation? Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Xperi. For more than a quarter century, we have invented and developed fundamental innovations that have shaped how consumers find, watch and enjoy video. Protecting those innovations is essential to our business. We try to play a proactive role in ongoing discussion of the appropriate regulatory environment for intellectual property, looking to properly balance the interest of owners and implementors.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? The importance of soliciting input and perspective from the broadest range of constituents.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? The ability to move quickly and be agile when the situation calls for it.
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? Podcast: Masters of Scale. Fascinating insight and perspective from a range of impressive business leaders.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but can you describe a "day in the life" of your job? I try to spend an appropriate amount of time regularly on both shorter-term tactical issues and longer-term strategic objectives. This usually involves some combination of thinking about our industries, markets and customers, understanding our offerings and assets and checking in on various ongoing engagements.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? There are many pieces of advice I would give my younger self, including:
Be ready and make the necessary preparations to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves; and
Take calculated risks as that is where the best rewards lie
Q. Best advice you’ve received? Hiring and retaining the best talent will have an oversized impact on your ultimate success.
Q. Last time you were completely unplugged? I think it is important to find the right work-life balance, but it is still something I occasionally struggle with. For a number of years, I made it part of my routine to start the year out of the office, looking to break certain bad habits and create new habits going into a new year. To do that, I would spend time at a wellness retreat where I unplugged from work. The longest stretch I had was for 30 days. It provided me with some needed perspective about how to work more efficiently when I came back online.
Q. How do you unwind after work? I enjoy spending time with my family which includes two teenage boys. They both play ice-hockey and so we typically spend a lot of time at rinks for practices and games. I also enjoy staying active, and over the past few years started practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It is a great activity that challenges you physically and mentally, and puts you in situations where you have to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
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