leadership

I’ve spent over two decades working in tech, helping organizations and their customers enable business transformation through disruptive technologies and challenging the status quo. But throughout my career, I’ve witnessed a persistent issue: problematic gaps between strategic business initiatives that fuel revenue growth, versus IT initiatives…

Between COVID-19, overdue conversations around racial injustice, and businesses transitioning to distributed work, this year has presented us with multiple crises, but also opportunities for change. Navigating through these crises towards a “new normal” demands steady leadership. Technology leaders today find themselves sharing responsibility for…

I love the challenge of finding innovative solutions to complex problems. I was a developer for several years before I joined Okta. At the time, Okta’s product offering was much more limited than it is today but in identity, I saw an opportunity which knew no bounds to a developer. Little did I realize that joining Okta would become such a large…

Last week, our CEO Todd McKinnon sat down (or rather, “hung out”) with Michael Krigsman to discuss tech valuations, the future of identity management, and cloud and mobile adoption trends on a recent episode of CXOTalk. Okta is in an exciting period of growth for the company, with hundreds of employees, thousands of customers, and a new round of…

There are CEOs who say "yes" to nearly everything, those who prioritize and say "no" -- and, of course, leaders who fall somewhere in between. In a post earlier today on Fast Company, I discuss the pros and cons of each style and lessons I've learned as a startup CEO myself. The byline is excerpted below, but be sure to check out the entire…

In a post earlier today on Fast Company, I discuss why the first five hires are so critical for all start-ups, and why that "leadership DNA" makes or breaks companies. Have a look below, and be sure to head over to Fast Company to read the full article: For any company — whether you’re manufacturing athletic shoes, selling medical devices or…

Last week, I welcomed Adam Aarons and Hector Aguilar to the Okta team and offered some thoughts, culled from my time as an engineer, on what constitutes a great engineering team. It was meant as a bit of advice (for what it was worth), to Hector, our new VP of engineering – because admittedly, I’m an engineer at heart. I ran engineering at…