Meet the
Red Vest
The Red Vest is a symbol of innovation and leadership in action.
The Red Vest is worn by those leaders who fight for innovation when the stakes are high. It is not worn by academics. It is worn by those who work in the trenches and make common sense decisions despite their self-doubt. It is worn by those who change the ones threatened by change. It is not worn by those who create confusion to take care of themselves first nor those who talk about innovation during lunch breaks to impress their colleagues. The Red Vest is a symbol of the leadership it takes in practice to push technology and business ideas through to the finish line.
Nikos bought his Red Vest when he moved to Silicon Valley to wear it on the days he had to deal with the hard stuff. His diverse background and experience has led to a certain way of looking at how people work, collaborate, and solve problems. He has worked in Europe, US and Japan within diverse cultures and mindsets, some easy to get along and some not so much. He has worked in the cloud infrastructure, advertising, education technology, big data, digital content, and automotive industries. He has experienced academic and research institutions while at MIT, NYU, and Nokia, 3-, 30-, 100-, and 300-person start-ups, the 3000 employee Netflix juggernaut, and Toyota group’s 400,000 person empire. He has been both an individual contributor and built teams of 10 to 200 people. He has been managed both by wonderful and dreadful managers. He has collaborated with those who get things done, those who talk and just do slideshows, those who are geniuses that nobody wants to work with, and those who are intelligent and kind and make everything look effortless.