Pavel G Ferreri — Worldwide Leader, Global Sales IBM Cloud, Kubernetes & DevServs at IBM

Cloud and Kubernetes was another big theme over THINK and so what could be more exciting than meeting with the global leader, Pavel, Ferreri. I had a good feeling about Pavel as soon as he replied to my reach out email "Kyle we can definitely meet up, you can count on it.". Before meeting up with Pavel I did what I had been doing with everyone I had been interviewing, I stalked his LinkedIn. Ex TV host, public speaker, fitness fanatic, youtube channel for keys to success, reader of 1 book per week, coach and mentor... I knew he was going to be an interesting character. When we met up he asked me, so why are you doing this? I told him that I wanted to meet and share the lives and careers of amazing people and that interviewing them for my blog site was a good way to facilitate that. I wanted to build my supernormal network and asking somebody to a coffee is far easier to turn down. What is your plan, what do you want to do in your future? Pavel was hitting me with some hard questions on the casual walk to the interview site. Well... I can see myself one day wanting to work in a place like San Francisco, a tech hub of the world and having built contacts outside of Australia will help me do that in the future, I am not sure but maybe I might even want to try get into an ivy league university first so that I could transition to a top tier tech research team or something. I was full of passion, but perhaps a bit unclear about what exactly I wanted my future to hold. He listened and when I had finished he said to me "If you want something, always say it with conviction. As soon as you hesitate or show any sign of being unsure, people won't take you seriously. When you tell people what you want with conviction you can have anything you want.". The coaching and mentoring was coming out, Pavel was absolutely right though, I wasn't sure and I nodded. Pavel was an amazing guy. He gave off a great positive energy and had a tonne of advice and experience in many different facets of life. I ran into him at the bar the next night and bought him a pint to say thanks because not only did he give me his time for the interview, but also his time off camera to genuinely understand and help me. He also convinced me to do a video instead of my usual audio recording and so this is a special edition that involves me trying to hold my phone still for 20 minutes. I guess you can't win them all. Enjoy the podcast!

Contents

🎥 Watch

💡 Key Messages

🎥 Watch

💡 Key Messages

Here are my key takeaways from the podcast.

• Kubernetes is awesome - With most enterprises sharing assets between their existing on-premises data-centers and the public cloud, the need for hybrid cloud technologies is critical. Kubernetes works in any cloud, which has been a huge reason for it's breakneck pace adoption. Read more about Kubernetes if you are interested
• Don't go to work - Don't have a job. Be a part of a movement. Pavel loves what he does because he does not view it as work. IBM gives him the forum and opportunity to do what he loves. You can be two types of people in life, the ones who hate their job and so read 4 hour work week to try and reduce that aspect of their life as much as possible, or the ones who instead try to find what it is they love and make it a strong pillar of their life that brings them happiness and fulfillment. For a while I used to be jealous of people that worked less, now I do not envy them at all because I am doing something that I love
• Have focus - We need to have mental clarity on what it is exactly that we want to accomplish, and then focus on it. This is more than half the battle to success. If you aren't sure on what you want to achieve, then it makes it a lot harder to become successful
• Set a goal - After realising that technology was his passion, Pavel set himself the goal of working for a tech leader. He soon landed his first job at Microsoft. When Pavel reflects on his career down the track he wants to be able to say that he made a positive impact on the world through technology. Having a clear vision of this will ensure that he take the required steps to get there so when that day comes he will reflect on himself and his career postively
• Have conviction - When you have set those goals and you do know what it is you want, have conviction when you tell people
• Keep a healthy body and mind - Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Pavel puts a lot of his time and energy into his sleep, fitness, nutrition and meditation to ensure a healthy body and mind. Doing this will make you more effective and productive on the long run. It is about consistent, sustained high performance
• Develop mental toughness - Kickboxing and running has helped Pavel build mental toughness by training him not to give up when he is feeling pain. He believes that this becomes apart of your nature and personality that can be applied to your career and other aspects of your life. An awesome book I just finished on mental toughness is Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins
• Never stop learning - Since graduating his MBA in 2006, Pavel has continued to invest in his education every single year with various courses and certificates. Always invest in yourself and your education, it does not end when you get your degree
• Read as much as you can - Pavel reads (or listens to) a book per week. There is multiple hours during the week during commute, exercise and other dead time that we can fill by listening to audio books. Pavel recommends Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki which got him into investing and gives foundations on how to invest