AGE: 38
TITLE: CTO
COMPANY: Backcountry.com, Park City, Utah
ANNUAL REVENUE: $50 million
INDUSTRY SECTOR: Retail outdoor gear
BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: Trust your instincts; everyone else is making it up too.
WORST JOB EVER HAD: Pizza delivery. I did it for a night, and I thought, 'There's no way in hell I'm doing this.'
BEST CIO DECISION: Creating a wiki at Backcountry, then letting the employees go at it.
BEST CAREER MOVE: At Red Hat, I went all over Europe and Asia. I realized how much cultural baggage there is and how much people all over the world are actually the same.
FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE: Sashimi
GOLF HANDICAP: I don't play golf, but I ski black diamonds.
WHAT YOU'RE READING: The Unfettered Mind, by Takuan Soho
BEST PERSONALITY TRAITS: Approachability and a good sense of humor
WORST PERSONALITY TRAITS: My temper. Willful incompetence makes me just lose it.
NEW YEAR'S TRADITIONS: New Year's is a big holiday for me and my wife, who is Japanese. We go to the Shinto temple, say our prayers, make our commitments.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: Be nicer.
BACKCOUNTRY PERKS: Everyone here pretty much skis, snowboards or rock climbs. So on a good powder day, most of the office is empty till noon.
Lauren Horwitz, former managing editor, production, for CIO Decisions, is now managing editor for TechTarget's Data Center Media Group. Write to her at lhorwitz@techtarget.com.
This was first published in January 2007