The successful entrepreneurs are not just the hardest working, they are the most innovative. One of those successful innovative entrepreneurs who think differently is Gary Olson. He is one of these tech- savvy entrepreneurs constantly looking for innovative solutions to solve problems. Just like every entrepreneur, he also has a different story about why he decided to start a business. Let’s take a closer look at his insightful story and remarkable aspects of his life.
Start of Something Extraordinary
Gary has always been interested in new technologies with an innate curiosity on understanding how things work. He never thought his engineering degree in computer design would lead to his career in the media industry and then become the basis for his interest in bridging the gap between broadcast and computer technologies. His father was a small business owner. This guided Gary to work for himself and become his own ‘Boss’. Gary is one of the few people who never worked for anyone else in his professional career. Currently, he is the Principal of GHO Group and leading the company as strategist, designer and project manager for a variety of communication and information technology projects.
Gary is considered one of the Thought Leaders in the media technology industry and provides services as an IP Broadcast & Media Technology Designer. He is a successful author with his book ‘Planning and Designing the IP Broadcast Facility – A New Puzzle to Solve’ an industry standard. He regularly publishes articles providing knowledge and education to the media industry with a considerable following reading his articles on ‘The Broadcast Bridge’ and LinkedIn, including webinars and online courses.
At the beginning of his career, he solved interesting challenges that typically bring together computer and video technologies. He was involved in the efforts to introduce Teletext into the US market and was the part of the team that created the first interactive satellite video conference network and launched the first satellite business television network. Gary was part of the team launching the first video fiber network for Teleport communications. When he was asked to design a new televised shopping network, he saw this as the opportunity to start his first company entering the world of entrepreneurship, designing and launching a new satellite and television cable networks.
About GHO Group
The GHO Group is an independent consulting firm that specializes in planning and designing media production facilities for broadcast and cable companies, corporations, educational institutions, and cultural organizations. It provides unique, practical and cost-effective solutions to the challenges faced while building new facilities or implementing new technology strategies. GHO builds the bridge between technology and business, converts vision from its initial concept to final implementation whether it is traditional media, a Web, smartphone, eBook, portable media player, or anything in between.
His Mantra of Success
A strong leader builds a strong team and such a leader always keeps the goal in the mind. As a leader, Gary recognizes the strengths in people and encourages and empowers their development creating a strong team to solve problems. He says, “One of my responsibilities on many of my projects is to help the new senior management with change. I explain that a large organization is like a pyramid, if you are at the top you can see what’s happening across the organizations and manage.” He continues, “If the pyramid is upside down because the manager is also doing everything they are crushed by the weight of the organization. My colleagues embrace the concept and became successful change managers.”
Gary has also faced challenges, but he turned his hard hitting challenges into powerful victories. For him, building the first commercial television broadcast networks in six Central European countries was challenging as well as a ‘once in a lifetime experience’.
His best piece of advice to budding Entrepreneurs “Entrepreneurship is doing everything that needs to be done to be successful. Behaving like an executive when there’s no real business is a recipe for failure. Not all entrepreneurs make good CEO’s. Know your own strengths – maybe the right thing to do is hire one.”
Gary on Future of GHO
The company is going through a changing phase now, moving into artificial intelligence and into a new industry sector of Public Safety and National Security. It is applying extensive media knowledge to an industry overwhelmed by video and struggling to analyze it for useable information in the prevention of incidents and attacks. GHO is looking forward at the role artificial intelligence will play in the industry and how other industry sectors are using media requiring broadcast knowledge and expertise to assist them as they produce more and more media.