If he was hired to "go after the business" what happened to all those who were hired to go after the business before him? Didn't they have the contacts? Weren't they credible people of character?
My worry isn't that a general is good at generalling.
It's that he knows little about the culture and processes of technology development.
Hopefully he will be managing brainiacs at Wave. Folks who have options to go elsewhere. Folks who don't say hoo-rah or whatever the heck military people like to do. Folks who would run screaming from a strict hierarchy. But who have ideas, or can interpret them, and can translate them into valuable products.
Not the same thing as the military. A great military man was put in charge of strategy at the VA. Made a big mess. Different environment. Different skills required.
On its face, this looks like Solms first important mistake. But I am willing to give the chap a chance.
TexasPlains, my assumption is that Patton was hired so Solms would have more time himself to "go after that business" with the USG. I see Patton's role as a budget minded operations manager who will work closely with Walter Shephard, while Solms will be freed up to better utilize his strengths in collaborating with his sales team, particularly for getting large gov and commercial deals closed.
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