Industry Leaders Survey Results

A number of weeks ago I decided to stick my neck and develop a survey for the industry to determine who is regarded as an individual of high regard. Unlike other surveys, this was not a popularity contest but based upon actual experience with the individuals nominated.

The questions were divided into three main categories:

1.       How successful in each of the four domain business models people thought the person was whom they were nominating.

2.       How the individual relates to the domain community. For example, do they share openly and try to address big industry issues?

3.       The third area was how the individual conducts themselves one-on-one. This in particular removed the popularity aspect of the survey as individuals were asked to reflect on their actual experience with the person they were nominating.

A few things surprised me from the survey results. The first was the number of people that went to fill in the survey and then backed out as they suddenly realised the questions really forced them to think a lot about the person they were nominating. As I said, it wasn't just a popularity contest.

The second surprise was who was nominated. Yes, there were a couple of usual suspects but there were quite a number of people that upon reflection pour themselves into the industry and yet this is the first time they have been recognised.

Without further ado, the top three individuals by overall rating were Frank Schilling (third), Nat Cohen (second) and Jothan Frakes (first). Congratulations are due to these three individuals who are clearly highly regarded by the domain industry.

What’s interesting is when we look at the ranking by the different questions. For instance, for traffic monetisation the order was yours truly, Jothan Frakes and Nat Cohen. Stock item sales, Rick Schwartz, Jothan Frakes and Nat Cohen while high value sales were Andrew Rosner, Rick Schwartz and Nat Cohen. For development, the order was Ron Jackson, Nat Cohen and Jothan Frakes.

It was clear there was a little tussle between Nat and Jothan in terms of the community activity and willingness to address the big issues. This is not surprising as Jothan has been the main instigator of content at many of the conferences over the years and Nat is a key player in the ICA.

Where Jothan really shone was in his one-on-one dealings with individuals. From my own personal experience, I’ve always found him to be an individual of integrity who looks for win-win arrangements.

I would like to thank all those that took the time out of their busy schedules to answer the ten questions and contribute to the survey. It will be really interesting to run it again next year and see if there have been any changes.