The Authentic Leader: Why Pleasing Isn’t Always Leading
Coatesville, Pennsylvania, USA
The Pennsylvania State University
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Hotel & Restaurant & Institutional Management
Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Economics
English, German
Nikon z7ii, Nikon D7100, Nikon D5100, iPhone 14 Pro Max, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, GoPro
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You
There isn’t much to the story. I’d like to believe I’m self-made. I wasn’t born into wealth but I was born into an extremely loving family who wanted nothing but the best for me. I’d like to think I wasn’t spoiled as an only child but I can’t help to realize that I had most things that I wanted as a child. I was a marginally good student in High School and I was a marginally bad student at University because I discovered beer and fraternity parties. I somehow managed to graduate from university and start a career in technology.
While I love people, I’m a technologist at heart. I’ve worked for various companies throughout the United States as well as England and Switzerland. I’ve spent my career learning new technology, working with clients, building high performing teams and constantly exceeding expectations in digital transformation. I have a great worth ethic and I enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with the achievements gained from exceptional work. I’d like to believe that with my now 4th consecutive C-Level executive role, I’m at the top of my corporate career but we’ll see what the future has in store. I’ve always been ambitious and also have a few small startups on the side that keep me busy when I’m not busy.
Family is what you make of it right? I’m married to my best friend Daniel who just happens to have been born and raised in Austria. I’d love to say we speak German at home but that’s only reserved for video calls with Daniel’s family in Austria. Our extended family is made up of our white Swiss shepherd, a border collie, 2 cats, and a thoroughbred horse. We’re both animal lovers, Daniel perhaps a little more than me.
There are very few little things in life that bring true excitement. Aside from my love of science and technology, my biggest passion in life is photographing the world around me. When I was a young man my Grandfather gave me my first camera, an old Pentax 35mm. I took that camera with me while traveling through Europe and I still have it here today. That camera set off in me a life long interest in photography. I continue to spend my free time traveling the world and taking photos. I feel fortunate that I’ve had the opportunities to explore and photograph different parts of the world and I’m looking forward to continued new and exciting travel photography adventures.
One of my other passions in life is writing. I enjoy writing and I enjoy helping others. To understand the origin of richbrown.io we have to go back a bit. While at Penn State in 1994, just after the inception of the World Wide Web, I started a personal website. This original website was a testbed for me to experiment with web design and new technology. That website eventually morphed into the blog located at rich.cyrek.net where I wrote about current events and posted photos of my travels with friends. It became extremely popular in the LGBTQ community before I decided to shut it down in 2009 to focus on my professional career as a technology executive. Fast forward 10 years later to 2019 and I decided to create the richbrown.io site as a showcase for my photography and my career. in 2022, I decided to relaunch richbrown.io as a place for me to not only showcase my photography but also a space where I can write, share my thoughts about current events, technology, leadership and just life in general. I’m on a quest to help other people grow and also provide my own perspective to the world.
