President Trump granted a full pardon to my friend Greg Reyes, the former CEO and chairman of Brocade Communications. The six-minute clip above reveals a segment of a lengthy interview that describes Greg’s journey. In the segment above, Greg talks about his journey of leaving his career, to begin a dark journey through prison. More importantly, he shows how he recalibrated and rebuilt.
I highly recommend viewers listen to the full 90-minute audio recording of the interview that Greg gave to legendary venture capitalists, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz. Through their venture capital firm, Andreesen Horowtiz, Marc and Ben have invested in or brought many extraordinary companies to market, including:
- Asana,
- Box,
- Lyft,
- Slack,
- Airbnb,
- Coinbase, and many more.
Listen to the full 90-minute podcast by clicking the link below:
Full Podcast Interview: Horowtiz and Andreesen
In the full version, you can expect Greg to share his entire story:
- First five minutes: pre-show conversation between Marc Andreesen, Ben Horowitz, Greg Reyes, and others on the show.
- Minutes five to 40 minutes:
- Greg speaks about building Brocade, one of the great technology companies.
- Through his team’s efforts, storage and networking ushered in the way for cloud-based storage.
- Bad guidance from his attorney, Larry Sonsini of Wilson Sonsini, led him into a disastrous government investigation.
- Brocade’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Byrd, recommended an accounting practice that resulted in a series of problems.
- Prosecutorial misconduct contributed to an unjust conviction.
- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conviction.
- Overzealous prosecutors brought a second case against Greg.
- A judge sentenced him to serve 15-months in federal prison.
- Minutes 40 through end reveals more:
- Greg’s journey through federal prison.
- Greg’s challenges following the completion of his sentence.
- Greg’s recalibration and building a new life
- Greg’s work with Shon Hopwood and others that positioned him for Executive Clemency.
- President Trump’s reversing the injustice with a full pardon for Greg.
We encourage people to listen and learn from the challenges that follow a government investigation. Adhere to guidance and advice that Greg taught us:
- Define success
- Document a strategy to advance from current position to your success
- Put priorities in place
- Create tools, tactics, and resources to assist the pathway to success
- Execute the plan every day
- Hold yourself accountable
We all can learn from leaders who teach us how to overcome challenges. I know that I learned a great deal from Greg, and so can you.
