Leading The Way To The Future Of Augmented Reality Glasses

Executive Summary

Hello everyone! Thanks for joining us on a brand new podcast episode of The Leader Show With Lou Carter. Our guest today is Paul Travers, the President/CEO of Vuzix, one of the most sought-after technology companies that deals in display engines, waveguide optics, augmented reality, and wearable computing.

Vuzix has recently been certified as a Most Loved Workplace and one of Newsweek’s top 100 most loved workplaces. With that brief introduction done and dusted, let’s jump into the conversation with Paul Travers.

The Reason For Vuzix’s Success Is Teamwork

Lou kicks off this episode by asking Paul about the driving force behind Vuzix’s success in the realms of virtual reality and display.

In response, Paul mentions that the main reason Vuzix has been successful so far is because of the efforts put in by its team members. Everyone working at Vuzix is aligned with the company’s vision, which ensures flawless collaboration across all teams.

Citing the metaverse, Paul highlights that Vuzix has been a player in this field since 1993. This speaks volumes about the expertise the company possesses in the tech that enables virtual reality. And the best part is that all his teams are psyched to be leading the charge in this industry, meaning that they are always highly motivated.

Vuzix Glasses Make People’s Job Easier (And That Sells)

When asked how he brings employees, customers, and the entire ecosystem together as a leader, Paul mentions that it is inbred in his team. Some of the companies that Vuzix works with have to hire and train hundreds of people regularly. Using Vuzix’ VR glasses and custom software, these partners can streamline the training process, thereby fostering a collaborative work culture.

The fact that people’s base pay has gone up over the past few years makes employees excited when they come to work. It’s also because the glasses the company manufactures tend to gamify and make things happen faster and easier and onboarding quicker, making people’s jobs easier.

Additionally, technology has a major role in bringing employees and customers together. It allowed people to get into hospitals where they could not before. A person no longer needs to have to do proof of concepts anymore to use VR technology and glasses. They just need a piece of software, a laptop, a set of glasses, and remote support software.

Employees At Vuzix Witness The Fruits Of Their Hard Work And Get Rewarded

Another reason people in Vuzix’s ecosystem thrive is that they have witnessed firsthand the fruits of their hard work. During COVID, when people were sequestered at home, they were busy making medical devices, which greatly helped many people amid the tough time.

Paul mentions that it was quite gratifying when they witnessed open heart surgeries take place with the help of their products. Thus, his employees could see the fruits of their labor and get rewarded for it.

Talking about rewards, Paul also mentions that every single employee working at Vuzix is a partner in the company, so they are sort of rowing the boat together. While recruiting, Paul makes it clear to the prospects that each of them will have a stock option plan to motivate them to give their best.

Being a public company, Vizux is always getting measured by the markets on how they perform. So, when they are performing well, their stock prices go up dramatically, which is, of course, a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the employees toward the company.

What Makes Paul Different From Elon Musk

Lou compares Paul with Elon Musk and calls him the Elon Musk of virtual reality glasses because of his engineering mindset. However, Paul’s unsure if he can be referred to as the Elon Musk of this industry since Paul is a technological person and likes to be on the plant floor. His primary focus is to work with engineers and be a part of solutions at Vuzix, which helps set the company’s pace.