Robin Bienfait

Can you talk a bit about your relationship with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins?

I like my CEO. I liked the former two CEOs (Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie) too. I like all CEOs. (Laughs) I find that most CEOs either love or hate their CIOs. The CIO either did something great today or the CIO spent too much money. There's no middle ground for the poor CIO. They've done something really great, or the CEO is mad at them because they locked him down or didn't let him do so and so. There's a nice tension between the CIO and CEO.

The thing I like about Thorsten, specifically, is that we worked a little bit together in the past, when he was at Siemens and I was AT&T, he was selling optical networks to me. I have a real respect for his capabilities. He's done a very nice job of focusing our business on the right priorities for us. Not letting us get distracted by trying to be everything to everyone, which is something we really need right now.

How often do you communicate your CEO?