USA Today Interview Hugh Panero

USA Today has an absolutely intriguing interview with Hugh Panero, President/CEO of XM Satellite Radio, and they surprisingly didn’t toss the kind of softballs we’ve become used to from most interviews.

One key question to highlight is over the issue of interoperability:

Q: Where are you in developing radios that consumers could use for either XM or Sirius?

A: The companies have worked together on an interoperable platform based on the government’s desire to explore that technology. But it’s several years away. It depends on manufacturers deciding whether this is a product they want to support and consumers deciding what price are they willing to pay for it.

So he’s not dismissing interoperability but he’s also pointing out that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Hugh is also pointing out that the interoperability initiative was not based on the desire of XM or SIRIUS, but rather the government. What exactly that entails is hard to say.

Another great question/answer:

Q: What keeps you up at night?

A: Everything keeps me up at night. Arrogance is the demise of any business, and you have to be very careful not to fall into that trap.

Hell yeah Hugh! I absolutely love that statement, because time and time again I’ve seen that to be a major problem with companies that are experiencing massive growth (referring to personal experience here).

Anyway, it’s a truly great interview, give it a read here.