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In this issue…
LISA Profiles: Chris Cynkin
In this issue of the LISA Newsletter, our profile focuses on Chris Cynkin, now Senior Director of Globalization at Sykes Enterprises with responsibility for Sykes’ localization operations. Prior to this, Chris worked for many years at Interverbum AB, then Sweden’s largest localization and translation company. Chris co-founded the company in 1980 and subsequently worked as a VP and partner before becoming CEO and owner between 1987 and 1996. In this capacity, he worked with major international clients in the IT, automotive and other industries. After selling his company, Chris worked as a localization and outsourcing consultant and with Alpnet before joining Sykes in September 1999. He is based in Sykes’ EMEA headquarters in The Netherlands. Date and place of birth? July 1947, Poznan, Poland. I left Poland in 1972 with a one-way ticket for Sweden, making me a Swedish citizen with a Polish heart. Greatest professional success? To produce a profit in 19 out of the 20 years I was with Interverbum. Greatest professional mistake? Not taking my company to an MLV model with offices outside Sweden as planned in 1991—it would have helped positioning when the software publishers, including my largest clients, moved to this model in the mid-1990s (1996/1997). Most embarrassing professional moment? Two spring to mind. The first was when I had to participate, early one sunny morning, in a very formal business meeting in London wearing jeans; my luggage didn’t make it and went to Frankfurt, not London. The second was when I had to tell a client the true (but unbelievable) reason why there was a delay in delivering his job: “My translator’s car was just stolen. Both the floppy disk and the hardcopy of your job were in the car.” I then had to tell him that the back-up file had been lost as well, since the translator had left his PC in the car, too. Most likely to say? If you can’t communicate, you don’t exist. Least likely to say? Words like “never” or “always.” What do you like most about the business? It’s definitely not boring and there is no place for any pessimists here. What do you like least about the business? If I don’t like something I try to change it; if this proves impossible I do my very best to start to like it, and if that doesn’t work I walk out myself... Who do you most admire in the business, and why? Some Dublin “pioneers” from the late 1980s, for what they did for the Irish/European software localization industry. What advice would you give to someone just starting out? Be 100% sure that you want do it, that you know how to do it, that you have a business plan and that you communicate all this to your bank contact and your family. It may help you when the tough times come (and they will). What is your favorite industry fantasy? Translation memory and machine translation working together across all kinds of content, including marcoms. Where will the industry be in five years time? No keyboards, a secure voice connection to your virtual office, and free software applications. I am also sorry to say that I don’t believe that localization will remain a separate industry. It will be just one of the standard (services) modules in a highly automated product adaptation/globalization process. If I had my time over again I would… I never regret what I did in the past; I hope I’ve learned something from it as well. How would you like to be remembered? As a man with a clear vision of the future and an interesting past. Chris Cynkin
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     8-12 December 2008 |