REVIEW: Michael C. Fillios — Tech Equity (BOOK)

Colin Jordan
3 min readAug 27, 2023

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Michael C. Fillios has this refreshingly unabashed, straightforward quality as a writer. He has this kind of no-nonsense, take no prisoners clarity — perhaps a bit ideologically exclusive, but ideal for anyone looking for guidance on how to apply the principles and methodologies in the book’s pages. “Technology is an incredible asset for businesses navigating crises. But it’s important to note that the management of technology can be more critical to success than the power of technology itself.

RELATED ARTICLE: https://www.databirdjournal.com/team-members/michael-c-fillios

Think about an exceptional bunch of athletes without a coach. It just won’t be a winning team,” Fillios writes in Tech Equity: How to Future Ready Your Small Business, and Outperform Your Competition. “…Businesses that quickly turned to technology in recent years and used it to their advantage, employed their own version of the hurry up offense. In this mode of crisis management, C-Suites were more willing to fund IT projects and tech leaders more likely to embrace solutions they have put off for some future date–or perhaps never considered in the first place. There is much to be learned from the hurry up offense we saw play out with the pandemic response and we can’t afford to let those lessons go to waste. It’s time to switch to offense as a long-term strategy. This is where Tech Equity comes in.”

Fillios doesn’t mess around. As the aforementioned passage shows, you never get a sense of Fillios lacking clarity. Instead, there’s this kind of brazen assuredness with which he writes — and the information objectively provided backs up what often is considered a business and leadership advice writer’s ego. Part of what’s also refreshing about Fillios is the fact he doesn’t start the read from a sort of typical, contemporary doom and gloom approach. While highlighting the significant difficulties brought on to business models and tiers by the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the responsibilities one has for certain implementations because of those difficulties, the tone of the book remains upbeat.

Fillios is about approaching the concept of Tech Equity from the standpoint of it being beneficial for all involved, and not just on a semantic scale. “…why should we invest in creating Tech Equity?” he writes. “Because, like a stock that pays dividends, there is a payoff on that investment. SMBs that buy into building Tech Equity are better positioned to navigate crises, take advantage of opportunities, and outperform the competition. This not only translates to higher returns and a more appealing balance sheet, but yields greater talent retention, a heightened focus on the customer experience, and a better understanding of the company itself.”

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Equity-Outperform-Competition-Technology/dp/166789398X

I admire Fillios’ work for what it does, as much as for what it doesn’t do. For starters, it doesn’t pretend to have answers to questions it can’t legitimately raise. There’s a sense of ideological and presentational cohesion. A sort of earned sense coming from everything being expertly articulated. Everything fits together extremely neatly, with this kind of notable craftsmanship despite being a book fitting into an often-maligned subgenre.

Colin Jordan

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Colin Jordan

Graduate: McNeese State University, Avid Beekeeper, Deep Sea Diver & Fisherman, Horrible Golfer