QA: Tony Hawk on Taking His Business to the Next Level Skateboard icon Tony Hawk carves out some time to talk Twitter, <em>Shred</em> and his new business book.

Tony Hawk Photo(C) Getty Images/Jordan Strauss

The last time we talked with Tony Hawk, CEO and "chief trick-rider" of Tony Hawk Inc., he was nervous about the release of Tony Hawk: Ride, a video game that debuted an expensive skateboard-shaped controller. Just a year later, he's rolling out a sequel, Tony Hawk: Shred, and a business book, How Did I Get Here? The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO. We caught up with Hawk at Activision Studios in Santa Monica, Calif., and in between Shred test runs, he told us about what's next, and how social media has made his business bigger, better and, somehow, even cooler.

You were "scared to death" about Ride.
Well, it was uncharted territory. Some people really panned Ride, and others enjoyed it, but we noticed the younger Wii crowd enjoyed it the most, so with Shred, we're giving the kids what they want. The controls are much tighter, the stunts and levels are more massive, and we added snowboarding because my vision was to have a board control that could be used for different sports.