Here are some quotes from the book, They Made It!; they were made by French, Indian, Chinese, German, Iranian, Israeli and Saudi executives. Is it possible to guess where people come from by the way they speak, or by their views on life and their careers?
a)
“As we say in Silicon Valley, you have to learn not to drink your own Cool Aid.”
“If you combine the skills, the mindset, the culture with the financial contribution, you can accomplish great things with relatively few resources.”
b)
“Life and management are about conflict .When you become a CEO, the key to being successful is actually to pick up what’s the right decision, not to be right.”
c)
“Success is like anti-oxidants. It doesn’t make any difference in life, except that you feel healthy.”
“The biggest thing is- you have to have the passion to follow your dream and you have to have the determination to convert that into something tangible.”
d)
“This is one of the very few locations in the world [Silicon Valley], where all the pieces of the puzzle are here and successful people manage to put this puzzle together.”
e)
“My passion in life, if you will, is to simply build better products.”
If you think you can identify the writers’ original nationality, write me a your guesses and I’ll let you know if you are right:)
Here are some initial comments on why I wrote the book, and more importantly, what’s in it. Please listen to the post and come back in a few days for new uploads and readings from the book.
To hear the witty way Dominique asked about the famous French entrepreneurs from the book, please click on the link: http://www.atelier.fr/radio/9/23032008/atelier-numerique-n230-36252-.html
Le thème. Le rêve américain se poursuit aujourd’hui en Californie. Dans la Silicon Valley précisément, où nombre d’immigrants de tous pays continuent de tenter leur chance.
Des Chinois, des Français, des Allemands, des Indiens, des Iraniens, des Israéliens et tant d’autres n’en finissent pas de détailler les ingrédients de leur réussite : le deuil du passé, le désir de s’agréger à une communauté multiculturelle, la passion d’entreprendre, le goût pour la « gagne ». La côte Ouest leur réussit puisqu’ils y sont devenus « venture capitalists », ingénieurs, PDG, patrons de jeunes pousses (start-up)… Parmi les Français qui ont traversé l’Atlantique, Eric Benhamou (Benhamou Global Ventures), Jean-Louis Gassée (Allegis Capital), Eric Buatois (Sofinnova), Dina Bitton (SAP), Alex Vieux (Red Herring), Marc Onetto (Solectron, Amazon), Marylene Delbourg-Delphis (Interim PDG) et Philippe Courtot (Qualys) se sont volontiers prêtés à un jeu de questions et réponses.
L’auteur. Angelika Blendstrup est une spécialiste de la communication et des questions multiculturelles. Cette consultante, qui enseigne et parle cinq langues, est intervenue auprès de groupes tels que DreamWorks, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco.
L’extrait. « Dans la Silicon Valley, il y a toujours un moment où quelqu’un vous dit : ok, montrez-moi ce que vous êtes capable de faire. En Europe, personne ne songe à dire ce genre de chose. »
3/21/2008, Muriel Jasor, Les Echos http://www.lesechos.fr/info/analyses/4703879.htm
L’Executive Club, SiliconFrench, CSPA, GABA, Hispanic Net, NET-IP, SIPA, and SDForum invite you to come hear Silicon Valley’s leading entrepreneurs from around the world speak about the keys to success and fulfillment.
I recently came across this reprinted article from Forbes magazine (2007) that Paul Heller commented on his blog. As he is an immigration attorney, he seems to understand the necessity (and maybe the urgency) of our attracting and keeping these motivated foreign-born entrepreneurs.
As an executive commented to me yesterday, when the Baby Boomers retire, we will need at least a 40% new workforce of educated, focused people working in our economy. And where will they come from (in such large numbers) if not from overseas? Our government, luckily a new one coming in soon, has to be made aware that the US workforce alone is not enough to keep us in the running globally.
One of the reasons I undertook the study for They Made It!, was that I saw – and still see – the great need to let other people know how much foreign-born entrepreneurs have contributed not only to the Silicon Valley, but also to the rest of the US.
First Published in Forbes Magazine in early 2007..
Letter From Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley’s Immigration Problem
Reposted Article:
If you could choose between starting a high-tech career in India or the U.S., which would you pick?
Indian immigrant Rosen Sharma opted for the U.S. in 1993 and has done extraordinarily well here. But if he were just coming out of college these days, he says, he would pick India. The business opportunities are better, he says, and quality of life issues are at least as good: Nice housing? Schools? Safe streets? The chance to feel prosperous on a young engineer’s salary? India is holding its own just fine against the U.S., he believes.
Sharma’s answer is unnerving. A big part of the U.S. tech boom over the past 20 years has come from our ability to pull in the best and the brightest from India, Taiwan and other Asian countries, year after year. We’ve taken it for granted that these talented immigrants want to come here and that they will help the next generation of American start-ups achieve greatness.
But Sharma’s perspective demands our attention.
In 1993, he says, after graduating with flying colors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, Sharma headed straight for the U.S. So did most of his classmates. Of the 40 people in Sharma’s graduating class at IIT Delhi, he says, all but three came to the U.S.
It was a smart move for him and a great deal for the U.S. Sharma earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University and has since started more than a half-dozen companies–building products, generating revenue, rewarding investors and creating jobs. Now he sits on five company boards and runs his own start-up, SolidCore Systems, in Palo Alto, Calif.
The U.S. is home to Sharma now. He’s applied for U.S. citizenship. He’s raising his children here. He wants the U.S. to be an engine of innovation, for U.S. companies to build sought-after products and to generate good returns for workers and shareholders.
But Sharma, who is president of the IIT Delhi Alumni Association, says the next generation of Indian engineers are unlikely to feel the way he does: Last year, only 10 of the 45 IIT graduates who went through the same program Sharma did decided to pursue jobs in the U.S., he says.
If this represents a trend, it will have significant consequences for the U.S. AnnaLee Saxenian, now dean of the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, has devoted years to tracking the impact of immigrant entrepreneurs. Along with researchers at Duke University, she reported in January that foreign-born immigrants helped start one of every four U.S. technology start-ups over the past decade. Together, those companies employed 450,000 people and generated $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to the study.
As America staggers toward the next national election, we’ll hear plenty of slogans about making the U.S. “more competitive.” Candidates will debate tax policies and vow to fix our public schools. Chances are you won’t hear them talking about making the U.S. more receptive to ambitious graduates from overseas. But they should.
But take another look at my first question: It doesn’t just apply to foreign nationals. If you’re a bright young person born in the U.S., where should you begin your career? In this country or abroad?
“Overseas,” asserts Sharma–but this time, for positive reasons. In order for U.S. companies to be competitive, to serve the largest number of customers and build the most suitable products for customers all over the globe, they will need executives who have broad global experience.
Students are already sensing this trend: Several months ago, when I spoke to business school students touring Silicon Valley about job prospects, many said they were actively considering international opportunities, too.
It sounds like a contradiction–that the U.S. should continue to try to try to woo the best and the brightest from overseas even as homegrown emerging stars seek their fortunes outside our borders. But in a world where competition is truly global, that kind of exchange program makes sense–particularly if those Americans eventually return home and help build stronger companies.
While interviewing leaders of Silicon Valley for my book, one of the first people I was really lucky to be able to interview was Eric Benhamou, the CEO of Benhamou Global Ventures and a very respected executive, both here as well as in and France.
He was also willing to be part of an event we had on April 9th 2008, where 5 international leaders participated in a panel at Pillsbury Winthrop in (see my web site for description) to discuss personal leadership.
Some of the leadership characteristics we defined that evening were definitely humor as well as humility. I was struck by this combination, when I went to look at Eric’s web site and found this on his home page:
After nearly 30 years spent building or running high technology companies, I created BGV to assist other entrepreneurs build or run a new generation of high technology companies. I will put my own money at risk, not others. I will coach, but will not be a consultant. I will invest my time and experience at the service of the CEO and the company first, and its investors second. I will teach, but will learn as well. I will insist on upholding the highest standards of governance and the best management principles and techniques, but will take myself seriously only some of the time. Eric Benhamou Chairman and CEO, Benhamou Global Ventures
Where else would we find leaders willing to “put themselves out there” if not here? I think that these two traits – humility and humor – have to be internalized before leadership becomes real.
Many months ago I ended doing the rounds of the foreign-born executives I talked to over 14 months here in the Silicon Valley because the book [They Made It!] with their interviews finished.
Since I am having withdrawal symptoms and really miss getting new ideas talking to these incredible people, I have decided to take my iPod on the road, and do a series of short interviews with them as well as with younger executives who are on their way to making it as well.
This morning [May 21], I asked Jean-Louis [see photo] 3 questions I was curious to hear his answers to:
Quel est le meilleur conseil que tu as recu?
Quels conseils donnerais-tu aux francais qui s’installeraient dans la Valley?
Est-ce que les pratiques de “leadership” sont differentes dans la Silicon Valley que dans le reste du pays?
His answers didn’t disappoint me. I always enjoy the comments he comes up with on the fly and his French word choices are wonderful to listen to. a more complete interview where he gives answers to his early beginnings as well as to the development of his career [Apple Europe, Apple + Skully] in Silicon Valley are in the book’s chapter devoted to VCs.
Those of you who speak French will enjoy listening to this exchange.
