Silicon Valley is recognized globally as a hotbed of innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship. It's the birthplace of world-famous companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook and home to a few legends such as NASA at the Ames Research Center. Our 16 authors have created a book 16 high-impact chapters that can give you and your business the Silicon Valley advantage and success.
Why is Silicon Valley such an entrepreneurial place? A major contributor to the phenomenon is our diversity--half of us don't speak English at home. But our diversity goes far beyond ethnicity. A wide variety of perspectives, leadership & thinking styles, management, and work approaches also contribute to the success & growth mindset of Silicon Valley, creating breakthroughs that have disrupted international business models (Airbnb and Uber) and even shifted our perception of the future of meat (the "Impossible Burger"). This book is a practical guide for those who want to invest in their personal growth & learn how to better manage their business.
We're also one of the most educated regions in the United States--nearly half of us graduated from college, and about a fifth have earned graduate degrees. Businesses here are filled with smart, well-educated, successful men & women. But like all organizations made up of people, we are subject to the same pitfalls that threaten businesses everywhere in the world.
Many businesses that were successful 100 years ago no longer exist. Trapped by their own success, they gradually learned to reduce risk and avoid failure at all costs and consequently squelched or killed their personal development, innovation, and creativity. This made them vulnerable to new situations, competition from new or more aggressive businesses with less to lose & difficult conversations. Are your greatest contributions and successes behind you or ahead of you? Even brilliant people can underperform at work--or fail--for entirely predictable (and avoidable!) reasons. This book showcases the crucial conversations that effective people and effective leadership have in order to achieve growth success.
Similar hazards face successful executives, professionals, and leaders of every kind. One danger of success is the increased difficulty of recognizing and adjusting to shifts in the business work environment. No one knows this better than the former leaders of Nokia and Kodak, two once-great international businesses that ignored crucial conversations & the timeless wisdom that a peak always conceals a treacherous valley.
It can be hard to see new possibilities that will allow future success, especially when it requires letting go of previously effective strategies that served you well & having difficult conversations. This is where the outside perspective of a consultant can be particularly useful. Our 16 authors offer you a competitive advantage in the business world and an alternative to that treacherous valley.
Dive into the Silicon Valley growth mindset by reading one of our chapters in our book. As a result, you'll understand why in this amazing center of innovation, failures are called "prototypes," the "impossible" is merely difficult, and dreams become reality. The perfect gift for men and women leaders in management and non-management positions hungry for personal development and personal growth.
Russell Brand has founded three successful companies and advised and made angel investments in hundreds more. His current focus is on crafting investor and customer stories to enable early stage companies to have their offerings valued and appreciated. Russell offers strategic advising to companies of all sizes and shapes. He has done noted work in open source adoption, artificial intelligence-aided software engineers, and computer security and has sold and been awarded six patents in the organization of computer storage. Several of his projects have individually resulted in tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to US taxpayers. He has been active in several angel investment groups, including Keiretsu Forum and MIT Angels. Russell received his masters from University of California, Berkeley, and his bachelor's degree from MIT, where he was a member of Tau Beta Pi and an officer of Eta Kappa Nu. Email: brand@QuietCandor.com Website: http: //www.QuietCandor.com/ LinkedIn: https: //www.linkedin.com/in/russell-brand/
Hong Nguyen-Phuong challenges and inspires teams to fully engage, lead, and innovate. He co-founded Hotaru Media and is a member of Silicon Valley Alliances. Hong studied engineering at MIT, computer science at Boston University, and general management at Harvard Business School. He is committed to learning constantly in interactions with stakeholders and teams to bring innovation and value to market. His 2019 engagements brought to market a food logistics platform and a block-chained communications platform. Hong is certified in project management, Scrum, and scaled agile. Active in local communities, he is most proud of being awarded Individual Member of the Year by the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce. Email: hong.nguyenp@gmail.com Website: https: //siliconvalleyalliances.com/ LinkedIn: https: //www.linkedin.com/in/hongnguyenp/
Kimberly Wiefling helps people achieve what seems impossible but is merely difficult. She's the founder of Wiefling Consulting and co-founder of Silicon Valley Alliances. She wrote a project management book that has been popular globally for over a decade, Scrappy Project Management: The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces, which was also published in Japanese by Nikkei Business Press. Kimberly is the executive editor of a series of Scrappy Guides, most recently, Scrappy Women in Business and Scrappy Campaigning. Her expertise includes global leadership and team effectiveness, program and project management, creativity and innovation, and organizational culture. Kimberly is wildly enthusiastic about working with people and teams who are committed to solving global problems, profitably and thus sustainably, in order to make a powerful positive difference on Planet Earth. Email: kimberly@siliconvalleyalliances.com Websites: SiliconValleyAlliances.com, KimberlyWiefling.com, Wiefling.com LinkedIn: https: //www.linkedin.com/in/scrappykimberlywiefling/
