Watch the Lectures#
John Hennessy - Silicon Valley's Success Notes
- Lecture 1 The Secret of Silicon Valley
- Lecture 2 Stanford's Leadership Education
- Lecture 3 Crisis, the Key to Success
Lecture 1: The Secret of Silicon Valley#
John Hennessy, the 10th president of Stanford University and chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), knows the culture and talent of Silicon Valley better than anyone. That's why he's called the godfather of Silicon Valley. In Lecture 1, The Secret of Silicon Valley, we explore the cultural elements that drove Silicon Valley's success, along with vivid stories of iconic figures like Hewlett and Packard who started in a garage, Google's fathers Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the icon of innovation Steve Jobs.
Stanford has a long history with startups. We've watched world-renowned companies (Cisco, Yahoo, Google) being founded.
How did all of this happen? What was the driving force?
There's no single answer because many factors are intertwined.
First, having truly outstanding students and faculty helps. They're always coming up with brilliant ideas and exploring new things. Having organizations that support people when they're considering or starting a business also helps. And having many role models is important too. You can look at those who've already succeeded in startups and draw inspiration from them.
What we've noticed about startups is that successful ones all have active talent mobility. It's not just ideas or technology that move — people actually move.
HP, well-known as Hewlett-Packard, is an amazing company. The management style they introduced is called the HP Way. That management style became a core cultural element of Silicon Valley. It's one reason Silicon Valley succeeded, and it's also why the partnership between Silicon Valley and Stanford works so well.
Let me talk about innovation. The interesting thing about innovation is that we treat it as a lifeline.
The biggest problem that companies and universities face over time is overlooking the importance of innovation.
About Stanford, my predecessor said this:
At a university, every day should feel like the first day
It means you should be seeking new ideas and directions every day. Of course, universities are places that teach and preserve the past, but they're also places for the future. You need to drive innovation and try new things. And to try new things, you need to stop doing the old things.
The hardest thing for companies is stopping what they've been doing to try something brilliant and new. But that will bring new opportunities. And that's how change happens.
What makes Apple great is that they pursued innovation. Innovation drives change. Apple went through a crisis too. The reason Apple brought Steve Jobs back was because they were in deep trouble. Truly great leaders seize crises as opportunities to leap in new directions and create something different.
Those who don't seize such opportunities to innovate gradually decline and fade into the pages of history. In fact, most do.
There's something special about Silicon Valley's leaders. Beyond the cultural environment, there are other important things in Silicon Valley. One of them is a meritocracy that, while not perfect, works quite well.
People are evaluated based on the abilities they have. Silicon Valley is a unique place. Even if you start a business and fail, as long as you learned lessons from it, you can continue a decent career. As long as you made a reasonable attempt and there was a possibility of success. This allows people to take the risk of starting a business.
People working in Silicon Valley have an almost fanatical loyalty to technology. They have high loyalty to technology and advance it in very independent ways. So while they're loyal to the companies they work for, they also have a separate loyalty to the technology itself.
People who've already built their careers elsewhere come into young entrepreneurs' companies to help develop their ideas. This is a very important factor in Silicon Valley's success.
The reason universities are such amazing places is that young people make great discoveries. Most of those discoveries are made by people under 40. So you need to create organizations that treat individuals based on their ability to contribute, not seniority. You should treat people based on their ability to contribute to the organization's goals and mission. Great companies already do this. What matters isn't how long you've been there, but how much you've contributed.
I believe that changing the culture where companies prioritize seniority and pursuing meritocracy helps find the best ideas.
People all have different approaches. What we need to do is leverage the abilities of incredibly talented people.
Everyone I know who's been successful has had luck play a big role. Nobody can really control timing. But success or failure depends on timing.
Take Steve Jobs for example — before making the Macintosh, he made the Lisa but it failed. He created a company called NeXT, which also failed. But he learned from those experiences. His vision of creating something was still the same. He just needed to catch the right timing. Success requires luck. Being at the right place and time, and knowing the right technology or solution, is important for success. Good leaders know how to look for opportunities and leverage timing.
It's also important that Silicon Valley is a place where very talented people from all over the world gather. It's also a place where such people can live comfortably. You can easily find people who share your interests, and the food you want is easy to get too. It's a pluralistic place where you can essentially find everything.
I always tell students that life is long and you're at the beginning. You don't need to change the world tomorrow. You have plenty of time. Think about how to move forward, what you can do at each stage of the journey, and how you can develop yourself. Then you'll be able to contribute to the world through your journey.
Lecture 1 Summary#
Silicon Valley's secret to success: Talent, active talent mobility, innovation, meritocracy
The importance of innovation
- The lifeline of companies and schools
- Must stop the old to try the new
- Missing innovation opportunities leads to decline
Silicon Valley's focus
- Not the result of failure, but the possibility of success
- Loyalty to technology, not to companies
- Individual ability, not seniority
What makes a good leader?
- A leader who knows how to use luck
-> Equally important as luck is the ability to seize opportunities - A leader who knows how to use timing
-> What separates success and failure is timing
Lecture 2: Stanford's Leadership Education#
John Hennessy, the 10th president of Stanford University and chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), knows the culture and talent of Silicon Valley better than anyone. That's why he's called the godfather of Silicon Valley. In Lecture 2, Stanford's Leadership Education, we examine the essential leadership elements that future young leaders need to lead Silicon Valley and the world.
In this lecture, I'll talk about how to develop leaders. Developing leaders requires various forms of education.
How do we make better leaders?
Babies aren't born with certain abilities or talents. They learn to speak and pick up new skills as they grow. Leadership is the same. Leadership can develop over time.
Leadership training is like a long journey. You need to continuously hone your skills and learn. When you're young, it's easier to learn new things than when you're older. So providing leadership training and education to young people is definitely worth it.
Since I was the department head, when students started businesses, I helped them build background knowledge so they could interact with venture capitalists, other investors, and advisors with a real understanding of what was happening — not just the technical aspects. My goal was to level the knowledge gap.
I wanted everyone to equally possess entrepreneurial knowledge, rather than having some who know a lot about business and others who only know technology. Over time, that decision made a big difference. Students gained more education and insight.
We can teach how to approach startups, how to organize a company, how to make a business plan, and how to come up with the best ideas — but I wanted to give them the ability to think outside the box, to find new and creative solutions.
How do you start a company, bring people together, and find solutions?
How does a company secure funding and sustain it long-term?
Companies and people face these problems. So I wanted to train students through education to handle these issues. But creating great leaders also requires different kinds of experiences.
We evaluate qualities as a leader — what skills you have, and what more you need. This lets you assess your own ability to do something and leverage opportunities to hone the skills you need.
Stanford's graduate programs teach practical ethics. They teach how to handle the complex and difficult ethical problems encountered in the workplace and at university, and how to think realistically about them. In my experience, most people who stray from the ethical path start by taking a few steps off the right path and then enter an unethical path. As situations get complicated, they take bigger negative actions to cover up initial small mistakes.
The solution is to identify the first problem — to recognize the first fork where you started to stray from the right path. To do this, you need to be able to reflect on problems.
When developing AI technology, what are the ethical obligations for the various situations in which that technology will be used?
The Gulf of Mexico oil drilling accident happened because they chose to risk safety protocols for faster drilling, leading to an ecological disaster.
We also emphasize developing the ability to innovate. The ability to think outside the box and do something different. One thing we do for innovation is build creative confidence. When you find a different way, and when you create something new, you often step outside the box. And it rarely succeeds on the first try.
When you put something new out there, everyone worries. "What will people think? What criticism will I get?" But that criticism produces better results. So accept the criticism, have confidence in your direction, but think about how to change it and move forward.
So all of the following processes are important: quickly building prototypes, trying ideas, and finding out what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Building thinking outside the box and creative confidence is the key. Beyond this, we teach this: we have students experience the problems faced by different communities. They can understand what it's like to be in difficult situations and think of solutions to the problems faced by those in such situations. We also teach how to have difficult conversations — how to deliver bad news humanely without hurting the other person, and how to find a final resolution. Through this, they learn how to work together and develop collaborative skills.
I think one of the challenges we face is that really difficult problems cannot be solved by any one team or group of people from one field. Those problems can only be solved by teams with diverse backgrounds and experiences working together.
How do we develop collaborative skills?
When people from diverse backgrounds come together, they solve problems together, using the different skills and perspectives each person brings. And they learn to collaborate. Learning to collaborate is an important skill when doing something new and innovative.
To make wise decisions, you need some understanding of the role of science and technology. A useful skill for everyone to learn is about algorithmic thinking. Knowing how to write programs gives you the ability to do things you couldn't do before.
As a leader, you also need to consider issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are very important issues in society today. You also need to think about the state of the world. Good leaders will regularly face these kinds of issues.
The bottom line is that you need to become familiar with these broad topics and build knowledge. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to know what questions to ask the experts.
Are there people who can't become good leaders? If they lack stamina and grit, or if they struggle to cope with difficult situations, then possibly. Having to say difficult things to people close to you is one of those hard things. But you can grow through doing it.
As a leader, you analyze everything you've done afterward. To do better next time. For those who try to become better leaders, there are opportunities for growth.
If you want to be a leader, remember that you must take one step at a time on a long journey. If you try to go fast, success becomes difficult. People who have leadership qualities want to grow. They want to learn. But remember that the final destination isn't the only thing that matters — the journey matters too. The journey of growth to become a leader, the journey of experience. I hope you experience joyful and happy moments on that journey.
Lecture 2 Summary#
Stanford Technology Ventures Program
-> An educational program at Stanford's School of Engineering providing education on entrepreneurship and innovation
-> The reason Stanford became the cradle of Silicon Valley talent
- Lectures on approaches to entrepreneurship
- Lectures on how to organize a company
- Lectures on how to create a business plan
Stanford's leadership education
- Learning to evaluate yourself -> You can seize growth opportunities by understanding yourself
- Practical (realistic) ethics needed -> The solution to ethical problems is identifying them early
- Fostering innovation capability -> Thinking outside the box and creative confidence are key
- Building creative confidence
- Must accept criticism for innovation
- Collaborative skills
- Understanding problems through experience, all the way to finding solutions
- Education for collaboration -> Learning the art of conversation
- Learning to cooperate through practice
The path of a leader is a long journey toward a goal
-> Virtues for future leaders
- Need a certain level of understanding and knowledge of science and technology
-> Learning list for future leaders - Algorithmic thinking
- Diversity, equity, inclusion
- Broad knowledge of climate change and the state of the world
Lecture 3: Crisis, the Key to Success#
John Hennessy, the 10th president of Stanford University and chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), knows the culture and talent of Silicon Valley better than anyone. That's why he's called the godfather of Silicon Valley. In Lecture 3, Crisis, the Key to Success, John Hennessy shares his vivid personal experiences about the various crises a startup leader can face and how to overcome them.
In this lecture, I want to talk about dealing with crises. Every leader goes through them.
Some people might look at my illustrious career and think I've never failed, but I've made many mistakes.
When I started my startup, I didn't know anything about running a business, what a business plan was, or what market research was. The business plan I brought to investors was too crude. A lot happened, but people helped me and I was able to move forward by learning from my mistakes.
Crises come from everywhere — inside and outside. But you have to step forward. If you're a leader, you need to be the first person to step up. Many people want to help an organization going through a crisis, but first, there needs to be a leader who steps up, takes the first step, and says:
We're going to get through this crisis
We'll find a way and survive
You need the courage to navigate through crises. To build courage, you must learn to test, communicate, and grow. Have the courage to stand up, unite people, and offer words of encouragement. Take responsibility. Taking responsibility for mistakes is the way to move forward.
Most crises involve people. That's what makes them hard to solve. People don't do the right thing, make mistakes, or lead us in the wrong direction. That's why leadership is difficult. If you don't solve people-related problems, you can't solve the problem. You must solve people-related issues first before you can fix the rest.
One way to solve this is through 360-degree feedback. You ask the people around you — subordinates, colleagues, and superiors — about this employee. It can reveal your weaknesses, but it doesn't feel great. What matters is the growth after this evaluation. Some people completely overcame their problems and developed into high contributors to the organization.
Everyone needs to go through this process. It's painful, but it can really help some people. It can also strengthen the organization.
People weigh risks against consequences — rewards. But if you don't take risks, you often get no reward at all. In a crisis, multiple things collide. There's the desire to act quickly and the desire to get all the information. You can't wait until you have all the information. Time is money, and waiting is a luxury.
As a leader, the hard part is determining whether you've gathered enough information to make the right decision. The answers don't simply divide into right and wrong. Especially in a crisis, many decisions are ambiguous. But you'll do your best to gather as much information as possible and, when a decision is needed, make the best possible decision. If you hesitate too much, most situations only get worse.
So how can you recognize problems and stay on the right path?
Look at and review crisis situations caused by people making bad judgments, and think about what judgment should have been made. We want to train people on how to think in these situations. So that when they face similar crises, instead of feeling like they can't make a decision, they can apply their knowledge based on their training experience.
A leader needs to know how to take care of themselves to maintain their vitality. Many leaders experience burnout in high-pressure positions. I had some tough moments too. When employees from a company I founded took to the streets with big signs protesting, they read "Hennessy, Silicon Valley's Worst Boss." They even threw rocks at my house in the early morning while protesting. If you want to remain a leader for a long time, you need to stay healthy and energetic.
The most important thing in a crisis is to stay calm. Don't lose your composure. Find solutions and minimize potential risks. Analyze various alternatives and figure out which is best for getting through the crisis. You'll need to stay calm, talk to people, and think about how to move forward. Imagine not the dark tunnel you have to pass through, but the light at the end of it. Find a way to get there. You need to imagine that future.
Actually, I think what I'm doing now is the most important thing given to me. When I think about the role of a leader and the legacy I'll leave, I think about what I'd want people to remember about me.
Lecture 3 Summary#
Leader's virtues: Courage + Responsibility
Education needed to build judgment
- Case analysis: Review existing crisis situations and practice making judgments
- Leadership education: Training how to think in crisis situations
Increase information gathering and optimal decision-making
Reduce overreaction and excessive hesitation
Crisis management
- Maintain composure
- Find solutions
- Minimize potential risks
- Analyze various alternatives
- Visualize the goal
What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk.
— Cicero
