I spent the past 10 days evaluating the operations of Silicon Valley.
What makes this a special place? Scale 0-100.
I thought climate could have something to do with it. If San Francisco has a reputation for fog - not to be confused with mysticism and wind, the southern part of the bay has a warmer climate in winter and summer. Just so you know, there is no such thing as summer in San Francisco, I learned that in 2004, when I participated in an international gift fair, the shirt and sweater were adjustable, and hats, gloves and boots were recommended. In the South Bay there is no wind that sweeps through the streets of San France. but no, it is not a climate.
I thought that this could be related to technology, there are tons of exciting companies. I had the privilege of visiting the launch: interabangnet.com right in the heart of the video game incubator. HP, Apple and Google headquarters are fascinating, but there are many other companies around, and this is a bubbling place ... but no, there are many other technology centers around the world.
I thought it could be a cash flow, there are angel investors and venture capitalists here and there, you can come together. I was told that one of my favorite places - Coupa Cafe, in Palo Alto, is mandatory participation in the interest of investors, another place, it seems, Il Fornaio, is near. I had meetings in both places, and yet Coupa Cafe continues to be my favorite place, as it shows Venezuelan flavor. But no, this is not cash, there are many other places in which a lot of cash ...
These are not tax breaks ... or legal benefits ... It is expensive to hire employees in California and manage the company, not because the salaries are high, but vice versa, because the costs of the company are high. Wednesday is not easy for business.
What matters in Silicon Valley are people. Of all kinds of life, people are involved in their personal development and in parallel in economic development. From this follows a virtuous circle. A person does not expect the state or company or family to be responsible for their lives. From a cleaner to a welder to a consultant to a scientist, everyone cares about a healthy sense of responsibility, which I call RESPONSIBILITY. As a result, people have an idea that what happens to them is the result of their actions.
It reminded me of a conversation with an academic college about classification. If I rate on a scale from 0 to 100, and another class assesses 40-80 by its standards, we notice two very interesting behaviors: younger students will go to class 40-80 and highly Translating students will go to class 0-100. BUT, a wider class will encourage students to more actively study and search for better grades, not only because they can get 100, but also because getting 0 (zero) is also an opportunity.
Silicon Valley is a place of a larger scale ... those who want to make it big, believe that they can do it, and it is motivated for it. Those who can not leave or not fall behind ... Instead of winning, people are delighted with this, and it is contagious! This is the same enthusiasm that appeared in the Packard garage (co-founder of HP) - see Figure - and kept the area vibrant for decades.
So the lesson is: if you want to make the most of your life ... go into the scale of 0-100 or force yourself to think in the scale of 0-100.
I know that life should not be perfect, but should be worth it ... so I prefer a larger scale, always!
Alicia
