Success Secrets from Silicon Valley

I got this book, Success Secrets from Silicon Valley – How to make your teams more effective, for only S$2 at the National Library Board annual sale at Singapore Expo. A check at Amazon, it costs only US$0.01 for used copy or US$4.28 for a new one.

Knowledge is really “priceless”. To me, the book is certainly worth many more times than the price quoted at NLB or Amazon. Although written more than 10 years ago in 1998, the book by Geoffrey James still has its significant value, especially the area on corporate culture that makes a successful Silicon Valley company.

As you may aware Silicon Valley is basically a gathering of IT and computer industry players and start-ups. A book on IT and computer written 10 years ago in many senses could be a dinosaur in term of the development of information technology. However, because the book is concentrating and stressing on the importance of value and culture to a company’s success, the points discussed in the book are still very refreshing today.

The discussion on corporate culture and the success factors in the book seem to focus on the “yin” aspects of Chinese philosophy. Geoffrey divides corporate culture into traditional business and Silicon Valley cultures. The traditional business culture emphasizes on chains of command and has a systematic structure that prevents changes to take place. It is like the “yang”. On the other hand, Silicon Valley culture is loosely organized less structure and welcome changes. It represents the “yin”.

James also discussed a bit on the history of industrial revolution/age. In the era of industrial revolution, workers were structured to repeat the same production process and had to work long hours to be continued to be employed. It was so easy to fire a worker and workers’ contribution was valued at a very low level and could be replaced every time. There is no such thing as human capital. Many traditional business or in some countries, this traditional mindset is still there. Labor is so cheap and job opportunities are so few that the market is on the enterprise side and so they come out with all kinds of rules and regulations to “control” the workers or people. If they don’t have the supply, they can import to meet their demands.

This may explain why the corporations, businesses and government agencies want to become bigger and bigger. And the way to control this big side organization is to implement “traditional business” model. This makes them run into the vicious cycle of refusing changes, creating fears, more controls and treating employees like a child.

In fact, many MNCs are structured in such a way as they have yet to distance themselves from the industrial age – the traditional business model. Also the fact is many western management theories and principles are based on the traditional model. And companies in the emerging countries like Singapore, China, and Taiwan are leaning from them!

Among newly industrial countries, Singapore government and companies can be considered as one the most successful examples. We are well structure, well run and very systematic. They way we run the government, companies and treating the employees, peoples are like a big corporation. There are all kinds of indicators, standards, classes (SQC), and campaigns to motivate or (to a certain degree) threaten employees to work harder. To businessmen or investors, they will be happy to see these figures as they can predict the outcomes and calculate the ROI. This is why foreign businessmen and investors are wiling to come to Singapore as until now (so far so good) Singapore gives them the certainty and protection. However, can this “traditional model” last for ever?

On the other hand, the Taiwanese companies are operating quite differently. They are less structure, always adapt to changes, results base and community spirit. This model seems more like the Silicon Valley culture. While the Taiwanese companies are learning from the west, they should aware of falling into a pitfall of “traditional business” culture. Their success factors in the past should be maintained and upgraded so that they can go to the next level of world class operation. If they adopt the “yang” (traditional model) elements of western management and never improve their own “yin” elements like creativity, innovation and changes, they risk to heading to no way. They can learn (and understand) to be structure, more productive and focus, however once they lose the (they already have) Silicon Valley culture, they will be in trouble.

However, Taiwanese companies should know the western traditional business culture on the “yang” side – organization structure, road map to world class company/organization, business excellence, and ISO. They must also consider the “yin” side of Silicon Valley culture. They have a head start compared to Singapore as they are already doing so in the past. They work hard and build team spirit not because of money motivator or fear of losing job, but because they want to achieve some things.

A better model may be is the mixture of yin and yang of Silicon Valley and traditional business cultures. As we are moving towards knowledge economy, the focus point, hence, is Silicon Valley culture, especially for country likes Singapore.

Geoffrey also gives examples for companies belonging to traditional and Silicon Valley cultures:
Tradition business culture: Digital, Xerox, IBM, Wang, Honeywell, GE, Cabletron, Apple (before 1997).
Silicon Valley culture: Novell, Dell, HP, Acer, Softbank, Microsoft, Cisco,
Apple (after 1997)

I am surprised to learn that how come Geoffrey has a good understanding of Chinese philosophy or wisdom. The book former title was Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite. James tried to input some Chinese wisdom into the Silicon Valley culture but never explicitly linked them together. (Sorry, if my guessing is wrong)
Or, perhaps he has seen the link but in 1990s linking a western success corporate culture to Chinese wisdom might not be a good marketing selling point. However, if the book can be renamed and repackaged with more inputs from Chinese wisdom, it may be another best selling book, and certainly worth more than S$2 (old copy) or US$4.28 (new copy).

In fact, Geoffrey has a long history of association with Asian or Chinese philosophy. Prior to the publication of Success Secrets from Silicon Valley, he had already written 2 very philosophical books, The Tao of Programming and the Zen of Programming. Geoffrey was a computer programmer and he uses programming to describe Tao and Zen. He has linked the Chinese wisdom with programming, and makes a boring subject like programming into “yin and yang”, into the way, spirit and changes.

His book published in 1990s could be ahead of his time. Many of the concepts discussed can be seen in today’s business operations and practices. For example, work-life balance, ecosystem, corporate social responsibilities, change management, blue ocean (to work with your competitors), and many others. However, these concepts or values are not new in the eye of Chinese or other philosophy. We are just too forgetful of our past!

There were only 2 reviews on this book in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Both give positive remarks and comments. Bob Hansens provided the following comments:
“This book captures the essential elements of the overall organizational strategy developed and applied in Silicon Valley over the past decades.”
“While the average Silicon Valley company is living the ecosystem described, the greatest value of the book may be its use as a teaching tool for the extension of a Valley company's culture to team members in non-Valley locations or subsidiaries”

Comments from Sophia Zannis were:
“The book could serve as a mandate for change management”.
“… the book could serve as an abridged change management manual for any company desiring to replicate the success culture of these upstarts. Size isn't the issue. Culture is.”

Sophia also gave a summary of the book:
“”
"Success Secrets" devotes a chapter to each of eight main change points: Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield; Corporations are communities, not machines; Management is service, not control; Employees are peers, not children; Motivate with vision, not fear; Change is growth, not pain; Computers are servants, not masters; Work is play, not toil.
Each chapter is organized in an easy to follow format: Silicon Valley mindset; traditional mindset; a case study; strategies; quiz (to determine "gaps" in an organization) and points to ponder which serve as good change management points to consider when we are with clients.
“”

James also highlighted 26 ways to make effective team management under the 8 keys:

Key 1 Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield
Strategy 1 Encourage diversity
Strategy 2 Launch new generations
Strategy 3 Build symbiotic relationship

Key 2 Corporations are communities, not machines
Strategy 4 Communicate directly
Strategy 5 Create opportunities for social interaction
Strategy 6 Encourage hands-on charity work

Key 3 Management is service, not control
Strategy 7 Increase power by dispersing it
Strategy 8 Encourage creative dissent
Strategy 9 Build autonomous teams

Key 4 Employees are peers, not children
Strategy 10 Hire the self-motivated
Strategy 11 Eliminate fancy perks
Strategy 12 Sacrifice the sacred cows

Key 5 Motivate with vision, not fear
Strategy 13 Create climate of trust
Strategy 14 Build a shared vision
Strategy 15 Compensate for missions accomplished
Strategy 16 Ruthlessly prioritize

Key 6 Change is growth, not pain
Strategy 17 Have long-term vision, short-term plans
Strategy 18 Keep jobs fluid and flexible
Strategy 19 Make decisions quickly and broadly
Strategy 20 Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Key 7 Computers are servants, not masters
Strategy 21 Use electronic mail to flatten management
Strategy 22 Humanize electronic communications
Strategy 23 Reduce information pollution

Key 8 Work is play, not toil.
Strategy 24 Cultivate constant challenge
Strategy 25 Encourage informality
Strategy 26 Create a sense of balance