Publisher's Synopsis
How and why do people create visions in the first place? What’s the best way to communicate your vision if you have one? What does it take to make a vision reality?
Cutting–edge ideas flow like water in Silicon Valley. Managers and business professionals all over the world look to this region as a model for creating their own success stories. The growth of the high–tech industry can be attributed to a combination of risk taking and vision coming from a handful of individuals. Taken straight from the mouths and minds of the people who created and now champion them, Champions of Silicon Valley focuses on some of the most important and influential visions and business approaches to come out of Silicon Valley.
Charles Sigismund examines the unique accomplishments of these Silicon Valley companies and their visionaries through extensive field research and interviews. He explores high tech’s most influential visions and details how these ideas reached fruition. The approaches included are as varied and effective as the individuals and organizations that work with them.
The fascinating stories presented in this book will guide and inspire you to produce your own visions for business. Some of the top leaders who contribute their wisdom to these pages include:
- Tim Koogle, CEO of Yahoo!
- Bud Colligan, former CEO and Chairman of Macromedia
- Art Levinson, CEO of Genentech
- Don Valentine, Founder of Sequoia Capital Management
- Jim Clark, Founder and Chairman of Netscape
Champions of Silicon Valley delivers what aspiring leaders need to know about creative thinking, risk taking, and strategizing in real time.
Praise for Champions of Silicon Valley
"As ironic as it sounds, the only thing constant in business is change. This book should prove invaluable to current and future leaders in examining the essential role that vision plays in creating and taking advantage of change in fast growth industries."–Tim Koogle, CEO, Yahoo!
"I believe that vision is fundamental to great leadership. But trying to pin down the source of vision and the dynamic role it plays in successful organizations is no simple matter. Through hours of dialog, Charles helped me to discover a rational and intellectual understanding of my own process that I feel would benefit managers and entrepreneurs in the high–tech industry today."–Joe Costello, former CEO, Cadence Design Systems
Currently CEO of think3
"I trust the reflections in Champions of Silicon Valley will be a stimulating and helpful guide for others."–Ron Eastman, CEO, Geron Corporation
"Unique among high–technology’s many observers, Charles Sigismund reaches into the very heart and soul of Silicon Valley’s elite. By discovering and describing what gets them up in the morning, Sigismund offers a revealing and refreshing insight into the fundamental forces that are so rapidly changing our world."–Bronwyn Fryer, contributing writer,Fortune Small Business, Upside Magazine, Newsweek, Red Herring, C/net, and Inc. on Technology
"Charles Sigismund’s perspectives on vision helped me turn a labyrinth of market understanding, competitor knowledge, and technical expertise into a clear vision for our company. This ‘articulation’ has quickly become our company’s passion." –Doug Thompson, President and CEO, Just In Time Solutions, Inc.
