Senior Wu Jun's "Top of the Wave" can be called an entrepreneurial bible. It records the companies that have changed the world in previous technological waves: Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook... From their ups and downs, we can try to understand Every company succeeds and fails.
Analyzing the success or failure of a single company is relatively simple because it is unique. But it's harder to understand the Silicon Valley that nurtured these companies. Silicon Valley is too complicated, with entrepreneurs and companies of different styles, and industries that are constantly evolving: from semiconductors, to PCs, to the Internet, to Web 2.0, to the mobile Internet, to automobiles, biology, aerospace, and artificial intelligence , Silicon Valley has transformed many times, but it is still the Silicon Valley that continues to create miracles.
So, what's the secret to Silicon Valley's success? Teacher Wu Jun gave us the answer again - "Silicon Valley Mystery" . This book has written a lot of interesting passages, and also has many profound points. I can't say I fully understand this book, but it at least gave me some inspiration.
What is the future?
"The Pentium Age" is an American drama about the heroes of Silicon Valley. The protagonist Joe is obsessed with chasing the future, and struggling with this, he empties himself again and again and starts again. Fortunately, he stood on the top of the wave every time, leading the times. Whether it is an individual or a company, it is enough to be able to achieve something in a certain wave, how can it be so lucky every time! So Joe is actually a symbol of Silicon Valley, because only Silicon Valley can see the future clearly every time:
At the end of the 1950s, Watson Jr. became the second-generation president of IBM. He realized the important role of computers, so he invested heavily in the development of computers and established a new research center in Silicon Valley; in the early 1980s, Grove stopped. In 1981, Gates saw the future operating system from the graphical interface shown by Jobs, and spent 9 years to catch up.
Because they have identified the future and acted decisively, IBM and Intel can successfully transform, and Microsoft can catch up and avoid being subverted in the new technological revolution. By contrast, when Google was on the rise, Yahoo was still insisting on manually categorizing thousands of websites, rather than having computers process the information automatically. How ridiculous!
So what is the future of today? artificial intelligence! This idea is not cool at all, because everyone is talking about it, and you may still be skeptical. Is autonomous driving really safer? Can robots really help us with housework? Can computers really be programmed automatically? If your answer is no, then you don't really believe in artificial intelligence.
In the age of artificial intelligence, how should individuals and companies deal with themselves is a question that we should all seriously consider.
What is an engineer culture?
Many great companies in Silicon Valley were founded by engineers, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook. This should have a causal relationship with the prevailing engineer culture in Silicon Valley. Let's take a look at Google's approach:
Each engineer can get two brand-new 24-inch LCD monitors and a high-performance mainframe, plus a latest laptop; a senior engineer can decide the purchase of tens of thousands of dollars; the highest-level engineer who writes the program can enjoy the global vice versa. President's treatment.
Many domestic IT bigwigs are also engineers: Ma Huateng, Li Yanhong, Ding Lei, Lei Jun... And now the income of engineers is not bad. However, in contrast, the status of domestic engineers is still somewhat different, and more programmers are keen to engage in management positions, that is, "being an official". Programmers are dubbed "code farmers" or labelled "IT men". I hate these titles because they underestimate the value of engineers. Entrepreneurship has been very hot in recent years, and there are many nonsensical entrepreneurs:
I have an idea to change the world, and I'm just one programmer away.
In fact, it's not a big deal to have an idea, the key is that you have the ability to realize it. Entrepreneurs with this idea, consider the Winklevoss brothers in the movie "The Social Network" :
The Winklevoss brothers invited Zuckerberg to join the team and jointly build a social networking site; Zuckerberg agreed to them, but did not write them code at all, but made Facebook independently; later, Zuckerberg agreed Worth tens of billions of dollars, the Winklevoss brothers received $65 million in compensation...
Engineer culture, in short, affirms the value of engineers and believes in the power of technology.
What is flat management?
Flat management is another characteristic of Silicon Valley companies, which is very different from traditional companies with rigid hierarchies:
There is no affiliation between employees and their supervisors, and their bosses have no right to interfere with employees’ movements within the company; employees enjoy the same benefits, and people at all levels of Google stay in the same hotel class when they travel on business; executives do not have luxurious offices, or even offices. , Tesla's founder Max does not have an independent office and sits in a public office area; income depends on actual performance. In Google and Facebook, senior managers may not earn more than senior employees.
In contrast, there is a large company in China with good performance and high income, but its management style is a bit terrible. This is the complaint of a resigned employee:
Colleagues born in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s with different experiences and styles around them are working very hard to perform overtime, study, grab work, throw the blame, express themselves, set up tricks for others, flatter leaders, etc. Basic skills strive to improve.
It is said that the grades of the superiors of the company can basically determine the promotion and salary increase of the subordinates. In this case, are the employees working for the superiors or the company? When the industry is thriving, such a company can do well, when the technological revolution arrives, it is hard to say. With such a corporate culture, how to retain the post-90s, post-95s and post-00s with flamboyant personality is also a very realistic problem.
The essence of flat management is equality, which can improve the company's execution and creativity, and calmly respond to rapidly changing technologies and markets.