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Category: Culture, Silicon Valley

Not least the revelation of the sexually predatory behavior of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein done to many many women in the film industry, the discussion about sexual harassment has reached Europe. The #MeToo-campaign by too many women talking about their own experiences with sexual harassment by men has surprised many of them. “I had no …

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Category: Culture, Mindset, Silicon Valley

The Silicon-Valley-Mindset is this mythical thing that many people from outside the Bay Area try to understand. But what is it? Is it the air, the water, or genetic differences of people living here that make them so innovative? Not really. In fact, with so many foreign-born entrepreneurs and innovators ruling Silicon Valley, the mindset …

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Category: Culture, Innovation, Mindset

We generally consider innovation as something that is good and desired, even that we know that people in disrupted industries will lose their jobs and investments destroyed, or that the innovative product or service can be used for nefarious purposes. Innovation to be good needs to create more value for society than it destroys. But …

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Category: Culture, Innovation

Jim Carrey’s character from the 2008 Yes Man-movie humorously depicts the life of bank loan manager Carl Allen, who’s lost in a spiral of negative attitude until a self-help seminar turns him around. To every suggestion he starts responding with a positive “Yes“, helping him meeting new people, learning a new language, picking up new …

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Category: Culture, Intrapreneurship

Implementing a lasting intrapreneurship program requires more than just the opening of an R&D lab or labeling something as skunkwork project. Like you need a village to raise a child, companies need the whole organization to raise intrapreneurs. To accomplish this, a multi-tiered approach is required. The 5 Intrapreneurship Tiers Intrapreneurship sits on 4 tiers …

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Category: Culture, Design, Self-driving

Is design important for innovation, and if not always, when is it not? A conversation about me spotting the Google self-driving mini-car for the first time in the wild lead to discussion about the right priorities and the importance of design for innovation. Worst car design ever … This was the gut reaction of one …

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Category: Culture

When I came to the Silicon Valley in 2001, I was this over-confident PhD from Austria, having worked in Germany, and just not having an all too positive view on the knowledge of my US colleagues. I was dismissive, negative, and just not receptive of input.Honestly, what can they teach me? Until one colleague just …

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