Management Characteristics of Top Innovators in Silicon Valley

This in-depth chapter describes management principles and practices found across six Silicon Valley-based companies that have remained innovative and adaptive as they grew large. All points are illustrated with quotations and examples from the companies, and the key features they share are analyzed as making up the “Silicon Valley Model” for management in fast-changing, unpredictable environments. E.g., the companies have visionary leaders who lay out expansive, ambitious missions for the firms. They recruit people who have entrepreneurial qualities as well as strong technical skills, and their corporate cultures emphasize innovation, flexibility, speed, openness, transparency, and ecosystem awareness. Organizational structures are non-bureaucratic and ambidextrous, and coordination is achieved largely through “soft” control and measuring performance against key quarterly priorities.