Facebook's IPO is the current talk of the town. It even set its own price for its shares which most analyst think is undervalued never the less Mark Zuckerberg will pocket a cool 1 B$ and his shares will be worth more than 17.6B$. A very good pay off after a few years. There's no questions how great Facebook has become can even afford to snub bankers putting Silicon Valley over Manhattan.
Looking at this achievement and how it comes about is not to look within Facebook itself but in a grander scale, Silicon Valley the playground of large tech companies, exciting start-ups and most importantly industry collaboration. So why are successful tech companies in Silicon Valley? Being part of a cluster initiative in Sweden, Mobile Heights we try to emulate the success of Silicon Valley. However there is something in Silicon Valley not present in the Oresund's region, a trait, a very simple one... Inclusivity. The culture of ensuring everyone is included and involved, until Sweden and Denmark acquires this trait it will never emulate Silicon Valley, and I stand by that word.
In Sweden, Denmark and the rest of Western Europe, it's never about inclusivity, rather its about exclusivity. This is ingrained in the culture and very difficult to change. To emulate Silicon Valley inclusivity must start from the onset, from the schools, from the home so the next generation will have this trait as they embark on the journey to future of financial success.
Let's take my daughter as an example, who grew up in a typical Western European environment who had her birthday months ago but will have her birthday party together with her current best friend in the coming weeks. They were listing who should they invite and all I heard was why they should not invite her friends she used to play with and their mothers actually encourage them not to since its a lot of work to have more children in a party. Recently she complained she was not invited on another friend's birthday party. If you have not picked up what I wanted to say, here it is. From childhood, Western European children are encouraged to be exclusive and not inclusive. This carries on all the way to business where it is never inclusive, that's why Silicon Valley will stand on its pedestal for a considerable period of time.
I believe that if we want to change that and be inclusive it must start from the most basic institution, the home and family. We must practice what we preach and have our children embrace being inclusive... only then can we truly claim we have set the real foundations towards emulating Silicon Valley's success.
Looking at this achievement and how it comes about is not to look within Facebook itself but in a grander scale, Silicon Valley the playground of large tech companies, exciting start-ups and most importantly industry collaboration. So why are successful tech companies in Silicon Valley? Being part of a cluster initiative in Sweden, Mobile Heights we try to emulate the success of Silicon Valley. However there is something in Silicon Valley not present in the Oresund's region, a trait, a very simple one... Inclusivity. The culture of ensuring everyone is included and involved, until Sweden and Denmark acquires this trait it will never emulate Silicon Valley, and I stand by that word.
In Sweden, Denmark and the rest of Western Europe, it's never about inclusivity, rather its about exclusivity. This is ingrained in the culture and very difficult to change. To emulate Silicon Valley inclusivity must start from the onset, from the schools, from the home so the next generation will have this trait as they embark on the journey to future of financial success.
Let's take my daughter as an example, who grew up in a typical Western European environment who had her birthday months ago but will have her birthday party together with her current best friend in the coming weeks. They were listing who should they invite and all I heard was why they should not invite her friends she used to play with and their mothers actually encourage them not to since its a lot of work to have more children in a party. Recently she complained she was not invited on another friend's birthday party. If you have not picked up what I wanted to say, here it is. From childhood, Western European children are encouraged to be exclusive and not inclusive. This carries on all the way to business where it is never inclusive, that's why Silicon Valley will stand on its pedestal for a considerable period of time.
I believe that if we want to change that and be inclusive it must start from the most basic institution, the home and family. We must practice what we preach and have our children embrace being inclusive... only then can we truly claim we have set the real foundations towards emulating Silicon Valley's success.
