Tension is entrusting your startup employees with free time and space where they are not under constant surveillance, nor constant pressure to respond immediately to every jittery email. It is giving them the room and freedom to explore and come up with new ideas, positive in the possibility that it will create opportunities for them to stumble onto new things. As effective founders will always tell you, “The door is there, you are welcome to leave.” They have the courage to corral every emotional resource to focus on the prize. Ineffective founders sequester you, they monitor you, they expect you to be effective whilst on a short leash.
Read MoreWalled Gardens and Flat Orgs
In Silicon Valley a nobody can get coffee with a somebody, given they are persistent. The walls are permeable. One reason the culture of Silicon Valley enables this is fear of Moore’s Law. Since technology, whether it is getting smaller, faster, or cheaper is doubling every eighteen months or so, technologists like those in Silicon Valley know the best time to develop a competing product is tomorrow--not the metaphorical tomorrow, as in when we get to it, nooooo, tomorrow as in 24 hours from now.
Read MoreWhen a Deal is Not Always a Deal
Maybe the Chinese haggling approach is feminine, let's call it that for the sake of argument. And what if I characterized this approach as actually grittier? What if I called it tougher than "a deal's a deal." Of course, a "deal's a deal" is steely and unwavering. It is classically masculine in that it doesn't budge. It doesn't suffer fools. You can take it or leave it. You "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." You just don't bargain with a man 'cos to "nickel and dime" him presupposes he hasn't entered discussions with full and utmost candor.
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