"I frequently struggle with business issues because I don’t find it very intellectually stimulating any more. After a certain amount of experience/knowledge, everything in business is just applied psychology, which really doesn’t interest me."
Thank goodness for the Silicon Valley Junto.
I’ve mused before that a lot of Silicon Valley folk would like to exercise mental muscles outside their core domain of high tech/business. Most of us realize that breakthrough insights occur at the intersection of ideas, cultures, and disciplines. Further, most of us realize that it’s important to be interesting, which means being able to hold a conversation on topics beyond the one little niche in which you work.
My friend Chris Yeh and I decided to do something about it. Drumroll please…
The Silicon Valley Junto (who-n-toe) will be a free quarterly discussion group/forum – "thoughtful conversations about topics that matter" – for business/hi-tech people to talk about about things they don’t usually talk about. It will be a community of peers, not podiums.
Go check out the Silicon Valley Junto web site, blog, and wiki for more information. The inaugural meeting is January 5 in the morning in Palo Alto/Menlo Park (will alternate btwn South Bay and SF). The topic is "Americanism as an Idea": What does it mean to be American, is the American dream as good as it gets, etc.
Why "Junto"?
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin convinced 12 of his friends to form a club dedicated to mutual improvement. Meeting one night a week, these young men discussed the topics of the day. Junto was a private forum for discussion and as a surreptitious instrument for leading public opinion. One of the functions of the group was to brainstorm publicly beneficial ideas. They recommended books, shopkeepers, and friends to each other. They fostered self-improvement through discussions on topics related to philosophy, morals, economics, and politics.
Why Just Business/Tech People?
We want everyone to speak the same language. Plus it will be a networking opportunity.
I’m really busy, do you think I really have time to talk about stuff not directly related to my work?
Yes. Exercising intellectual muscles that you may not have worked since college will not only be refreshing, but will expose you to new ideas that will help you in your work. Read The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures for more on this. Also see Jim Collins on why executives can increase their leadership capabilities by reading non-business books.
I don’t live in the Silicon Valley. How can I partake?
Hopefully the conversation starts on the blogosphere, continues in-person, and then is continued online again. You can certainly participate in the 1st and 3rd parts of that cycle. Join in! Check out the Junto blog and send a trackback ping. What does being American mean to you?
Comment of the Day by "Michael":
Ben– It’s funny… I have just started working in the whole tech start
up game. And my collegiate background was included majoring in
international studies and political science… I read a lot of your
writing geared towards VC and start up, and it makes me smile to see
someone with those interests ponder a question that I think about so
much (and never talk about working for a Bay area start up… WHO HAS
TIME FOR THAT?). 😉
Yep! You are one of many, I think, who loves their work in Silicon Valley, but isn’t given the opportunity to talk about the other issues of intellect affecting our world, and indeed, our work.
Stay tuned for a forthcoming announcement on what I’m doing about this.
After five years in the Silicon Valley I posit that:
a) business and technology folks are deprived of intellectual stimulation outside their narrow specialty;
b) not exercising those liberal arts mental muscles (maybe since college?) will hurt them competitively in a world increasingly emphasizing the intersections ;
c) there are many smart business and technology people who would like to explore new intellectual domains but do not have an easy way to take the risk of venturing outside their mental comfort zone.
There is one category of people who say to themselves, "If I’m a business entrepreneur, why waste time thinking about philosophy (or political science, or any other intellectual topic) when I could read more business books and try to learn about the latest and greatest management strategy?" These people are usually not very interesting.
Then there are those people who realize that executives should read more non-business books and living at the intersections is more important than total specialization in one domain (be in software, venture capital, what have you). These are people who – through their blog or otherwise – want to explore the life of the mind and have intelligent conversations about psychology, philosophy, history, sociology, science, and so forth.
Chris Phillips started a revolution a few years ago with his book Socrates Cafe and his Society of Philosophical Inquiry organization, which tries to set up informal Socratic dialogues in coffee shops around the country. I’d like to do something similar for folks in the high tech/start up scene to perhaps read a common book and then gather in-person to discuss and have a lively dialogue. A common bond among everyone grow from the similar background, but I suspect people will bring different perspectives to issues we don’t usually talk about.
I’ve traded emails with my friend Chris Yeh about this (he says his blog is the one thing he can do to get closer to his Stanford days of pure intellectual stimulation). Thoughts? Feedback? Reactions? Will an explicit focus away from business turn off or turn on? Thanks.