Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure

As a veteran of many layoffs at Apple, she understood the importance of a swift announcement and decisive action. “Let everyone know that their voice mail will remain active while they look for a new job, and I’ll be setting up a placement center where they can work on their resumes and check job listings.”

Jay Hoag of Chancellor Capital, who by now was a friend of mine, offered comforting words. “Sure I’d rather make money. But bear in mind that this happens all the time. It’s a numbers game. Everybody understands that your first responsibility is to take care of your people. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

If you’d like to contact Jerry Kaplan regarding Startup, please send your e-mail messages to kaplanj@hmco.com.

A principle widely held by physicists states that there is no such thing as a truly independent observer, that every act of perception, no matter how trivial, affects whatever is observed. Information theorists recognize a similar principle: every message, no matter how perfunctory, is carried by a medium that colors its meaning for the recipient.

Through the power of television, I knew that lions were large, proud creatures that roared and lived in Africa. But one day my father took me to see the big cats at the Bronx Zoo. I could barely relate the coarse, smelly creatures in front of me—lying docile and panting in their cages while flies buzzed around their heads—to what I had witnessed fr

Although it seemed impossible, the pace of activity at GO continued to increase. There were so many urgent matters demanding my attention that I took to staying at a nearby hotel, to save the few critical minutes spent commuting from the city. There was no such thing as a weekend off.

Nothing strokes an investor’s ego more than having a friend or colleague mention a high-flying company in a hot new field and then pointing out that he’s in on the action.

IN THE SIX MONTHS since I had begun working with Bill Campbell, I learned by watching him what leadership was all about. The key skill is not in convincing people of your point of view with rational arguments, but, when circumstances require, in building a feeling of consensus in the face of uncertainty or adversity. Bill’s strength was his ability

A master of promotion, Sculley knew that the secret to success was to change the name of the field and find a new audience.