Talking Silicon Valley's Learning Curve with Reid Hoffman

A fast changing world, driven by staggering breakthroughs and new fissures opening up. Can we make sense of patterns of change across the globe during this time of exponential technology?

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It was a pleasure to speak to the founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman. In our hour-long conversation, Reid and I discuss the concept of blitzscaling, the spillover of this internet-enabled phenomenon in other industries, and how it creates efficiency improvements—read his thoughts on this here. We also discuss innovation, government and the culture of Silicon Valley, which is covered in this post.

To hear our full conversation, find Exponential View podcast wherever you get your podcasts > Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify | Breaker | Overcast | Soundcloud

Does Silicon Valley's success create an exclusive advantage over the rest of the world?

Reid Hoffman: Many companies have blitzscaled in Silicon Valley, and that gives it a continuing advantage. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be an exclusive advantage. The bad news is that one of the reasons why so many of these companies come out of Silicon Valley and China is people can recruit from companies that have blitzscaled before. The good news is the actual fundamental learning in each of these companies is fairly distinct, and each company has its own playbook. Part of the whole advantage to being the first to scale is you also have the first to the learning curve of the customer, the learning curve of the market. Part of learning curve is other people around, who've played in the same field, that is a real advantage, but I actually think its something that can be replicated in other places.

Is Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial culture properly set up to engage with the government and civil sector on a meaningful level?

Reid Hoffman: It's definitely on the learning curve. Silicon Valley is like a teenager, but I'm optimistic about the learning curve. That being said, for example, I also tend to think that the network within Silicon Valley innovates more powerfully, more broadly, more fast than government tends to do. I'm one of the people who believe that government platforms, the private public connections actually amplify, can be good, can be done the right way. Ultimately what happens is the founders, the companies, the executives, need to also go through the similar learning curve when they're going to learn what it means to be responsible citizens. Similarly, as we grow from teenager to adult, what's the way that we say, "We have a lot of power and influence here and we need to be responsible stewards of that power and influence, how do we do it?"

What role should the government play in innovation?

Reid Hoffman: I think that part of the way I look at the government is that government provides a platform, it provides the basis of network. Innovations come out of the network. When government becomes the centralized control, that tends to be a massive decrease in potential and realization of value. The way that the government needs to approach this, is say look, we recognize that we're fostering: we're helping influencing an ecosystem, we're being partners in various ways. Instead of: "We are the master planners".

If you found this interesting, subscribe to Exponential View podcast and listen to the full conversation, here, or wherever you get your podcasts. (This conversation is full of insight, so I recommend you listen to the whole thing.)

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