Smith says that John Doerr, renowned venture capitalist at KPCB, attributes his success to his ability to communicate and facilitate, above his technological expertise. Technical knowledge is useless if you cannot motivate people to do something with it, she adds.

Transcript



In fact, it reminds me of one thing I wanted to point out about leadership. I asked John Doerr once we were in a meeting and he's a fantastic facilitator. It was a board meeting and afterward I asked him what he thought was more responsible for his success. Is it technological expertise? And he's a patent holder and he has great technological expertise. Or his ability to communicate and facilitate? And he said, "Hands down. Communicate and facilitate." Because absent that, it wouldn't really matter what he knew technologically if he couldn't get other people to be motivated to do something about it. It's not that he wouldn't have an impact. He'd still have an impact, but it would be limited to what he could do. By being a facilitator and a communicator, he suddenly could mobilize thousands of other people to try to do that same thing. So I just want to emphasize that it's an important skills that to develop even if it doesn't come naturally because the person who's going to facilitate that board meeting is going to get people to do things their way.

1. Hybrids: Entrepreneurs Must Lead People from Radically Different Sectors
2. Founding of Teach for America: Entrepreneurs Envision What Others Say is Impossible
3. A Theory of Change = Business Model + Strategy
4. Focus
5. Hybrid Leaders
6. Education: Shift From Culture of Compliance to Culture of Performance
7. Venture Philanthropy
8. New School Venture Fund History and Operations
9. New School Portfolio
10. Strategic Investment Analysis Via a Hybrid Partner Group
11. Leadership, Communication, and Facilitation Skills
12. Taking Risks
13. Achieving Profits Through Customer Focus

Kim Smith lectures on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students, October 19, 2003. Kim Smith is co-founder and CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, which she established in 1998 to transform public education by supporting education entrepreneurs. In NewSchools, Kim created a new "hybrid" approach to investing in social entrepreneurs. NewSchools uses grants, loans and equity investments to support a portfolio that includes nonprofit and for-profit entrepreneurs who are building sustainable, scalable education ventures. In this Stanford lecture, she talks about venture philanthropy, fixing problems in K-12 education and how entrepreneurs must lead people from radically different sectors.



Course Details:

- Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series

- Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner (ecorner)



Original Course Name: Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series