Smart Steps

I don't think that the new economy is falling apart; it's just grounding. I hope that we will be able to strike a new balance that not only keeps the energy, excitement, and creativity but that also includes some pragmatism. It all depends on how you look at failure. I live in a world where everyone has failed miserably. We build our businesses with people who are failures. We're experts in failure. But I've learned that strength and depth of character are demonstrated by how you handle your failures. If you take a lot of risks, you're going to have a lot of failures. It doesn't mean that you should stop taking risks. My job is to teach people that failure is just a step along the way to success.

Mimi Silbert is the founder of the Delancey Street Foundation, a nonprofit rehabilitation organization for former convicts and drug addicts. As a residential facility and entrepreneurial incubator, Delancey Street hosts more than 1,500 residents who learn to operate its many businesses, including a nationwide moving company, a Bay Area restaurant, a bookstore, and a café/art gallery. Silbert previously appeared in FC 15, June 1998 ("She Helps Them Help Themselves").

Anita Borg

Founder and president
Institute for Women and Technology
Palo Alto, California

I was recently diagnosed with cancer. It has made me realize that a rat race without value is pretty foolish. Struggling with cancer has taught me to bring my values into my work now. I've learned how important it is not to say, "I'll just do this to make a whole lot of money now, and then I'll put my values in later."

I've been very disturbed by the past five years in the high-tech world. We've seen folks just sitting around saying, "I bet we could sell this." Particularly in the dotcom world, where products are built so quickly, we've seen technical folks coming up with technology for technology's sake, without thinking about whether it has value.

I love technology. I love creating it. It's wonderful, and it's fun. I've worked with it for 30 years, and I want to find ways for future technology to help create a better world -- not just a greedier hierarchy of haves and have-nots. It's taken this new-economy slowdown to make us say, "Oops, what have we missed here? Maybe being fast isn't quite enough." We've got to get beyond fast. If you're going too fast, you're not listening. You miss out on vision, on value. We have to engage people in the whole process of defining the future. People have the right to think about technology for themselves, to express what they need technology to do for them and to help create that future.

Anita Borg (borg@iwt.org) is the founder and president of the Institute for Women and Technology (IWT), a nonprofit research organization dedicated to increasing the impact of women on all aspects of technology. She is also the creator of Systers, one of the oldest global electronic networks of women in computer science, and the cofounder of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a prestigious conference for women in the computer-science field. Borg previously appeared in FC 27, September 1999 ("Sisterhood Is Digital").

Steve Miller

Chairman, president, and CEO
Shell Oil Co.
Houston, Texas

Over the past five years, the new economy forced me to relearn learning and to redefine leadership. None of the historical references on understanding the world, the marketplace, and work apply anymore. Dump the time-honored absolutes on their heads, because the power source of management -- information -- no longer costs big bucks. Speed is the Holy Grail. To make sense of such a rapidly changing environment, I had to draft an entirely new competitive framework for how we do business.

From 1996 to 1999, I was obsessed with learning. That time was the greatest learning period of my life. In today's world, proprietary knowledge is fickle: You can quickly leapfrog from one idea to the next, but continuous learning is enduring. It requires ego management. And I've adjusted my attitude to fit a grassroots definition of leadership. Five years ago, my job was to provide answers; today, my job is to create ways for frontline workers to find solutions. For me, learning used to be one of those things that is nice to do -- with the casual concession that the more removed you were from the front lines, the more likely you were to neglect that learning. But today, no matter what your title is, continuous learning is your job.

Steve Miller (ceosoc@shellus.com) became chairman, president, and CEO of Shell Oil Co. in 1999. Previously, as a group managing director of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, he launched a grassroots leadership approach to transform the corporate giant, worth $128 billion at the time. Miller previously appeared in FC 14, April:May 1998 ("Grassroots Leadership").