Great Personal Advice from a Silicon Valley Veteran

Professor John Glynn (http://bit.ly/JGlynn) sadly just retired after 20 years of teaching at Stanford GSB. In his last class, he shared with us a number of personal wisdoms learned over 40 years of investing in the silicon valley. His investments include Intel, Intuit, EA, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Cypress Semiconductor and even Facebook. Yet, he's so humble in person you would not have guessed how influential he is. Here are some of my favorites:

In an era of commercialism and rampant greed, you need to be reminded about the powers of idealism, community, diversity and self-respect.

1. Begin with an end in mind. Know where you are going to understand where you are now.

2. Accept responsibility for yourself. Put the monkey on your back. Obstacles to success are usually not external.

3. Embrace the unknown and distrust the known.

4. Understand then be understood. Listen to how others see things. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

5. Focus on implementation. Organize and act around priorities.

6. Make commitments and live up to them. Do what you say you are going to do.

7. Never ask people to do something you would not do.

8. Continue to learn. "It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts." John Wooden

9. Obey the absolutes of right and wrong. Adhere to your principles even when it hurts to do so.

10. Develop some humility. Most entrepreneurs are long on ego and need more humility.

11. Don't take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself.

12. Focus on the glass being half full and not half empty.

13. Play to win. Do not fear failure. Fear of failure is often worse than inertia. Take risks and embrace failure. There is no disgrace in failure if you have acted in a fair and honest manner.

14. Be aware of the shadow you cast. a. Avoid the total focus on what is good for me. b. Look at how your actions affect others. c. Put your ego in place so people can communicate with you. d. Show your commitment to your people and their importance to your organization. Create a sense of belonging. e. Be genuine and natural with people and be honest and consistent in dealing with them.

15 Finally, get your priorities straight: a. Family is #1 b. Wife or husband is #1. Spend time with them. c. You need a balanced life. Take vacations and breaks to stay sharp. d. Enjoy life before it is gone. e. Give rather than take. f. Do rather than talk. g. Say it can be done rather than it's impossible. h. Inspire others rather than discourage. i. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness. j. Do more than exist - LIVE.