The secret to success for many Silicon Valley tech companies isn’t necessarily that they’re ultra-nimble start-ups, or that they’re led by tech-savvy geniuses. In fact, their success often has more to do with a specific model of corporate culture—and it’s a culture that even companies not based on the US West Coast or focused on technology can adopt.
According to Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management, business leaders need to think more like geeks, but not the computer-based stereotype you may be familiar with. In his forthcoming book, The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results, McAfee says geeks are nothing more or less than “obsessive mavericks” who are absolutely fixated on finding unconventional solutions to their business’ hard problems. You need them throughout the organization, not just at the top, plus you need to entrust them with the power to make real changes.
For this episode of our video series “The New World of Work”, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius sat down with McAfee to discuss:
Evolving a company’s culture not by focusing on organizational structure, but on company norms
Building organizations that can get things right, even when the person at the top of the org chart is wrong
The delicate balance of human judgment plus evidence, data-driven insights.
“The New World of Work” explores how top-tier executives see the future plus how their companies are trying to set themselves up for success. Each week, Ignatius talks to a top leader on LinkedIn Live — previous interviews included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plus former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. He also shares an inside look at these conversations —and solicits questions for future discussions — in a newsletter just for HBR subscribers. If you’re a subscriber, you can sign up here.
ADI IGNATIUS:
Andy, welcome
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ANDREW MCAFEE:
Adi it’s great to be here.
ADI IGNATIUS:
It’s great to have you. I’ve read the book. It lavishes fulsome praise on geeks in business, not just for their technological innovation, but also for developing an approach to business itself that you’ve come to respect.