
This is part one of my three-part series on “Grove’s law of Management”, a principle for management that states “Only the paranoid survive” in business. In this part, the principle will be introduced and defined. In part two, I will write on examples and uses of Grove’s law of management in business since its genesis. Lastly, in part 3, I will write on the true value of paranoia in business.
Part I: Introduction
Andy Grove, the late Chairman of the Board and CEO of Intel (from 1987–1998) can be thought of as the father of the principle, for he popularized the idea in his 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive. Obviously interestingly titled, it evokes three questions in particular:
- Why did Andy Grove title the book “Only the Paranoid Survive”?
- Did Grove believe the principle to be true?
- Is the principle actually true, and if so, how true is it?
The answers to number one and two can be found in his book. I used the Kindle app on an iPad to search for all instances of the keywords “paranoid” and “paranoia”. Here is what Andy Grove had to say about the matter:
1. His first two sentences in the preface to the book on page 3 are as follows:
“I’m often credited with the motto ‘Only the paranoid survive.’ I have no idea when I first said this, but the fact remains that, when it comes to business, I believed in the value of paranoia.”
2. On page 151 of the book, Grove detailed why he believed “only the paranoid survive”:
“If competition is chasing you (and they always are — this is why ‘only the paranoid survive’), you can only get out of the valley of death by outrunning the people who are after you. And you can only outrun them if you commit yourself to a particular direction and go as fast as you can.”
Besides page 191, where he writes on how his management principles may apply to one’s career and says “Simply put, be a little paranoid about your career.”, these are the only occurrences of “paranoid” and “paranoia” in the book. Accordingly, it is very easy to hypothesize that Grove just used the title as a soundbite to sell books. However, after reading the book and meditating upon Grove’s legacy on Silicon Valley and the technology sector, I believe that Andy Grove’s first use of the word paranoia, “I believe in the value of paranoia”, very well encapsulates his sentiments. Throughout the book, he wrote on how “fear” is what kept him awake and energized to solve Intel’s problems when everything was going fubar for the company. Below is just one of his many uses of the keyword “fear” in the book:
“It is fear that every evening makes me read the trade press reports on competitors’ new developments and leads me to tear out particularly ominous articles to take to work for follow-up the next day. It is fear that gives me the will to listen to Cassandras when all I want to do is cry out, ‘Enough already, the sky isn’t falling,’ and go home.”
After reading the book, it becomes apparent that Grove’s law of management is not just about being paranoid, but using and managing your fear(s) to produce progress. Since the book’s publication and Grove’s stepping down from his position as Chairman and CEO at Intel in 1998, Grove’s principles for management have had a lasting, significant effect on Silicon Valley’s culture, the technology-sector, and its leaders. He was considered a hero and mentor to high-performing business leaders like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and Steve jobs. “When Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison told Andy Grove he was the only person in Silicon Valley who they would willingly work for, he told them he wouldn’t have hired either because they were ‘a couple of flakes.’”
I will dive more deeply into how Grove affected Silicon Valley and the tech-sector in the next part of this series. For now, as a preview, here are three examples of business leaders who have embodied Grove’s law of management.
Example #1: Bill Gates + Microsoft (be sure to look for specific instances of the words “aggression” and “aggressive” in each of the two articles. Microsoft was a company to be feared in the 1990s for its aggression and tactfulness.)
Example #2: Steve Jobs + Apple.
Example #3: Mark Zuckerberg + Facebook (no, this is not to say that Zuckerberg is the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs).
DR
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