Talent likes technology
A recent article in Venture Beat called “Why Wall Street talent is moving to Silicon Valley” looks at something I have been watching for some time in my capacity as a teacher: how the best and brightest of my students seem increasingly inclined toward the technology industries rather than the traditional sectors that MBA graduates gravitate toward, such as finance, investment banking, and consulting.
Fast-growing industries that are able to offer more interesting environments, more fun, more money, and more opportunities have always attracted the best talent. The technology industries represent fast-paced change and are places where there is always room for a new approach, for new strategies, and they are always merging and acquiring each other, again providing opportunities to get rich relatively quick. Needless to say, all that glitters isn’t gold, and there are plenty of epic failures in the tech sectors. But as a rule, the dynamism of the industry is a talent magnet, generating a spiral of positive results that is draining resources from other industries and that tends to make the people with the skills and the get up and go required in them to feel that they are wasting their time in companies that are not providing sufficient incentives.
This brain drain is not just limited to sectors and industry segments, but is also taking place in geographic terms: areas that encourage technological development, as opposed to imposing absurd and limiting rules, or, as happens in Europe, introducing traps that supposedly protect traditional industries, are going to pull in talent.
California is one of the few parts of the world that has outlawed non-compete clauses, even those signed in other states, will undoubtedly make the Golden State an attractive destination for talent. Silicon Valley is about protecting people and professionals, as opposed to businesses. It offers talent, good universities, intelligent capital, and a legal framework: a winning combination that has made it a haven for disruptive technologies.
Meanwhile, most other industrial sectors continue to operate along traditional lines; those countries that allow established industries to dictate the law will end up becoming economic backwaters, devoid of talent.
The race is on for talent. And sometimes the appeal is not even a question of money, but motivation, of believing in what one does, of understanding how to add value directly. Talent is attracted by new ways of doing things. If you’re going to carry on doing things in the same way you did last year and the year before that, going to work with a crank handle in your back to get you going, and with no possibility or desire to come up with any new ideas for sectors or countries where more of the same is the order of every single day, then get used to it.
(En español, aquí)
