
Co-founder of KGA Coco Kee did a fireside chat with Ken Wilcox, Emeritus Chairman of Silicon Valley Bank, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group on July 2, 2020.
Ken believes that culture trumps strategy. The culture within an organization is a common understanding of how to treat each other and how to treat the outside world. Culture speaks to the heart while strategy speaks to the mind. Heart rules the mind. Without a good culture strategy will lose over time.
Culture emanates from top-down. The leader must start building culture from day one.
Ken worked and lived in Shanghai for 4 years after he passed the baton to the next CEO, helping Silicon Valley Bank's joint venture build its joint venture with Pudong Development Bank. His observation is that China is too much of a top-down organization. People are reluctant to express their own opinions, but try to figure out what the opinion of the "big boss". In a top-down organization, a lot of people's brainpower is not fully utilizaed. Ken believes China has so much economic potential.
For the full interview, please visit the link password: 5y?4&25w