Vivek Wadhwa is a Fellow at Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University; Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University; and Distinguished Fellow at Singularity University. He is author of “The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent”—which was named by The Economist as a Book of the Year of 2012, and ” Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology”—which documents the struggles and triumphs of women. He was named by Foreign Policy Magazine as Top 100 Global Thinker in 2012. In 2013, TIME Magazine listed him as one of The 40 Most Influential Minds in Tech.
My Definition Of Success | Success means building something of value that benefits people—and that you gain value from in return. What good is profit if it comes at the cost of others and takes away from the world rather than enhancing it?
I Am Driven By | To do good for the world and to do my best to leave it a better place than I found it. To give back as much as I can.
My Highlights | The impact I have made on my employees and students, the people I have helped, and positioning my children for success.
The Difference Between Good And Great | The great people have truly earned their success—and made others successful. It isn’t enough to be good at doing a task. If you don’t make your team successful then you have achieved nothing.
A Key Talent | I have learned to listen as carefully as I can and to share my thoughts in a cohesive fashion.
Principles I Live By | Always give more than you take.
Critical Skills I Develop | Making others successful—in the organizations I have worked in and with the people I have been coaching and mentoring.
How I Use My Mind | I let life take me wherever it wants. No grand plans or big ambitions.
Lessons I Have Learnt | The more you give, the more you gain. Success means nothing if you don’t achieve it by making others more successful than yourself.
Dealing With Doubt | I have this all the time. I always worry about failing in the tasks I have performed, letting other people down, or everything falling apart. But I have learned to accept the good and bad. When things go wrong, you simply try to learn all you can from your mistakes and try to stop repeating these.
The Meaning Of Life | To learn all you can and to teach. If you give more than you take, you will rise to greater heights.
The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | That I have inspired others to give back and do good for the world.
