WEDNESDAY 14 APRIL 2010 at 6:00 PM
Marines' Memorial Association, 609 Sutter Street, SF
A Meet the Author Program
"Start - Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle "
Meet the Author: DAN SENOR
Start Up Nation’s theme is that, unlike Israel, our Nation’s entrepreneurship is waning and that we should start hiring our young Veterans. What a terrible waste of talent, when such talent is so sorely needed. Harvard Business Professor John Yoo describes the consequences:
“We are milking aging cows on the verge of going dry…and, losing our collective sense of purpose, along with fire, ambition, and determination to achieve”.
Fire, ambition and determination to achieve describe perfectly the men and women departing our armed services every day. The authors ask a question that concerns us greatly and should be asked by every American:
“Why American innovation industries have not taken better advantage of the entrepreneurial talent offered by those with US military training and experience?”
Israeli entrepreneur Jon Medved is quoted and hits the nail squarely on the head:
“When it comes to U.S. military resumes, Silicon Valley is illiterate….what a shame. What a waste of the kick-ass leadership talent coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The American business-world doesn’t quite know what to do with them.
He goes on to explain that it is not limited to the IT field. Most American business people simply do not know how to read a military resume.
Some American business people do get it. John Lowrey, head of Harley Davidson production and a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve with service in Iraq knows the value of military experience. In his words:
“The military gets you at a young age and teaches you that when you are in charge of something, you are responsible for everything that happens. The phrase ‘It was not my fault’ doesn’t exist in the military”.
As does Al Chase, a successful management recruiter:
“…Veterans bring things to the table that their business peers could only dream about, including a sense of proportionality---what is truly a life-or-death situation and what is something less than that; what it takes to motivate a work force; how to achieve consensus under duress; and a solid ethical base that has been tested in the crucible of combat.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, DAN SENOR:
Dan Senor, adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has been involved in policy, politics, and business in the Middle East. As a senior foreign policy adviser to the U.S. government, he was one of the longest-serving civilian officials in Iraq, for which he was awarded the highest civilian honor by the Pentagon. He also served as a Pentagon adviser to Central Command in Qatar and as a foreign policy and communications adviser in the U.S. Senate. He has studied in Israel and at Harvard Business School and has traveled extensively throughout the Arab world. In his business career, he has invested in a number of Israeli and American start-ups, and today is with a New York–based global investment fund. Senor’s analytical pieces are frequently published by the Wall Street Journal; he has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, and Time. Mr. Senor lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.
