Should MIT PhDs Work For Harvard MBAs: 3 Lessons From Su Of AMD

The #1 venture capital mistake in growing a business is that getting venture capital equals success. The reality is that 80-90% of them fail with venture capital.

The #2 mistake in business development is that first movers dominate. Research and entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Sam Walton, Michael Dell and Brian Chesky suggest this is not the case. You need to be a smart mover, not just a first mover. To develop unicorns, product innovation is not as important as strategic innovation and the skills of unicorns in the face of an emerging trend.

The Third Mistake of Business Development by Lisa Su: Now here is a third mistake eloquently stated by Dr. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT: "I saw that MIT PhDs were working for Harvard MBAs, and the truth is that it made absolutely no sense to me."

2 key questions

This raises two questions:

· Can smart technologists be trained to create and build more unicorns, and

· How to teach unicorn creation skills to smart technologists?

Using her skills, expertise and talent, Su has risen to the top of one of the world's most valuable companies at a time when artificial intelligence and the need for AI chips are exploding. And she proved her genius by transforming a small, bankrupt semiconductor company into one of the leading companies in a key industry.

Three lessons from Lisa Su’s experience for potential unicorn CEOs and entrepreneurs.

#1. Examine your assumptions. There is no reason to give Harvard and Stanford MBAs a free pass. There is talent elsewhere. Just because someone chose to get an MBA doesn’t mean they are great leaders. What they learned in full-time business programs can be taught quite easily in executive education programs.

#2. Technical expertise is important in technology industries. In technology-based industries, technology skills may be more important than sales and marketing skills. Even good sellers cannot sell outdated and low-quality products in technology markets. ...