Bryan Scagline
Leadership: Silicon Valley
For the most part, when we think about leaders we try to focus on the greats. A great leader would be vocal, uplifting, and driven. When you look at Richard Hendricks however, you will not see any of these traits. Richard is the founder of an app called Pied Piper which is capable of compressing files so small that there is next to no buffering when streaming. Granted, this is a television show, but in a world where we are constantly looking at our phones: streaming music, movies, television, this is a huge break through. The HBO hit television series follows Richard and his ‘team’ trying to establish their company but must try not and get sued out a beer first.
One of the biggest opticals that faces Richard and his team is his old job. Before Pied Piper, Richard worked with another technology company called Hooli. Hooli would be like our present day Google. They practically run Silicon Valley with their fast pace work ethic and money to buy out other ideas and companies. After Richard goes live with Pied Piper and word catches on to the owner of Hooli, Gavin Belson, he tries to buy out the app. Richard refuses to sell so naturally, in the world we live in, Gavin Belson sues. For the most part this is the flow of the entire series. What really trips up Richard is his leadership skills.
Richard has a lot to carry with a company, but mostly a team, and constantly trying to get funded and stay funded. The problem is, nobody wants to fund a start up company that is getting sued. I blame the majority of the shows unfortunate turns on the leadership styles of Richard. He tries to please everyone but everyone usually ends up taking advantage of him by pressing their own ideas and trying to over throw him. The term ‘there are too many cooks in the kitchen’ would be a fantastic way to describe every episode of Silicon Valley. From start to finish the show as everyone trying to feed their opinions, thoughts, and motives onto Richard when he his trying to figure out how to do it all himself.
Since the start up company is small, he shows newer leadership traits. Traits that are money driven will train a leader to keep their thoughts an opinions kind of under wraps. The more people that get involved, the more chapter, and the more money you have to pay out to your team. Richard is soft spoken, mumbles a lot, and now has to learn to be a business man all so quickly. This is a classic style of letting others influence and persuade one to go out of their comfort zone by new challenges and goals.
There is plenty of opportunity for Richard to succeed, he just needs to figure out how. When becoming a leader, coming up with your idea or product is almost the easy part. You must have the power to over come objections, lead others, and make a product that others can believe in. I chose to reflect on Silicon Valley because the leadership styles are being learned as the show goes on to you can really see how ones development evolves.
–“Silicon Valley.” IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 21 June 2015.