Partnership Immerses Global Executives in the Heart of Innovation
The Leavey Executive Center and Silicon Valley Innovation Center partner on custom programs that get global executives out of the office, into Silicon Valley and ready for the future.
For companies trying to navigate a rapidly evolving world, there’s a gap between recognition and understanding, says Vlas Lezin, COO of Silicon Valley Innovation Center (SVIC).
A company’s leaders might recognize that the future is upon them. They may be aware of the upstart startups changing their industry or the general disruption wrought by digital acceleration. But understanding how to keep up is a different challenge.
“We are so overloaded with information,” Lezin says, “it's sometimes really hard for the executive to fully connect and get away from their desks and from their day-to-day activity, and actually talk to each other — and to connect with people who can help.”
That’s where partnerships such as the one between SVIC and the Leavey Executive Center come into play. SVIC brings national and international companies to the region for immersive programs that cover the innovation hotspot’s major players, from venture capital (VC) to established tech companies to startups. In turn, educators from the Leavey Executive Center design and deliver custom programs on critical topics. Participants get expertise and also a forum to share challenges and opportunities with peers who likely have similar, or at least overlapping, experiences.
For instance, the Leavey Executive Center delivered a custom program on “Investing in Fintech” for the Saudi Tadawul Group — a connection that came about because of SVIC’s partnerships in the region. “We are quite active in Saudi Arabia, and one of our partners there is Financial Academy. It's a government institution tasked with providing for upskilling and increasing the efficiency of the financial sector in Saudi Arabia.”
As a result of this partnership, Leavey School of Business Associate Professor Seoyoung Kim delivers a myth-busting and basics-building course on Fintech investment for a group of Saudi executives — now for the second-straight year. The students are varied in their job titles and roles, but all share the knowledge that the future is upon them. With the help of such a program, they’ll have a better idea what to do about it.
Education at the Innovation Hotspot
Along with VC, big tech companies and startups, Lezin says there’s a fourth major player in Silicon Valley: universities. Specifically, SVIC likes working with the Leavey Executive Center because of the nature of Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, including the fact that many faculty are steeped in industry and corporate experience.
“It’s very agile and business friendly,” he says of Leavey’s approach to custom education. “In the corporate environment, you need a shorter feedback loop. That’s one of the things I really appreciate: Everyone in the executive center is able to adapt and work with us when priorities change. You have to be able to handle an amount of uncertainty.”
Case in point: When Kim was first designing the Fintech course for the Financial Academy, she wasn’t sure how “basic” she needed to be with her initial explanation of Fintech. So she prepared for a wide variety of experience levels — correctly, it turns out. After reviewing survey results from an initial cohort, she adapted the program accordingly for year two.
In another partnership program, SVIC and Leavey Executive Center developed custom education for groups of executives, including the C-Suite, from Zanaco, one of the largest banks in Zambia and in the entirety of subSaharan Africa. As with the Fintech program, the program was successful enough that it will be repeated, and in fact, expanded.
Lezin is pleased to see the data on how participants respond to these programs, of course, but he sees these repeat engagements as the most important success metric. “The biggest and the most important part is that they say, ‘I will continue in the business. I will continue in the conversation.’”
That “conversation” goes beyond the on-site programming, although it certainly starts there. He sees the way executives derive value from simply being away from the desk, away from a barrage of email and messages, and away from day-to-day concerns. “How often do the executive teams of large organizations get together in the same room without a sort of agenda, and just start to communicate and talk and ideate and strategize? The answer is almost never.”
SVIC and Leavey Executive Center provide such an opportunity. SVIC offers immersion and connections to Silicon Valley heavy hitters who can provide a real insider perspective. The Leavey Executive Center includes educators with an ideal blend of academic rigor and industry experience. When program participants hear an expert professor’s overview of Fintech investment or get an overview of AI from someone at OpenAI leaders, they’re all in a position to add fresh perspective to their own roles. And they’re all more likely to be on the same page when working together, at least in terms of information sources.
“They all hear the same message,” Lezin says, “and they all can apply that same message to their business. When this happens, it snaps them out of corporate-speak and people really start talking to each other.”
Beyond this edifying effect, companies who participate in such programs often underestimate how well they’re already doing in keeping up with the future just by asking for help. “If you’re curious and interested in learning, you’re already doing something that many other companies and organizations don’t do,” Lezin says. “That usually translates to being an industry leader.”