John Hennessy’s ongoing lessons in leading people as service, and shaping the future.
On March 21st, 2018 it was announced that former Stanford President John Hennessy was to be the recipient, along with David Patterson, of the A.M. Turing Award. This is “the most prestigious technical award, given for major contributions of lasting importance to computing.” Their work at MIPS Computer Systems in the development of microprocessors that operate at a faster speed while using less energy was certainly transformational in the field. While the technology itself that resulted is ubiquitous—its form appears in almost all smartphones, tablets, and computers today—it is the development process that is of even greater note. John and David pioneered a quantitative approach to design and evaluation that provided repeatable principles for computer architecture. This methodology is now used by generations of engineers and scientists.
By sheer coincidence, March 21 happened to be the day I met John. Stanford University Press had just signed his new book, Leading Matters: Lessons from My Journey, and SUP Director Alan Harvey and I were meeting him for lunch to discuss the book. Before we even sat down, his colleagues at the Faculty Club were congratulating him; we thought it was because he had just been named Chairman of Alphabet (the parent company of Google). He quietly mentioned that it was announced that day that he’d just received the Turing Award for 2018.
Leadership, for John Hennessy, became a necessary lesson—a transformative one that is based on the core principles of humility, authenticity, service, and empathy.
Through all our subsequent conversations, I’ve learned that John has a much larger story to tell that goes well beyond computer innovation. When John came to Stanford as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, he had not anticipated becoming provost, and certainly not president of the university. Leadership, for John, became a necessary lesson—a transformative one that is based on the core principles of humility, authenticity, service, and empathy. The real impact of his work, and his goal, is one of leadership that creates lasting contribution.
Courage is the connective point, where methods of collaboration, innovation, intellectual curiosity and storytelling serve to unite a team for common goals. Ultimately, it’s the people you bring together that create and sustain change. This is evidenced by a legacy of contribution, most recently in the Knight Hennessy Scholars Program that is starting this fall:
“Our world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. No matter how strong an organization’s foundation or how long its history, all institutions must renew themselves if they are going to continue to thrive—and to serve—through the twenty-first century. How do we right the course of leadership? I wrote this book partly to share my discoveries with you, and with the coming generations of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, including those who arrive after I am gone. First, though, I wrote this book for myself, to organize my own (sometimes painfully) acquired wisdom about leadership, and to take another look at key events in my career from a different, more removed perspective. Most of all, I wrote it to begin a conversation about the changing nature of leadership in the twenty-first century - a conversation that will, in some way, help inform the curriculum of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program.”
I am very fortunate to have his new book, Leading Matters: Lessons from My Journey as my first signing at Stanford University Press. From talking with John, it’s evident that education and creating opportunities for students are his professional devotion. This book is an extension of this endeavor, to inform a dialogue now taking place about the changing nature of leadership in the twenty-first century, and its importance in shaping thought and curriculum on campus.
The tenets of this book are hopefully reflected in SUP’s list, in bringing ideas of growth and innovation not just to business but to philanthropy and nonprofits as well.
My goal for this list is to build a set of titles driven by thorough scholarship and ideas that matter. John’s book is a preeminent example, and this is the reason I wanted to be a part of the SUP publishing program. The tenets of this book are hopefully reflected in SUP’s list, in bringing ideas of growth and innovation not just to business but to philanthropy and nonprofits as well. New titles on the importance and impact of global migration on the economy, the relevance of research universities in solving far-reaching societal problems, creating innovation through people, and building effective non-profit management are all topics central to the Stanford Business Books imprint. The ideas they convey to serve readers in business and economics and to affect positive change are why I continue to do this work.
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