In Part Two of our interview with Mayor Chuck Reed, the Green Mayor discusses how the city is changing its rules and practices to move “at the speed of business” to attract clean tech companies like Tesla Motors to Silicon Valley. The interview includes:
Why the Mayor’s Green Vision had to be bold and aggressive
Which green achievement makes him most proud
Why Mayor Reed thanks Governor Schwarzenegger for his part in Tesla’s decision to relocate to San Jose
The phone call to Tesla’s CEO and how it got San Jose on the company’s shortlist
What rule changes the City of San Jose put in place to accommodate clean tech business
What entrepreneurial practices does the city use that are models for the rest of the world?
How did the city reduce one approval process from 3-6 months to one HOUR?
The interview took place in November 2008 at San Jose City Hall.
To check out part one of the interview with Mayor Chuck Reed, on his humble beginnings, his inspiration for the Green Vision and his views on Obama’s presidency, click here
“Music is a powerful motivator..if it weren’t it wouldn’t be used on sports, in religion and frankly, in marketing, to sell you things.”
On getting professional input from George Daly (CEO of About Records)
“Ultimately the music wasn’t going to be motivating if it was a pain to listen to. It needed to sound just as good as…Pink or Rascal Flatts or Kerry Underwood.”
On writing lyrics
“George said to me one day, ‘you write poetry, but we need lyrics.’ He’d call me and say, you have five minutes to fix that..and I’d have to think about what’s a different way to say that… that would fit better in the cadence of the music.”
Inspiration for “You da boss”
“I want a fun upbeat song to listen to when I’m tempted to reach for that cookie…Instead of making this sad preachy music about ‘don’t touch that’, let’s make it fun hip hop like MC Hammer and have some fun with the spirit and the spunk of this idea.”
On her theme song, Skinny Jeans
“It’s a woman’s affair with a pair of pants…every woman can relate to that piece of clothing you used to love to wear…your aspirational clothing…and now there’s a little too much of you to fit into it and you’d like to go and regain that love again.”
On her Silicon Valley Career
“It’s a portfolio career: a nice balance between the creative fun endeavor and the traditional; the roots of where I came from and where I want to still continue to work.”
On marketing a product
“You get up every day and say: what am I going to do today to move the ball forward?”
On her legendary tenacity
“I believe in tenacity, but I also believe in learning and if you’ve approached twenty companies and you get the same feedback, then it’s not worth approaching company no. 21.”
On being an entrepreneur
“I am an optimist by nature and that serves me well. For any entrepreneur, you’ve got to have that sense of optimism because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t get up in the morning and do it.”
To listen to Heidi’s interview on entrepreneurs click here
To listen to Heidi’s interview on Skinny Songs click here
Just back from WITI‘S 14th annual Women and Tech Summit in Silicon Valley (Oct 12-15th) and the potent energy is still with me. There is something incredibly empowering and energizing about gathering hundreds of go-getting women in a conference hall. Wish you could bottle that energy.
WITI’S motto is “no woman stands alone” and just how apt this is, given the current financial meltdown and shaky economic climate. We had senior executives announcing their personal emails from the podium, others inviting young entrepreneurs to get in touch after their talks, a real feeling of “let me help you get where you want to get sista.”
From the impressive keynotes of Cathleen Benko, Vice Chairman at Deloitte LLP and Sandy Carter, VP at IBM; the success strategies of Life Coach Kathleen Hill to the Clean Tech investment experts like Laurie Yoler and Marianne Wu, each one inspired and energized a packed auditorium.
I had the opportunity to interview several outstanding panel members for Fresh Dialogues, including LinkedIn’s April Kelly, GrowthPoint Technology Partner’s Laurie Yoler (who’s been involved with Tesla Motors from the early days) and Mary Vincent of Green Solutions. Check back soon to hear their take on the current financial crisis, how to leverage Web 2.0 to help your business, and one woman’s leap from Sun Microsystems to entrepreneurship and how global warming helped inspire that leap.
Talking heads who shout and lie dominate television “news,” but after Alison van Diggelen gets a taste of civil discourse at a local debate, she sees politics as it should be.
The phone call to Tesla’s CEO and how it got San Jose on the company’s shortlist
How did the city reduce one approval process from 3-6 months to one HOUR?
I had the opportunity to interview several outstanding panel members for 
