Carol Bartz: Pyramids, Not Ladders

March 1, 2006 presentation by Carol Bartz for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program Entrepreneurship Corner in the School of Engineering at Stanford University.

Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk for many years, points out that young workers needn't be afraid of a lateral career move. Ambition often focuses only on upward motion, whereas well-rounded experience in a number of departments - sales, marketing, or customer service, just to name a few - gives a career a solid foundation. Ladders are unstable, Bartz says, but pyramids have depth, safety, and strength.

For more videos of this talk, visit http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1410

Stanford University Channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/stanford

Category:

Education

Tags:

• entrepreneurship
• business
• technology
• start-up
• silicon
• valley
• sales
• career
• ceo
• ambition
• marketing
• customer
• service
• experience

[agapitoflores001]

Very well said Ms Carol Bartz.

[nyc4044]

@vietdong21 What does Vietdong 21 stand for? Vietnamese dong 21 mm? lol

[ArjobMukherjee]

@vietdong21 She represents yahoo, yahoo does not represent Carol Bartz.

[vietdong21]

A ladder is more unstable than a pyramid...Thanks Carol Bartz. BTW your company SUCKS.

[creat3d]

@nyc4044 GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

[nyc4044]

@creat3d Well a lot of people wish we were back in the 1940s. Think about it. There was no widespread illegal drug use. People respected authority and their elders. People were genreally kind and polite and humble, not loud and obnoxious as so many are today. And they dressed up when they left the house. They didn't go shopping or flying on airplanes wearing frumpy pajama bottoms and dirty flip flops.

[nyc4044]

@quarvis I have no desire to spank Carol Bartz. That is her husband's responsibility. And she's not an old bag.  I find her very attractive.

[quarvis]

@nyc4044 dude, you are really bent on spanking this old bag aren't you??

[creat3d]

@nyc4044 Here you are talking about spanking and unladylike behavior!

WE'RE NOT IN THE 40'S ANYMORE YOU FUCKING PRICK.

[HigherPlanes]

The career is a modern invention and highly overrated- Personally, I'm rather fond of staying at home and smoking herb from dusk till dawn, while running a home business in my underwear. When I have children, instead of sending them to an IVLC, I'm going to teach them entrepreneurial traits: working independently, accessing resources, responsibility, code of standards, the power of accurate observation, dealing with challenges, testing and judgment, and speaking in front of large groups.