Thinkers 50 Management: Cutting Edge Thinking to Engage and Motivate Your Employees for Success

CHAPTER7

Managing Talent

William Shockley was a British-born research scientist who worked at the Bell Laboratories during the postwar period developing the transistor. In 1947 Shockley was recognized as the coinventor of the transistor, and in 1956 he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his efforts. In 1955, he left the Bell Labs to found his own company, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California. His academic reputation attracted some of the finest minds in electronics to his company. Among them were Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore of Moore’s law fame, who went on to cofound Intel; Julius Blank; Victor Grinich; Eugene Kleiner; Jean Hoerni; Jay Last; and Sheldon Roberts.

Unfortunately, Shockley’s management skills ...