This is Part III of how I came to write “The Secret History of Silicon Valley.” Read Part I here and Part II here. See the Secret History bibliography for sources and supplemental reading. 1978. Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. If you’re an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you’ve never heard of. If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. If you think the Cold War turned out the right side up (i.e. Communism being a bad science experiment) ESL’s founder
Former DepSecDef Bob Work used to cite the First and Second Offset chapter and verse when outlining the Third Offset Strategy (centered on autonomous and AI, plus smaller/smarter/swarming/networked/nimble/human-machine teaming etc.). The Pentagon is a funny place, however (as in Joe Pesci "funny how?" kind of funny). Once a new administration took over and Bob Work left, the Third Offset Strategy vocabulary was no longer in vogue. Yet it continues to unfold largely as he originally envisioned. With China continually trying to out-offset our offset.
Looking forward to your NYT best seller when all these articles are combined.
I grew up in Silicon Valley, worked in Tech from mind-80's-2020 and had no idea of the depth of History in the Valley.
Former DepSecDef Bob Work used to cite the First and Second Offset chapter and verse when outlining the Third Offset Strategy (centered on autonomous and AI, plus smaller/smarter/swarming/networked/nimble/human-machine teaming etc.). The Pentagon is a funny place, however (as in Joe Pesci "funny how?" kind of funny). Once a new administration took over and Bob Work left, the Third Offset Strategy vocabulary was no longer in vogue. Yet it continues to unfold largely as he originally envisioned. With China continually trying to out-offset our offset.
Fascinating read, Steve! It's incredible to learn about these details.