Many successful techno-regions have benefited from a single individual who sustained the regional vision, was the primary source of creative strategies, and is personally identified with the transformation and success of the region. This paper discovers common and distinctive factors in the biographies of these godfathers and in the roles they have played in their respective regions. We investigated eight godfathers of well-established techno-regions (including Frederick Terman of Silicon Valley, George Kozmetsky of Austin, and Morihiko Hiramatsu of Oita), comparing them with each other and with three godfathers and one godmother of smaller regions that have begun their transformative efforts more recently. Using theories of networking and diffusion of innovation, we advance tentative conclusions about the factors that enable a godfather’s effective action, and about the newer godfathe...

Leadership and entrepreneurship professors routinely mention egolessness as a management virtue. Information technology companies use Zen imagery to tout the tranquility their solutions will engender. Lucent adopted the enso as its corporate logo. The vocabulary of Zen now pervades the Western business world. Is it a fad, or can Zen principles truly enhance management and management education? Which precepts of Zen are likely to lead to better management practice and which are not? Can mushin, the Zen aversion to over-intellectualization, be reconciled with the university’s orientation to critical thinking? This paper calls on authoritative sources to answer these questions, and provides practical advice for inserting Zen concepts and exercises into MBA curricula.