Whitman & Fiorina Lose - Bad Day for Silicon Valley?

2 Silicon Valley tech CEOs were running for public office in California yesterday.  Both had served at blue chip, name brand companies, and both were financially very successful.  You could say they were poster children for the tech economy.  So what does it say that both Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina lost? It's a good day for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley workers.

Both Ms. Whitman and Ms. Fiorina inherited businesses and rode the high tide to success.  Neither was a thought leader or visionary when it came to technology or how to make the technology economy work for America workers.  In fact both were comfortable outsourcing jobs abroad while lamenting the decline of skills in American workers - an overused, under-supported argument from American CEOs lately.  How exaclty can you expect more students to go into the sciences when the jobs are being sent to workers overseas?  So it is easy to see how some are saying that American students are making a very rational choice to shun jobs in the sciences for business degrees and jobs in consulting or banking. Wouldn't you?

Those who invest in America, such as Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com who just announced he is building a vast headquarters campus in San Francisco, are the better role models for Silicon Valley and for American business everywhere.