The EDG Garage

Silicon Valley is known for its garages: The original HP garage and the Apple garage in Steve Jobs’ father’s home.

     EDG too is located in a garage. It’s a bit larger than its more famous cousins, but it too is a special place. A place where dreams are formulated. A place where people join each other in compelling conversation in front of large white-board walls to envision their enterprises. To develop their blueprint for the future. A place where really smart people exchange ideas that are changing the world. In any industry. Hooking up with local visionaries and pioneers. Those who have already accomplished extraordinary things, and those that are just starting. They all share one thing: a passion for what’s possible. Possible, but not yet actualized. They gain strength from these exchanges and the courage to take the steps necessary to bring about the aspirations for a better future.

     For the past 25 years people from all around the world have come here, visiting this humble garage. Big things have happened here: a large South African company realizing at the time of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison that their main purpose now was to “become the company committed to the renewal of South Africa as an African nation.” Or a Swiss company completely rethinking its identity in the social, mobile, global, digital and green world. Our most recent visitors are searching to understand what their industries can become in a world where everything will be smart and connected – in the era of the “Internet of Everything.” What kind of future will we build together? What will our company stand for in that future? What is required of the leaders to unleash the talents of our people? These are the kind of dreams and plans that are made in the garage.

     There is a poster on one of the walls that we were given when we worked with HP.  It’s a photo of the original HP garage on Addison Street in Palo Alto and lists HP’s Rules of the Garage:

  *  Believe you can change the world.
  *  Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever.
  *  Know when to work alone and when to work together. Share – tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.
  *  No politics. No bureaucracy. These are ridiculous in a garage!
  *  The customer defines a job well done.
  *  Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
  *  Invent different ways of working.
  *  Make a contribution every day. If it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t leave the garage.
  *  Believe that together we can do anything.