Immigrant, Inc. E-Book

Richard T. Herman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 311

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

A provocative look at the remarkable contributions of high-skill immigrant entrepreneurs in America

Both a revelation and a call-to-action, Immigrant, Inc. explores the uncommon skill and drive of America's new immigrants and their knack for innovation and entrepreneurship. From the techies who created icons of the new economy-Intel, Google, eBay and Sun Microsystems-to the young engineers tinkering with solar power and next-generation car batteries, immigrants have proven themselves to be America's competitive advantage.

With a focus on legal immigrants and their odyssey from homeland to start-up, this unique book

• Explores the psyche, cultural nuances, skills, and business strategies that help immigrants achieve remarkable success
• Explains how immigrants will create the American jobs of the future-if we let them

Whether you are a CEO, a civic leader, or an entrepreneur yourself, Immigrant, Inc. warns of the peril of anti-immigrant attitudes and a hostile immigration process. It also explains how any American can tap their "inner immigrant" to transform their lives and their companies.

Written by an immigration lawyer who represents immigrant entrepreneurs and a journalist who specializes in international culture, the authors have a front-row seat to this phenomenon, offering a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of the most persistent entrepreneurs of the era.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Preface: My Immigrant Experience

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 - A Mighty New Idea

Chapter 2 - The Mounting Evidence

Discovering a Phenomenon

The Accidental Entrepreneurs

Urban Legend?

A Skill Grows Lucrative

Mother of Invention

The VCs’ Keen Eye

New Seeds, Fertile Soil

Chapter 3 - A Land of Opportunity, Still

A True Model Minority

An Idea, an Obsession

Learning to Persevere

Survival, Climbing, and Thriving

Where Business Is Business

Chapter 4 - Restless Dreamers

Seeing It First

A 24-Hour Job

Mexico Never Tasted So Good

No Room for a Dream

The Colors of Palestine

Chapter 5 - Earth’s Best and Brightest

Attracting the Striver Class

An African Way

The Reluctant Italian-American

Out of Shadows, into Solar

Love, Study, and a Start-Up

At Home Far Away

Chapter 6 - Cowboys of a New Frontier

A New Kind of Entrepreneur

A Melting-Pot Dream Team

The Super Prof

Joining a New England Tradition

The Guru

New Era of Innovation

Made in America?

Reviving the Motor City

Spirits High, Lights Aglow

Chapter 7 - Desperate Achievers: Prequel to Google

Starting from Nothing

The Boat People

An Artful Niche

The Family of Google

Anxious Wait for Visas

Chapter 8 - Importing Solutions

A Gateway Re-Emerges

Tapping the Tide

Savvy Pilgrims, Creative Shopkeepers

A Wave of Home Restorers

A Boost for Everyone

The Power of One

Pushing Open the Door

Toward a “Shared Prosperity”

A Harlem-Like Renaissance

Seeds of Progress

Chapter 9 - The Stimulus We Need

An Immigrant Advantage

America Losing Ground

Suffering an Antiquated System

A Better Way

The Change We Need—Changing Attitudes

Chapter 10 - Thinking Like an Immigrant

The Dream-Keepers

A Nation of Immigrants Indeed

Keys to Success

The Explorer

The Knowledge Advantage

For Pride, For Family

The Power of Teamwork

The Possible Dream

Appendix

About the Authors

The Conversation Continues

Index

Acclaim forImmigrant, Inc.

“This book, filled with stirring stories testifying to the ongoing power of the American Dream as a magnet, challenges us all to build an inclusive culture of welcome, access, opportunity, and empowerment. In so doing, we will renew and transform our society.”

—Leonard M. Calabrese, President, Catholic Community Connection

“Immigrant, Inc. is a much-needed book on the positive economic contributions of immigrants to the U.S. economy. All-too-often immigration naysayers focus on the alleged costs of immigration without any acknowledgement of the substantial economic contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs. Richard Herman skillfully balances the cost-benefit analysis with this timely inquiry.”

—Kevin R. Johnson, Author, Dean, and Professor of Chicana/o Studies, University of California at Davis, School of Law

“When Greater Cleveland reclaims its former status as an American mecca for those from around the globe seeking a better life and new opportunities, Richard Herman will deserve much of the credit. He has connected the dots for local public policy makers and thought leaders, convincing us that immigrant attraction is a critical, indispensable driver of urban revitalization.”

—Peter Lawson Jones, Cuyahoga County Commissioner, Cleveland, Ohio

“The United States is a nation of immigrants and yet it has not often understood the role immigrants have played in nation building. Immigrant,Inc. provides an important testimonial that uncovers the drive, the dreams, and the relentless nature of immigrants in America. Immigrants strive for the American Dream, even though they must tread a risky path that requires hard work, sacrifice, and frugality. High-skill immigration has today become a controversial issue. Yet, our admiration for immigrant-founded companies like Intel, Google, eBay, Yahoo, and Sun that have revolutionized technology, created employment for thousands, and contribute significantly to the US economy remains steadfast. In this book, the authors effectively break the disconnect between the creator and his creation and implore policymakers to protect the liberal and creative spirit of America.”

—Suren G. Dutia, Chief Executive Officer, TIE Global (The Indus Entrepreneur Association)

“Immigrant entrepreneurship is a competitive advantage for America. Policymakers and all of us who want our nation to prosper should read Richard Herman’s powerful stories about immigrants revitalizing our economy.”

—Rob Paral, Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame

“Herman and Smith’s book is a must read for anyone who is concerned about the future of the United States and about the continuing nature of its global leadership. The book is an enthusiastic and convincing argument that the future of our great country is to go back to our unique roots—indeed it is a call for our renewal as, in President Kennedy’s words, A Nation of Immigrants.”

—Raj Aggarwal, Sullivan Professor of International Business and Finance, College of Business Administration, The University of Akron

“[Immigrant, Inc.] is an important and valuable contribution to the immigration debate, which is notoriously short on facts and long on rhetoric. The book offers compelling and deeply personal evidence of the many blessings bestowed on America by those who hunger to make a better life for themselves and their adopted homeland. Herman and Smith force us to rethink the stereotypes and misconceptions that dominate our approach to immigration, and to think critically about the need for an immigration policy built for the 21st century and beyond.”

—Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director, American Immigration Council

“Having worked with Richard Herman for years on issues of immigration, entrepreneurship, and opportunity, I know his passion and expertise very well. His vision and essential message are masterfully delivered in Immigrant, Inc.”

—Dick Russ, Managing Editor, WKYC-TV, Cleveland, Ohio

“We’ve all heard of the entrepreneurial power of modern-day immigrants to America. But this book goes further. It shows how newcomers to our shores, setting up their own firms, excelling in cutting-edge technologies, employing and working with native Americans, are essential to the United States’ economic well-being, indeed its very future in a fiercely competitive 21st century world.”

—Neal Peirce, Chairman of the Citistates Group and Syndicated Columnist, Washington Post Writers Group

“Richard Herman makes a passionate, persuasive case for immigration as a crucial investment in our country’s future. This book is a timely call for clear thinking and positive action on an issue that goes back to the founding of the American Republic.”

—Charles Michener, Author, former Senior Editor at The New Yorker and Newsweek

“The U.S. is at a critical juncture and faces global competition like it has never seen before. To stay ahead, it needs to focus on its core strengths which include innovation, entrepreneurship, and immigration. As Herman and Smith show, these are linked. Unfortunately, with the economic downturn, xenophobia is building and political clouds of nativism are swirling in Washington, DC. This book couldn’t have come at a more timely moment. I hope that all policymakers read this.”

—Vivek Wadhwa, Columnist, BusinessWeek, Fellow, Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence, Duke University, former Tech Entrepreneur

“Richard Herman and Robert Smith paint a compelling and accurate portrait of the powerful role immigrants play in our economy, and remind us that new people, ideas, and entrepreneurial energy is the American Dream story. Required reading for all policymakers and practitioners working to help America keep its competitive edge in the 21st century.”

—John Austin, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Director, Great Lakes Economic Initiative, Vice President, Michigan State Board of Education

“This is a fascinating chronicle of what can be one of the most powerful economic development forces in our country in the coming years. Richard Herman was able to write it because he has lived, researched, and practiced immigrant entrepreneurship for the past 15 years.”

—Alan R. Schonberg, Founder, Management Recruiters International

“In today’s turbulent economic times, Immigrant, Inc. highlights the true secret to America’s past economic success and the key for future growth. America’s competitiveness rests on an entrepreneurial culture that is inextricably intertwined and dependent upon immigrants. Let’s hope this book’s captivating stories and meaningful insights move policymakers to re-light Lady Liberty’s beacon and once again welcome immigrants at America’s door.”

—Baiju R. Shah, President & CEO, BioEnterprise

“A real eye-opener. The book should be required reading for people who believe that immigrants take jobs away from American workers and that most immigrants represent an economic burden for the United States.”

—Jan T. Vilcek, MD, Professor, NYU School of Medicine and President, The Vilcek Foundation

“Immigrant, Inc. is well researched, wonderfully written, and a fun, fast read. Like The Millionaire Next Door (by Stanley & Danko), Robert Smith and Richard Herman wowed readers with stories of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things, and in the process, they are also creating a more diverse, vibrant, and colorful America. A page turner—I couldn’t put it down.”

—Loung Ung, Author of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers and Lucky Child

“A rare and insightful look into the culture of immigrant entrepreneurship. Written with love, sensitivity, and the promise of what immigrants contribute to our great American society, Richard Herman and Robert Smith have shown that immigrants are the lifeline that will keep America from sinking in the global economy.”

—Alex Machaskee, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer (retired), The Plain Dealer, Chairman of International Orthodox Christian Charities

“The authors’ passion comes through in this fantastic book that points to the power and importance of intercultural partnerships in a global economy. I am honored to know Richard and be a part of the forward intercultural movement in Northeast Ohio.”

—Connie Atkins, Executive Director, Consortium of African American Organizations (CAAO)

Copyright © 2010 by Richard T. Herman and Robert L. Smith. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone]. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Herman, Richard T., 1964-

Immigrant, Inc.: why immigrant entrepreneurs are driving the new economy (and how they will save the American worker) / Richard T. Herman, Robert L. Smith. p. cm.

Includes index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-57030-2

1. Entrepreneurship—United States. 2. Immigrants—United States. 3. Job creation—United States. 4. United States—Emigration and immigration—Economic aspects. I. Smith, Robert L., 1959- II. Title. HB615.H’.040869120973—dc22

2009024941

From Richard:

To my beautiful wife, Kimberly, and precious kids, Nathan and Isabella, for giving me “fresh eyes” to see and appreciate the abundance. To my mother, Sally, and dearly departed father, Rich (the engineer-entrepreneur), for showing me the way. To my immigrant clients and friends, who have taught me how to “think and act like an immigrant.”

From Robert:To my darling Chul-In,my favorite immigrant.

Preface: My Immigrant Experience

I arrived with two suitcases at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in the winter of 1993.

The cold hit my face as I walked past rows of scary looking cabbies, an over eager welcome wagon compared to the dour soldiers in the airport carrying assault rifles.

I had just passed the Ohio bar exam, and I decided to move to a country I had never visited, to try my luck at getting rich in a corner of the collapsed Soviet empire.

My friend, Victor, a lawyer from Belarus whom I met a year earlier during our student days at Case Western Reserve University Law School, motioned for me to join him in his car parked outside the Airport. Victor had a job at the Moscow office of a large American law firm.

I was not so lucky. I didn’t have a job. But I had about $800 and was single, so I decided to board an Aeroflot jet, fly 15 hours and drop down in Moscow to look for a job. I was ready for an adventure.

Victor drove me into the frozen city of gray concrete buildings, past row upon row of huge military trucks, and I asked myself, not for the last time, “What have I done?”

After getting an apartment, I placed an ad in a Moscow newspaper. An American opening a law office in Russia’s capital offered a job.

Our office was two blocks from the Kremlin. The work mostly involved helping Russia’s new business class expand their business to the United States, handling their corporate and immigration matters. We worked a lot with young engineers who were relatively free of the old communist mindset and eager to become capitalists.

It was like helping Sisyphus push rocks up a hill. Phones didn’t work. Electricity went on and off. Corruption was rampant. The Russian mob was scary. This was the gun-toting Wild West of the post-perestroika era.

But those new entrepreneurs did not quit. They were so determined to succeed that they usually did. And so did I.

After nearly two years, I came home with a new perspective. For the first time, I had a taste of what it was like to be an immigrant and an entrepreneur. I knew that surge of confidence that comes with being a stranger in a strange land.

I felt like I could go anywhere in the world and make something happen.

My intrigue with immigrants only grew. I launched my own immigration law firm, Richard T. Herman & Associates, with one employee, me. Today, my Cleveland law firm has four attorneys and six support staffers. Between the ten of us, we represent six cultures and speak 13 languages.

I think my colleagues are brilliant. But the people who really astonish me are the immigrant clients we serve. Not a week goes by that I don’t meet a man or woman who came to this country with nothing but a dream. They’re confused and cold and struggling with the language—just like me in Moscow. But they are determined to make it work here.

A year later, they show up back at my office asking for help licensing a business. Soon, they’re enrolling the kids in college. Always, they talk about America as a land of opportunity.

I kept asking myself, OK, what’s going on? Most native-born Americans don’t achieve like this, not so quickly. Do immigrants know something we don’t? I began to collect studies on immigrants and their rates of success. I learned things like:

• Immigrants are almost twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a business.

• Immigrants founded more than half of the high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

• Immigrants are more likely to earn an advanced degree, invent something, and be awarded a U.S. patent.

A few years ago, I met Robert Smith, a journalist who covers international cultures and immigration for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. We began to compare notes and found that we were witnessing the same phenomenon.

Cleveland no longer attracted immigrants like it once did. But those immigrants who did come were doing amazing things. Finding two and three jobs in a lousy economy, sending their kids to college, and starting businesses where no one else did.

Bob used to say to me, “Rich, immigrants have a secret. And if we ever find out what it is, we should write a book.”

Bob and I share something else in common. We both married into immigrant families. His wife, Chul-In Park, came from Korea as a child and is now a first violinist for the Cleveland Orchestra. My wife, Kimberly Chen, came with her family from Taiwan and is now a doctor.

Both our wives are ambitious not only in their professions but in the way they raise our children. We watched as our wives inoculated the kids with the immigrant genes of self-discipline, hard work, and dedication to education at the earliest ages.

Both in our personal and professional lives, Bob and I saw the connection between an immigrant background and a spirit of striving.

We agreed that too much of the civic discussion focused upon illegal immigration and the problems with immigrants. Few were talking about legal immigrants, their remarkable achievements, and how they were changing America. Our resolve to write this book intensified as the recession worsened and the country increasingly seemed lost.

The studies were beginning to flow from the think tanks on immigrant contributions to the New Economy and urban development. But we wanted to go behind the studies, to meet some of these new immigrants who were creating new technologies and new companies.

We decided to uncover their secrets. We decided to meet the men and women who were driving the New Economy and find out how they did it. What made them push so hard to achieve?

Our research took us from Boston’s Route 128 to California’s Silicon Valley, from tech clusters in Texas to depressed autoworker communities in the Midwest.

We met Desh Deshpande, the legendary Boston entrepreneur who built billion-dollar companies, and Carmen Castillo, a student from Spain who basically started the high-tech consulting industry in her apartment. We peeked into the labs of Ric Fulop and Yet-Ming Chiang, immigrant entrepreneurs building a better electric car. And we sipped Turkish coffee and shared a limousine with Farouk Shami, a Palestinian immigrant whose company exports his BioSilk shampoo and other hair-care products to over 50 countries.

What we discovered was not a secret but a culture: a culture of entrepreneurship. You could call it Immigrant, Inc.

We found that many of today’s immigrants arrive ready-made to perform in a knowledge-based, global economy. They’re often the best and brightest from back home, and they are certainly the strivers. They have the risk-taking personalities of entrepreneurs, and they dream big and work smart.

But the powerful message is this: their club is not exclusive. Today’s immigrants do not succeed by themselves. They work with the locals. They team up with American companies and with in-the-know American colleagues, and then they do something fantastic, like build a better solar panel or resurrect a neighborhood.

Anyone can join the culture because anyone can learn to think and act like an immigrant.

First of all, immigrant Americans are eager to share what they know. They are proud of their success and grateful to America. Secondly, it’s part of who we are. Our ancestors were the torchbearers of Immigrant, Inc., creating jobs, pushing the kids in school, and lifting the whole family toward something better.

We just forgot a lot of what they knew and learned.

The impact of the new immigrants—people who arrived after 1965—is undeniable. The implications for a business person, for a community, and for a nation are profound.

For a budding entrepreneur, the new immigrants offer success traits and trade secrets that can be studied and copied. For a struggling neighborhood or a Rust Belt city, they hold out hope for revival. For a nation resolved to be a leader in a global economy, they offer a pool of world-class talent.

The new immigrants are exhibiting something very old and very American, a can-do spirit borne of the immigrant experience.

With the speed and fearlessness of a race car driver—let’s say Mario Andretti, an immigrant from Italy—the new immigrants are creating jobs now and designing the American jobs of the future. In the great race called the global economy, they are the nation’s competitive advantage.

With this book of stories, we’ll show you how.

RICHARD HERMAN August 2009

Acknowledgments

The book is the fruit of many generous and knowledgeable people who have shared their stories and ideas on the power of Immigrant, Inc.

The authors would especially like to thank those who gave interviews for this book: Dr. Adedeji Adefuye, Monte Ahuja, Dan Arvizu, John Austin, Generoso Bahena, Angelika Blendstrup, Genia and Michael Brin, Carmen Castillo, Jay Chen, Yet-Ming Chiang, Judy Choi, Xunming Deng, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Yi Ding, Suren Dutia, Ric Fulop, Ellen Gallagher, Sorin Grama, Vartan Gregorian, Alberto Ibargüen, Jeffrey Kimathi, David Lam, Jason Lin, Paul Lo, Richard Longworth, Fatimah Muhammad, Anne O’Callaghan, Ib Olsen, Rob Paral, Linn Patel, Safi Qureshi, Noah Samara, Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, Carol Sardo, Mohabir Satram, Farouk Shami, Ratanjit Sondhe, Raymond Spencer, Tom Szaky, Quy “Charlie” Ton, Alex Totic, Vi Truong, Jan Vilcek, Vivek Wadhwa, and Liwei Xu.

The authors would also like to thank Sheck Cho, our editor, and his colleagues Andy Wheeler, Helen Cho, Dexter Gasque, and Stacey Rivera, at John Wiley & Sons, who believed in the book and guided us.

The authors would also like to credit the following Midwesterners for welcoming immigrant job-creators and working to build bridges to the world: Raj Aggrawal, Connie Atkins, William Avery, Reka Barabas, Dona Brady, Dan Berry, George Burke, Len Calabrese, Carol Caruso, Jim Craciun, Veronica Isabel Dahlberg, Rafael Reyez Davila, Jorge Delgado, Jim Foster, Mansfield Frazier, Joe Frolik, Nick Gatozzi, Ye-Fan Glavin, Michael Goldberg, Barbara Hawkins, Peter Lawson Jones, Ken Kovach, Ray Leach, David Levey, Alex Machaskee, Halley Marsh, Charles Michener, Ed Morrison, Steve Petras, Dr. Maria Pujana, Albert Ratner, Radhika Reddy, Joe Roman, Eduardo Romero, Thom Ruhe, Dick Russ, Jim Russell, Mark Santo, Alan Schonberg, Baiju Shah, Julia Shearson, Paramjit Singh, Tom Sudow, Steve Tobocman, Hugo Urizar, Harry Weller, Ann Womer-Benjamin, Eddy Zai, Rose Zitiello, and many others too numerous to mention.

Introduction: Welcome to Immigrant, Inc.

To immigrate is an entrepreneurial act.

—EDWARD ROBERTS, FOUNDER OF MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTER

This is a book for people and communities who want to join the new and exciting age to come. It’s for those looking to take advantage of a permanently New Economy, an era that will be defined by innovation, smart technology, and multicultural lifestyles.

We do not pretend to have discovered a magic formula to success. We do believe we can help you, your business, or your family tap one of the most powerful business cultures in the world today.

Let us introduce you to Immigrant, Inc.

That’s the term we use to describe a culture and a way of life that offers a proven path for success in a knowledge-based, global economy.

Immigrant, Inc. is a very new and a very old phenomenon. At the heart of the culture is a special way of thinking about work, about entrepreneurship, about education, about raising children, and, most of all, about seizing opportunity in America—the greatest country on Earth for those with a dream and willingness to take a chance and work hard.

The ambition of this book is not to dazzle you with the success stories of foreign-born entrepreneurs and innovators. Sure, it’s important to know that half of all the high-technology companies in Silicon Valley have an immigrant founder and that immigrants are filing technology patents at double the rate of native-born Americans.

“But what does that do for me?” you might ask.

Plenty.

First, we explain how this imported energy results in new wealth and new jobs. Jobs for Americans. Then we explain how all Americans can join the culture of Immigrant, Inc.

In a 2003 interview with Leslie Stahl of CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capitalist and immigrant co-founder of Sun Microsystems, considered the impact of immigrants from his country, India. “How many jobs have entrepreneurs, Indian entrepreneurs, in Silicon Valley created over the last 15, 20 years? Hundreds of thousands, I would guess,” he said.

He’s about right. The Indian-born Khosla is part of an immigrant wave that helped to transform northern California into the world’s epicenter of high technology. He is part of a larger wave that is building the New Economy and creating jobs for American workers.

Coming from all corners of the globe, immigrant innovation and entrepreneurship is the real job-creating stimulus.

In her May 2007 testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Patricia A. Buckley, a senior economic advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce, explained why any community should strive to attract high-skill immigrants:

An important segment of the foreign-born are not in the United States to find a job—they are here to create jobs. . . . The high rates of entrepreneurship among the immigrant population contribute to the dynamics of the economy, fostering both investment and employment.

Immigrants like Andy Grove and Sergey Brin are the well-known catalysts behind New Economy giants. Grove’s Intel employed about 90,000 people in 2009, while Brin’s Google employed about 20,000. Half of those jobs were based in the United States. More jobs were coming. In February 2009, Intel announced a $7 billion investment in factories in New Mexico, Oregon, and Arizona to manufacture silicon wafers. Speaking before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., in 2009, Intel’s president, Paul Otellini, said he expected this investment in “industries of the future” to create 7,000 high-wage jobs.

He was talking about the continuation of a powerful trend. As revealed by researchers Vivek Wadhwa and AnnaLee Saxenian, immigrants created 450,000 jobs in America by founding one-fourth of the nation’s technology and engineering companies between 1995 and 2005.

The job-creating culture is not restricted to California’s Silicon Valley but extends throughout America, particularly around major research universities, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A 2007 study by the Immigrant Learning Center near Boston found that over one-quarter of the biotech companies in New England had at least one immigrant founder and that those companies employed over 4,000 workers and produced over $7 billion in sales in 2006.

The phenomenon extends beyond high-tech industries, spilling into middle America. The U.S. Small Business Administration tells us there were 1.5 million immigrant business owners in America in 2002, comprising much of the high-skill and low-skill sectors, and providing jobs to 2.2 million people.

The seeds for this job-generating trend were planted decades ago by immigrant pioneers who founded proud American companies like Dow Chemical, DuPont, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Carnegie Steel (later U.S. Steel), Carnival Cruises, and many others.

That’s fine, you may say, but what about the jobs of the future? Who will create the 4 million green jobs identified in a 2008 study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors? Who will invent and commercialize clean technology so that companies can be launched and blue collar jobs will be created in manufacturing, building, and repairing, so that white collar jobs will spring up in accounting, law, and banking?

The same people who made Silicon Valley shine.

Just as foreign-born engineers and entrepreneurs, in partnership with American-born colleagues, ignited the information technology revolution that created millions of jobs in the 1990s, high-skill immigrants are beginning to drive the emerging green technology and clean-energy industries.

Raymond Spencer, an Australian-born entrepreneur, has a window on that future and a gusto for investing after founding a high-technology consulting company that sold for more than $1 billion in 2006.

“I have investments in maybe 10 start-ups, all of which fall within a broad umbrella of a ‘green’ theme,” he said. “And it’s interesting, the vast majority are either led by immigrants or have key technical people who are immigrants.”

It should come as no surprise that immigrants will help drive the green revolution. America’s young scientists and engineers, especially the ones drawn to emerging industries like alternative energy, tend to speak with an accent.

The 2000 census found that immigrants, while accounting for 12 percent of the population, made up nearly half of all scientists and engineers with doctorate degrees. Their importance will only grow. Nearly 70 percent of the men and women who entered the fields of science and engineering from 1995 to 2006 were immigrants.

It’s not just immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators who are creating and maintaining jobs for Americans. Drivers of the New Economy include increasing numbers of foreign-born executives hired to lead huge American companies and their workforce.

Indra Nooyi, an immigrant from India, not only plays in a rock band, but leads PepsiCo as its chief executive. Irish-born Neville Isdell ran Coca-Cola until Muhtar Kent, a Turkish-American, assumed the leadership of the company in 2009. Sidney Taurel, born a Spanish citizen in Morocco, retired as CEO and chairman of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company. The German-born Klaus Kleinfeld is the chief executive officer of Alcoa, having taken the baton from Brazilian-born Alain Belda.

A close cousin of immigration is foreign direct investment, which is actively courted by American officials seeking to boost job creation.

U.S.-based affiliates of foreign companies employed more than 5 million U.S. workers in 2006. Between 2003 and 2007, foreign companies in America invested about $184 billion to create 447,000 new jobs, many in struggling states like Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In one example, Spanish wind-turbine manufacturer Gamesa began converting abandoned steel mills in Pennsylvania into advanced manufacturing facilities for massive blades for windmills, creating 700 union jobs.

Immigrants and foreign nationals are creating jobs for Americans. But that’s not the whole story. Immigrants who are joining the American team are making partnerships stronger and companies mightier.

Katie Liljenquist, a professor of organizational leadership at Brigham Young University, is one of a number of experts who say that American workers innovate and solve problems faster when working with a “socially distinct newcomer”—a person from another culture.

While this book is not an immigration policy book, we do hope that the stories it reveals and the people it introduces will help you to see immigrants in a new light—not as a “them” but as part of “us.” We hope it will help you to appreciate the critical roles that immigrants play in the growth of industries and the creation of jobs in an age of innovation. This attitude is critical if the nation is to remain at the cutting edge of the New Economy and create a new generation of American jobs.

Immigrants bring the skills to create those jobs, but they bring something even more valuable. They bring their dreams.

Immigrants are the dream-keepers, reminding us that the American Dream is alive, well, and attainable to all. As the familiar factories and offices close, we need this hope.

By learning their stories, we reacquaint ourselves with the values that built America. The greatest gift that the new immigrants offer America is not their ingenuity and drive, but a value system that worked for our great-grandparents and can work for Americans right now.

In this book, we reveal why and how America’s new immigrants perform so well in their adopted home. Our aim is to illuminate success traits that can be studied and copied. While America draws many of the best and brightest from India, China, Israel, Russia, Taiwan, Nigeria, and Brazil, it was not enough that these folks arrived smart and ambitious. They were prepared for excellence, adept at building teams, a bit daring, and often brilliant at discovering opportunities.

Immigrant, Inc. is a culture of entrepreneurship and self-reliance built around a set of simple, powerful concepts: relentless preparation, lifelong learning, constant vigilance and exploration of opportunity (no matter how remote), a willingness to take risks, and a deep love and respect for American ideals like thrift and earnestness.

While many Americans have lost sight of those ideals, immigrants have not. Every day, world-class strivers fly past the Statue of Liberty and land at John F. Kennedy International Airport. They endure the humiliations and frustrations of the immigration process and set about building a new future. They may be poor in dollars, but they are rich in audacity and in dreams.

Their struggle and success is a constant reminder that the American Dream lives for all of us.

While it sounds cliché to say that the United States is a nation of immigrants, it is a fact that no other country in the history of mankind has accepted (although not always welcomed) over 70 million immigrants! Many of us are not far removed from the immigrant experience.

Even if you are not among the 50 percent of Americans with close immigrant lineage, you probably share immigrant ancestry. Regardless of whether you came to America enslaved, or arrived here escaping chains of oppression, you are part of a nation of survivors and strivers. Nearly every one of us has immigrant blood coursing through our veins.

As Johns Hopkins University psychologist John Gartner argues, immigrant traits are built into our DNA. America’s genetic trail leads back to a class of energetic strivers, brave and optimistic pioneers who created a new world for themselves and their families.

Today, the New Economy is that new world. This book is intended to help you to take advantage of it. It will show you how to unlock and unleash your inner immigrant by embracing the values, aspirations, and discipline of our ancestors and by welcoming and embracing the wisdom of our new Americans.

Whether we like it or not, we are all free agents now. If you are looking for a new job, or thinking about starting and growing a business, the lessons of successful immigrants will empower you.

Immigrant power is the stimulus the country needs if not craves. As Google vice president Omid Kordestani advised the graduates at San Jose State University in 2007, immigrants know a secret or two. He told his audience:

To keep an edge, I must think and act like an immigrant. There is a special optimism and drive that I benefited from and continue to rely on that I want all of you to find. Immigrants are inherently dreamers and fighters.

We hope that this book helps you to “think and act like an immigrant” as you pursue your entrepreneurial and professional goals, and in the process, help secure America’s global leadership in the twenty-first century.

Chapter 1

A Mighty New Idea

I think we should welcome all peaceful people to our country. They get to pursue the American dream and we get to benefit from all the wonderful things that immigrants bring to our country—like good old -fashioned soccer.

—DREW CAREY

Yet-Ming Chiang was alone in his office on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when Ric Fulop, a college drop-out from Venezuela, walked in and spun his life in a new direction.

Neither man had ever met before, but they shared a few key qualities. Both were immigrants to America. Both had experience as entrepreneurs, people who start businesses from scratch. Both liked to dream big, although they ran at different speeds.

Chiang, who came from Taiwan as a boy, was a career scientist who amiably applied himself to his research, pioneering work in ceramics and, more recently, renewable energy, the emerging clean technology that could replace fossil fuels.

Fulop, a serial entrepreneur, lived life on a treadmill. Restless and bold, he started his first computer company in Caracas at age 16. He launched four more businesses—watched them soar and watched them crash—before he walked in on Chiang, introduced himself as a high-tech rock star, one of Red Herring magazine’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs, and told him about the idea keeping him up at night.

It was 2001, the dawn of a new millennium. The Internet bubble had popped, gasoline prices were climbing, the climate was warming, and the world would soon desire a clean, powerful source of energy. He had heard there was a professor at MIT doing interesting work with batteries. Was he right?

Chiang, then 42, could have exerted his rank. He was an accomplished scientist at one of the nation’s elite universities, the youngest tenured professor in the history of his department. While experimenting with very small lithium battery materials, he had discovered a way to extract double the power from conventional battery cells. He thought that some day he might take his idea to private industry, leave academia, and go into the battery business.