Sylvia Acevedo with Robert Sutton

Discover how you can achieve the impossible from someone who's done it before

In The Trailblazer's Playbook: Practical Tactics to Rise Against the Odds to Achieve Excellence, celebrated executive, entrepreneur, and engineer and rocket scientist Sylvia Acevedo delivers an insightful and transformative manifesto for everyone who dares to defy the odds and achieve greatness. The author chronicles the relentless pursuit of excellence and the resilience you'll need to overcome extraordinary challenges.

The book takes you through an odyssey of the most pivotal moments in Acevedo's life, chronicling her trailblazing career and the tragedies she overcame to achieve personal growth. It's packed with practical advice and actionable strategies you can apply immediately to your own life to help you conquer obstacles, overcome loss, embrace risk, and seize opportunities.

You'll also find:

• “The Story of the Three No's” – a demonstration of how relentless determination can turn setbacks into opportunities
• Discussions of the importance of personal and mental health and the freedom offered by forgiveness
• Strategies for defining and communicating your value in a way that's aligned with your strategic goals
• Perfect for professionals, aspiring leaders, and anyone driven to overcome challenges and realize their full potential, The Trailblazer's Playbook is also a must-read for early-career professionals and students just beginning their own careers.

Sylvia Acevedo will be in converstion with Robert Sutton.

About the Authors
Sylvia Acevedo is a boundary-breaking engineer and leadership strategist whose career spans space exploration, Silicon Valley, and C-suites. From working on missions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to executive roles at Apple, Dell, and IBM, she’s made a career of turning bold ideas into real-world results. A trusted voice in tech, Sylvia serves on the boards of Qualcomm and Credo Technologies, where she is Lead Independent Director. She advises early-stage CEOs and has scaled companies from startup to successful exits—including co-founding REBA Technologies. As CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, she led the largest programmatic expansion in a century, with over 146 new badges in STEM, entrepreneurship, civics, and the outdoors—impacting millions. Sylvia’s bestselling memoir Path to the Stars inspired a generation.

Robert I. Sutton is professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, where he is co-founder of the Center for Work Technology and Organizations, Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and Institute of Design (“the d.school”). Sutton was named as one of 10 “B-School All-Stars” byBusinessWeek, which they described as “professors who are influencing contemporary business thinking far beyond academia.” His books include The Knowing-Doing Gap (with Jeffrey Pfeffer), Weird Ideas the Work, and two New York Times bestsellers, The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss.

COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS: We strongly encourage attendees to wear masks at our events, although they will NOT be required. We will have masks available for attendees who want them. Do NOT attend the event if you, or any member of your family, have any respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat), or have had a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. We can refund your ticket(s).

ACCESSIBILITY: To request an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for this event, please email events [at] keplers [dot] org at least one week prior to the event.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, United States