Editor’s note: “Innovating Women” went on sale in bookstores and online on Tuesday. It’s the latest effort by Vivek Wadhwa, a former Triangle tech entrepreneur and now an academic, to bring attention to gender and racial inequity in Silicon Valley and the tech industry at large. In this post, Wadhwa, a native of India and a U.S. citizen, writes about his motivation. This post appeared ahead of a public forum in San Francisco to which Wadhwa had invited men – including some he has criticized – to attend.

SAN FRANCISCO – A few years ago, if you had asked me if there was discrimination in Silicon Valley, I would have asked you what planet you were from. I believed it to be the greatest meritocracy—the most open, inclusive, and diverse place on Earth. That was until I came to the Valley and attended my first TechCrunch conference. It felt as if I had entered the “Twilight Zone”—a parallel universe with strange happenings. My shock was that there were practically no women on stage. When I looked, I realized that all of Silicon Valley is like this—almost no women in leadership positions. And no blacks or Hispanics.

I have since researched this subject extensively and written a lot about it. I have taken a lot of fire. I am the Indian with all those arrows in his back. I know this battle is worthwhile because I see things changing. For all the bad things you can say about Silicon Valley, you have to give it credit for being open to criticism and constantly reinventing itself. This is what gives Silicon Valley a global advantage: dissent is encouraged and learning and reinvention are the norm. There is nothing wrong with saying I made a mistake and am now doing things differently. They even have a special word for failure in the valley: it is called “pivoting”.

Today Silicon Valley is pivoting—it is learning from its mistakes and bettering itself. Exponential technologies are also leveling the playing field and making it possible to solve the grand challenges of humanity. In this new era of innovation, women are primed to lead—to better the world.

This is the core message of my new book, Innovating Women, which was created with the help of legendary journalist Farai Chideya and hundreds of women. These women shared their stories and brainstormed on ways to accelerate change. More than a dozen women wrote powerful essays. Megan Smith, who is now U.S. Chief Technology Officer, wrote an entire chapter along with Mary Grove, who heads Google for Entrepreneurs.

Find out more about the book online.

Note: Tuesday night’s event was hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Autodesk at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco.

(C) Vivek Wadhwa