Jullien Gordon on Increasing Business Coaching Sales and Impact

In Chapter 18 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon "How Are Your Career Aspirations Changing as You Gain Experience?"  Gordon shares how he has learned that while his consumers are individuals but his customers are organizations.  As a result, Gordon shifts his relationship building and sales strategy away from social media - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. - and toward organizational sales and outreach.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How are your career aspirations changing as you gain experience?

Jullien Gordon: One of the biggest insights that I’ve had this year is that while my consumer is individuals, my customer is actually large organizations, whether that’s companies, non-profit organizations, conferences, or colleges. And up until this point I’ve been trying to get the hearts and the minds of individuals through videos, through Facebook, through my writing, through LinkedIn, et cetera. And when in fact—when I think about the greatest impact that my work has had, it’s been through organizations, whether that’s a large organization like PWC bringing me in, or some school, or some non-profit to speak at a large conference, that’s where I’ve had access to the most individuals, and so my shift in energy in 2013 is going to be focused on how to build relationships with those key decision makers and less about social media, less about trying to get individuals, because I will get individuals once I get through them.

I’d rather have 10 relationships with people in those key decision positions than relationships with a thousand individuals. Because those 10 relationships are gonna give me access to a thousand individuals or more. And so that’s a big shift for me because—yeah, it’s just a big shift for me as I think about what it’s actually gonna take to grow the business, it’s not as sexy as… It’s not as sexy, I mean the sexy route is almost like being in a music band and you see your Facebook fan page likes go up and all of a sudden you have 50,000 likes. But how many of those 50,000 people are actually buying your CD? Right?

And so when you think about the business model behind my work, while I have books, and there’s a margin, a slim margin on a book where I’ve actually been able to spread the work and actually get compensated fairly for the work that I do, it’s been through organizations and so that’s gonna take me on a completely different path in 2013 and probably onward, is that I’m gonna access individuals through larger organizations. So my presence in social media, the videos that I do, while they’re nice and it’s nice to see people comment and things like that, that’s not what’s driving the business model which sustains me to continue to do the work that I’ve been called to do in the world, then that has to change. And that’s been a hard realization to accept.

Jullien Gordon on Innovating Human Capital Strategy

In Chapter 19 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon "What Has Your Corporate Work Taught You About Innovation Needs in Human Resources?"  In his human resources strategy work, uses an interviewing approach - called innerviewing - to better understand employee growth, development, and needs beyond the new hire onboarding stage.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What has your corporate work taught you about innovation needs in human resources?

Jullien Gordon: Innovation has always been focused on the machine and the product, and how we deliver that service. And where I see that connecting with human resources, that innovation is really about how we manage, retain and grow our people now. Because everybody can replicate your technology now, they can get your product, dissect it, see what you did, and replicate that in a month now, right? So really the innovation, which can’t be replicated as easily, is your human capital. And so that’s where I’ve seen it connecting, and that the organizations that are committed to innovating around the way that they work with their human capital are the ones that are winning. You look at Zappos for example. You look at Southwest for example. All of these places are known for their great organizational culture and that’s why they have dominated their industries over the past few years.

Erik Michielsen: How do you start that conversation with the senior HR leader about making those changes to stay ahead of the curve?

Jullien Gordon: So the first question that I ask HR professionals is: Do you know who’s on your team? When you interviewed them, you got information about them in terms of their résumés, their past accomplishments, where they were educated, but now it’s six months in or a year in or 18 months in, and do you still know who that person is? We, as human beings, are evolving so quickly in this day and age that this person may have gotten married, like myself. They may have kids. And their original intention for coming to your organization may have changed. When they originally came to your organization, it may have been to pay off their student loans, it may have been for leadership opportunities and travel opportunities, then all of a sudden, life has occurred for them, and now their top priorities are no longer those three things, they’re actually mentorship, flexibility, and… certain types of projects, right? But if we never stop and ask those questions, then we are developing our human capital strategy based on who we hired 18 months ago, not who we have on our team today.

And so I help organizations close the gap between what their employees really want and expect from their employer, and their current human capital strategy. And I do that through my process called “innerviewing.” We all know what an interview is. That’s how you get the job. But innerviewing is a constant process of going back to your team and asking the right questions. What do they expect from work? Why are they even at this company? Because we don’t even ask that in the interview, we assume that we know the answer because they accepted the job offer. And then we’re also asking them, how do they define success? And is this company helping them achieve their definition of success? That’s the greatest employee retention strategy of all time, is to help them achieve their definition of success.

Now, a company may say, I do that by giving them a bonus, or higher pay, and then they can take that money and do what they want to create the life that they want outside of the work space, but I find that, for this generation, they don’t just want money, they also want to make meaning and because we spend so much time in our work environment, that has to be a space that’s fulfilling and engaging, and so when you ask somebody what’s their definition of success, and you ask them how their work actually fits in to that, you find that if you’re helping them achieve their definition of success, not just at work but in their life in general, then it’s gonna be harder for them to leave because it’s happening for them here through you and your organization.

And so, again, the question is, who’s on your team, or do you even know who’s on your team? Yeah, you hired them this long ago, but do you know who’s on your team right now? Do you know what their definition of success is? Do you know what their expectations are of work? And do you even know why they work beyond just money? And if you actually get answers to those three questions, I think you’ll find information that you can use to close the gap between what your employees really want and your human capital strategy.

And the reason I’m so important in doing this work is because oftentimes HR may send out a survey, and a survey already has bias in it based on who wrote the survey. And then some HR organizations are—or departments say that they’ve done focus groups. Well, I’ve found that anonymity is actually the best way to get the most authentic answers from employees, and so that’s where I go in to organizations. I actually go in, ask the high performers these core questions, take those insights and then help the organization close the gap between what their high performers that they want to retain really want and their human capital strategy.

Jullien Gordon on Improving Employee Engagement Practices

In Chapter 20 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "How are You Helping Corporations Improve Employee Engagement Practices?"  Gordon notes how in his personal life, he learned you cannot get engaged (to be married) until you ask the question.  He applies this philosophy helping corporate clients understand their employees and their goals after the hiring decision.  This improves the onboarding process and raises employee engagement at work.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How are you helping corporations improve employee engagement practices?

Jullien Gordon: Well, I just got engaged October of 2011, and you can’t get engaged until you ask the question. And so that’s why I always start with a question, right? Oftentimes, we get into organizations and we commit before we even know if we’re engaged, and employers have to know that for the first six months to a year, an employee is not necessarily committed, they’re really just feeling it out because they chose this because you recruited on campus or it was the most available thing to them, not necessarily it was the best thing for them yet.

So they’re still in an exploration phase. And so in order to get someone engaged, you have to ask them the right questions, and the right questions include: What are you passionate about? And how are you exercising that, or how can you bring that to what you do on a daily basis? What problems do you see for our customers, or our clients, or our colleagues, or the company in general that you may want to solve that is actually valuable? Who is it that you really serve within the context of the organization? And, again, how do you define success, personally and professionally?

Those are some of the right questions that employers need to ask their employees in order to understand who they are because the greatest depression that we have in this economic environment is the gap between who we are and what we do. That’s the greatest depression. And to the extent that we can get people to bring more of who they are to what they do, the more likely you’re gonna have higher engagement and presence in the workplace. And so that’s how I help employers actually navigate that space is by asking the right questions so that they can increase career presence ‘cause a lot of employers are actually paying full-time salaries for part-time presence, right? They have somebody who’s already quit but stayed, right? And so this is not necessarily because the person hates what they do, it may be because they hate how it’s being done, why they’re doing it, or who they’re doing it for.

Erik Michielsen: That’s a great point. And you also in our past interviews mentioned underemployment being such a big challenge in today’s job market. And one of the things we often forget is that to solve underemployment doesn’t mean you have to change jobs, sometimes you need to tweak the job you’re already in.

Jullien Gordon: Exactly. So a lot of times, especially for employees, they think that the first thing to do, when there’s a gap between who they are and what they do is to change what they do. But then they change what they do and no more of who they are is actually in that next thing and they still feel the same gap, so they just jumped from the frying pan to the fire, right? And so if we actually figure out how to bring more of who we are to what we do, then that gap is closed and you feel more present in the work that you do. There’s nothing wrong with being an investment banker but perhaps because of the reason you’re doing it, how you’re doing it, who you’re doing it for, if you take that same person and you put them in Kiva, and all of a sudden they’re doing it for small entrepreneurs in developing countries and they’re doing it for a social cause and they’re not doing it for money, all of a sudden that person feels fully alive yet they’re still doing the same thing, there’s no difference between someone who’s financing entrepreneurs at Kiva and a venture capitalist or investment banker, it’s just a different scale, a different type of customer and a different process in terms of how the work gets done.

And so oftentimes it’s not about changing what you do or changing the job, that may be the second step, first we need to ask ourselves, how can I bring more of who I am to what I do? Because there’s thousands of people who do exactly what you do. There’s thousands of lawyers. There’s thousands of bankers. There’s thousands of consultants. So you’re great at what you do, so are they. What makes you different is who you are and how you bring that into what you do. And so you have your position and you have your presence, and what a lot of people are lacking is they’re good at their position but they’re not bringing their presence or their extra who-am-I to what they do.

Jullien Gordon on Ways to Decrease Turnover and Retain Employees

In Chapter 21 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What Approaches Are You Taking to Help Organizations Better Retain Senior Management Talent?".  In his human capital strategy work, Gordon uses an interviewing process identify and close the gap between employee life goals and employer work expectations.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What approaches are you taking to help corporations better retain senior management talent?

Jullien Gordon: So I’m actually going to these organizations and leading trainings where I ask key employees these core questions and this can be in a group space, or it can be in a one-on-one space. And then I take that data anonymously, and I look for patterns in terms of what the employees are really seeking for their lives in general and their expectations of their employer, and the reasons why they work, and I take that back to the employer to help them close the gap between what their employees want and expect and their current human capital strategy. And using those insights, we’re able to close that gap and increase retention and lower the turnover rates.

So that’s really what it is, it’s a simple practice but, again, it takes someone who can listen from a non-judgmental space, someone who can listen without any intent for the employee. So I go in to an employer and I speak with an employee, and I’m asking not because I’m even trying to retain you, I’m just asking out of pure curiosity about what your vision is for your life. And to the extent that I can help your employer help you achieve your vision for your life, the more likely it is that you will stay at this particular organization and be engaged.

Erik Michielsen: What have you found surprising about those interviews?

Jullien Gordon: First and foremost, there’s no standard answer, right? So when—especially when I ask the question around the definition of success, an employer might say more money is what’s gonna keep somebody, and they’ve tried that and they might get a little pop in performance for a month or two, and then the performance goes right back down to what it was and so when you really ask people what their definition of success is in the three ways that they measure it, you see all of these unique ways and I’ve done this in audiences of 4-500. And there are very few people who have identical answers. So that’s first and foremost, everybody has unique answers.

And then some of the answers that they have won’t cost the employer a dime to actually implement and support. For instance, if part of my definition of success is building strong relationships and the quality of my relationships, there are through affinity groups and things of that nature, an employer can actually offer that intentionally to their employees, not as a passive thing, but intentionally saying we have these spaces for people who are couples, people who are married with kids, people who are in this life stage and dealing with this, people who have cancer at our organization, whatever. People can find quality relationships in the context of their employer, so and companies aren’t just gonna be about technical things in getting things done and shipping. They are actually gonna be I think in the future more social environments, also like colleges where I am getting a lot of my life needs met through this space. Of course, from 8 to 5, I am working hard to move this organization and the clients from point A to point B, but there are wraparound services that don’t cost employers that much to—that will actually help the employees achieve their definition of success in not only their career but also in their life.

Jullien Gordon on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 1 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Gordon, who shares his recent engagement to be married, notes how a progressive challenge is staying balanced as his relationship becomes a larger part of his life.  He notes how not forcing things and being present in the moment is allowing him to live more fluidly, productively, and stress free.  He notes the big moments have come through relationships, most often through being true to himself.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What’s getting easier and what’s getting harder in your life?

Jullien Gordon:  Wow!  So I just got engaged about two weeks ago, yeah so I’m excited about that.  So what’s getting more difficult is, how I actually shift my business model so that I’m not traveling as much as I currently do so definitely looking into the productization of the things that I’m doing and how to scale that via licensing, training the trainer etcetera.  So that’s definitely getting more difficult is holding that balance now that I’m committed to another person and of course in the future other little persons.  So really just thinking about that now before it gets out of balance and out of control. 

What’s getting easier is…what’s getting easier?  I don’t know if anything’s getting easier.  What’s getting easier is me not forcing things and me just being very present in the moment, being who I’m being and trusting that things will come.  I would say when I started out on this path a lot of things were forced, I was pushing, pushing, pushing and now as I’m moving through the world in a great alignment with my purpose I really feel an attraction based –yeah, I had like – when I look at all my deals and relationships and things like that, they’ve all come through just my relationships.  They haven’t been me doing SCO optimization or advertising on Google or great designs of flyers and banners.  It hasn’t been any of that that has led to the business that I’ve been able to generate and so I realize that as I’m more of who I am and making my – being clear about my unique contribution that opportunities are coming out of every different direction and so I come into the new year and like yeah I think my business is gonna go in this direction and then all of a sudden these two opportunities come and I’m in this direction and this direction still doing my purpose but in ways that I couldn’t even imagine on my own.

Jullien Gordon on How to Create Mindful Moments and Find Personal Best

In Chapter 2 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "When Are You At Your Best?"  Gordon finds his best in what he calls "first period" or the beginning of each day.  He makes it a point to listen to himself, set an action plan for the day, and then take action on what he needs to do.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  When are you are your best?

Jullien Gordon:  I’m at my best at the start of the day.  At the start of the day I mean that’s when I’m well rested, that’s when my energy is the highest, that’s when there’s no interruptions, there’s not email, there’s not phone calls it’s really just quiet time and I actually call that space in my life, first period, you know it’s the first period of my day and I can save that space for myself and that’s when I’m able to listen to myself and really get a good vision of what I’m supposed to be doing that day and how I’m supposed to be allocating my time and energy so I definitely think that the start of the day is when I’m at my best.

Jullien Gordon on How Purpose Motivates High Energy Performance

In Chapter 3 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "Where Do You Get Your Energy?"  Gordon references Daniel Pink's book, "Drive" and shares how he gets his energy by living in alignment with his purpose.  He understands living in his purpose acts as an intrinsic motivator that allows him to make the most out of each day.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  Where do you get your energy?

Jullien Gordon:  To be honest going back to Daniel Pink’s drive I think purpose is where I get my energy from.  When I’m in alignment with my purpose I get this wind behind my sail that allows me to do things that I couldn’t have imagined doing on my own.  When you’re in alignment with a current of energy it just takes you in places as opposed to trying to swim against the current like no I’m going up this stream no matter what.  No, I’m – when you’re in alignment with your purpose I feel like you’re going with this universal current and that’s where I think a lot of my energy comes from.  

My diet isn’t the greatest diet, I don’t exercise, I want to do all those things well but I do know that where my high level of energy comes from is this deep sense of purpose.  This intrinsic motivation that’s within me and that’s where I think my most powerful and my spiritual source is.  My purpose is my connection to my spiritual source.  It’s the single most important reason why I’m here.  

Now a lot of us go through life and we have all these to do this lists and we check off all kinds of things on our to do lists and by the end of life we’re like yeah I checked off all this stuff but the big question is did you do the one thing that you were uniquely created to do and I feel like I’m moving in alignment with that right now and so that’s where my energy comes from.

Jullien Gordon on How to Personalize a Leadership Lifestyle

In Chapter 4 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  Gordon shares the stages of his own leadership journey and how experiences have shaped his approach to being a leader in his actions and ambitions.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What does it mean to be a leader in what you do?

Jullien Gordon:  Wow!  What does it mean to be a leader?  For me leadership has always been defined as creating more leaders and if you’re not creating more leaders then -- well actually that’s the external version of leadership.  I think leadership actually starts with self leadership and actually directing your life in the way that you want it to go and then from there, by that example, you actually inspire others to take control and full responsibility for the decisions and the choices that they’re making. 

So I definitely think leadership actually comes back to are you taking full responsibility for your choices, or are you letting life and other external factors actually influence your choice and therefore your choice being inauthentic.  Leadership is I think this space where you are actually continually making authentic choices based on what you think is best for you and those around you.

Erik Michielsen:  And how have you learned about leadership as your career has developed?

Jullien Gordon:  In undergrad I actually was a student leader of various organizations.  When I graduated I actually became executive director of a program called the Shake program where I was managing 32 part-time undergrads plus a team of volunteers and so that was my first real experience of full time leadership, then I went to business school and then I worked with MLT for quite some time. I developed a team there at MLT and from there I’ve been building my business on my own for the past few years now.  I would say that it’s all been about self-leadership for me. 

I haven’t figured out how I’m gonna take full responsibility for a team of people and still have the balance that I want in my life so I haven’t really committed to that responsibility.  I have part time people who work with me on various things. I have administrators, assistants, legal team, sales team etcetera but they’re all part-time so in terms of leading other people I haven’t been in that space for quite some time where I feel fully responsible for the life of someone else or for the economic future of someone else and so I’m still exploring that and do I actually want to have a big building out like the ones out here in New York is that ultimately my goal or is my goal actually time freedom. 

As I’ve navigated my journey over the past three years I’ve realized that it’s not about financial freedom for me it’s actually about time freedom which gives me the freedom to make choices and spend my time the way I want to spend it and that means that my business also isn’t necessarily about profit maximization. 

I’m actually using entrepreneurship as a vehicle to create a lifestyle that aligns with who I am and what I want and so as I think about my leadership it’s really been about time freedom and so a lot of leadership has been with self and not necessarily leading hordes of people or teams.  Of course when I’m speaking, at my speaking engagements, I’m leading people for that given time or if I’m doing a training for a corporation or a college, I’m leading people in that moment but I haven’t – it hasn’t been – it’s been a while since I’ve actually been responsible for leading people on a daily basis.

Jullien Gordon on How to Rule Out Career Options and Follow Your Passion

In Chapter 5 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How Has Ruling Out Career Options Helped You Better Focus On What You Really Want to Do?"  He notes that when you get great at something you hate, you attract more of the thing that you hate.  Going into his Stanford MBA program, Gordon ruled out more traditional paths he did not find appealing and created his own career as a Purpose Finder.  He notes how we often are anchored to a limited number of careers because of an unwillingness to identify and explore paths we did not know previously existed.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How has ruling out career options helped you better focus on what you really want to do?

Jullien Gordon:  I could be good at a lot of things.  I could be great at a lot of things and often times people move through life and they get great at things that they hate and when you get great at something that you hate all you do is you attract more of the thing that you hate and so going into business school I knew that consulting, investment banking, brand management weren’t for me, not to say that they’re bad career paths, I just want people to move in a way where the career path that are there are actually for them and I couldn’t find one where I felt like I would be able to be fully present on a daily basis so I had to create one and that’s why I call myself a purpose finder.  It’s not a life coach, it’s not a motivational speaker, I’m a purpose finder and it’s a career path that I’m actually paving through my life experiences. 

I’ve met other purpose finders, they haven’t called themselves that – with that kind of language but I’ve met people who do very similar work and so there’s all – there’s an infinite number of career paths that are out there but for some reason we choose from this limited menu of career paths based on what’s prestigious, based on big brand name companies that come to recruit on campus and there may be other paths out there that are a good fit for you.  There something I have called the career choice circle and there’s a small circle of career paths that we know exist and think we know a lot about but the only way you really know about a career is if you have done it for about six months. 

So often times we choose careers with a lot of imperfect information, then there’s this other circle around that called careers that you know exist but you know you know nothing about.  For instance for me firefighter, I know it exists but I don’t know a lot about it. I could say, oh yeah they put out fires and they save cats from trees, right?  But is that really what they do on a daily basis?  That’s a microcosm of what they do.  But where I like to push people is this notion of career paths that we don’t know exist therefore we know nothing about and when you’re driving home, you see these companies on these buildings and you don’t know what that company does, you’ve never even seen the name before but that company is obviously creating value if they’re still here and there may be people and roles within that organization when you are an absolute fit.

Jullien Gordon on How to Do What You Love and Attract Support

In Chapter 6 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How Have Your Reconciled Your Personal Ambition for That Projected Upon You By Others?"  Gordon finds his ambition had to get reconciled with his parents' notions of success and security.  By continuing to do great work and share the results with them, he helps them understand his non-traditional career path and, in turn, receives support.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How have you reconciled your personal ambition for that projected upon you by others?

Jullien Gordon:  I’ve taken so much ownership of my personal brand especially with my relationship with my parents because parents are a big influence on what we choose to do in life that – there hasn’t been too much outside influence or projection on what I should do or should be doing. 

My mother, she’s still concerned because that’s her motherly energy of you need to have this traditional career because she was a doctor you know what I’m saying?  She went to undergrad, then went to medical school, then whatever you do after that but the steps were laid out for basically until you’re after 30 years old for a doctor and that’s what she has known as success or security. But I listen to her but I still do my own thing and the way I actually prove to my parents that I’m gonna be alright is just by continuing to do great work and sharing those results with them. 

When they saw me spoke at – speak, when they saw speak at my UCLA graduation and my Stanford graduation they knew that I was gonna be alright, even if I was taking this non-traditional path and so – yeah, like I said going back to my purpose, my influences come from my spiritual source more so than anywhere else and even if you read Success Built to Last by Jerry Porras where he studied 500 of the world’s most successful people; Olympians, Nobel peace prize winners, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, US Presidents, they are more concerned with doing what they love than being loved and that’s a hard distinction for a lot of people to make. 

A lot of people move through the world and they try to be loved, right?  And in the process of being loved and people pleasing, end up hating themselves but what I found is when you’re doing what you love, the only thing that you can attract back to you is love.  I’ve only met amazing people like you, other Capture Your Flag alumni and you’re doing what you love and that’s what’s attracting these Capture Your Flag alumni to you is because you’re doing what you love, people want to be around that kind of energy.  So it’s just easier to just do what you love if your ultimate goal is actually to have love in your life.

Jullien Gordon on How to Maximize Quality of Life on Your Own Terms

In Chapter 7 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "Why Do You Differentiate Between Cost of Living and Quality of Living?"  Gordon finds quality of living and cost of living are not necessarily positively correlated.  He finds financial freedom does not always create time freedom and chooses to have time freedom as he lives.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  Why do you differentiate between cost of living versus quality of living?

Jullien Gordon:  Wow!  So I think in regards to the American dream, we bought into this notion that our quality of living increases with our cost of living, that they’re correlative, right?  But I found that knowing what my cost of living is, what is enough for me has actually given me the freedom to actually move more powerfully with any excess income that I have beyond my cost of living. 

My cost of living is a lot of lower than a lot of people yet my quality of living is a lot higher and so we bought into this notion and played this game of income maximization as if financial freedom is actually always gonna give us time freedom and that’s not always true.  If you’re working 80 hours a week for $150,000 a year you’re actually losing out on time freedom and you have to delay your time freedom until the end of life called “retirement.”  I’m actually having my time freedom as I go along life and even Gallop did some research on well-being where they showed that the average retirement age of people who live beyond the age of 95 was 85 years old.  It wasn’t 65 years old, right? 

So this notion of “Oh I want to retire early” most people who want to retire early actually hate what they do and so since our career is such a big chunk of our lives we need to figure out how to make that fulfilling, make it feel like vacation when you’re doing your work because you love it so much and there’s this hidden tax that we have on us when we’re doing things that we hate, psychologically and physically that we don’t acknowledge until our clock stops ticking and so I’m more concerned with quality of life than anything and so to be honest my cost of living though I’m – I don’t have kids and I don’t own a home, my cost of living is about $3000 a month and that’s with my student loans and my quality of living is through the roof and so for me that just breaks this assumption that cost of living and quality of living are directly connected or correlated.

Jullien Gordon on How to Use Your Network to Make Big Life Decisions

In Chapter 8 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How Do You Use Your Network to Get Help Making Career and Life Decisions?"  First, Gordon makes it a point to establish a network and one way he creates this is by hosting monthly potluck dinners.  Second, Gordon chooses to "network up" and build relationships with a select group of more experienced advisors.  Lastly, Gordon makes sure to find quiet time to reflect on what he learns from his network and how he applies it to career decision making.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How do you use your network to get help making career and life decisions?

Jullien Gordon:  First and foremost I make sure that my network or what I actually call my community is there before I need them.  So by hosting monthly potlucks at my home over the past four years in New York, I’ve met over 400 people through that space. And so these are 400 people who know who I am, know my vision, know what I’m about and are there to support me when I need them. 

When I think about tough decisions, I actually use my network up, that’s what I like to call which is my personal board of directors.  So these are my mentors, these are my advisors, these are seasoned professionals, these are experts in certain areas.  So I reach out to them for advice on certain decisions.  At the end of the day they don’t necessarily influence the decision, they give more information to consider, but the ultimate decision actually has to come from me and the best way I like to make decisions is by getting in a place of stillness and quietness after I’ve gotten the information that I need and then making the decision from there.

Jullien Gordon on How Standup Comedy Facilitates Self-Discovery

In Chapter 9 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What Did Taking a Standup Comedy Class Teach You About Yourself?"  Gordon notes how the experience helped him "uncan" himself, allowing him to loosen up, be himself, and be corny and silly in his life.  Gordon learns to use humor and comedy to get people to open up and be more receptive to the more challenging messages he delivers.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What did taking a stand up comedy class teach you about yourself?

Jullien Gordon:  Oh wow.  I really enjoyed that experience.  The term I like to put to it is that it really let me un-can myself because being a professional coming from Stanford and just being in this business world, often times we can ourselves and we have these prepackaged ways of delivering ourselves to other people and taking a comedy class just loosened me up and allowed me to be more of who am I. At the end of the day I’m really corny.  I’m really corny.  I make corny jokes at home with my friends, they even know me as corny and it allowed me to bring that corniness into every space that I’m in and not be ashamed of it and so I really loved that experience.

 Ultimately when I speak I bring the truth to people to the best of the my ability or the truth that I see just so that they can be exposed to it but when I would just deliver the truth, a lot of people might close off.  So through comedy and humor I’m actually able to open people up so that they’re smiling in the way that you are and then once people are open they’re more receptive to the messages that you deliver and then I can give the harder things that people have to consider.  So it has really helped me become a better communicator, a better speaker and so I’m really grateful for that experience.

Jullien Gordon on How Storytelling Class Improves Public Speaking

In Chapter 10 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How is Your Public Speaking Experience Teaching You to More Effectively Engage an Audience?"  Gordon shares how taking a storytelling course helps him better share his experiences and connect with audiences.  The storytelling, combined with what he learns taking a stand-up comedy course, help him create more actionable personal and professional development messages to his audience.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How is your public speaking experience teaching you to more effectively engage an audience?

Jullien Gordon:  In addition to my comedy class I’ve actually taken a storytelling class with a company called Narrative, and I know just based on my own experiences and the messages and the guidelines for life that have stuck with me, have all come through stories and so I’m actually working on things to become a better storyteller, like I said I went to a comedy class to become a better communicator and when I’ve coupled these things with the messages that I already have, this comedy and this storytelling, has allowed the messages that I have to share with the world to actually stick and land in a deeper place for people and so it’s just -- it’s been amazing to be able to touch people in so many ways. 

One of the most beautiful things that I love is getting emails from people within like 48 hours after a speaking engagement because you know speaking engagements they can inspire you in a lot ways, but for me inspiration isn’t enough.  I actually need to see people make changes in their life otherwise the inspiration it comes and it goes and that’s not enough to actually cause change.  I like to see when people actually make a change in their life as a result of something I said and when I get those emails back about people’s new commitments based on what I shared with them, that means the world to me.

Jullien Gordon on How to Adapt a Message to Reach New Audiences

In Chapter 11 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How Are You Learning to Adapt Your Message to Reach Different Audiences?"  Gordon details how he has found his initial audience, the millennial generation, may not value his message as much as the older baby boomer generation.  He finds the boomer generation has changed jobs multiple times and identify with Gordon's career development insight because of their deeper experience.  He then shares how he is approaching a transition to speaking to older, more experienced generations.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How are you learning to adapt your message to reach different audiences?

Jullien Gordon:  That’s the big thing on the table right now which has been really hard for me to understand is that the millennial generation which I’m a part of, and who I’ve been intentionally trying to impact and expose may not be my ultimate audience.  My ultimate audience actually may be the older generation -- people who are going through the midlife crisis etcetera.  Now I just did a call for alumni at Cornell who were out of employment or considering changing their jobs and these people were 40, 50, 60, 70 years old and the way they received my messages it was just a completely different shift for them. 

Sometimes young people perceive that they know it already, that’s just part of our generation.  We think we know exactly what we’re doing but who really needs what I have to share the most may actually be the older generation.  So for my messages, sometimes people have to stumble a few times on their own to actually get it.  So my messages actually resonate with people who actually have changed jobs two or three times. Not necessarily that person who’s in their first job, it’s the person who’s like you know I’ve tried this on my own and I haven’t been able to get to where I want to go and when you think about who’s in that space in the market place, it’s actually older generation of people actually above 30 and 35 years old who are going through the midlife crisis and realize that they’ve been trying it on their own for quite some time and they haven’t been able to get the results that they want from their career, from their life, from their relationships and so my audience actually may be shifting and I’m taking that into consideration as I go into 2012.

The big question is how do I access that audience is that audience going to be able to receive me and will they listen to me because of my youthfulness and so I’m thinking about partnerships that will give me an entryway to that because the ideas that I have resonate with my generation because we’re technological, we think in this forward thinking way and the people who might be most receptive to those kind of messages are people who think in the old paradigm and that’s actually our parents’ generation, generation X and the boomers and so I’m actually thinking about making shifts in regards to my market because that’s where the biggest change from point A to point B might actually occur.

Jullie Gordon on How Giving a TED Talk Benefits Career

In Chapter 12 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What Do You Find Most Exciting About Giving a TED Talk?"  Gordon finds TED Talks increase his ability to make an impact by giving him a platform to reach a larger, targeted audience.  The TED Talk also helps Gordon focus his message to make it more memorable.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What do you find most exciting about giving a TED talk?

Jullien Gordon:  The impact.  The impact.  I know that these videos reach thousands and thousands and thousands of people just by the views on TED.com and I’ll be honest that I feel like I’ve had some difficulty actually sharing my messages widely as it needs to be heard and so the opportunity to share this and hopefully touch thousands and thousands of lives online moves me a lot and makes me take this moment very seriously. 

I just did a TED talk in Chicago for TEDx Midwest and now I’m doing one for TEDx Brooklyn in December.  So I’m really taking these spaces seriously and it really makes me think about if I had one thing to say to the world, what would that thing be?  And so I have some insights that I’ve garnered through my own life and my own experiment and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to maybe shift the way 1, 2, 3 or 3000 or 4000 people think about their lives going forward as a result of these short 10 to 18 minute videos.

Jullien Gordon on Building a Teaching Career Outside the Classroom

In Chapter 13 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How Has Your Professional Experience Directed Your Passion for Teaching?"  Gordon notes how, upon graduating UCLA, he applied but was not accepted to Teach for America.  He pursues teaching experiences outside the classroom, preparing students by providing them tools, systems and processes to use.  This helps Gordon shape into the motivation teacher and public speaker he is today.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How has your professional experience directed your passion for teaching?

Jullien Gordon:  So coming out college I originally applied for Teach for America.  I thought I wanted to be a teacher and for some reason they said my application was incomplete and after a while I realized that you know what?  The classroom wasn’t actually where I wanted to be.  So you know I teach -- I consider myself a motivation teacher more so than a motivational speaker because a motivational speaker come in and get you excited for 30 minutes then you leave and they leave and that inspiration fades away after like another 30 minutes, right? 

As a motivation teacher I always try to leave people with tools, systems and processes that they can use and that will carry them on beyond my presence and that’s what I think a teacher does.  They leave you with formulas, tools, processes and ways of thinking about the world and your life that will last beyond their presence.  You can think about some of your most amazing teachers, Luigi Santini, Chip Anderson, Father Marlow. These are people who have touched me in ways that have long outlasted their presence in my life and so when I share messages that’s where I’m coming from.  I’m really trying to share life changing and transformative messages, not just inspiration.

Jullien Gordon on How to Take Action on an Inspiring Moment

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "What is Your Process for Designing Career Learning Products and Programs?"  Gordon goes into detail on how he takes action on inspiring moments and creates learning products and expeirences that help others.  Gordon shares the step-by-step evolution of that idea and how he packages the idea and delivers it to an audience.  From this, Gordon, develops an annual framework that allows him to continuously turn new ideas into learning and career education products.  Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America.  He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What is your process for designing career-learning products and programs?

Jullien Gordon: The first process is for inspiration.  For instance, the Route 66 tour started out of being inspired by a statistic from the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2009, that only 20% of college grads had jobs on hand at graduation and I had two little brothers who had been through college and that was inspiration.  I was just like, you know what I have to do something about this, this is a huge problem. 

From there I wrote a blog entry called 66 things to do before you graduate then I tried to share that blog entry with as many people as possible so I reached out in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars who I was a member of during undergrad and all I originally wanted them to do was send it out to their membership. When they saw it, they invited me in to come share it as a presentation.  They loved the presentation and we formed a partnership and that became a tour.  So that’s kind of been processes starting with being fully inspired and committed to solving a particular specific problem, from there packaging it or creating some sort of comprehensive way of delivering it. For this instance we chose a book and a presentation and a tour and then from there just going and doing the work. 

So I noticed that I have this rhythm in my life that has been occurring for the past three years, which is in the summer is like my down time when I’m actually in creation mode.  That’s when The Innerview was produced, that’s when 8 Cylinders of Success was produce, Good Excuse Goals, Route 66, those were all produced in this summer type area and then I go out in the fall and I try to test them.  I test them in small places at first and then to see if they work in those test markets and once I get proof that they work then I commit the rest of the next year to actually expanding them and spreading them as widely as possible. 

So I have this rhythm in my life of this creation phase like in June, July, August, this experiment phase towards the end of the year and then this execution phase from January to June of the next year.  So that’s kind of been my cycle and my rhythm of creating the products that I’ve created.