Courtney Spence on Learning Work Ethic Working For Hillary Clinton

In Chapter 1 of 15 of her 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive and Students of the World founder Courtney Spence answers "During your experience working together in her press office, what did Senator Hillary Clinton teach you about work ethic?"  Spence shares how after graduating Duke University, she started working for Senator Hillary Clinton in her Washington D.C. press office. Senator Clinton inspires Spence through her rigorous daily work ethic including routine, preparation, and team engagement.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  During your experience working together in her press office, what did Senator Hillary Clinton teach you about work ethic?

Courtney Spence:  She is the definition of incredible work ethic.  She was working from 7AM to 11PM every day.  And even when she had her few minutes off she would want to go throughout the offices talk to the interns and talk to people working and say, “Hey, how are you doing? Gosh, it’s so hot out there! What is this climate change thing? We gotta do something about that.”  She was just always thinking and always working and I think as a woman who has overcome so much and has become so successful, she is certainly an incredible role model for me.  And someone that I, as a young 22 year old - my first gig out of college - being able to be in her Washington office, watch her, learn from her, see that she would maybe, might get knocked down, but she’s gonna come up and come up stronger. I don’t think I would be the person I am today without that experience because after just being in her office for a month, I started getting to the office – I wanted to be the first one there.  I would wake up at 5 o’clock and I would be at the office at 6:30 – the doors would be close and I would just wait in the hallway until they opened.  Because I knew if she was working, I wanted to be working.  And I think that experience changed my life forever.

Erik Michielsen:  How did she make you feel part of the team?

Courtney Spence:  First of all she had such a large team, you know, she took the time to make sure that she said hello to everyone and made they were doing alright.  And then for me, the way she made me feel a part of the team was that – I worked in her press office, so I would sometimes do her press briefings before different interviews.  So, I would walk in and I had my little type sheet and here was everything I did all my research on here’s – and she would go through and sometimes she wouldn’t even have to look at it and I would sit back in the interview and I would just watch her incredible memory, her incredible passion.  It was great because I had to do the research, so I learned about what she was about to speak about, but in all honesty though she didn’t even really need that.

How Internet Startup Job Teaches Resiliency - Richard Moross

In Chapter 15 of 17, entrepreneur, innovator and Moo.com founder Richard Moross joins a London-based Internet startup in 2000. As the business encounters insurmountable challenges and winds down, Moross picks up more responsibility and pushes himself to learn the various job roles required in an Internet start up. In the end, he walks away with a diversified skill set and an understanding of the positive elements associated with failure.

How Female Investment Banker Confronts Stereotyping - Nina Godiwalla

In Chapter 5 of 14 of her 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, author Nina Godiwalla answers "How have you embraced being a fish out of water in your education, career and travels and what have you enjoyed most about the challenges they present?" Godiwalla shares how she finds herself a fish out of water in New York City upon graduating college.  Coming from Texas, public schools, and Parsi education into Wall Street as a female investment banker teaches Godiwalla about outsider status firsthand.  Godiwalla makes the most from an oft uncomfortable experience by turning lessons learned into education opportunities for other women considering an investment banking career.

Nina Godiwalla is the author of "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street" and the founder and CEO of Mindworks, a provider of leadership, stress management, and diversity training programs. Before starting her business and writing her book, Godiwalla worked at Johnson & Johnson and Oxygen Media and investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Godiwalla earned an MBA from Wharton, a MA from Dartmouth and a BBA from the University of Texas.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How have you embraced being a fish out of water in your education, career and travels and what have you enjoyed most about the challenges it presents?

Nina Godiwalla: When I went to New York I felt like I went to a different country and in a lot of ways I did, I mean I was going into a completely, the people I was with were a completely different socioeconomic class, not all of them but a lot of them, a lot of, they were all Ivy League, I was a kid, I was a public school kid coming from UT and there were other public school kids, it was just coming from Texas, it just the everything put together. I didn’t know people perceived Texas as so different in the US, that was probably one of the most startling things for me is that I didn’t know I was supposed to be living on a ranch.

There’s always been a sense of an outsider because I was an immigrant so I know I can be like other people but at the same, I mean I can be like the average American if I need to be, but I know that when I walk into my parents’ house, there’s a completely different environment that I walk into. And so that… going into that investment banking I think it was just startling for me, I didn’t know how different I was, I mean it made my childhood experience of growing up in a suburb as an immigrant look like nothing and then again, like I said, being a woman I didn’t even know that was going to be such a big deal, it’s just all of a sudden all these different aspects of my life that were everyday to me became suddenly they were outsider status and… that was very, to have all those different things happen all at once was, was challenging for me. That’s what I try and do for my book is look back at it and say ‘What can I learn from this?’ and that’s all I can do and I can help share the experience for other people that might be going through the same thing and after that, there it is.

How Bain Consulting Teaches Problem Solving - Dan Street

In Chapter 18 of 20 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, hyperlocal entrepreneur Dan Street reflects on lessons learned while working at Bain & Co. management consulting upon graduating Rice University. Street highlights how Bain & Co. promoted a complex problem solving culture by coupling intelligent young minds with clear, tactical decision-making frameworks. 

How Stanford Grad Learns Bootstrap Business Philosophy - Bijoy Goswami

In Chapter 8 of 15, leadership philosopher and bootstrap business expert Bijoy Goswami studies the history of Silicon Valley while attending Stanford University. He learns about venture capital and IPOs. He also learns about bootstrapping financing - people who started in garage without investor capital. Goswami graduates and joins a bootstrapped firm, Trilogy Software, an Austin-based enterprise software company. There he learns entrepreneurial skills, including sales and business development, useful in his later career pursuits.

How to Make a Career Transition into Broadcast Journalism - Kyung Yoon

In Chapter 13 of 18, Korean American Community Foundation (KACF) executive director Kyung Yoon recounts her transition from studying international economics to the World Bank to Fox 5 News in New York. Finding international development desk work unfulfilling, Yoon makes a move for in-field broadcast reporting, starting in New York as a production assistant (PA) and working her way up to a nationally recognized news correspondent.

How to Learn Broadcast News as a Production Assistant - Kyung Yoon

In Chapter 14 of 18, non-profit executive and spokesperson Kyung Yoon leaves a development staff position at the World Bank for an entry-level production assistant role at Fox 5 News in NYC. While paying her dues as a PA, Yoon learns to take reality and translate it into a video format, tell stories, and tightly edit content.

Why Corporate Roles Make for Great First Jobs - Marc Ferrentino

In Chapter 11 of 17, engineer and Salesforce.com Chief Technology Architect Marc Ferrentino shares why college graduates should spend at least a year working at a large corporation. Ferrentino highlights established training and development programs that teach basic skills and unlock professional potential. Ferrentino equates a first year at a corporation as the 5th year in college. There one learns how large organizations operate. This knowledge can then be applied to future jobs at startup companies.

How Goldman Sachs Turns Graduate into Professional - Marc Ferrentino

In Chapter 10 of 17, engineer and Salesforce.com Chief Technology Architect reflects on his time working at Goldman Sachs upon graduating college. There he learns how to be a professional and to operate and survive in the work place. In retrospect, Ferrentino has learned to appreciate the services and training large corporations provide entry-level employees. Ferrentino advises college graduates spend time at large corporations to learn professionalism and build confidence.

How Management Consulting Job Prepares Entrepreneur - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 13 of 16 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, Indiegogo co-founder and UPenn Wharton grad Slava Rubin answers "What Made You Choose Management and Technology Consulting as Your First Job Out of College?" Rubin shares how, upon graduating The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, he took a management consulting job with Diamond Management and Technology Consultants.  Rubin highlights the influences shaping his decision to pursue consulting, how the work then contributed to his overall education, and finally why it was an essential development step before becoming an entrepreneur and co-founding IndieGoGo.

Slava Rubin is CEO and co-founder of Indiegogo, the world's largest crowdfunding platform. Indiegogo empowers anyone, anywhere, anytime to raise funds for any idea—creative, cause-related or entrepreneurial. Prior to Indiegogo, Rubin worked as a management consultant. He earned his BSE degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What made you choose management and technology consulting as your first job out of college?

Slava Rubin: I really see there being an extensive amount of education that one needs just to ready for their roles in life, whatever that role is.   My role is that I really wanted to be an entrepreneur but I thought that my layers of education would be, one I would go college for my academic education.  I studied abroad for my kind of global and international education and I still didn`t feel like I had a corporate education.  So, I felt like consulting was the best opportunity for a corporate education to understand how Fortune 500 companies operate, their inner workings, how you can maneuver within them and how decisions are made.  And realistically in a consulting job you get to dip and dive between different companies, so you really get a varied exposure, which is exactly why I became a consultant.  So, really it`s extension of my education to be an entrepreneur.

How Penn Wharton School College Experience Reshapes Career Goals - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 11 of 16 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, University of Pennsylvania graduate Slava Rubin answers "What Were Your Career Ambitions Entering the University of Pennsylvania and How Did They Change By the Time You Graduated?" Rubin highlights how his career goals changed while attending the undergraduate Wharton School business  program.  While studying abroad in Belgium, Rubin rethinks his values and finds he is less interested in Wall Street banking work.  Leaving behind his high school ambition to be the next "Wall Street" Gordon Gekko Michael Douglas character, Rubin instead secures a management consulting job and begins his career.

Slava Rubin is CEO and co-founder of Indiegogo, the world's largest crowdfunding platform. Indiegogo empowers anyone, anywhere, anytime to raise funds for any idea—creative, cause-related or entrepreneurial. Prior to Indiegogo, Rubin worked as a management consultant. He earned his BSE degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What were your career ambitions entering The University of Pennsylvania and how did that change by the time you graduated?

Slava Rubin:  When I was applying to colleges I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to do in life.  I wanted to be pretty rich, pretty powerful.  I wanted to be a banker and I kind of wanted to be in that Wall Street role, you know ``Wall Street`` the movie with Michael Douglas.  And as I went to Penn I was surround, I think, by a lot of those characters.  I actually went to Wharton Undergrad, which is a lot of cutthroat individuals and I actually figured out that I wasn't as cutthroat and desiring the money and the power as the people around me, which was kind of surprising. That, along with my Belgium experience just taught me maybe I don’t want to be doing exactly what all these other people want to be doing.  Which, don`t get me wrong I didn't turn into a quote in quote a liberal arts fluffy job person, I became a strategy consultant, which is not so far away from being a banker.  It was pretty important to figure out what my values were and I think college, I learned a lot about that.

How Math and Policy Studies Shape Assessment Career - Diana Wilmot

In Chapter 3 of 9, education assessment and evaluation psychometrician Diana Wilmot shares factors shaping her career as well as the overall assessment industry. Coming into college at Northwestern University, Diana Wilmot builds upon high school debate skills using math in quantitative-focused policy courses. Early career teaching experience ignites Wilmot's passion to learn and apply assessment to improve systemmatic change across classroom environments.

How to Apply Creative Skills in Direct Mail Marketing - Jason Anello

In Chapter 7 of 13, designer Jason Anello joins a direct mail marketing firm after finding an entry-level advertising agency job creatively too restrictive. At the direct mail firm Anello connects a new found creative freedom with client business results. This then empowers Anello to stretch and experiment creatively within this measurable framework and learn more about how people behave when presented with differing stimuli.

What Prompted Management Consultant to Start Company - J.T. Allen

In Chapter 1 of 14, MyFootpath.com founder J.T. Allen discusses the confidence-building elements empowering his decision to leave his Ernst & Young management consulting position and transition into his education information services entrepreneurial role. Fundamental to the shift was the experience Allen gained doing business strategy client strategy planning projects around market entry, positioning, cost-cutting, and revenue growth.

How to Set Short and Long Term Career Goals - Jen Duberstein

In Chapter 9 of 18, University of Michigan graduate Jen Duberstein, now legal counsel at Major League Soccer, accepts an entry-level sports media job and learns importance of setting 5-year, 10-year, and 25-year goals from mentor Dr. Harvey Schiller, ex-president of TBS Sports. The goals provide a path to pursue and revise, helping Duberstein avoid blindly searching for answers in world without goals. Duberstein finds this one of the top two lessons learned to date in her career.

How to Excel in Internships and Entry-Level Jobs - Jen Duberstein

In Chapter 8 of 18, Major League Soccer (MLS) legal counsel Jen Duberstein highlights the importance of commitment and willingness to work extra when trying to establish a career in sports, media and entertainment. Referencing her present work with interns, Duberstein highlights how interns and entry-level staff working extra to help the team make an impact and get remembered for future opportunities.

How Media Relations Job Shapes Sports Career - Jen Duberstein

In Chapter 5 of 18, Jen Duberstein learns to remain patient while working a post-college internship, eventually landing an entry-level media relations and broadcast production role in Atlanta. Daytime and evening positions at the Goodwill Games, Atlanta Thrashers, & NBA on TNT provide Duberstein, now a Major League Soccer (MLS) attorney, an introduction to the world of sports she uses to establish her career.

How University of Michigan Sports Inform Career - Jen Duberstein

In Chapter 4 of 18, University of Michigan undergraduate college experiences, including college writing classes, small sport color radio broadcasting, and public relations (PR) interaction, help Jen Duberstein get hired into college sports media & broadcasting internships. Duberstein, now a Major League Soccer attorney, shares the importance of developing craft by covering smaller sports, in preparation for future large sport opportunities.