How Learning to Negotiate Advances Career - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 18 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "How Has Better Understanding How to Negotiate Advanced Your Career?" Early in his career, Curtis thought negotiation was about pushing people over and getting his way. Working in politics, Curtis notes this end result typically creates a public good or positive outcome for the community. Over time, he learns to find a resolution point where both sides feel good about the outcome. Curtis is the communications director for Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell. Curtis' charity work includes affiliations with Capital Area Food Bank, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Students of the World, the Rainforest Project and the Art Alliance. In 2011, Curtis won "Austinite of the Year" in the Austin Under 40 Awards. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Courtney Spence on How to Manage Non-Profit Client Expectations

In Chapter 12 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "How do you balance retaining artistic control over a final story product with client expectations around what they want to see in the post production process?" Spence shares how she balances maintaining artistic - or final cut - control with meeting client storytelling project expectations. She tempers potential hurdles by setting expectations up front, including tone, shots, interviewees, etc. Once her team hits the ground, often the stories or project elements change. This is where continuing communication, coupled with confidence based on experience, help manage and evolve client expectations. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How do you balance retaining artistic control over a final story product with client expectations around what they want to see in the post production process?

Courtney Spence:  So part of what we really try to do with our partners is do a lot of work upfront.  So it’s a media assessment, it’s a production proposal that is a back and forth, you know, basically, tool or conversation through a proposal that we have with our organizations to outline, here are our final products that we will deliver, here is the tone that we’re taking, here is the shots that we’ll be getting, here are the interviews, I mean we get very detailed in that.  Of course, then you get on the ground and everything changes, and you meet people that you didn’t expect, and all these great stories pop up in ways that you weren’t expecting to see them.  And sometimes the stories that you thought you were going to find that would be great just don’t translate very well through, you know, through film, through photography.  So when we come back, you know, a lot of it is just sort of internally looking at the footage and really seeing where are the strongest stories for this organization, where are the strongest proof points that this organization is making a difference at the human, individual, family, community level, and let’s go after those. 

So we have definitely found times where we present a rough cut to a partner and they’re like ‘but you didn’t talk about the fact that we also do microfinance levels to women over the ages of 60 in this community’ and I’m like ‘we love it, we think it’s great, it’s a great program, but either we didn’t find -- we didn’t have an opportunity to tell those stories or we feel that this one story will elicit an emotional response in the viewer enough to where they will go to your website and read about the program that you have for microfinance for women over the age of 60.  You want them to go read more about your project because you can’t tell everything in a two-minute piece.  And so a lot of what we have been able to do in the last couple of years is really, you know – there has been certainly a desire from organizations, we want a 15-minute piece, we want a 20-minute piece, and there are sometimes when those, you know, documentary films really work well, but more often than not, we specialize in and really, really encourage organizations to tell – let’s tell your story in three minutes or less.  Let’s tell it in 90 seconds or less. We have such a limited amount of time, we’re gonna have to sacrifice certain elements.  So there’s usually a back and forth that happens. We have to internally say ‘okay, we’re gonna fight for this, this, and this; we’ll give them this, this, and this.’  It’s not like a one versus the other, but it’s just, you know, organizations bring us on because this is what we do.

How Culture Impacts Design Problem Solving - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 6 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares why understanding culture is fundamental to understanding design. He notes design is subjective, qualitative, and contingent on larger cultural context. Taking design in a problem solving context, he notes the challenges different cultural settings present using more scientific methods. Culture challenges the problem solving process and a design approach must be flexible enough to incorporate cultural differences. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

How SCAD Alumna Finds First Job and Builds Design Career - Lauren Serota

In Chapter 8 of 18 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, interaction designer and researcher Lauren Serota graduates at the top of her college class and then struggles to find work. She broadens her horizons and takes a design recruiting job, where she learns about people and hones her interests. Ultimately, the experience positions Serota for design research work. Serota is an interaction designer at frog design - http://frogdesign.com - and a professor at the Austin Center for Design - http://ac4d.com . She earned her bachelors degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

How to Prepare Clients for Digital and Social Media Projects - Mike Germano

In Chapter 16 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, social media expert and Carrot Creative president Mike Germano shares why setting client expectations is fundamental working with brands and larger advertising agencies. Germano's business is often the digital agency on a project, working through an "agency of record" who owns the brand marketer relationship. Germano shares what he has learned creating digital media and social media campaigns and how he has managed client expectations doing so. Germano is co-founder and president of DUMBO, Brooklyn based new media agency Carrot Creative. Before Carrot Creative, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut. He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University.

How to Adapt Creative Process From Film to Television - Tricia Regan

In Chapter 7 of 10 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, director and filmmaker Tricia Regan shares how she adapts her creative process based on product and medium. Working on her own films, she is able to wait until finished before presenting her work for review. In her television work, Regan learns to accept more continuous feedback on projects given tight production and post-production schedules. Regan is an Emmy-Award winning filmmaker. She directed, produced and shot "Autism: The Musical." When not shooting documentary films, Regan has worked as a director, producer, and writer at ABC, NBC, FOX, and Lifetime. She earned a bachelors from Binghamton University and masters from New York University.

How TV Job Helps Filmmaker Hone Storytelling Skills - Tricia Regan

In Chapter 6 of 10 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, director and filmmaker Tricia Regan hones her storytelling skills working in television. She calls television storytelling "bootcamp" given the requirements for different cuts in a deadline driven environment. As a result, she learns to be flexible to best approach how to use story building blocks for different length pieces. Regan is an Emmy-Award winning filmmaker. She directed, produced and shot "Autism: The Musical." When not shooting documentary films, Regan has worked as a director, producer, and writer at ABC, NBC, FOX, and Lifetime. She earned a bachelors from Binghamton University and masters from New York University.

How Behavior Change Helps Film Director Develop as Leader - Tricia Regan

In Chapter 5 of 10 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, director and filmmaker Tricia Regan addresses a weakness - interpersonal communication skills - to strengthen her leadership skills. After multiple films, Regan learns the technical skills required in shooting, directing, and producing. She then works on how to better interface with those around her who challenge her vision. She recognizes her need to accept responsibility and the need to find better ways to communicate with her team. Regan is an Emmy-Award winning filmmaker. She directed, produced and shot "Autism: The Musical." When not shooting documentary films, Regan has worked as a director, producer, and writer at ABC, NBC, FOX, and Lifetime. She earned a bachelors from Binghamton University and masters from New York University.

Fabian Pfortmüller on How to Rethink Rules of the Startup Game

In Chapter 14 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller shares how his experience starting multiple businesses has compared and contrasted with his initial expectations.  He learns how his atypical career approach translates into creating a nontraditional startup.  Location independence, especially encouraging his Holstee and Sandbox teams to work abroad and take trips, becomes a centerpiece in creating company culture.  Pfortmüller is co-founder of Sandbox Network (www.sandbox-network.com).  He also co-founded an innovation think tank, Incubaker (www.incubaker.com), and is part of the group's first spin-off, Holstee (www.holstee.com), an apparel brand for people who would like to wear their passion.  Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University and its School of General Studies. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How is life as an entrepreneur different than you imagined it would be?

Fabian Pfortmüller: My feeling was that entrepreneurs have a lot of holidays [laughs] yeah for some reason I thought that, I thought being your own boss means you can take holidays whenever, turned out not to be true… but having said that you know I believe that it is possible to make that happen and I feel also we talked before about standard careers and doing the atypical way, it seems also a little bit as if there is the standard entrepreneur model, like working extremely hard and kind of not taking holidays and after five, six years you have your exit or not but it’s really crazy a lot.

I believe you can shape that and what we do at Holstee for example is be very dedicated to say that we want to you know spend maybe several months a year working from somewhere else and be very open to go and take breaks if that’s, if that’s what it is for us, we say if you don’t feel like coming to the office, don’t come, either don’t work or kind of work from a café or somewhere else because in the end we didn’t become entrepreneurs to kind of end up in the same situation where someone else will kind of tell us what to do and the same thing goes for Sandbox that we – our team has moved for two weeks in Berlin, work two weeks in Berlin, now they were two weeks in London and really moving a little bit around, that is possible… but it’s not maybe how I originally imagined it to be.

How to Apply Business Finance Skills Managing Charter Schools - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 10 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, charter school executive Andrew Epstein shares how he applies his business finance skills in a charter school environment. He notes the importance of identifying, refining, and implementing systems and processes to improve operations efficiency. This includes the accounting system, managing the P&L, expense tracking and the associated backoffice processes and checks and balances. He enjoys the creative license the flexible charter school model provides him and his team for designing solutions. Epstein is currently Senior Director for Finance at Democracy Prep Public Schools in New York City. Previously, he was a finance executive at Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Records and, previous to that, a schoolteacher in the Teach for America Corps program. He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

How Outreach and Reciprocity Play into TV Show Social Media Strategy - Mark Graham

In Chapter 7 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, pop culture writer and editor Mark Graham shares how the blogging commenter culture he discussed in his first Capture Your Flag interview is evolving across online social media. Now working at Viacom's VH1, Graham finds onsite commenter culture insufficient to build fan and viewer relationships. Social media effectiveness also rests on individual outreach - going to fans and viewers where they tweet, update, and blog - as well as engaging in a quid pro quo game of reciprocity. Graham is currently a senior editor at MTV Networks. Previously he worked in editing and writing roles at New York Magazine and Gawker Media. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English.

Simon Sinek on How Childhood Influences Cultural Anthropology Research Career

In Chapter 10 of 20 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, author and leadership expert Simon Sinek shares how his childhood and education have shaped his approach to cultural anthropology, ethnography, and research. Sinek believes research should be done away from focus groups and in the field, especially in uncomfortable environments. His curiosity turns discomfort into a motivating factor he uses to better understand his subjects. Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer who applies his curiosity around why people do what they do to teach leaders and companies how to inspire people. He is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". Sinek holds a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: How has your anthropology background proven helpful working in unfamiliar environments, including with the United States military?

Simon Sinek: Being trained as an ethnographer being trained and sort of having this cultural anthropology background, significantly changes the way of how I do my work, or being in strange or different situations. This is why I’m against focus groups. I think the concept of a focus group is laughable. That you bring people in to a sterile research environment, so that the researcher can be comfortable and safe and happy, but the respondents – the people who you want to be open and honest – are the ones who are uncomfortable and on-edge, that’s backwards to me. 

It’s the responsibility of the researcher to go to the respondents. It’s the responsibility of the researcher to go into the environment, into the homes, into the societies, into the buildings, into the offices of the people that they want to study and understand. It’s the responsibility of the researcher to deal with the discomfort, rather than forcing the respondent to be uncomfortable. 

So that’s how I was raised, both academically, and also that’s how I was actually raised. I lived all over the world. As a kid, we traveled around a lot, and so I will always go to somebody if I’m interested in them, and I believe they are the ones who should be comfortable and I’m the one who should be uncomfortable. That’s correct, because that way you get the best answers. And so, because that’s how I’ve always done things, I have no problem going to very unfamiliar environments. For me it’s an object of curiosity, if I’m uncomfortable I want to understand what’s making me uncomfortable and I think that’s kind of cool.

Why Courage Matters in Corporate Market Entry Strategy - Alan McNab

In Chapter 13 of 17 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, customer advocacy marketing executive Alan McNab what attributes help large companies launch new market strategies. McNab cites courage - a willingness to take risk - and building an underlying culture to motivate behavior. McNab cites Absolut Vodka as a standout risk taker whose market entry campaign went against the grain. He notes Cisco, where he worked early in his career, as a standout company that instills courageous culture in its merger and acquisition minded corporate growth mission. McNab holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University and an MBA from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in various technology marketing roles at Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Motorola, and is now Vice President, Customer Advocacy at NCR based in Dublin.

How Speech Act Philosophy Impacts Customer Service Strategy - Alan McNab

In Chapter 7 of 17 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, customer advocacy marketing executive Alan McNab details how Speech Act language philosophy impacts customer service strategy. He highlights how coaching teams to engage, listen and make a promise to customers enables a customer service strategy. The Speech Act commitment philosophy empowers the customer as much as it does the line staff - the service technicians - working to deliver value on the ground. McNab holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University and an MBA from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in various technology marketing roles at Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Motorola, and is now Vice President, Customer Advocacy at NCR based in Dublin.

How Mindfulness Helps Define Quality of Life - Garren Katz

In Chapter 2 of 13 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, executive and private life coach Garren Katz shares his views on what defines quality of life. Katz prioritizes freedom, joy, happiness, and pleasure over accolade, reward and title. He also finds in-the-moment decision making a valuable approach, including deciding on a whim to run the New York City Marathon with a three-time cancer survivor. Katz is a graduate of Western Michigan University and coaches clients on areas such as entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances. Learn more about Garren at http://about.me/garrenkatz .

How to Smash Organization Silos and Empower Employees - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 8 of 12 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, media and publishing entrepreneur Phil McKenzie shares his views on why now is the time to smash silos of traditional organizational structure models. McKenzie feels overly narrow focus limits individual and organizational potential. He agrees checks and balances, specifically in role definition, are necessary to prevent chaos while encouraging empowerment through functional flexibility.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

How to Safely Navigate a Corporate Restructuring - Geoff Hamm

In Chapter 9 of 16 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, online media sales executive Geoff Hamm shares corporate restructuring and reorganization lessons learned going through several mergers and acquisitions. Hamm retreats from decision-makers following personal agendas and instead seeks ways to align with customer focused factions. Hamm graduated from the University of Illinois - http://illinois.edu/ - and is now SVP of Sales at at Scribd http://www.scribd.com/ in Silicon Valley. Previously he held online sales management positions at Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, Orbitz, IAC, and Excite.

How Project Design Informs Conservation Biology Career - Alayne Cotterill

In Chapter 10 of 13 in her 2010 interview with Capture Your Flag Host Erik Michielsen, wildlife biologist Alayne Cotterill shares why designing a project from scratch, from concept to funding to execution, has been a major milestone in her wildlife biologist career development. Cotterill, a conservation biologist who studies large animal behavior, including lions, details how working in the African bush necessitates adaptability in her project work. Learn more about Alayne's work at http://www.lionconservation.org.