How to Stay Ahead of the Innovation Curve - Richard Moross

In Chapter 9 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Are You Learning to Apply Your Passions in New Ways?"  Moross shares how making design more accessible to people means he must consider looking beyond paper products to serve his customers.  This requires him to look beyond paper to future options that may evolve from physical to digital.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How CEO Learns When to Lead and When to Manage - Richard Moross

In Chapter 15 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Do Leadership and Management Differ in What You Do?"  Moross shares how his path or arch as a startup business founder has involved a leadership to management skills transition.  As he has experienced, it begins by setting a vision and sharing that destination with others.  Management skills require then setting the route and taking the team to that destination.  He sees leadership as sentiment and management as grammar and puts a team in place to help him evolve his role and grow the business.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

Jon Kolko on How Organizational Change Affects Product Development

In Chapter 15 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How Do You Evaluate When to Continue a Project and When to Kill It?"  Kolko details his consulting experience and how projects more often than not are killed not due to the products themselves but rather organizational change or corporate reorganization.  

Jon Kolko is the founder and director of the Austin Center for Design.  He has authored multiple books on design, including "Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving."  Previously he has held senior roles at venture accelerator Thinktiv and frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How do you evaluate when to continue a project and when to kill it?

Jon Kolko: I don’t think I've ever killed a project. I think typically you either run out of money or time or the project evolves into something else. I’ve had projects killed on me as a consultant and I can think of at least three or four examples of that and they’ve always had nothing to do with the product. It's actually really interesting. They always had stuff to do with organizational change. Quarter after quarter profits lead to organizational reorganizations, which lead to what could be very effective, useful and informative products getting killed because the new organization didn’t support them, because the strategic comparatives have changed, because the team that was working on them is now dissolved, all of which are artificial reasons and not very good ideas because they are all driven by dividends. And so maybe if there's a lesson in there, it's -- don’t take your company public. But it's funny because like even within these organizations where you have almost total buy-in from people all the way down the chain, they still bemoan the death of their products, and it's like, look, they see the value of it, they're not in a position organizationally to fight for it. And so, the product gets killed.

Idan Cohen on the Reality of Managing Long Distance Relationships

In Chapter 5 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage Long Distance Relationships?"  As a New Yorker with many family and friends overseas in Israel, Cohen talks about his approach to maintaining relationships virtually and in-person as well as the sacrifices that sometimes come with moving away from friends. 

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to better manage long distance relationships?

Idan Cohen: So my long distance relationships are probably my family and my friends that are in Israel and I have a lot of them. And they’re all very close to me. What I do learn is that actually for me it doesn’t really work. I mean I’m here, I’m in my day-to-day life, and it’s very hard to stay in touch. I stay in touch with very few people on a daily basis, and I don’t think we share a lot of the day-to-day lives that we have. We try and stay in touch frequently on the phone and kind of just get a little bit updated – anything kind of like each other’s mood and what’s happening much more in a broader perspective.

And then I think that the relationships that I have are deep enough and close enough that even a visit or meeting every 6 months or a year can revitalize the relationship enough to kind of make it still relevant. I don’t think that long distance relationships work, so it’s about being able to revisit them every so often or otherwise they’re gonna get lost and that’s also okay, I think, you know, we have, we acquire new family and new friends, and it’s okay to understand that some friends will—might be left behind, doesn’t mean that you don’t love them but it’s just you’re in a little bit of a different place and they’re going in a different route and that’s the way it is.

Idan Cohen on Learning to Manage and Delegate Responsibility

In Chapter 19 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Are You Learning to More Effectively Hand Off Responsibility?"  Cohen notes the challenges of handing off his product vision to others as well as not diving into details enough.  He believes a balance must be found between the two and this is the underlying challenge he faces. 

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to more effectively hand off responsibility?

Idan Cohen: So I think that I have this problem where I’m just—some—on specific things I would go into the smaller details, smallest details. And it would be extremely hard for me to hand off responsibility because I have the image of—the exact image of what something should look like as the end product, and it’s extremely hard for me to accept a different direction or different angle on it. On the other hand, I definitely do not dive into details, small details enough sometimes, so at some point I will hand it off and will just let someone else take care of it.

And that’s exactly kind of right now it’s a little bit of like the wrong way to do it, because it needs to be somewhere in the middle, ‘cause you need to be able to trust the other person—that the other person can achieve your final vision, be able to visit him along the way and guide but not impose your opinion, or the way you see it, not just having him, you know, do the work, but actually letting him think his way through it. So I think it’s important to find that balance between those—trying to do that.

Courtney Spence on How to Effectively Delegate Responsibliity

In Chapter 11 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Courtney Spence answers "How Are You Learning to More Effectively Hand Off Responsibility?"  As an organization founder, after years feeling she knew best, Spence learns to trust her team with roles and tasks she previously held.  She realizes she is not the best person for many roles and turns her attention toward supporting those that best perform in those roles.  Courtney Spence returns to CYF for her Year 3 interview.  As Founder and Executive Director, Spence leads non-profit Students of the World to empower college students to use film, photography, and journalism to tell stories of global issues and the organizations working to address them.  Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to more effectively hand off responsibility?

Courtney Spence: I’m learning a lot about handing off responsibility. I think that as a founder, you know, there’s founder syndrome, and there’s tons of articles and books written about it, but I do think that for many years it was – I felt that I always knew what was best from a big level to a very micro, small level. And what has been so powerful for me to see in the last few months is getting the right people on the right seat and the right place. They will make decisions and they will come up with ideas and solutions faster, better, smarter, more creatively than you ever could.

Now, they’re not gonna go necessarily run the organization now, I mean I’m still leading it and providing the leadership and the vision and, you know, the blood, sweat and tears of it. But I recognize that at some point that role will not be the role that I’m most effective at for the organization, just as I am now not the most effective person to do recruiting for our students necessarily, I’m not the most effective person in coming up with the curriculum and the programming for our students as they participate, we have people in our organization who are way smarter about that stuff than I ever would be. And it’s really exciting when you start to see as you hand off responsibility to others, see things happen in a way that you never dreamed it could. And I think that’s a very encouraging thing.

I needed to see that before I could really let go. At the same time, you also have to recognize that mistakes will happen and some things will slip through cracks but – I make mistakes all the time and things slip through the cracks for me all the time, and it’s not a matter of well, if I’d only been a part of that, this wouldn’t have happened. Those situations do arise but I think in general, when you have the team in place that you trust, handing over responsibility is absolutely essential, and you have to do it joyfully, willing-fully, and with great purpose. And that’s what we’re trying to do.

When to Take a Sabbatical and Rethink Your Personal Identity

In Chapter 4 of 15 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Did Taking a Year Off From Work Reshape How You See Yourself in the World?"  French learns to let go of her career woman identity, including her title, embrace her personal identity, and find new perspective in her new marriage and ambitions to start a family. 

Audrey Parker French returns to CYF for her Year 3 interview after a one-year sabbatical from work and getting married.  She co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm.  In 2010, CLEAResult ranked #144 in the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies.  In late 2010, CLEAResult was sold to General Catalyst Partners.  She graduated from Wake Forest University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How did taking a year off from work reshape how you see yourself in the world?

Audrey Parker French: Well, it’s been really interesting, before the year break, I saw myself as an entrepreneur, I saw myself as someone who was strictly my career, it was all kind of my identity was kind of wrapped up in my career and what I had just completed because it was really profound for me and it was – it really was where my identity was. And then as the year progressed and as I met the man who’s now my husband and got to travel, I really got on a deeper level how that was a chapter of my life and how my identity is not in a job or in a career or in anything that can be changed.

And it was simultaneously scary because we all wanna hang on to our identity. I definitely wanted to hang on to the comfortable and what I knew. And yet I had to just – it was very liberating to be able to let go of that and say, “I am not my career. I am not my job. I’m not my job title. I’m not my age. I’m not – ” All those change. And really discovering that once those things started falling away, and it took several months for those things to really fall away. I realized that I’m a person, and I get to experience life and what I had experienced before is a part of it. It’s part of my journey. It’s part of my experience.

And being married really changes the dynamic of everything going forward. I’m no longer me living my life, I’m half of me and my husband. And we are living our life. And it really has put into perspective how much I want to have children, and how much I want to have a beautiful thriving family, and how – in my past identity, there was no room for that. And so the year has really allowed me to break free and let go.

And it’s just – all I can say is that it sounds simple and yet there’s so many people who cling to an identity all their careers, all their lives perhaps, and they never – I want – I hope that people can look beyond just what they think they should be doing and really realize what do I want to do? Maybe I am in this job and maybe it’s expected that I do ABC, but I really wanna do DEF, and go outside of that box and just realize that your identity is what you make it and we’re a lot more free than from a day-to-day basis we might think.

When to Leave a Job and Start Something New - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 14 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "When Have You Had to Walk Away Something Dear to Your Heart?"  Curtis shares how he has left political jobs for new challenges and how the process and resulting experiences have allowed him to learn and grow.  Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn.  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.

How to Let Go and Make Space for Something New in Your Life

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are Your Community Responsibilities Changing?"  Goswami shares how he has been developing and why he is letting go of existing responsibilities to make space for something new.  He sees it as a process or cycle that allows him to distill his purpose.  Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas.  He develops learning models, including MRE, youPlusU, and Bootstrap, to help others live more meaningfully.  Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software.  Goswami graduated from Stanford University, where he studied Computer Science, Economics, and History. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How are your community responsibilities changing?

Bijoy Goswami:  What I found is this three-stage process in terms of finding your way, you start with another way. You’re painting, let other people paint upon you. Second, you start to strip off that paint and a lot of what I've been doing the last while is stripping off some of this paint and that has meant actually not being as integral to things like Bootstrap Austin or things like that and say, how can I take a backseat, how can I let go of some of these things so that I can make a space for something new.

So, again, I find it to a cycle. It’s not like I’m, you know, going away from everything fully but it’s part of I'm saying, I'm doing that process so I can find out what the next way of engaging is. So, I think I might have brought up the Banksy analogy where I hack systems. I try to intervene inside of systems but I'm don’t necessarily try to hold on to them or be part of them for much—a long time. So, what I found is I'm still involved, I'm still engaged but in terms of projects where I am assisting those projects, I go in and I leave, you know, rather than try to be ongoingly in them.

So, that’s a lot of what’s been happening. I think it’s given me the opportunity to then say okay. What am I really trying to – How am I distilling all that into something that I'm really putting forward in the world.

When to Walk Away From Your Startup and Move On

In Chapter 17 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "When Have You Had to Walk Away From Something Dear to Your Heart?"  Goswami shares the story of his first startup venture and coming to the decision to move on and pursue something else.  He recounts how he separated from his business partner and worked on a software company for several years before making the decision to take a new direction. 

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas.  He develops learning models, including MRE, youPlusU, and Bootstrap, to help others live more meaningfully.  Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software.  Goswami graduated from Stanford University, where he studied Computer Science, Economics, and History. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  When have you had to walk away from something dear to your heart?

Bijoy Goswami:  You know, I would say my first venture, you know, that I worked on the start-up with this software that was meant to be a knowledge network that was wiring up knowledge networks, human knowledge networks things that evolved that had become Facebook and LinkedIn and things like that over the next few years and what happened there was I had – I started this project with a friend of mine who we’ve said we’re gonna go and do this venture together. 

We ended up doing the venture, getting all the people involved and then at some point we weren’t able to get the traction that we needed in the marketplace. It was early 2000, things like that and not only did the employees go but this buddy Bruce and I, Bruce said okay, I gotta move off on this thing and so I was like, what do you mean, we’re just going, we’re just getting going here, yeah we had. You know, I was like the knight in the Holy—in the Crusades, the just a flesh wound, you know and the Holy Grail. Comeback here where are you going and so I continued working on that for a few years actually as a one person software company and we had the software and I was working on the software and actually all the revenue that the company ever had as a software company I sold as a one person software, you know, company. 

But then it just kind of like, I just couldn’t keep it going, you know, and more than that I think other things started too, other projects started to emerge Bootstrap and Human Fabric and all these other things and so I had to say that’s gonna be put back on the shelf. And it wasn’t like, it wasn’t like – I don’t remember making that decision explicitly it just sort of evolved that way but it’s also like that just I don’t know what to do with that thing anymore. I'm not getting – I can’t do it by myself. I found that, you know, projects that I do myself don’t have enough momentum and I'm not getting enough help to continue it and I don’t, you know, so, all right I gotta let go of it, you know.

Fabian Pfortmüller on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 1 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  He shares how he has set a goal to say "no" to invitations, opportuniites, and requests as his free time becomes scarce and his responsibility grows.  He notes how this has progressively gotten easier.  As his company Holstee grows in size and head count, Fabian finds it progressively challenging evolving and growing to meet the organization needs.  Pfortmüller is co-founder of the young leader accelerator, Sandbox Network, and HOLSTEE, an apparel and design firm that sells meaningful products to mindful shoppers.  Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University and its school of General Studies.

Transcript:

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

Fabian Pfortmüller: I think it’s getting easier to say no to things. One thing that I learned this year is that there’s always tons of opportunities out there and I feel that one thing that I wanted to teach myself was to say no to things and the more I do it the easier it gets because at first it’s super hard and you don’t wanna disappoint other people, you don’t wanna give up on those opportunities that come up but over time it gets easier.

One thing that I clearly see now over the last year and that I truly feel gets harder is just the responsibility when your team grows. We grew last year from 3 to 8 people and that really has, you know, an impact on how you take decisions because suddenly you’re not just like 3 guys who are making free t-shirts. Now, you’re like you have a responsibility and that make certain decisions definitely harder because the risk is higher, the stakes are higher, you’re affecting other people and when we talk through what should we do next and what should we focus on, we definitely try to keep this in mind.

How Family Relationships Change With Age - Mike Germano

In Chapter 7 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, social media ad agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How Are Your Family Relationships Changing as You Get Older?"  After many years where his family did not understand his entrepreneurial journey founding his company, the family learns to respect Germano and his co-founders for following their social media passion.  Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO, Brooklyn based social media advertising agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

How Leadership and Management Roles Differ - Mike Germano

In Chapter 10 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, social media ad agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How Do Leadership and Management Differ in What You Do?"  Germano acknowledges his weaknesses as a manager and what he has done to compensate in a team setting.  He shares what behaviors and experiences have shaped him as a leader and how he has recruited and empowered managers working in digital media.  Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO, Brooklyn based social media advertising agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

How Maturing CEO Stays Connected as Company Grows - Mike Germano

In Chapter 18 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, social media ad agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How are You Learning to Handle the Growing Responsibility of Managing a Larger Company?"  He shares how company growth is forcing him to be less involved with day to day responsibilities as more and more are handed off to team members.  He recommends keeping a couple little tasks to stay connected to balance the larger executive meetings and company initiatives that take him away from previous responsibilities.   Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO, Brooklyn based social media advertising agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

What Marriage Teaches About Teamwork - Jason Anello

In Chapter 1 of 20 in his 2012 interview, creative director Jason Anello answers "What Has Marriage Taught You About Teamwork?"  He shares why learning to compromise is a fundamental collaboration and decision making skill in a healthy marriage.  He learns to make group decisions by thinking outside of himself and better understanding his spouse's perception of the situation.  Jason Anello is a founding partner and creative director at marketing services agency Manifold Partners.  He is also the co-founder of the Forking Tasty Brooklyn supper club.  Previously, Anello held creative leadership roles at Yahoo! and Ogilvy & Mather.  He graduated from the University at Albany. 

What Makes a Product Launch Successful - Jason Anello

In Chapter 12 of 20 in his 2012 interview, creative director Jason Anello answers "What Does It Mean to Successfully Launch a Product?"  Anello references author Seth Godin and his insistence on shipping a product so consumers may touch and experience the product.  Anello defines launch success by getting it out the door so consumers may react and so a feedback loop may get created.  Jason Anello is a founding partner and creative director at marketing services agency Manifold Partners.  He is also the co-founder of the Forking Tasty Brooklyn supper club.  Previously, Anello held creative leadership roles at Yahoo! and Ogilvy & Mather.  He graduated from the University at Albany. 

Cathy Erway on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 1 of 16 in her 2012 interview, author and food writer Cathy Erway answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Erway shares that with age she finds it easier to say no and to be more selective with what projects she pursues. 

Cathy Erway is an author and food writer living in Brooklyn.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Transcript: 

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

Cathy Erway:  It's easy, it's really easy to dive into so many projects when you're young, and just do it endlessly, tirelessly. But it's hard to say no to a lot of things too. So right now I'm finding it easier to say no, and trying to whittle it down into what's-- what I wanna focus on, what's most important. And, you know, I love doing side projects too. But, you know, you have to be a little more selective about it, so, I think I'm getting better at that.

Finding Food Writing Inspiration Reading Thoreau

In Chapter 12 of 16 in her 2012 interview, author and food writer Cathy Erway answers "How Have Thoreau's Words 'None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life from the vantage point of what we should call 'voluntary poverty' ' inspired your work?"  These words, from Thoreau's "Walden", inspire Erway to put herself in a place to see things from another person's shoes, which opens a creative channel that becomes her blog and, progressively, her healthy food advocacy platform. 

Cathy Erway is an author and food writer living in Brooklyn.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How have Thoreau's words "None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage point of what we should call voluntary poverty," inspired your work?

Cathy Erway:  That's a very interesting quote, isn't it? I thought it was so audacious for him to say that. It's so -- You've never heard something like that. I haven't before, so I thought it was, "Wow, what a bold statement," and that's what really caught me when I saw it, and obviously if we could say it a different way it would make a lot more sense. So you could say, "Altruism is..." you know, "…the best way to get to know about life and people." But he said this kind of shocking, you know, word poverty, voluntary poverty, that's crazy, right? So it did inspire me and it made me feel brave to start a blog called, "not eating out in New York" because that sounds pretty weird, that sounds shocking, a little crazy, and I just knew that it was going to be -- it was going to work because of that, because I liked it. It just caught me.

Erik Michielsen:  And was there sacrifice?

Cathy Erway:  Was there sacrifice? I mean the whole experiment was like a big sacrifice. But I thought, you know, I thought of a lot different names that would sound nicer to you, on the ear, it would just kind of be evocative of, like fruits or something like, you know, something nice, something pleasant, something people like to hear. "Oh, you know, 'juicy tomato,' that sounds great." But that wouldn't really say anything about the blog so I was like just go ahead, just do it, just say, "not eating out in New York." "What?" You know…

Erik Michielsen:  With regard to voluntary poverty, does that come back to being surrounded by so many professionals and a lot of wealth, and choosing to kind of go against that, and then tying that into your choices from a writing and food perspective?

Cathy Erway:  Yeah, I think that that pretty much sums it up. I mean, voluntary poverty means you've taken it upon yourself to see things from another person's shoes. So, you know, going back to -- that's another way of putting that statement, right? So, yeah, I mean we live in the most cosmopolitan, arguably, city in the world. Of course there's a huge disparity of, you know, different incomes in the city, so you can see that all around you, but for the most part, I mean, yes, I mean we have everything at our fingertips, the greatest arts, the greatest food, which is what I was going to focus on, and, you know, Thoreau, his whole thing was he stepped away from society. That quote is from Walden, so he lived in the middle of the wilderness in Walden Pond actually, and survived, and learned how to survive basically on his own devices, so that's what I was comparing myself to doing by feeding myself all the time when there's so much non-need to do that.