Using Journalism Education in a Business Career - Ross Floate

In Chapter 5 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Has Your Journalism Education Been Useful in Your Business Career?"  For Floate, journalism skills that teach finding out the fundamentals of a particular issue is hugely useful.  Additionally, the problem solving skills and also the inquisitive skills that come with finding the truth prove very helpful in business settings.  Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.

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 Finding Joy Changing Careers From Business to Teaching

In Chapter 3 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About What You Do?"  Kolko discusses making the transition working as a design professional to teaching design at the school he founded.  He discusses the rush he gets in the classroom and across parts of the "ivory tower" experience such as reading, researching and writing about complex problems. 

Jon Kolko 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: What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Jon Kolko: I loved everything about design. I just love being a designer doing creative design work, making things. I've sort of transitioned in the last couple of years. So being called an academic has always sort of stung me like ah, that’s bad. In the last three years, I've decided that in fact, I am an academic and it's good. And so, I think in the same sort of excitement and personal rush that you get from doing creative design work. I also now get from teaching. And so, that’s sort of have been a revelation to me that it's okay to live in an intellectual ivory tower to some degree as long as you make that ivory tower accessible. I don’t feel bad that I enjoy reading and writing and thinking about complex problems. And so, for me, that’s been something that’s been making me really, really happy recently is any time I can spend actually teaching in a classroom. Weirdly, I'm spending less and less time teaching in a classroom because as the Austin Center for Design is more successful, there's more administrative crap to do. I don’t mind doing the crap. It's called crap because it's not fun but it's also not bad because it's still my baby. I'm still really enjoying it. I could see in the future that would definitely be something for somebody else to do but for the time being, anything that’s related to teaching and design is really, really giving me a lot of pleasure.

Jon Kolko on How Learning Facilitation Skills Advances Career

In Chapter 11 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Kolko notes how his creative toolbox progressively includes "grown up" tools.  He notes these are more about talking and less about making, for example facilitation tools and those that help drive large organizational and strategic change.  He contrasts this to the design or maker skills so fundamental to his early career experiences. 

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 is your creative toolbox changing?

Jon Kolko: My creative toolbox is starting to have much more grownup tools in it, which usually mean things that are about talking and not things about making. And it's weird that that is true. And so, the examples that I'm thinking of are facilitation tools and tools that help drive large organizational and strategic change as opposed to tools for making things look a certain way, act a certain way, feel a certain way. This strategy, design thinking, whatever catchy name you want to use for it, has always sort of rubbed me a little bit the wrong way because I’d always felt like it wasn’t enough without the making. And so, I think I still believe that. But I'm becoming okay with using a designerly way of working to convince people of things, to get people to see my perspective, to drive an argument. And that will be the way that design plays out in policy and in law. I mean, design is going to be embedded in all of these external disciplines or fields and that’s how it's going to work. There will still be artifacts but that’s not the endgame, they’re a means to an end and I think the toolbox that I have is widened to include those. Before, frankly, I didn’t give them the time and day. I thought they were sort of fake. I still have that same concern that without making an artifact, and I'm using artifact loosely, even digital or a service is an artifact to me but without making something. You're not doing design work. You're doing something else and it's probably just argument. But I'm becoming more comfortable integrating those issues of argument a rhetoric into the toolkit that I have.

How to Apply Corporate Work Experience in an Entrepreneur Job Role

In Chapter 16 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "What Skills Did You Learn Working in a Corporation That You Have Applied Building Your Own Company?"  Cohen finds the corporate experience especially useful after his startup grows to nearly 50 employees.  He learns about what motivates different employees who come in at different stages of the company's growth. 

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: What skills did you learn working in a corporation that you’ve applied building your own company?

Idan Cohen: Mainly when you’re coming out of a corporation, you’re aware of the things that you don’t wanna apply to your own company. So at the beginning it’s all, you know, it’s all roses and it’s a very small team, you’re all working together but as it grows a little bit bigger, you know, not everyone is as committed as you are to the company, not everyone is working 14 hours a day or 12 hours a day, and it’s under—you know, it’s totally understood and that’s kind of the things that you see in corporate. So I think that coming out, you’re very burned by people not really moving and no one really wanting or having any real interest in changing things, and so you’re very excited about how a small company at start up—can move very fast and be so much more interesting and dynamic.

But then I think at least you understand how—what to expect of people, and what not to be disappointed about, and how you can motivate them the right way, because it’s still a smaller company, I don’t know how to build a thousand—you know, actually I haven’t built 100-person company, and I definitely don’t know how to build 1000 one—1000-person company. I’m sure that there’s other challenges and I’m sure there’s a lot of things you need to kind of digest and understand about the dynamics of that ‘cause then it actually becomes a corporate, I don’t know, look at Google, look at Microsoft, or look at Apple and look at Zynga, I’m sure that at the end of the day, there’s a thousand people there, it is somewhat of a corporate, there’s a lot people who are not doing that much, there’s people who can live in these islands where, you know, they—no one knows exactly what’s happening there, it’s just that’s the dynamic of a workplace.

And for me, that’s the things that I’m afraid of, and still so, you know, we’re now about 50 and you can still have kind of a grasp about what everyone is doing, and have your attention, you know, to what people are feeling and how you can help them maneuver out of it. And I’m very afraid of building a bigger company where I start losing that touch with the day-to-day of people. So that’s something that I’m kind of worried about, ‘cause I think that that’s what corporate really fail with, is just once you go over a number of—a certain number of people, you start losing touch.

Audrey French on Getting Clear That Family Comes Before Career

In Chapter 15 of 15 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Are Your Personal Experiences Shaping Your Professional Aspirations?  French shares how she has stepped out of a life mode living for a company's success and into one where she is focused on herself and her personal life, in particular family. 

“The rest of my life I’m gonna be living in a healthy personal balance and my professional life will be something that’s helping to support and help my personal life thrive and not the other way around, it won’t be that my personal life has to support my professional life. ”

— Audrey Parker French

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 are your personal experiences shaping your professional aspirations?

Audrey Parker French: My personal aspirations previously were within or separate from my professional aspirations, and that’s not so anymore. My personal frame of the health of my marriage, the health of the relationships in my life, the health of my family, those are things that before I – I would’ve liked to have said that I couldn’t or that I didn’t have time for them but the fact was that I didn’t make time because I was so committed to the career and to the company, and now having this time to really realize that my personal – my personal life and my personal values are actually more important to me and professional values need to sit within it, and really need to – I need to make sure – I want to make sure that they remain, perhaps an important or even very important part, but it’s only a part and I would just always – I hope to always stay very clear on that and that’s part of what this time of reflection and stillness is helping me do.

There was someone who asked me recently if I was bored and wanting to go back to work yet, and I said, “Well, actually no.” I kind of feel like I had an unhealthy balance before and I chose that and it was – when you can put a lot of energy into a growing company and have it really payoff before your eyes, there was a reason why I lived my life out of balance, and it’s something that I’m stepping out of, the rest of my life I’m gonna be living in a healthy personal balance and my professional life will be something that’s helping to support and help my personal life thrive and not the other way around, it won’t be that my personal life has to support my professional life. 

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 Use Government Experience in Private Sector Job - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 17 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "How Are You Applying Your Government Experience Working in a Private Sector Job?"  Curtis shares how his experience working across local, state, and federal governments has given him the knowledge to help private communities better navigate the political landscape.  He notes how positive and solutions-oriented initiatives are more successful than simply pointing out problems.  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 Working Presidential Campaign Shapes Political Career - Ken Biberaj

In Chapter 6 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council candidate and public relations executive Ken Biberaj answers "What Did You Find Most Valuable About Working on the 2004 Presidential Campaign?"  Biberaj shares how working on the 2004 Kerry - Edwards Presidential Campaign informed the decisions that would shape his political career trajectory.  Specifically, Biberaj decided to forgo working as a political operative and instead join a family business to gain private sector experience.  Ultimately, after seven years in business, Biberaj makes the decision to re-enter politics by running for office.  Ken Biberaj is currently a 2013 Candidate for New York City Council for the West Side of Manhattan.  He is also a public relations executive for the Russian Tea Room restaurant at One Fifty Fifty Seven Corporation, a family business focused on real estate development, investment sales and retail leasing.  Previously he was Florida Research Director for the Kerry-Edwards for President Campaign. He holds a JD from New York Law School, a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Political Science from American University.

What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder - James McCormick

In Chapter 1 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, legal career advisor James McCormick answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  McCormick shares the news of having a child since his Year 2 interview and the new challenges (and rewards) that come with being a parent.  Additionally, he notes his promotion to partner at his job and the positives that come with the challenges of transitioning from employee to owner at the firm.  James McCormick is a Partner at Empire Search Partners in New York City.  Previously, he practiced law as an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney for Proskauer Rose and Jones Day.  He earned a JD at Tulane Law School and a BA in History at the University of Michigan. 

How to Give Reliable Advice - James McCormick

In Chapter 12 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, legal career advisor James McCormick answers "How Do You Define Sound Advice?"  He notes how it must be objective as possible, based on experience, and secured by comparable examples.  McCormick continues to share how this applies in real world career development based on his experience working with lawyers and business executives.  James McCormick is a Partner at Empire Search Partners in New York City.  Previously, he practiced law as an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney for Proskauer Rose and Jones Day.  He earned a JD at Tulane Law School and a BA in History at the University of Michigan. 

Fabian Pfortmüller on How Co-Founder Role Changes as Company Grows

In Chapter 12 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller answers "How Are Your Responsibilities Changing as Your Company Grows?"  Pfortmüller notes how his role at Sandbox Network is evolving away from daily operational sales and marketing tasks and more toward higher level strategic responsibilities.  He also notes how he is continuing to find new hats to wear at Holstee as the company grows and brings on staff to handle jobs and tasks he has managed to date.  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: How are your responsibilities changing as your businesses grow?

Fabian Pfortmüller: As the company evolves so does my role and at Sandbox for example, I started out being in a very operational marketing kind of sales role and that has moved into more and more focusing on the bigger picture. It has to do on the one hand how the organization is progressing. It’s becoming more mature. We have amazing people who work there who do most of the jobs that I did in the beginning way better than I do them and on the other hand I’ve also started to learn what I do good and what I'm best at and I realized I'm good at understanding community.

I'm good at realizing in which direction we could develop it, I'm good at seeing opportunities, I'm good at connecting opportunities and maybe, you know, strategic goals and so I’ve start to spent more time on that and I would say over time I shifted to go from doing a lot of things that were urgent and needed my immediate attention to more things that are important and hopefully gonna have an impact on the bigger picture but on the other hand at HOLSTEE, you know, it’s the same thing that very, very small team and there I'm in a very operational role, it keeps changing and I also – I would say the three founders have very different skill sets where my role there was to make sure like we’re operational, like set up in a way that we can run very fast and at the beginning I did like, you know, accounting and bookkeeping and what not until we found luckily someone who is way better than I am at these things but I'm quite good at doing something for the first time not in a perfect way but in a way that it doesn’t completely fall apart and that the ship more or less keeps going until we find someone -- we can afford someone who does this much better.

How Permanence Shapes Creative Career Choices - Doug Jaeger

In Chapter 3 of 17 in his 2012 interview, entrepreneur Doug Jaeger answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Jaeger shares how he started in web design and, over time, worked to launch websites and brands.  Over time, he finds his work no longer exists and shifts his attention to work that has a more permanent aspect, specifically company brand identities.  He enables this using multimedia designed for longer lifespans, specifically film, photography, and video.  Doug Jaeger is the co-founder of JaegerSloan, a multimedia design services firm in New York City.  His street front office doubles as the JS55 Gallery. Jaeger is also an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).  He graduated from Syracuse University.

Adapting to Life as an Entrepreneur - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 2 of 21 in his 2011 interview, Phil McKenzie answers "How is Life as an Entrepreneur Different That How You Imagined It Would Be?"  McKenzie finds it to be more rewarding and slower.  From a personal and professional perspective, his transition out of Goldman Sachs finance to entrepreneurship has exceeded expectations.  He also has learned to be patient as things move more slowly than he ever would have expected.  McKenzie is the founder of Influencer Conference, an international event series bringing together tastemakers across the arts, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and technology.  He is also managing partner of influencer marketing agency FREE DMC.  Previously he worked in Domestic Equity Trading at Goldman, Sachs, & Co.  He earned his BA from Howard University and MBA from Duke University. 

When to Pursue a Career That is Not Your College Major - Julie Hession

In Chapter 6 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "After majoring in hotel and restaurant management in college what made you decide to shift away from that in your career?"  Studying in Las Vegas, Hession finds the glamorous picture of hotel management career does not meet what she experiences.  With advice from her father, she decides to make a change to find work outside her college major.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

Transcription: 

Erik:  After majoring in hotel and restaurant management in college, what made you decide to shift away from that in your career?

Julie:  Well, the fact that about three months into my first job out of college I decided that I hated hotel and restaurant management, that was my first clue.  And it was interesting because, you know, when you’re an undergrad and you’re taking four years in this curriculum and all you’re learning about is you know hotel and restaurant management, hotel and restaurant law, hotel and restaurant marketing, you know 'cause – I had casino management.  I mean, my life was surrounded, and it was Las Vegas, UNLV, so the city revolves around hotels and restaurants. 

So I kind of had tunnel vision and I was thinking, "Well, this is what I've chosen to do, I'm tied to it.  This is gonna be my life."  And I got my first job with Windham Hotels.  They don't tell you where they’re gonna put you when they hire you.  You make no money when you graduate with a hotel and restaurant management degree.  They basically tell you that the first day of school when you’re a freshman.  You sit down and they say, "You're gonna work 100 hours a week and you're gonna make no money.  Welcome to college." 

You know, I should have just you know headed for the door just then, but the idea of it still excited me at that point.  I still had this whole -- there's this show called Hotel on, this drama that was called Hotel like back in the 80's that created a very glamorous picture of what it was like to work in a hotel.  And I think that kind of, in some way, when I got to college I thought I was gonna be like that, you know?  This glamorous Connie Sellecca lady that you know ran the hotel.  So it was a rude awakening when I was like crawling around taping wires to the floor for like a food and beverage banquet, you know?  So anyway I got the job with Windham, they put me in Annapolis, Maryland, which I had – you know great city but I had no friends there.  You didn't really make a lot of friends working in this small hotel in the city and I was just – I was so unhappy. 

I wasn't happy at work, I wasn't happy with what I was doing and this was an instance where my dad came down to Annapolis.  He drove down to Annapolis, took me to lunch and he said, "You know this isn’t right for you.  You need to figure out, you know, and you don't need to do it tomorrow, you don't need to do it the next day but I think you need to figure out what you want to do and make a change and figure out how you’re gonna get there."  So that was like such an "Aha!" moment for me that I could do something else.  You know, my major -- I didn't have to do my major.  So – and that was huge because then I started just kind of looking around and I think kind of opening my mind a little bit.  You know, back then I knew I loved food but I wasn't at all thinking like food career 'cause when I thought food I thought, "Okay restaurant management," so that wasn't clicking.

How Earning an MBA Enables Career Change - Julie Hession

In Chapter 7 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "Why Did You Decide to Get an MBA?"  Hession did not know what to do with her career and decides to get an MBA to figure out her longer term career aspirations.  She leaves pharmaceutical sales for the intellectual stimulation of an MBA classroom.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV. 

How to Think Like an Entrepreneur - Julie Hession

In Chapter 12 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Has the Trial and Error Process Shaped Entrepreneur Career Choices?"  Hession shares how she has embraced the uncertainty and risk that come with learning to operate as an entrepreneur.  She shares it is like "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and details specific experiences that have contributed to her growth, including being a winning contestant on the Food Network and winning Sterling Wines Ultimate Host Competition.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV.

How to Start a Gourmet Food Business - Julie Hession

In Chapter 19 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, food entrepreneur Julie Hession answers "How Has Starting a Granola Company Built Upon Your Previous Food Experience?"  As a retail store owner, Hession learns how the "other side" of food makers work by attending industry conventions.  She researches different approaches and applies lessons learned when she launches her own product line.  Once established, she then encounters challenges working with large gourmet food and grocery stores and competing in a cutthroat market.  Julie Hession is the founder of Julie Anne's All Natural Granola Company.  Passionate about food since childhood, Hession has developed her career by food blogging, cooking contests, and starting fine food companies.  Hession earned an MBA in Marketing from Duke University and a BA from UNLV.