How to Build a Business Network by Helping Others First - Ross Floate

In Chapter 10 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Do You Use Your Network to Get Help Making Career and Life Decisions?"  Be it because he grew up as an only child, was an introvert or was simply shy, Floate tries to avoid taking the traditional route of meeting people at networking events.  Instead, Floate finds doing others small kindnesses helps him build his business network.  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.

Management Lessons on Adaptation and Commitment - Richard Moross

In Chapter 16 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Have You Learned to Adapt When Things Have Not Worked Out as Planned?"  Moross walks through specific instances where his company has adapted in the face of a mistake and turn lemons into lemonade.  He talks about the need to experiment and work through cycles of broadening and focusing strategy and why commitment and focus are critical to building 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.

Joe Stump on Bringing Entrepreneurial Optimism to Cynical Cultures

In Chapter 10 of 14 in his 2012 interview, Internet entrepreneur Joe Stump answers "What Has Working Internationally Taught You About Communicating Across Cultures?"  By advising a British company, Stump learns how a culture of optimism contrasts with a culture of cynicism and doubt.  He compares general country cultures - American, British, Indian, Chinese - and how an entrepreneurship mindset is influenced by the national mindset.  He details what he did to transform the mindset inside that British company to be more opportunistic and confident.  Joe Stump is a serial entrepreneur based in Portland, OR. He is CEO and co-founder of Sprint.ly, a product management software company.  Previously he founded SimpleGeo, which was sold to Urban Airship in October 2011.  He advises several startups - including attachments.me and ngmoco:) - as well as VC firm Freestyle Capital.  He earned a BBA in Computer Information Systems (CIS) from Eastern Michigan University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What has working internationally taught you about communicating across cultures?

Joe Stump: I'm an adviser for a company in the UK. I go over there and I spend about a week every quarter over there. And I think Americans and Brits kind of like to think that it's big brother, little brother, we're in the same family. Our cultures are drastically different in a lot of ways and I think working with them -- it was really disheartening to come from the startup world where everything’s “can do” attitude and go to an environment that -- I mean this was named, the company I work for is named one of the top 50 companies in the UK to work for.

They're a great company. I love working with these guys. But there are little things that really kind of trick you up that were kind of like a bummer. Like, in the United States, a grilled cheese company got $50 million in funding from one of the best venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. That is the very definition of like all ideas go. It's wide-open space. There are more eternal optimists bred everyday in the United States than anywhere else, right? The American dream is basically if you want to do it, it's yours for the taking, whereas in I talk with -- Alex Hunter is a buddy of mine. His wife is from California. He spent considerable time here. Actually he doesn’t even have a British accent anymore, he spent so much time here.

But he’s from Britain and he’s put it best to me, in Britain, I mean, everybody knows that they have a very cynical sense of humor right? And I think that pervades the entire society. Where he says, “You come up with a new idea,” and like British society will go, “Oh, you have a new idea? Let's see if it flies.” It is like poopoo it before it's even had a chance to even get out on the launch pad. And working with that company in the UK has taught me that when I come in and I’ll say, “Hey, guys, we need to do X, Y, and Z so that we can move on to this next phase.” They will be, “Well, we really can't do X because of A, B, and C.” And I'm like, “You can do X. What you're telling me is that you don’t want to do X because of A, B, and C. You can fix A, B, and C.”

There is no unsolvable problem, right? And I think that’s something that really comes up a lot across Europe. They're a lot more conservative I would say. Exact opposite when you go to India and Asia. Man, those guys are like, it's wide open territory. I mean, like, dude, China is growing. That is a massive economy, a billion people and it's growing at 10 to 12% a year. It's really interesting. You go to all these different places and the emphasis because of culture, like emphasis in South Africa, for instance, is on revenue, early revenue. A lot of the investment deals are all tied to revenue goals and stuff.

Europe is a little bit similar. The United States they’re like nobody thought Facebook was ever going to make money and now it's making $4 billion a year. Right? And because of our culture, we're a lot more open to risk and we’ll go ahead and take that. And I think that now that other major economies are starting to sputter to life and they're starting to get their own version of the American dream, India and China, I think are two very good examples

There are a lot programmers in India that are just like starting to realize that they don’t have to work at call center. They can go and they can raise a small amount of cash and they have a billion people there that are all ready to pay a little bit of money. If you can get a billion people to pay you 10 cents, that’s real coin, right? So, they're embracing it. And also because travel is becoming cheaper, obviously they're making more money and their economies are coming up so they're able to come here. It's been really interesting to see that the America dream is alive and well and it just happens to be in a communist country and India, which is a socialist country. It's been interesting.

I like interfacing and talking with people like that. I like spreading the dream. Like and I've been telling -- we actually had a little luncheon at the company in the UK and they were like, “What's the most frustrating thing about working with us?” I was like, “You guys are so much better than you give yourselves credit for. Quit being so cynical.” You can do it. You just got to like go do it. This isn’t like rocket science stuff here. Every time I’m like, I come up with something like, “We need to fix this,” and they're like, “Well, maybe we should probably do this other thing instead.” It’s just like…Just do that, get it over with, move on to the next thing.

It was kind of funny. There was actually some nodding in the room and then afterwards one of the guys came up to me, he's like, “I'm really glad you said that because I didn’t even realize that I was doing that. And now I realize that I'm poopooing stuff that I know I can do and I don’t even know why I'm doing it. I don’t know why I'm poopooing this. I can do it.” It was really cool that they were like, “Yeah, we can do that.” They’ve really grown as a company. I’ve seen them -- It's a 1,200 person company and I've seen them move more, and more quickly, they're getting a lot more confident that they can take on those bigger challenges. I didn’t have a whole lot to do with that other than basically saying you know, telling them that, “Look, guys, you can do this. You just got to do it.”

Jon Kolko on How to Define Social Entrepreneurship

In Chapter 18 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How Do You Define Social Entrepreneurship?"  Kolko first defines an entrepreneur as someone who takes on the risk and reaps the reward of a situation and who sees opportunity where others see problems.  He differentiates between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs in both the type of problem and the reward. 

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 define social entrepreneurship?

Jon Kolko: I think it helps by defining entrepreneurship first. And so an entrepreneur to me is somebody that takes on the risk and reaps the reward of a situation. It's also somebody that sees opportunity where others see problems or issues.

And so, that is true of a social entrepreneur, too. The difference is in the type of problems or opportunities and in the type of risk and reward. A social entrepreneur’s reward may or may not be monetary and typically it is monetary and, or plus in a double bottom line context. It's monetary, sure, there's money at stake but it's also about a larger social or humanitarian issue and that can be something as big and broad as poverty or it could be something extremely simple and detailed like getting the homeless in Austin, Texas to have beds when it's lower than 32 degrees at night. But either way, it's that yes and part of the reward. In terms of the opportunity where some see issues and others see opportunity, I think it constantly has to do with that idea of theory of change that we alluded to previously of: I see the world in a certain way and I would like it to be a different way. And so, I hypothesize how I’ll get there. Working backwards, you sort of get this logic trail of if I do this and this falls into place and this other thing happens, then those on the streets won’t be on the streets when it's 32 degrees or colder.

And so, for me then, a social entrepreneur is somebody who is applying all of the same principles of entrepreneurship and a design-led social entrepreneur is taking all of the same principles of the design but the context of the problem has shifted just a little.

How Fear Can Be a Motivational Tool - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 22 of 22 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "What is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  Hammans finds self awareness helps him recognize when he has fear or anxiety in his life and uses that state as a motivational instance to improve and learn.  By working through fears and learning from the experience, he puts a process in place to work through future fears that will arise.  This is Hammans Stallings' Year 2 CYF interview.  Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design.  Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens.  He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia. 

Idan Cohen on How Leadership and Management Job Skills Compare

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Do Leadership and Management Differ With What You Do?"  Cohen shares his struggle to become a better leader and a better manager.  He notes the importance of motivation and vision in leadership and details and composure in management. 

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 do leadership and management differ in what you do?

Idan Cohen: Management is definitely something that I struggle with daily and leadership is something that I struggle with daily. Leadership is about being just a little bit mad, you know if you think about it, like going and wanting to be the president of the US, you have to be not a little bit, you have to be really, really, crazy in order to take on such a role, and go through the process of doing something like that, the thing that sometimes it’s also the same for a small company, it’s just coming up with a vision, being able to motivate people, so that’s not easy but it comes a lot of times for just being able to put away—put aside your fears or overcome them, put aside logic or overcome logic, and go and make that happen. 

Management is a much more I think kind of a methodical or a skill, sometimes you might have, sometimes people definitely have it inherit in them and sometimes they acquire it with time, but I think it has a lot to do with—and it sometimes is very different than leadership because it’s much more about listening, leadership is a little bit of also just like blindly looking forward and being able to charge and motivate people just to come after you, but then at the end of the day, management is not about just this motivation, it’s about taking care of the details, it’s about knowing how to politically split responsibilities, it’s about stepping down when needed, and actually helping doing something, just because you’re a little bit of kind of like, you have all of these skills together and you can help with whatever needed, definitely at early stages of a company. 

So I think that there’s a lot of great leaders, there’s—and visionaries, there’s not enough good managers, and it’s definitely something that I would aspire to be. I think I’m very far from it right now. 

What It Means to Be a Leader at a Fast Growing Startup - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 6 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, crowdfunding entrepreneur and IndieGoGo CEO Slava Rubin answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  Rubin notes leadership is about taking action that otherwise might not happen.  He notes it is less about being more aggressive than others and more about doing things others do not see that need to be done.  Rubin references his venture capital fundraising efforts while trusting his team to manage operations and grow the company.  Slava Rubin returns to CYF for his Year 3 interview.  As CEO and Co-Founder, Rubin has helped transform cause and project fundraising by establishing his company IndieGoGo as a global leader in crowdfunding.  He is also active in philanthropy, starting the Music Against Myeloma annual charity event to fight cancer.  He graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Transcript: 

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

Slava Rubin: To me leader is really about taking action where otherwise it would not happen. So, just being to be aggressive and doing something where 10 other people were about to do it maybe is not always a leader but seeing what others do not see or more importantly doing what others do not see needs to be done is really about leadership.

So, we have 19 people on our team now and I would say at different moments each one steps up as being a leader and an example for me might be that a while back we weren’t sure if we were able to raise money and, you know, we were having debates about whether or not we should be even focused on raising money because maybe what we need to do is just work on our own team and get to profitability and at some point, you know, I just said, you know, I’ll go make it happen and you guys need to help support me to run the company and we just worked together to raise the money we needed a year ago when I saw you at South-By 2011.
The fun thing is since then we’ve had some serious growth, which is, you know, I guess I have to come here every year to make sure that growth keeps happening.

Erik Michielsen: How did you use your venture capital round to finance your growth?

Slava Rubin: Yeah, so I mean from a company-building perspective we really are focused on improving the product making sure that we’re reaching out to the customers correctly and making sure that the customer experience is as good as possible. So, very specifically we went from a five-person team to a 19 person team, really made significant improvements on the actual product, the website, the customer happiness experience and just keep on looking for people to help them with making good things happen.

Newlywed Couple Advice for Building a Strong Family Foundation

In Chapter 7 of 15 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "What Steps Are You Taking to Do What is Best for Your Family an Your Future?"  French talks about the importance of spending time with her husband to create strong bonds that will create security for the family they hope to create.  This keeps her focus inward and challenges her to avoid going out and starting another company before that foundation is in place. 

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: What steps are you taking to do what is best for your family and your future?

Audrey Parker French: Really right now, my husband and I are taking time to really solidify our marriage, and get to know each other, and build a very solid foundation so that when we have children, we feel like we have a very strong foundation with each other that our children are safe within and strong with and that we can be strong to help our children, guide our children, you know, it starts now for us. And we both see that.

And beyond children, the friends that we make, the communities that we are a part of, and that we continue to be a part of. Those are things that if we are not stable, we cannot give, we cannot help, we cannot support anyone else if our foundation has cracks in it. And so we both have felt some – I guess discomfort at the idea of not being more outwardly focused right now. I’m – definitely my old identity would say, “Why aren’t you working and having a completely packed schedule right now?” And yet, for me, the same part of me that said, “Well, I’m gonna go help start a company.” Even though that was kind of a crazy thing, seemed crazy at the time, it takes the same kind of courage, even though it sounds strange, it takes – I have found that it takes the same kind of courage to say, “I gonna sit still.”

And my husband – I’m gonna help solidify my marriage with my husband, so that whatever he or I or he and I choose to do in the future, and it really will be as together, that we’ll be strong. And that way any storms that come along, we feel more stable than we would if we weren’t spending this time together to really get strong, to be able to make it through and be okay. 

Matt Curtis on Losing 160 Pounds and Taking First International Trip

In Chapter 3 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "What Was it Like to Take Your First International Trip?" Curtis shares how he overcame embarrassment about his weight and fear of the unknown to take an overseas trip to Ireland in his late 30s. He talks about the times in his 20s and 30s when he was overweight and felt it was not even an option to travel long distances by plane.  Now 160 pounds lighter but still a big man, he shares how easy it turned out to be and how the experience has opened new doors to future international travel plans. 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.

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 Build Relationship Trust - Ken Biberaj

In Chapter 19 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council candidate and public relations executive Ken Biberaj answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?"  Biberaj shares the challenge of creating relationship trust working real estate business and government public service.  He shares the importance of managing risks while being outgoing, sincere and committed to building relationships over time.  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. 

Fabian Pfortmüller on How to Break Out of a Comfort Zone

In Chapter 10 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller answers "What is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  He shares how he gets into a comfort zone when doing overly repetitive tasks.  He shares how creating a risk-taking program at work has helped him to experience new things and seek out others who think big and challenge his thinking.  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 your comfort zone and what do you do to break free of living in it?

Fabian Pfortmüller: When I have too often the same task or the same objective on my plate and on my task list, I'm too much in my comfort zone and I feel that if I don’t take enough risk and if I'm not a little bit scared, I must be too much in my comfort zone. We have this tradition at HOLSTEE where we pick one risk a week, where just every week we say let’s just, you know, randomly pick one risk of something we wanna achieve. It’s kind of something we’re scared off, something that we might not do otherwise and it’s so energizing.

It’s so often we get things done like this and we did a little experiment last year where we actually created a whole role about risk taking and we called it Agent99 and Agent99 was an internship that was about 99 risks in 99 days. So, we would pick some risks of things that we thought would be good for our community, would be good for, I don’t know, the world, would have a good impact and would also help us as a brand at HOLSTEE and we then found amazing perfect person who was so willing to take risk and he just went out and achieved it. And I think that’s a great, that’s a great way of doing it.

I think for us really thinking big helps me to get kind of just out of comfort zone and one thing that I believe helps me also is being surrounded by people that really think big. I realize that when I'm surrounded by other entrepreneurs and I kind of get this chilly feeling of like, “Oh, my god, that’s kind of crazy.” That’s what I want for myself as well and that’s what I want for my own idea as well and when I'm missing it, I know something is not good.

It’s good to have a little bit of fear in it because it means you’re really going for a big idea and you’re not just executing something and in the end of the day we’re trying out something new that has not been done before. We’re building something that has not there before and that little bit of like “uh-oh”, in the back of my head is something very healthy.

Michael Margolis on How Vulnerability Creates Trusting Relationships

In Chapter 6 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?"  Margolis uses vulnerability, which he cites as the most overlooked part of storytelling.  He notes how truth gets attention, empathy establishes connection, and vulnerability reminds people of shared values and similar interests. 

Michael Margolis is founder and president of Get Storied, an education and publishing platform dedicated to teaching the world how to think in narrative.  He earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How do you establish trust when building relationships?

Michael Margolis: So, it’s something that I called the V-factor and it’s actually the most overlooked element of storytelling, it’s vulnerability. So, you have to have truth. Truth is what gets people’s ears to go [make sounds], right? It’s like Scooby Doo time, oh, there’s something over here. I better pay attention. Or, wow, this looks interesting. So, truth gets people’s attention. 

Then you have to establish empathy, which lets people know that you really care about them. You care about their world and what they’re going through, right? You really give a crap and you understand what your audience is facing or struggling or challenged with and it all comes home though. 

The third principle is vulnerability. So, vulnerability is reminding people that, “you know what, I may be an expert or I may have a solution for you but we’re more similar to each other than different. Here’s what we share in common”, I have my own foibles you know, it’s why -- you know as we sat down I talked to you about, “Geez, the last six months my health has kicked my ass”, right. Very humbling process. When I'm teaching or coaching students, you know, in my programs online, I'm very open about sharing my own personal journey because this is a fallacy – This I think really, in a way it captures the paradigm shift of what we’re all going through in the world of business. It used to be we lived in this world of objective reality. Of being the brand that spoke with the voice of God, “I have all the answers for you. I am the guru”. And instead we’re now shifting into this place where it’s peer-to-peer learning, right. Where we’re all co-learners together. Part of it is things are so challenging and so complex. None of us have like all the answers. 

So, we have to be more in relationship with each other. So, it’s really important this vulnerability piece is what makes you human. And here’s the kicker on vulnerability, is if you establish vulnerability with people in an authentic way, you really share a part of yourself and where your edge or your struggle is, do you know what happens? People become more forgiving of the hiccups and the bumps in the road. It’s a really important principle for any brand especially if you're in startup mode, you have a new product, a new service, you’re doing something that’s different. If you wanna build that halo around your brand where people feel emotionally connected, vulnerability is key. 

A great case and point is look at Netflix in the last year, they’ve got an awesome product, okay, so they raised their prices from what was it $8.99 to $11.99 and everybody had a shit storm. I think the way that people reacted was actually the way that Netflix talked about it. They talked about the price increase like they were doing us a favor as a consumer and then once sort of the crisis hit they were still -- sort of they came off in a very arrogant fashion, which I think ultimately really hurt their brand. Now, are they bouncing back, are they here to stay? I think so, because ultimately they have a product that many of us want and reflects sort of the new way that we’re consuming media but that’s a really great example to keep in mind the power of the V-factor or vulnerability. And if you can build that halo of having more disclosure, of letting people in sort of behind the curtain, the places where you’re struggling -- not in a poor pity me or [make sounds], okay but in a way that’s relevant, in a way that’s relatable. 

Again, by building a brand halo that includes vulnerability, people become so much more forgiving about the bumps in the road. It’s just like being in a relationship with a significant other and let’s say your partner has certain places that are kind of their tough spots, their edge, their place of growth. You’re far more forgiving if you have a partner that’s like, “Yeah, honey you know what? That’s what I'm working on” versus if you have a partner that’s like, “What are you talking about? That’s not my problem, that’s your problem,” right. That same dynamic that shows up in relationships, same thing shows up with brands or, you know, in our own individual relationships with each other and that’s the power of vulnerability when it comes to storytelling.

How to Sell Your Vision More Effectively - Michael Margolis

In Chapter 17 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "How Are You Getting Better at Selling Your Vision?"  Margolis finds it happens by translating his vision into concrete content, events, and programs including classes, seminars, webinars, blogs and social media.  He discusses the important of creating building blocks in an online experience to progressively socialize your vision or truth into a shareable reality.  Michael Margolis is founder and president of Get Storied, an education and publishing platform dedicated to teaching the world how to think in narrative.  He earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University. 

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 Social Media Agency Expands into Middle East - Mike Germano

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, social media ad agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How Did You Go About the Decision to Expand Your Business Internationally?"  Germano walks through the process he and his team took to bring his social media agency into the Middle East, specifically the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  With an office in Dubai and a satellite office in Abu Dhabi, Germano believes he can tap into new talent and business opportunities not currently being met by services elsewhere.  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. 

Finding Your Best by Stringing Together Small Wins

In Chapter 3 of 14 in his 2012 interview, real estate development executive Brett Goldman answers "When Are You at Your Best?"  He shares how he is happiest and most confident when he finds himself atop a series of small successes, be they work accomplishments, social experiences, or simply enjoying a day. 

Brett Goldman is a Real Estate Acquisitions Director at Triangle Equities in New York City.  He holds a BA in General Studies from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Real Estate Development from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: When are you at your best?

Brett Goldman: I'm at my best after I've had small successes. Usually I compile successes on top of successes, and that's when I'm happiest, and when I feel the most confident and I'm able to go out and kind of bravely face the world and know that I can do something, pretty much whatever I wanna do. 

It doesn't have to necessarily be an accomplishment, per se, at work or in my social life or anything. It can just be enjoyment of the day or something like that, you know? I'm very driven by moods and if I can kind of pile one mood onto the next, then that usually gets me going into a more confident and happy and success-prone state. 

Facing Fear Fighting in a Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament

In Chapter 9 of 14 in his 2012 interview, real estate development executive Brett Goldman answers "What Did Participating in a Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament Teach You About Taking Risks and Setting Goals?"  Goldman talks about the year he trained for both the Golden Gloves and the New York City Marathon.  He compares and contrasts the two and shares how the boxing training and fight changed his life.  He shares how he learned to not be fearful of taking a punch and why preparation helped him become more confident once he stepped into the ring. 

Brett Goldman is a Real Estate Acquisitions Director at Triangle Equities in New York City.  He holds a BA in General Studies from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Real Estate Development from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What did participating in a Golden Gloves boxing tournament teach you about taking risks and setting goals?

Brett Goldman: It was funny because I did the Golden Gloves and the marathon in the same year, which are two kind of similar things in that training real hard for an eventual outcome. The Golden Gloves are different in that someone else is gonna hit you. Whereas in running, you're just running by yourself and it's all within your mind, but the reason why I did the Golden Gloves was because I wanted to know that someone could hit me and I could still stand up, or I could still stand up to it. I did lose, but I learned from it that I'm not scared to get hit and keep going at it. 

Erik Michielsen: What was it like when you stepped in the ring?

Brett Goldman: I was definitely scared but I knew I was prepared. And that's probably something I don't know if I ever knew I learned, or even sometimes still apply. But there's no doubt that preparation is a huge factor in confidence. I heard that the other day. I think it was Eli Manning that said it, but I wasn't that afraid when I walked in the ring actually. When -- Because I knew that I was strong and I was in the best shape that I’d been in. And the guy was gigantic, and had full body tattoos, but I wasn't really that scared and, you know, put that -- you know, put me up in a bar fight where that guy wants to start with me, and I probably would be scared. But at that point I wasn't scared. I also knew it was -- that it was gonna be a fair fight. And that I understood and knew how to box.