How Nieces and Nephews Inspire Creative Thinking - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 7 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Have You Found Most Gratifying About Being an Uncle?"  Doucette, an uncle to multiple nieces and nephews, details the joys of having young children in his live.  He finds it eye-opening to see things through a child's eyes, especially creative tools.  Seeing the creative side flourish in his nieces and nephews provides Doucette creative inspiration in his music writing and playing. 

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

Matt Ruby on How Childhood Independent Play Develops Imagination

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?"  Ruby talks about why being left alone to play encouraged his imagination and creative development. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He produces a video comic strip at Vooza.com, co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and writes a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Simon Sinek on How Family Relationships Change With Age

In Chapter 2 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Are Your Family Relationships Changing as You Get Older?"  Sinek notes how he and his sister now have the adult conversations, including asking each other for advice, that once was reserved for asking their parents.  Sinek also transitions from his parents treating him like a child to a more balanced, grown-up, peer-based relationship built on mutual respect and sharing.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  His goal is to "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" and help others find fulfillment in their work.  Sinek is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action".  He works regularly with the United States Military, United States Congress, and many organizations, agencies and entrepreneurs.  Sinek is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and an adjunct staff member at the think tank RAND Corporation.  Sinek earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen:  How are your family relationships changing as you get older?

Simon Sinek:  My sister and I are adults now. And so we have adult conversations, we will ask each other all kinds of advice that we used to ask our parents about, career advice, relationship advice, things that we used to go to our parents, you know, we go to each other now. And also you know on some level, there’s a click when you grow up at home, you’re at home, from you know, zero to 18, and then whether you go to college or go on to do something else. You leave.

And the problem is, is you keep growing up, or at least I can speak for myself, I kept growing up, but my parents knew me from when I left the house at 18, and so they would still treat me very much like the 18-year-old even though I was still growing up. And they would give me some credit as I sort of entered the workforce, you know, but they still treated me like the person they knew very, very well, even though things had changed, I’ve matured in some ways and—less mature in other ways but the point is that for a good chunk of time most of my 20’s I would say they kind of had a little warped vision of who I was because they’re treating me like the thing they knew, right?

And so I think what has happened now is it’s evened out, which is my parents are still my parents, and there’s that wonderful dynamic but we’re peers much more now. And we treat each other as peers, which is nice. It’s an amazing experience when your parents come to you for advice about something that they’re dealing with, or that my dad and I will have a business conversation, it’s just not me asking him for advice, it’s now him asking me for advice, and that’s been sort of incredible to be able to have that kind of dynamic with my parents. Yeah, huge respect, huge mutual respect. And not sort of the traditional sort of parental respect, oh, you’re my parents. But respect for each other for who we are, not just for the role we play.

Simon Sinek on How Growing Up All Over World Shapes Family Values

In Chapter 3 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?"  By the age of 10, Sinek had lived on four continents - North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.  Moving frequently, Simon and his sister do not develop traditional roots and friendships.  Instead, Simon and his family become very close and learn to rely on and support one another.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  His goal is to "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" and help others find fulfillment in their work.  Sinek is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action".  He works regularly with the United States Military, United States Congress, and many organizations, agencies and entrepreneurs.  Sinek is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and an adjunct staff member at the think tank RAND Corporation.  Sinek earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen:  How are your family relationships changing as you get older?

Simon Sinek:  My sister and I are adults now. And so we have adult conversations, we will ask each other all kinds of advice that we used to ask our parents about, career advice, relationship advice, things that we used to go to our parents, you know, we go to each other now. And also you know on some level, there’s a click when you grow up at home, you’re at home, from you know, zero to 18, and then whether you go to college or go on to do something else. You leave.

And the problem is, is you keep growing up, or at least I can speak for myself, I kept growing up, but my parents knew me from when I left the house at 18, and so they would still treat me very much like the 18-year-old even though I was still growing up. And they would give me some credit as I sort of entered the workforce, you know, but they still treated me like the person they knew very, very well, even though things had changed, I’ve matured in some ways and—less mature in other ways but the point is that for a good chunk of time most of my 20’s I would say they kind of had a little warped vision of who I was because they’re treating me like the thing they knew, right?

And so I think what has happened now is it’s evened out, which is my parents are still my parents, and there’s that wonderful dynamic but we’re peers much more now. And we treat each other as peers, which is nice. It’s an amazing experience when your parents come to you for advice about something that they’re dealing with, or that my dad and I will have a business conversation, it’s just not me asking him for advice, it’s now him asking me for advice, and that’s been sort of incredible to be able to have that kind of dynamic with my parents. Yeah, huge respect, huge mutual respect. And not sort of the traditional sort of parental respect, oh, you’re my parents. But respect for each other for who we are, not just for the role we play.

How Being an Only Child Influences Personal Development - Ross Floate

In Chapter 3 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?"  Floate finds being an only child has made him a hard taskmaster to work with on projects.  He also shares his parents decision to start a successful manufacturing business and be self-employed and the influence it had on his own decisions.  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 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.

How to Improve Communication by Changing Behavior - Ross Floate

In Chapter 11 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Are You Learning to Communicate More Effectively?"  Experience teaches Floate to be less blunt or brusque when communicating with others, especially when there are larger gaps in age, experience, or power.  He also learns to appreciate behaviors learned from childhood, including being uncomfortable discussing money and work through them by being more forthright.  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 Hands On Experience Shapes Design Career Path - Ross Floate

In Chapter 17 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Has Working With Your Hands Shaped Your Design Education?"  Floate finds it is less about the physical act of making things and, rather, taking pride in the things you make.  Floate finds he dislikes cooking for others, which helps him think about why hands-on work as a child also didn't register with him.  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.

Why Travel to Distant and Unfamiliar Places - Richard Moross

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "What Have You Found Most Rewarding About Traveling to New Places?"  Moross notes that as a heavy business traveler, he finds Western culture between the United States and Europe is no longer mysterious and new.  He finds this mystery and excitement traveling Asia. It reminds him the world is a big world full of differences to be explored and appreciated.  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 How to Break Out of a Comfort Zone

In Chapter 5 of 14 in his 2012 interview, Internet entrepreneur Joe Stump answers "What Is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  To break free of his comfort zone - beer, women, and large scale web infrastructure - Stump finds ways that give him a window into new parts of the world he has yet to experience.  This starts at a young age when Joe reads encyclopedias for fun.  It continues into his adult years as Stump adventures into different cultures, foods, and places and incrementally takes steps to get him out of his comfort zone.  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 is your comfort zone and what do you do to break free of living in it?

Joe Stump: I'm a very simple man. I like three things: beer, women, and large-scale web infrastructure. So that’s my comfort zone. And to get out of that, I do a lot of things. I like to -- I do a lot of random reading. I’ve always -- even as a kid, I read encyclopedias for fun just because I liked learning about new weird things. So, I do a lot of that. I take in a lot of information that has nothing to do with what I do.

But I do that because it gives me a window into areas of the world that I may not ever be able to experience. And may not even really have any interest in experiencing. I also like to travel a lot. I think that that definitely gets people out of their comfort zone because you're usually experiencing new cultures, new language, new environments, new weather, new locales. So I'm a big fan of traveling. So, those are the main things.

I have a general rule that I’ll try anything once as long as it doesn’t represent severe possible danger to my body. But yeah, I think the world would be a lot better place if people had – if they were open-minded enough to just try it. Just try it. Trying that new cuisine that you’ve never tried, like, you know, Indian cuisine is a common example.

We're from the Midwest, right? You tell people that you went out and had – or sushi. Sushi in the Midwest, you might as well tell people that you're like eating babies for breakfast. Right? They're like, “Ugh! Oh God!” Like just try it. Millions of people eat sushi every day and they all live to tell about it. You're not going to die if you have one piece of sashimi. So, I think that’s a really good rule, too. Take incremental steps outside of your comfort zone and next thing you know, you’ve taken big strides outside of your comfort zone.

Joe Stump on How Family Relationships Change With Age

In Chapter 8 of 14 in his 2012 interview, Internet entrepreneur Joe Stump answers "How Are Your Family Relationships Changing As You Get Older?"  Moving into his early 30s, Stump finds parallel between his business career journey and that of his father.  Stump notes the rewards of a newfound peer relationship with his father.  He also shares how he is helping his younger brother, "paying off a few of those wedgies" and how his Mom remains a constant source of support in his life.  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: How are your family relationships changing as you get older?

Joe Stump: I think as I've gotten older, it's been interesting. Obviously, everybody else in my family is getting older and changing themselves, right? My dad, while I've been kind of climbing up the ladder, has also been climbing up the ladder. He’s been, you know, he was a late comer and he owned his own business for many, many years and then ended up going into a more corporate environment. And so, he’s been climbing up the ladder. He kind of started – kind of about the same time I did. And it's interesting with my dad.

It was obviously earlier on in life. It was -- Dad was the authoritarian figure. He was definitely somebody that I looked up to and taught me a lot of things about everything from how to install a furnace – he built homes for a living -- to how put worm on a hook. And that’s evolved to now, like he comes to me for advice every once in a while. I still seek out advice from him and then we talk and now we talk a little bit more like peers and that’s a big deal. My brother and I had a terrible relationship growing up. We basically fought like cats and dogs and hated each other. And now, I've been able to come back and kind of pay for past digressions and help him out in ways that my parents couldn’t help him out.

A good example of that is he moved out to San Francisco recently and I’ve an enormous network in San Francisco. You know, he moved from Michigan, the most depressed economy in the States, to California, which never mind the state debt is still a booming massive economy and I was able to get him a job there. And you know, that’s great. I loved to be able to help my brother out and pay off a few of those wedgies. I think the relationship that maybe has changed the least is really with my mom. My mom has always been someone who was -- always made me feel better about myself. I don’t think I'm ever going to be at a point in my life where I won’t need people that can help me feel better about myself.

So, my mom still likes to mother me and I don’t know if as a mama’s boy I’ll ever get tired of being mothered. It's kind of funny. My mom and I, to say the least, as a fairly conservative Midwestern housewife. Her and I have different style tastes you could say. Mom’s being mom. They always want to make sure that you're staying warm and all this other stuff and she would send me clothes that I had no interest in wearing. And I finally was able to take advantage of her mothering in a way that made her feel good while also making sure that I didn’t every time get a birthday present, take it to goodwill. And she now sends me -- it's like clockwork.

Every birthday and Christmas, I get a huge care package. I get usually a 24-pack of Bell's Oberon, I get a couple dozen sugar cookies, grandma’s recipe she sends. And it's amazing. It was like, my mom is so amazing because she is the type of mother that knows that my brother likes her sugar cookie recipe and she knows that I like grandma’s sugar cookie recipe. So Jonathan gets mom’s recipe and I get grandma’s recipe. And then like I asked for buckeyes because grandma used to make buckeyes.

For those that don’t know what buckeyes are, they are the most amazing treat. They’re basically peanut butter balls dipped in milk chocolate. They're amazing. I was like, “oh. I want some buckeyes”. So she sent me buckeyes. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that. My mom, she's always been kind of an emotional center for me and I think it will continue to be that way.

How Reading Passion Shapes Learning Style - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 8 of 22 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "Where Did Your Passion for Reading Originate?"  Stallings shares how he read for escape during summer camp as a kid.  As he grew up, he learned to read to get into the minds of people he would not necessarily have the chance to meet.  He finds great value in gaining insight into the thought process of those he reads about.  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 Family Supports Creative Childhood Passions

In Chapter 9 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?"  Cohen notes a common challenge in present day that his family does not understand his entrepreneurial product work; however, he shares experiences from his formative years where his parents encouraged Cohen to learn to use tools and pursue his passion for building and making objects.  This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 CYF 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: Where has your family been most supportive in your career development?

Idan Cohen: That’s a good question ‘cause I don’t think they understand what I do.  Maybe when I was writing more code then they could understand, I don’t think they did really always understand what products that were, you know, the result of that code, these days, I think that they don’t even understand, you know, what’s my role and kind of like how do I make things happen, and it’s a little bit sad, actually that they don’t understand that, ‘cause a lot of—I think that for a lot of people, what they do has a lot to do with kind of getting appreciation and getting the pride from their family. It has a lot to do with that.

So I kind of—it makes me a little bit sad that they don’t understand that. But on the other hand, I think that my family always pushed me to be a creator and a maker. So when I wanted a computer, when I was 6, my mother sent me to a summer camp to learn programming, and I got the computer only after that—those 2 months of learning how to write code. ‘Cause for her, you know, you—sure, this is a tool, you need to first learn how to use a tool and then you can do something with it. When I was about 10, then I went—in the steps of my brother, I went to an aero-modeling club, which is a very geeky thing, and we built model airplanes out of like wood and then more and more actually advanced technologies.

And that was for me great, it was working with my hands, for me, the way that I work with like an exact-o knife or you know, with just a—my ability to work with a knife is parallel to just—it’s like the extension my hand, and I think it’s just because this muscle memory of for years, just working with a knife and cutting things. And it’s so important to just get kids I think to create things and learn how to use tools, as a 12-year-old or 14-year-old I think, I started using a lathe to create metal pieces and for 5 years I was working part-time with someone just as an apprentice to learn how to work with metals. And for me, that was so important because today I see anything and I can—just I can know how it was machined and I can imagine how I can create something like that or I can aspire to create something like that.

And I think that’s—that was very important, so my family maybe doesn’t understand what I’m doing now but they definitely had a huge part in getting me there by just all the time giving me these tools of, you know, learn how to make things. And then you’ll get there, you’ll be able to create products or—and it’s so much more important than just being an accountant I think. Just being able to create physical objects.

How to Turn a Cancer Tragedy into Something Good - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 1 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, crowdfunding entrepreneur and IndieGoGo CEO Slava Rubin answers "What is Your Entrepreneur Story?"  Rubin recounts how after his father died of myeloma cancer, he tries to raise money to fight cancer.  The process proves painful and frustrating and, over time, Rubin meets what would be his two IndieGoGo co-founders, Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell.   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.

Erik Michielsen: What’s your entrepreneur story?

Slava Rubin: Yeah, so when I was 15, my dad died of cancer and then for 10 years I really couldn’t deal with it and then as a New Year’s resolution I decided to finally do something about it and I started my own charity called Music Against Myeloma. This was in the middle of the last decade when the internet really sucked for raising money. So, I tried using Myspace. I remember Facebook was smaller than Myspace and Twitter was nascent, YouTube was not owned by Google and Obama wasn’t a word. So, it was pretty challenging to raise money using the internet.

I had this discussion with two other peers Eric Shell and Danae Ringelman and the three of us all shared our mutual frustration of hard it was to use the internet to raise money. So, in January 2008, we decided to launch a platform that would democratize fundraising called Indiegogo and, you know, we persevered through the market crash of 2008 and 2009 and beyond reason continued to work at Indiegogo and really the last couple of years have been consistent growth and we’re excited now to be funding millions of dollars globally every month. So, that’s how I got here which is turning cancer into something good.

How High Schools Can Teach Entrepreneurship - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 13 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, crowdfunding entrepreneur and IndieGoGo CEO Slava Rubin answers "How Can the Education System Better Prepare Entrepreneurs?"  Rubin details how middle and high schools should promote entrepreneurship curriculum that focuses on practice in addition to theory.  He compares entrepreneur skill development to that of a basketball player, highlighting LeBron James as an example of how practice shapes skills and how schools might use this concept in their curriculum planning.  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: How can the education system better prepare entrepreneurs?

Slava Rubin: Yeah, to me entrepreneurial thinking is just as important as teaching Math or Mandarin or Spanish or even coding. I think it’s a new language that kids should be learning. I think that an innovative idea is we should actually create a entrepreneurial class and add it to the curriculum where starting in 7th grade until you graduate high school or college every student had to run a business a year. See to me, when Lebron James was learning to play basketball, he didn’t just watch Michael Jordan on TV. He actually played every day with a basketball and we ask our students and our young people to be entrepreneurial with their thinking but we ask them to do with theory, which means without a basketball.

So, I would think that the best way to bring entrepreneurial thinking to our students, have them become innovative, have them – have the opportunity to go to the workplace or start something new very quickly and without as much fear and risk is give them the opportunity starting in 7th grade to be able to be entrepreneurs. This really goes back to kindergarten when your teacher taught you about what you aspire to be, she probably used words like lawyer and doctor and fireman and the word entrepreneur was never used and I think that needs to change.

Courtney Spence on How Reflection Informs Personal Growth

In Chapter 3 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Courtney Spence answers "What Role Does Reflection Play in Your Personal Growth?"  Spence notes how life lessons do not happen in the moment and, instead, how they happen when you take time to reflect on that moment.  She details how she revisits her childhood journaling experiences and brings that back to present to be more conscious of having a reflective process in her life.  Courtney Spence returns to Capture Your Flag 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: What role does reflection play in your personal growth?

Courtney Spence: So I heard this line a few months ago. I’ve used it in a couple of speeches, but, you know, they say that life lessons don’t happen in the moment, they happen when you take the time to reflect on that moment. So you can go through trials and tribulations, and celebrations and successes, but if you don’t actually stop to reflect on what happened, and why it happened, and who made it happen, and what did you learn from that. You really won’t take those lessons with you through the rest of your life. Or you won’t – you might take them with you for a year but not for 40.

So reflection for me is super important and it always has been, I mean I think back to the ways I got through my awkward years in middle school and high school, and the angst and the worry, I mean I go back to my house and –  my parent’s house, and I just have stacks and stacks of journals, and I recognize that for me in my teens and my early 20’s, when I was really searching for a path, journaling and reflection were a big part of that. Now granted sometimes it was about boys, a lot of the time it was about boys but that was a lot of what – you know? As a teenager, you’re struggling with, right? And it’s really something that I lost there for a while, as I was just going, going, going, I wasn’t reflecting, and I think that I found myself in situations where I couldn’t believe I was in that situation again, whether it was professionally or personally, and I’ve recognized that I need to go back to my roots, which is journaling and reflecting, and really writing it out. I mean I can think through things, but if I don’t have a pen and a paper to share it with or a friend to share it with, I really don’t process things as effectively as I want to. So reflection is key. Key.

Audrey French on Why Stability is Fundamental to a Marriage

In Chapter 8 of 15 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "Why is Stability Fundamental to a Strong Marriage?"  French shares how her parents divorce proved educational for her own relationships.  The grieving and emotional processing of her parents breakup allows French to learn from them and apply the lessons to her own relationships. 

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: Why is stability fundamental to a strong marriage?

Audrey Parker French: That question reminds me of my upbringing and how I was raised in a mostly stable family and then my parents got a divorce when I was a late-teen. And it really – while it was very, very painful, it also was very, very educational. In that, it had me realize the importance of stability in a marriage beyond what I knew when my parents were still together and things, you know, just – that’s just the way that things were at that point.

And in my own grief and emotional processing of my parents’ marriage ending and my family break up basically, I really had to look at what are the reasons why this happened. What are the deeper reasons? And hearing them both say, you know, “Wow, it’s really interesting how we kept things together so long ‘cause there are some really fundamental things that we were not on the same page about.”

And I was thinking, you know, over many years, like, “Huh, well, those are the things that I wanna make sure that my husband and I are really on the same page about.” We’re not gonna avoid topics that are confrontational or that we disagree upon. We’re gonna talk about those things and if we continue to disagree, we better at least respect each other and know where each other stands.

So you know, things like that, the importance of stability is not just for now, it’s for the future, it’s for what can happen. We don’t wanna be just able to make things work when things are easy, when the climate is nice and balmy and breezy and sunny. You know, most people can make something work in those circumstances. We wanna make sure that what we have is very, very stable, so that come what may, we can say, “Okay, bring it on, we’re strong. We can weather the storm.”

How Childhood Experiences Teach Family Values - Ken Biberaj

In Chapter 2 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council candidate and public relations executive Ken Biberaj answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?"  Biberaj discusses his Northern Virginia upbringing and how close proximity to family in the neighborhood had a powerful impact on his development.  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.