Conrad Doucette on How Family Relationships Change With Age

In Chapter 6 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "How Are Your Family Relationships Changing As You Get Older?"  Doucette notes how he is becoming more aware of what his family members have gone through in the past.  As he gets older he seeks to learn and appreciate the lives of his parents.  As an uncle watching his nieces and nephews growing up, Doucette is reminded of a child's view of the world. 

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.

The Role Patience Plays Making a New Record - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 15 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Have You Found Most Fulfilling About Recording Your Most Recent Takka Takka Album?"  Doucette shares how each member of the Takka Takka band is a musician and also has responsibilities outside the band.  In making the AM Landscapes record, Doucette finds it rewarding the band was able to improve as musicians while living normal lives. He notes how the album recording process was spread out over time, which causes you to live with what you recorded and get to know the songs more intimately before finalizing the recordings.  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.

Conrad Doucette on Getting to Play With Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Did It Mean to You to Get Asked to Play With Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead?"  A longtime fan of the Grateful Dead and Bob Weir's rhythm guitar playing, Conrad sees a dream come true when asked to join The National and play Grateful Dead songs with Bob Weir for the Bridge Sessions in March 2012.  The preparation for the performance gives Doucette a first-hand view of watching a master, Weir, rehearse for a show and direct the band.  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.

Finding Meaningful Work in a Life Coaching Career

In Chapter 6 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Katz finds the selflessness serving others as a career and life coach more rewarding than anything he has ever done.  Training and experience help him to bring out energy, competence and confidence in his clients and work with them to find new jobs and accomplish life goals. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Simon Sinek on Finding Joy in Serving Others

In Chapter 5 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About What You Do?"  Sinek finds it magical to give an individual something that impacts his or her life.  To serve and give your time and energy to enliven others gives Sinek that magical feeling and satisfaction in why he does what he does.  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:  What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Simon Sinek:  There is something magical about being able to give people something that impacts their lives. It’s more powerful than you know throwing a few coins in the cup of someone homeless. It’s when you go and you know build a house for somebody who doesn’t have a home. You know, it’s that kind of thing. It’s being in service to someone. And being able to give your time and give your energy to people and to see them, I mean live, you see them come alive and to—and when people come up to you and—it’s funny, people say the same thing to me because you’ve probably heard this a hundred times they say, and it doesn’t matter because every time I hear it, it is—it’s what fuels me. Yeah. That’s magic.

Simon Sinek on Learning New Ways to Use Your Passions

In Chapter 15 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Are You Learning to Apply Your Passions in New Ways?"  Sinek first gets clear on what he wants to do - "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" - and then plays the game of finding new ways to do it.  From branching out skills into short-form and long-form writing to working in new industries such as military, politics and government, Sinek sees himself as a student of inspiration and leadership always looking to learn more and grow.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  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 you learning to apply your passions in new ways?

Simon Sinek:  The goal of life is to know why you do what you do, right? To wake up every single day with a clear sense of purpose or cause or belief. And the fun of life is just find all the different ways to do that, right? So like I said, I know why I get out of bed in the morning. It’s to inspire people to do what inspires them, right? If we can do that together, we can change the world. Then I imagine this world, I imagine a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single day to inspire to go to work and come home every single day fulfilled by the work that they do. So to find new ways to do that is almost the game, you know, I can speak, I can write, I can teach, you know? I can write short form, I can long—I can write long form. It also makes me open to other people’s ideas. It makes me open to new industries. I never imagined I’d be working in even half the industries I’ve been exposed to. From government to politics to military, big business, you know, entrepreneurs and every industry you can imagine. And it’s always because it’s—I’m not saying, oh, I’m this kind of consultant, or I’m this kind of expert, I mean—anybody who calls themselves an expert, be very cautious, you know? Because if you think you’re an expert, it means you have—you don’t think you have anything else to learn, right? If anything, I’m a student of inspiration, I’m a student of leadership, I’m a student of these things. You know, I show up every day to want to learn more.

How to Value Your Business Network - Richard Moross

In Chapter 6 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Do You Value Your Business Network?"  Moross sees the strength of his network as how much it provides value to others rather than how much it provides value to him.  He finds great joy finding opportunities to help people by making connections with his network.  This is especially true with the recruiting, hiring and job seeking process, as Moross finds it eliminates inefficiency and insincerity that come with recruiting, sourcing, and headhunting firms.  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 Finding Joy Working a Job You Love

In Chapter 2 of 14 in his 2012 interview, Internet entrepreneur Joe Stump answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About What You Do?"  Stump shares how working a job he loves comes at the intersection of his passion, his hobby, and his profession - software development.  He compares this to what he thinks it must be like to be a professional sports player and play a game you love for a living.  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 do you enjoy most about what you do?

Joe Stump: I think what I enjoy most, to be totally honest, is that I get to look like this and act the way that I do and still make a decent living and work on what I love. But I think what I love most about what I do is that it doesn’t feel like I'm actually doing it. I say a lot that I'm often blessed and cursed that my passion, my hobby, my profession are at a perfect intersection.

So, that’s probably like the best thing that you can say, right? ‘Cause like I do exactly what I want to do and I just happen to get paid for it. I think I'm one of the few people maybe that works in an office environment that can say I kinda get what it's like to be like a professional sports player, like they get paid to play a game and like do what they love. So, that’s probably number one.

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 Personal Priorities Change With Age

In Chapter 4 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?"  Kolko shares how he spends less time worrying and working and more time with family and enjoying the world.  He has transitioned from working over 100 hours a week to roughly 60 to 70.  Kolko learns he can do powerful, meaningful work while not working all the time. 

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: How are your personal priorities changing as you get older?

Jon Kolko:  Generally, I'm spending less time worrying, more time loving my wife, more time reading, and just enjoying the world. I had probably gone from working on average probably 100 or 110 hours a week to like 60 or 70 hours and of those 60 or 70, I probably enjoy 95 percent of them as opposed to like 20 percent of the 100 hours. And so, your like quality of life is off the charts. It's not all peaches and cream. But definitely is, like it seems weird to say like as I've gotten older. Like I don’t feel very old. I still feel like a kid but if we're going to go with that train of thought as I've gotten older, I think I've realized that I can do like good powerful meaningful stuff and I don’t have to work 100 percent of the time to do it, and that I can put it aside and do something else.

What It Means to Be a Strategist - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 2 of 22 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "What Does it Mean to Be a Strategist?"  Stallings finds his strategy work is about constantly searching for new ways to create advantages for his clients.  He enjoys the discovery and research process that he gets with each project that play into creating that strategic client plan.  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 Why Your Career is Not Your Life

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "Where Do You Seek Inspiration Outside Your Career?"  Cohen challenges Erik's question, as he does not feel what he is does is a part of a "career".  Instead, he finds his family, past, present and future, and his work define his life.  This is not something linear, however, as he keeps himself open to new possibilities that plot on a timeline but not necessarily a specific career ladder.  It is less about progressing on a career and more about a life journey. 

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: Where do you seek inspiration outside of your career?

Idan Cohen: Okay, I think that the one important thing about this question is that I do not look at my—what I’m doing as a career. It’s just career is very, very boring. Anyone who’s—I’m sorry, I don’t wanna hurt anyone but anyone who’s, you know, focusing about his career then I don’t know—it’s okay, it’s great, but for me that’s the wrong choice because my work definitely defines my life.

I think there’s 2 things that kind of defines your life, and that’s family and the family that you’re gonna build, and work. ‘Cause at the end of the day, I can’t see myself not working, or not creating, doesn’t matter right now, so that’s why it’s not exactly working, I’m not going to work, I’m going to make things. And I choose what I’m going to make, and it’s not about career, it’s about building bigger things and better things and different things, and maybe going sideways and maybe going forward, and making steps into accomplishing more complicated tasks. But it’s definitely not about going to work, and it’s definitely not about career, the path and just, you know, thinking today I wanna be here and tomorrow— you know, today I wanna be this position and tomorrow I wanna be in that position, is that really interesting enough?

It should be about what you’re actually doing, it might be, you know, today I can accomplish this and tomorrow if I wanna build something bigger, I need to accomplish all of that. So it’s not about the title, it’s about what you make. And that’s how I look at it. I really don’t like to look at myself as going to work. I might say that day-to-day, you know, I’m at work but I’m just—I’m at life. I’m currently doing what I love doing.

How Getting Married Changes Your Life

In Chapter 6 of 15 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Has Getting Married Change Your Life?"  She notes how marriage weaves together two people into one and represents a lifetime commitment.  She notes how the commitment to marriage stands above either she or her husband's individual desires and needs. 

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 has getting married changed your life?

Audrey Parker French: Well, it’s not my life anymore. My life is now me and my husband. It’s a completely – I mean to the point where I – I could’ve thought that I could know what this would be like and yet until I’ve gone through it I really didn’t know what this was. It’s literally a weaving together of 2 people into one. And it’s a commitment that lasts a lifetime. And we both took that commitment and still take that commitment very, very seriously. And it means that on a day-to-day basis, it’s – you know – it’s a commitment that’s higher than ourselves, the commitment to the relationship that’s higher than what I wanna do in the morning or what I wanna do in a day or what he wants to do in the morning or do in a day, it’s – we’ve made a commitment to value our relationship above either one of our individual in the moment kind of needs.

I have done that before in the commitment level that I had to the company that I helped start. I know how to put something ahead of your own desires and we all do it every day. We just have to make sure that what we put ahead of our own desires, what we’re committed to above anything else is something really pure and really important, and really good that fulfills us. And that’s what marriage is for me. It’s been – it’s also been – it’s been really fun to find the person that really is my mirror, my equal, my match, you know, he’s the right shoe, I’m the left shoe. We’re a matching pair.

And life didn’t really make sense to either of us, we’ve laughed about it how we’ve gone out with plenty of people over the last, you know, 10 or 15 years as we’ve been learning and growing. And thinking, “Well, wow, that was a really good date, that person got me 60% of the way or 50% of the way.” But we have never experienced really getting another individual on such a deep level and really feeling that sacred spiritual precious pure feeling, and I – it’s just been life changing, really life altering and beautiful.

Finding Meaningful Work in Public Service Career - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 18 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Curtis shares how he finds joy and fulfillment working across communities, governments, and individuals solving problems.  He notes how his current private sector job allows him to make a measurable difference across communities by connecting private and public sector channels.  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.

Bijoy Goswami on What Makes Life Meaningful

In Chapter 7 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Goswami finds meaning trying to enhance the world by creating internally, in other words himself, and externally, in his work and family. 

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

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What makes your work meaningful?

Bijoy Goswami:  So I believe meaning is invented, it’s constructed. We make our meaning, we decide what is meaningful.

A lot of times we might make a decision based on, you know, we might decide based on other things people have given us and said this is meaningful so then we say okay great but ultimately we are making a decision deep down that something is meaningful. But, so meaning has to do with what I find beautiful, what I find pleasing, what I think is something that enhances the world in a way that I like it be enhanced and so, you know, that doesn’t change day today necessarily but it’s got a thrust to it, but I also know that it’s something I've chosen. So, that, you know, that I'm like my meaning is this but it isn’t necessarily the meaning. There’s separation between those two things.

So, things that I find, that I find meaningful is, you know, I think we’re here to create, you know, we have this ability to create, to create first of all our lives, ourselves, that’s the most important thing you're creating is who you are in the world and if you could succeed to that creation, you know, that’s a pretty darn amazing thing, you know, and then can you create externally. You know, can you create in the world so that others can enjoy your creations, you know, and that takes a whole other set of work whether you create as an entrepreneur or you create, you know, you create family or you create… but that fundamental act of creation and bringing something into the world is I think the core thing that is meaningful. It just seems like that’s, that’s very universal. So, what you create and how you create, what you choose to create maybe that’s the part that you go okay.

For me, like, having a family not a big priority, in fact not a priority – Negative priority in other words. I see my friends who have families and I'm like a love but they do that and I know it gives them great joy and great meaning and there’s a lot of structural things that give you meaning in that. So there’s biology and billions of years of evolution that are gonna causing you to go, that’s a really meaningful experience and what’s the most important thing is I've got my kids and I get that, you know, and I'm not decrying it and I think that’s fine. But for me that’s not a place where I feel like – I know like if I did it things will kick in that would cause me to feel like it was meaningful but it’s just not something I wanna spend my time on, where, you know, raising a kid is a long term commitment, it’s a lifelong commitment and it shifts your priorities, it shifts your focus to that. How do I bring up my kids and how can I make enough money, just wanna take care of my kids and in a way I think it becomes very – For me it becomes a more narrow pursuit rather than something that I wanna kinda keep more, more open and more, you know, more global.

The Rewards of Working in a Family Business - Ken Biberaj

In Chapter 12 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council candidate and public relations executive Ken Biberaj answers "What Have You Found Most Rewarding About Working in a Family Business?"  Biberaj notes how the shared experience working with family has helped him build trust across family generations and put a foundation in place for future generations.  He shares what he has learned from other family business owners and how it plays into the American immigrant experience.  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. 

What Makes Recruiting Work Meaningful - James McCormick

In Chapter 10 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, legal career advisor James McCormick answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  He shares how it is about bringing his experiences and passions into problem solving relationships that ultimately help individuals achieve professional goals.  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.