Mike Germano on What Lawyers Do to Protect Your Company

In Chapter 6 of 20 in his 2013 Year 4 Capture Your Flag interview, Carrot Creative social media agency CEO Mike Germano answers "What Has Working With Lawyers Taught You About Business?" Germano builds upon his Year 2 Capture Your Flag answer by sharing more about what lawyers have done to protect his company as it grows and becomes more successful.  By building relationships with the attorneys who serve his company, Germano stays better prepared for potential legal challenges that may arise.

Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO Brooklyn-based social media agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut. He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

Mike Germano on When to Promote an Employee to Partner

In Chapter 7 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Carrot Creative social media agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How Is Your Business Partnership Structure Changes As Your Company Grows?" As the company grows, Germano and his founding partners see jobs get more specialized and roles become less evenly distributed. Germano learns that what comes next requires hard decisions, including adding new partners and parting ways with a founding partner.

Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO Brooklyn-based social media agency Carrot Creative. Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

CFO Andrew Epstein on Transitioning into a General Management Role

In Chapter 2 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, charter school CFO Andrew Epstein answers "How Are Your Responsibilities Changing As Your Career Evolves?" Working as a CFO in a charter management organization, Epstein manages a finance and operations team across multiple schools and the overall network.  His responsibilities change most by giving him a global view of the organization and putting good people to work for the organization. 

Andrew Epstein is CFO of the Ascend Learning Charter School Network.  Previously, Epstein was a finance executive at Democracy Prep Public Schools and an operations executive at Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Records.  He is a former Teach for America corps member and middle-school science teacher.  He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Andrew Epstein on How Structure Helps Manage and Motivate Teams

In Chapter 12 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, charter school CFO Andrew Epstein answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?"  Epstein finds it more challenging to motivate teams than to motivate individuals.  In an environment where roles are constantly shifting, Epstein tries to find a balance between flexibility and structure in role definition. 

Andrew Epstein is CFO of the Ascend Learning Charter School Network.  Previously, Epstein was a finance executive at Democracy Prep Public Schools and an operations executive at Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Records.  He is a former Teach for America corps member and middle-school science teacher.  He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Hattie Elliot on How Entrepreneurship Fosters Personal Growth

In Chapter 14 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Has Your Entrepreneurial Experience Helped You Grow as a Person?"  For Elliot, it comes down to learning from reflective moments and accepting the accountability that comes from the entrepreneurial experience.  This gives her a greater human perspective and has taught her to be more accepting and less judgmental of others. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has your entrepreneurial experience helped you grow as a person?

Hattie Elliot: It’s funny. It feels like we keep coming back to the theme of reflection. When you are an entrepreneur, you know, when things go wrong, when you’re—you know, when you’re having trouble paying your rent, when you have employees that make major blunders, you realize 99% of the time it’s your fault, because you didn’t communicate something properly. When you are delivering a product and there’s an issue, the weight is on you. There’s really not much room for hiding behind a wall, I would say—like when you’re in the corporate world often, there’s so many levels, like when I was in advertising, you’re part of such a big team and there’s so many levels just to put together one project, when there’s a major eff-up, like, you know, there’s enough people to distribute the blame, like when I make a mistake, it’s my own, and it’s a very tough and humbling thing but in terms of personal growth, it really forces you, number one, to be accountable for your actions, if you’re gonna be a successful entrepreneur, I think accountability and reflection just are key. You need to—when things aren’t going right, you need to confront it. You need to be accountable. You need to figure out what went wrong. And not have an ego about it and figure out a way you either—I mean excuse my language, but kind of shit or get off the pot type of thing. 

If you go around blaming other people, which a lot of us have the ability to do, it’s an easy way out; you’ll never be successful. You really won’t be. So I think it’s really a matter of really acknowledging there’s this constant—you’re constantly forced to reflect, acknowledge and be accountable for your actions, which I find to be, in the grand scheme of life, has been a really incredible journey, but definitely not an easy one. But I kind of feel like I can take on the world now because I’ve had great success, I’ve had great failure, ups and downs, but it really—it gives you better perspective as a human being, it makes you a lot more sympathetic, less judgmental and more understanding towards others, and I think that that makes—has made my life, at least, so much more just rewarding on all levels, and so much more wonderful. 

Ken Rona: How to Delegate Responsibility and Empower Employees

In Chapter 8 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "What Has Been Most Challenging About Handing Off Responsibility to Others?"  Rona describes himself as an "aggressive delegator."  Learning from working at McKinsey management consulting, Rona carries an "assume benevolence" approach to giving trust to others and empowering employees. 

Ken Rona is a Vice President at Turner Broadcasting, where he leads teams across advertising sales, big data software development and business strategy.  Rona earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has been most challenging about handing off responsibility to others?

Ken Rona: I gotta say I am ruthless about it. I am ruthless. I do not find that challenging one bit. I assume that people are gonna do a good job of it. So I think there are people who manage folks who say, well, I don’t trust you so I’m going to—I’m gonna keep—I’m gonna keep this, right. Keep the task, I’m going to keep responsibility, I’m gonna manage it very closely. That’s not my style at all. I actually am aggressive. I describe it literally as I’m an aggressive delegator. And what I’ve found is that when you trust people, and that’s my MO, right, is that I trust people. My first reflex, right, in these situations is to trust that people are going to do the right thing. 

And that comes from McKinsey. It comes from—there was this notion of assumed benevolence. Assume that people are good. And that’s—don’t make up a twisted story of why they’re messing with you. Just assume like something happened or, you know, why didn’t they get back to me? Because their kid was sick. Right? Not because they’re trying to make you look bad. I found that to be true. So one of the things I do when I take over a team and I’d say that I’ve done this 3 or 4 times where I’ll take over a team and they maybe hadn’t been the most highest performing team, the first thing I do is just empower them. And in almost every case people don’t wanna disappoint. They appreciate the opportunity and, you know, it takes sometimes a little while for them to say, oh, you mean I don’t have to check with you? But I like that, I mean that—I like that I go “no, why would you? This is something you’re perfectly capable of making a decision on.” Part of my strategy for delegation is I only delegate things that people can fail on. So I try to be really careful about that. 

It’s something I learned from—Actually l learned this from Donald Trump, I learned this from watching The Apprentice. So the story on The Apprentice is when Donald Trump shows up, if you’re the project manager of the show, you know, of that day. You show up to his limo, you open the door, “Hello, Mr. Trump, welcome.” And you escort him to wherever he needs to be. That’s an important thing that needs to happen. You can’t delegate it, in that show. So what I’ve learned is that—that’s how I think about these things. There are some things that the CEO makes a request, you know, I’m paying a lot of attention. The chief research officer makes a request, I’m paying a lot of attention. Some parts of the company who are looking to make a big decision, really important decision for the company, I’m paying a lot of attention. What I want is for the staff to be in a place where if they fail, it’s safe. That I can kind of take the blame, or that I can remediate it. I can throw another person at it. I can take them away from—Like you know whatever I gotta do to help them fix it, that’s what I wanna be in a position to do. What I don’t want them to be in a position is that where something had to go to, you know, someone very senior or something very visible and it was a spectacular flame out and I wasn’t involved. If I’m involved, then it’s my responsibility. Oh, I’m sorry. If I’m involved, it’s my responsibility. I mean it’s my responsibility anyway, but like, I can get in front of it. 

So what I try to do is construct environments where it’s safe for them to fail and I actually have some people, I call them trusted hands, where there are some people who, you know, if I’m super busy, and I can’t do something that should be delegated, I will—or you know, that I’m a little uncomfortable about delegating, I will put—I will give it to one of these folks. And they will—I probably have 3 or 4 of them floating around, that can handle very complicated things that have very high emotional intelligence, very high, you know, IQ, and that I just trust that they’re gonna deal with things the right way and I of course make myself available, but I’m not worried about them—I try to like—other people, I’m willing to tolerate failure in a safe way because that helps them grow. 

Ken Rona: What It Means to Be a Leader Working in Management

In Chapter 12 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  As a leader of a team, Rona sees his role as less about thought leadership and more about helping his team solve problems, develop their own staff, and identify where and where not to decide what projects to pursue. 

Ken Rona is a Vice President at Turner Broadcasting, where he leads teams across advertising sales, big data software development and business strategy.  Rona earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University.

Transcript: 

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

Ken Rona: There are leaders in multiple elements of my job, right? There’s the leader of the teams. It’s my job to help them figure out what to work on. But my job isn’t really to be a thought leader in advanced statistics or operations research; it’s not my gig. My gig is more to help them solve prioritization problems, to solve conflict, to help them better develop their staff, to identify areas of the business where they might have impact—places that they can take ownership. I’ve also encouraged them on places where we’ve identified areas where we could take ownership; there are things where I have said we are not going to. 

So part of kind of leadership in the job, the product side of what we do is a good understanding of what to say no to. There’s this thing called multivariate testing that lets you, let’s say swap out different headlines and see which headlines are more attractive, that’s how you get these crazy headlines from Huffington Post, you know? See who’s vacationing at the Riviera. They didn’t write that, what they did was they wrote four different headlines and then saw which one led to most traffic, and that’s the one you’re seeing. So there was an opportunity to be more of an advocate at Turner for it and I said to the person who wanted to do this, like, you know, I don’t think that that is—I think we are fully engaged in the things we’re working on. And this is something that I agree would be good for Turner but what are we gonna give up? 

So I think part of what—part of what you have to do as a leader, you know, within my job is to say, what are we not going to do. So one of the things I really help the team do, I think is keep focus. 

And the other thing I do is I hold them accountable. So that’s another piece, right, where people have made commitments, and I try like any good manager, not leader but say—I try to say what day is something due. And if the thing isn’t due that day, “what’s up?” I ask, “What’s up?” And there’s always a reason, right, there’s always a reason. My direct reports don’t get to have excuses. They have to deliver. And what I tell them is if you don’t deliver, I mean the way I perceive that is, you know, either you are not—you know, you didn’t do a good job forecasting which I think you get like some passes on but at some point you should know that like some things always take longer than you think and you should be able to make that mental adjustment. But so, either you’ve done a bad job at forecasting, you need to get better at that, or you’re a liar. And that I think--but that’s my point about learning, I try to make it a little shocking so that they can—that they grab onto it. 

So I think part of that is you know the holding people accountable, and I say like you asked before about what happens in a big company, it’s a little harder to hold people strictly accountable in a big company, because you have to operate in a particular HR environment. But I think that’s an area where—and truthfully it’s an area where I would probably be more aggressive if I were in a smaller company. I’d have more freedom on it. I’d probably hold people even more accountable.

Mark Graham on Leading and Managing Digital Media Teams

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Mark Graham answers "How Do Leadership and Management Differ in What You Do?"  Graham talks about his continuing process developing leadership and management skills working in digital media.  This ranges from managing by helping team members get positive work outcomes in a timely fashion and leading by using motivational and confidence building techniques. 

Mark Graham is currently a managing editor at VH1, an MTV Networks company. Previously Graham worked in editing and writing roles at New York Magazine and Gawker Media.  He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How do leadership and management differ in what you do?

Mark Graham: I’m a relatively new manager. I’ve managed people in the past but it’s usually been teams of 3 or 4 people, and now I’m closer to the 10 person range and so it’s definitely been a learning experience to be able to communicate the goals that I have and the goals that I’m being handed down, and be able to transfer that information to specialized teams of people within an organization. So in terms of being a leader, things that I always try to do are—I’m a big fan of complimenting people on work that does well. 

In the web world, analytics are very easy to come by, you know exactly how many people read your story, you know exactly how many people commented on your story, you know exactly how many people shared the story, be it on Facebook or Twitter. And so really sort of throwing props, if you will, to people who have done stories that have resonated with people on our larger team, and really making sure when we have big team meetings that we give rounds of applause to people who’ve done the most popular stories of the week, and really be able to reassure them, you know, of the work they’re doing. 

And from a management perspective, that’s a little bit different, that’s more making sure the trains are running on time, making sure the people are getting their work done, and so there’s a little bit of—just sort of staying on top of things, that is definitely different than leadership, I see leadership as helping your team and helping build confidence in people about the work they’re doing and the work that our overall team is doing. Whereas management, at least to me, is just making sure that we’re getting the things done that we need to get done, and making sure that it gets done in a timely fashion.

Garren Katz on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 1 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Katz finds himself stressing less and getting more comfortable with the decisions he makes.  As far as what is getting harder, Katz notes a growing challenge in his life is taking on more responsibilities that come with his desire to live better and more fully. 

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. 

Transcript: 

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

Garren Katz: I would say life, actually, is getting easier. Trusting myself, trusting that whatever decision I choose is going to work out and it’s going to work out well. Not stressing as much about the little things that really don’t matter. The older I get the more clear, the more in focus priorities become. That’s getting easier. What’s getting harder is as I take on more in life, strengthening that inner accountability to be able to execute, you know, playing a bigger game, living a bigger life. I wouldn’t say that’s dauntingly harder, but it is more challenging. It’s a great challenge but that’s getting harder.

Garren Katz on How to Be a Career Coach and Help Others Succeed

In Chapter 5 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Career Coach?"   Katz notes the importance of being curious with clients, asking questions, and listening to identify challenge areas and work with his clients on creating plans to overcome them.  As his clients work toward their respective goals, Katz notes how he takes responsibility to hold clients accountable and work with them through breakdown moments. 

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. 

Garren Katz on Using Rewards to Achieve Personal Finance Goals

In Chapter 13 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "How Do You Set Personal Finance Goals?"  Katz talks about how he sends small amounts of money to his investments by playing games.  In short, he tries to match his spending on travel, restaurants, etc. with equal amounts to his investments.  He finds playing the game emotionally rewarding and also highly effective reaching his 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. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen How do you set personal finance goals?

Garren Katz: I don’t necessarily like sending big chunks of money off to my investments. To me, emotionally, it feels like it just kind of disappears into my investments, so for me, I’ll play a game where say for every trip that I plan for a year, whatever the trip cost, I will put—I will send an equal amount off to my investment. So, if India was a $2500-trip, let’s say, I will send $2500 off to the investment, and so in essence, emotionally, it feels like I’ve taken a $5000-trip. I’m having the experience, I make a connection to that great experience with the $5000 and so sending that money off, it feels different emotionally, it works well for me.

Or even a purchase, even smaller things, you know. Anytime I go out to dinner, whatever the meal cost, I will send an equal amount to my investments, and in this day and age obviously with—it’s so easy to do, it’s not hard at all to hop online and send off $75, so that might not seem, you know, significant to someone, but I go out to dinner a lot so, you know, it adds up and all of a sudden it’s—it can be 3, 4, $500 a month that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and so that’s a game I like to play. I like to connect something like investing to something that I can enjoy in the moment and meld them together. So it feels I’m excited to invest. I’m not looking out on that time horizon of 20 or 30 years before I’m going to reap those benefits. To me, it’s—I get that satisfaction, that reward instantly because, in essence, I’m playing a game with myself.

Stacie Bloom on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 4 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Bloom notes it is more about how things are changing rather than what is getting easier or harder.  She notes her three children are getting older, which presents new approaches to raising them.  As the children get older, raising them does not get easier; rather it is more about their needs changing.  She notes her job change and the additional responsibility and accountability that come with her work. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University.

Transcript: 

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

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I wouldn’t say that things are necessarily getting harder and easier so much as they’re changing. I think my children are getting older, that’s a little easier in some ways but harder in other ways. I’ve changed jobs. I would say that this new job that I have comes with a higher level of responsibility. I would say that there’s just more accountability in this position that I have currently. And that I feel that burden or that weight on me more than I did in my previous work. 

Erik Michielsen:  And how about the children, like when you talk about getting them older and making it easier but also harder, what do you mean?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  You know, when they’re babies, they have specific needs, and it’s hard to raise children. It’s hard to take care of babies. You know, it’s hard to know why they’re crying, or changing diapers all the time, and you think it will get easier as they get older because they’ll become more self-sufficient but the truth is they have other needs, they need you for other things. They’re more interested in pursuing different activities. It becomes this situation where, you know, one wants to take a swim class, one wants to take a soccer class, one wants to take a music class and suddenly you become one of those parents who are really running all over the place on the weekends, doing all of these things that you could never have imagined when they were 6 months old.

Stacie Bloom on Learning to Manage High Potential Employees

In Chapter 10 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Leadership Skills are Becoming More Relevant to You as Your Career Progresses?"  Bloom notes why management skill development is central to her current growth.  As she gains management experience, she gets more comfortable making difficult decisions and helping high potential employees flourish. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What leadership skills are becoming more relevant to you as your career progresses?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  The leadership skills that are becoming more relevant to me as my career progresses are definitely those associated with management. Managing a larger and more diverse team of individuals. I would say there’s a lot of different personalities, there are a lot of very difficult conversations, I think for me a few years ago, having those difficult conversations was unbelievably taxing, it was so stressful. I’m at the point now—I don’t love to have a difficult conversation with an employee, nobody does. But I’m certainly at the point now where I feel a lot more comfortable. I know what needs to be done. 

And that’s part of management, putting people on a professional development career path is something that’s become more important as I’m supervising higher levels of individuals, really talented people who I’m hoping they’ll stay with me for 2 or 3 years but I know that they’re not gonna stay with me forever, these are the people who are gonna have my job and more, very soon. Mentoring those people is really, really important to me. Making sure that they understand that they’re on a path where they’re gonna be able to accomplish great things. And I really take that mentorship very, very personally and very seriously.

Simon Sinek on How Reflection Informs Personal Growth

In Chapter 7 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Role Has Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?"  Sinek notes the importance of looking internally at his past actions and decisions and evaluating his performance.  Using the example of sales training, Sinek notes how the observer often learns the most.  He applies this to his life to inform his approach to making more optimal future choices and avoiding pitfalls.  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 role has reflection played in shaping your personal growth?

Simon Sinek:  The ability to look at one’s self critically. To say to one’s self, you were good in that situation. You weren’t good in that situation. You could’ve been better in that situation. Not to be overly critical meaning you’re always at fault if something goes badly or not be so filled with hubris that you think everything you did was fine and it’s always the other person, but to be able to sort of separate yourself to look at the situation from a—as if you were the third party evaluating it. You know, when they do sales training those—you know, it’s always three people, one who pretends to be the salesman, one who pretends to be the customer and one who observes. And then they all take turns, you know, and the one who does the learning is the observer. So the question is, can you be your own observer, like can you replay a situation? And so self-reflection has been huge for me and I’ve been huge into it for many, many years. The ability to say, okay, I can take some responsibility for the outcome of that, good or bad. And I can learn to do that again, or can I learn to spot those situations and avoid them in the future?

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.

Learning Professionalism Working in the Newsroom - Ross Floate

In Chapter 6 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?"  Floate notes how he likes to work hard when the work is there.  His work ethic is about professionalism and doing the job right so others do not have to fix your mistakes.  Working as a newspaper and magazine designer, Floate learns professionalism and sharpens work ethic by working with older art directors and editors who, through their criticism, teach him the importance of being accountable for errors and mistakes.  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 Entry-Level Job Teaches Design Career Skills - Ross Floate

In Chapter 7 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "What Skills Did You Learn Working Entry-Level Jobs That You Still Find Useful Today?"  Working an entry-level prepress job in print-based publishing company, Floate learns core craft skills fixing others mistakes that teach him core design skills.  That attention to detail still benefits him today.  Additionally, he learns the importance of workflow and how someone is responsible for each part of a process.  He gets better at his job by gaining respect learning to emphathize with others and respect their responsibility.  Floate learns Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.

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

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