Courtney Spence on How to Build Relationship Trust

In Chapter 3 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Courtney Spence answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" Spence shares how building relationship trust comes down to honesty, transparency, and vulnerability. She finds you create and maintain trust by being committed to honest communication and accepting that it is okay to be vulnerable.

Social entrepreneur and storyteller Courtney Spence founded 501c3 nonprofit Students of the World (SOW) to shine a light on progress and celebrate the world's problem solvers. She is building a movement of next-generation storytellers and creative activists through the SOW program The Creative Activist Network. Spence is a graduate of Duke University. 

How to Be a More Flexible Manager and Lead Teams Through Change

In Chapter 14 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Courtney Spence answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?" Spence learns to recognize that individuals that make up a team are in a constant state of change. She learns to be more adaptive, flexible, and responsive in her management style to bring out the best in her team as the organization evolves and grows. Social entrepreneur and storyteller Courtney Spence founded 501c3 nonprofit Students of the World (SOW) to shine a light on progress and celebrate the world's problem solvers. She is building a movement of next-generation storytellers and creative activists through the SOW program The Creative Activist Network. Spence is a graduate of Duke University.

Audrey French on How Emotional Vulnerability Can Build Relationship Trust

In Chapter 7 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" French finds sharing a vulnerable moment or being open to showing emotional vulnerability is a good way to build relationship trust. This helps her create and open, sharing and accepting environment to engage others in and out of work. Audrey Parker French is an entrepreneur who co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She currently volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and teaches children's choir. She graduated from Wake Forest University and lives with her husband in Austin, Texas.

Audrey French on How Make Your Communication More Effective and Enjoyable

In Chapter 9 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Are You Learning to Communicate More Effectively?" French learns to see communication as more than getting information across to another person. Specifically she advances her communication skills by embracing the relational or relationship way shared experiences can foster more effective communication and understanding between two parties. Audrey Parker French is an entrepreneur who co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She currently volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and teaches children's choir. She graduated from Wake Forest University and lives with her husband in Austin, Texas.

Bijoy Goswami on What It Means to Be Trustworthy

In Chapter 12 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" To Goswami, being trustworthy means being true to where you are and what you believe. By presenting yourself truthfully, trust ensues.  He notes trust and happiness are not achieved by reaching a destination, but rather are achieved by being true to yourself.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas.  He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully.  Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software.  Goswami graduated from Stanford University.

Jason Anello on Building Long-Term Client Relationships

In Chapter 12 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and Manifold ad agency co-founder Jason Anello answers "How are Progressively Longer Term Relationships Changing How You Do Business?" Doing multiple ad campaigns and projects for clients such as Microsoft allow Anello and his team to better understand the client business, from its brand to its products to the client team personalities. The experiences create reference points Anello uses to deepen the Microsoft client relationships and build upon past projects with new creative projects.

Jason Anello is a founding partner and creative director at Manifold Partners, an award-winning creative advertising agency.  Previously, Anello worked in creative leadership roles at Yahoo!, Ogilvy & Mather, and Digitas.  A passionate foodie and traveler, he runs the Forking Tasty food blog and supper club series.  He earned a BFA from University at Albany.

Mike Germano on Winning Global Deals by Meeting Clients Face-to-Face

In Chapter 15 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Carrot Creative social media agency CEO Mike Germano answers "What Have You Found Most Rewarding About Traveling to New Places?" To Germano traveling abroad is less about the travel experience and more about in-person opportunity he gets to connect to international clients who, when given a world of choices, choose to work with his Brooklyn business and team.

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.

Cathy Erway on How to Create Relationship Trust

In Chapter 3 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, writer and healthy food advocate Cathy Erway answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?"  Erway believes it comes with time and comes with testing, particularly in high stress environments.  Going through an intense period can teach you whether or not you can trust another person and how you can trust that person. 

Cathy Erway is Brooklyn-based author, part-time cook, freelance writer, radio host and teacher focused on healthy food advocacy.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Online Learning Limitations for Career Education - Jullien Gordon

In Chapter 16 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What are the Limitations of Using Online Learning Tools for Career Education?"  After creating several online learning programs for career planning, Gordon finds it is fundamental to have a live event or live interaction to build a successful career coaching or inspirational speaking experience.  Gordon references both Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar as examples of motivational speakers who complement core live event work with online resources.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What are the limitations of using online learning tools for career education?

Jullien Gordon: It’s been tough. I have created quite a few online programs to help people navigate their career in a more powerful way. And what I found is that one of my gifts is actually my presence and the listening in the safe space that I’m able to create. And when you think about Tony Robbins or Zig Ziglar, those guys—their businesses are built off of live events. While they may have audio programs and things of that nature, there’s something about being in a live space. I also believe in the wisdom of the crowds and you—in some cases, you can’t facilitate that online. But when I’m asking the right questions and I’m creating safe spaces for people to help each other, get clear on their answers, I just found that there is something unique that happens in a live event that can’t happen online. That’s really been difficult for me is to translate that safe environment online. What is safe about being online is that sometimes people feel like they can be anonymous, and that’s where they get safety online, but there’s just an energy that happens in a live space that I haven’t been able to translate online yet. I’ve seen a lot of people get inspired online, but I haven’t seen a life transform online. I have seen a life transform in my events. Like right there, in the moment. I haven’t seen that online before.

Lulu Chen on How Confidence Improves Your Work Performance

In Chapter 4 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "What Role Does Confidence Play in the Work That You Do?"  As a fashion professional, Chen finds confidence helps improve your own performance and, as a result, those working around you. 

Lulu Chen is a photo art director working in retail e-commerce in New York City.  Previously, Chen worked as a freelance stylist for leading fashion catalogs and magazines.  She earned a BFA in design and art history from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What role does confidence play in the work that you do?

Lulu Chen: So I think confidence comes into play in a lot of different ways actually. I think it comes into play for yourself, in that you trust your own abilities and, you know, if you have to lead a team or direct for—in what I’m doing now, you direct a team of people, you also—I think when you exude confidence, they trust you, and they, you know, they trust in the process and the project, and—I mean, no one really wants to take direction from someone who seems unsure of themselves, right?

When you’re confident, I think you stress less. You’re just more sure, you’re more steady. I think that’s great for yourself and anyone you work with. But also when you aren’t confident, I think it snowballs, you know. Everybody kind of through osmosis, everyone becomes a little, you know, unsure of themselves. And that’s just a disaster. Right? Because—And also, you know, when you confidently present something to someone in a meeting even or let’s say a prospectus or something, it definitely sells better than if you carry yourself in an unsure way. You know, the way you speak, and how you feel about it too.

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: How to Establish Trust When Building Relationships

In Chapter 10 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?"  Rona notes that trust is the currency of business, not money.  He learns to just give trust to his staff, noting if you give it, you get it.  He finds this something controllable. When there is no direct reporting relationship, either with people more senior or in different parts of the business, Rona tries to demonstrate trust to them. 

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: How do you establish trust when building relationships? 

Ken Rona: Well, with my staff, I just give it. There’s that Paul McCartney, John Lennon line— ‘the love you get is equal to the love you give’ or something—I mean it’s that kind of notion. I think that if you get it—if you give it, you get it. So but there are—that’s with your staff and that’s kind of more controllable. I think for folks who are let’s say more senior than me or in different parts of the business where I don’t have—there’s no direct reporting relationship, I think that one of the things that I do is I exhibit to them that I trust them. And I try to demonstrate to people that I think about them in the circle of trust. 

I was just talking to someone about this today, someone I had lunch with, to say in our first interview, when she was interviewing me, we got to talking about a personal issue for her and I gave her some advice that you probably wouldn’t give somebody that you had just met. And I was—she said—she was talking to me about this today, this was 2 years later. I said well I did that to say like, you know, I would expect that we would have a relationship that is, you know, trusting. And that I was gonna kind of talk to you about this stuff and once again, I guess in some ways I did the same thing I do with my staff. I gave her my trust. And I brought her in to my circle. And that’s what I try to do. 

Now having said that, some people are unresponsive to it. Some people don’t respond when you say something personal. Or when you be kind of a real person. They may not respond. And that tells you something about them. I think that tells you kind of more how you have to treat them. It’s a more buttoned down relationship. But you know what I tell people about trust is—once again I try to come up with a pithy line, trust is the currency of business. That is how business works. It’s not money. 

The way things happen is that if I trust you to do something and you trust me—that we all kind of trust each other that we’re all gonna do what we said we’re going to do, right, we’re gonna meet our commitments. Wall Street certainly thinks about it that way. So the thing you’re making commitments about is money or projects or whatever, but I think that the –what limited success I’ve had I think is because people trust me to do the right thing, they trust my judgment and I’ve tried to demonstrate it. 

So I think also, you know, you get a lot of benefits by reps. One of the things that I try to do for the staff is make sure that they don’t—when I’m delegating, they’re not there in a situation where they can fail, right? Part of that trust is when somebody gives me something that I have the judgment to know when it cannot fail. That if my boss asks me to do something that you know, I have to make a call. Is this something that I should—that he is willing to tolerate failure on, or that he’s not gonna be super happy about. And he said that I get it right, I build up more trust. I build up social capital. I think it was social capital. And in fact we built up enough social capital with the stuff we’re working on where the company has entrusted us with more strategically important things to do. And I think that’s how you know when you’re a success. That if you kind of feel that people—that your circle of trust gets bigger. I guess I’ll say that.

Ken Rona on How Aspirations Change as Responsibilities Grow

In Chapter 11 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing as Your Responsibilities Grow?"  Professionally, Rona points to how he has established trust with his colleagues and bosses to make decisions and solve problems.  This leads Rona to think about ways he could handle larger senior management responsibilities.  However, personally, Rona sees his aspiration as staying in Atlanta and making sure his wife and children are stabled and grounded. 

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: How are your aspirations changing as your responsibilities grow?

Ken Rona: One of the things that I think I’ve shown is that I can be trusted. I can be trusted with staff. I can be trusted with decisions. I can be trusted with problems. As I’ve kind of proven that trust, I start to say, “well, you know what? Maybe I could be the CEO or COO of a company. Maybe not something the size of Turner, but certainly in the analytic space, I’m probably—“ So I kind of see that vision and I think that’s not something that I saw 3, 4, 5 years ago. But I think that I—I think that I could be a pretty effective, you know, senior C level person at a company that does what I do. That’s not to say a media company. I wouldn’t -- I’m wholly unqualified for that. But you know—or to be like the head of global analytics for something. Like I think that’s—I think that’s where I’m headed and I didn’t see—I didn’t really see that vision 5 years ago certainly. But now I think professionally I do. 

I think the question is, is that gonna be good for my wife and the family? I think that those kinds of jobs might be—Like I would be very interested in it but I’m certainly not interested in it enough to put my family at risk, you know? Or you know, and the family the—or should I say, I’m not interested enough to put the family dynamic at risk. It was quite difficult to get everyone to Atlanta and to a happy place; hopefully we’re there. The thought of trading—to uprooting people for any job right now I can’t really get my head around. So actually part of the aspirations, you know, when you talk about aspirations, I took it as professional aspiration, but I can tell you I have a personal aspiration to stay in Atlanta. 

I really—I do not think—and that my aspirations have really changed. I mean I—before I thought about moving I’d be perfectly happy myself to be move every 5 years. I think with the family, and the relative, the relative success that I’m enjoying I don’t--really don’t wanna move. I really want everyone to be stable and for my, you know, for my wife to be grounded in Atlanta

Simon Sinek on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 10 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?"  Simon notes it is getting easier to spot things he should avoid and then work around the obstacles while maintaining pursuit toward his end destination or goal.  As his life becomes more public, Sinek notes how it is harder to know who to trust and shares how he is working through this situation in his life.  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 is getting easier and what is getting harder in your life?

Simon Sinek:  It’s getting easier to spot things that I should avoid. So for example, let’s imagine that we’re standing in the corner of a large room, and I give you a simple instruction, I want you to walk in a straight line to the other corner. Off you go. And without telling you, I put a chair in front of you. Well, you just walk around the chair on your way to that destination, right? And even though you just disobeyed my order, which is to walk in a straight line to that side. The point is the destination was more important than the route you took, right? Now if we reset and I give you the same situation, again, where we start in the corner of the room, and I say to you, I want you to walk in a straight line anywhere, you know, somewhere in this room, and you’re gonna look at me you go, well, where do you want me to go? I’m like, I don’t know, you’re smart, pick a direction. And you’ll pick a direction, you’ll walk in straight line. And without telling you I put a quick chair in front of you, quickly put a chair in front of you, and you come to a grinding halt. And I—you’ll turn to me and say, well, how can I—now where do you want me to go? You blocked it. In other words, when you know the destination, it’s very easy to make adjustments, right? And when you don’t know the destination, every obstacle, even though it’s the same obstacle, brings you to a grinding halt, or forces you to just make sudden corrections which, again, there’s no sense of direction. And so the thing that I’ve gotten much better at, is because I have a clear set, a sense of where I’m going, is I find it much easier to go around obstacles as they appear. Where you know a few years ago, they would have stopped me in my tracks.

Erik Michielsen:  What’s getting harder?

Simon Sinek:  What’s getting harder is—and I think this is for everybody as we grow older, it’s knowing who to trust. You know, we meet lots of people, and especially if you have a little bit of success in the world, it’s hard to know who to trust. Because I’ve had instances where people called me their friend, treated me like their friend, you know, they called me on weekends to see how I was doing, you know, and then when it came close—when we, you know, decided to do some work together and we look at a contract, and I made some, you know, we made some comments on the terms that we didn’t like and they went: Clearly we can’t work together.  And I never heard from them again. I was like, wait, I thought you’re my friend. You know? So it makes you cynical unfortunately, a couple of bad experiences makes you a little cynical. The hard part is, you know, you wanna trust everybody, you know? And so it’s—I’m learning. I’m learning that. That, I haven’t figured that one out completely, but I’m learning.

How Empathy Helps Build Relationship Trust - Ross Floate

In Chapter 9 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?"  Floate notes he establishes trust by "conveying you respect the other person before you claim respect for yourself."  He finds it is easiest to foster when you show the other person you are willing to think beyond yourself.  He sees trust as an extension of empathy.  By serving others' needs and supporting them, Floate finds he creates bonds that establish that trust over time.  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.

Joe Stump on Startup Founder Advice on Working With Venture Capitalists

In Chapter 11 of 14 in his 2012 interview, Internet entrepreneur Joe Stump answers "What Were the Main Learning Points From Starting and Selling a Company?"  Through starting and selling SimpleGeo, Stump gets a clear understanding of how the sausage factory works in the VC land. He first learns the Internet startup talent ecosystem - programmers/builders, luminaries/speakers, founders, and investors/venture capitalists - and, in particular, how the game is played at the top of the investing scene.  He turns a founder frustration - how venture capitalists overshare information - into a founder strength. 

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 were the main learning points from starting and selling a company?

Joe Stump: I don’t even know where to begin. The main learning points that I took away from SimpleGeo, I think, were I got a very clear understanding of how the sausage factory worked in the VC land, right? There are a few layers of sediment in the startup world. There are the implementers, the people that are banging out code, they're writing design, stuff like that. Slightly above them are the luminaries in that area, right? They are the people that go and speak at conferences about the new Java script frameworks that they're writing, and things like that.

One kind of layer above them are the founders. Those are people that go out and have a crazy idea and decide they want to build a company. And then the layer above that are the investors and VC. And you really don’t have any insight into what's going on until you kind of like move your way up. So I got a very clear, terrifying view of what that top layer is and understanding how that works was important to my long-term success. You have to know how the game is played.

Erik Michielsen: How is the game played?

Joe Stump: That game is like Lord of the Flies on steroids. I mean, it is cut throat. You know, people will -- There's so much drama that happens behind that investing scene that nobody sees. There are things like -- you talk to entrepreneurs, other founders. I call being a founder, being a part of the fraternal order of founders. You just don’t know what it's like until you’ve like actually been in it. I've had founders tell me, “I want to raise money from both of these guys but this guy won’t invest if this guy invests.”

I've had other people tell me that investors have called them and threatened them with their livelihood if they don’t do a deal in the way that they want them to do it. Investors gossip non-stop like even if you sign – even if they're a board member and they have a fiduciary responsibility to keep their mouth shut, they’ll gossip all day long. So understanding -- The biggest lesson I took away from that is like you can't trust anybody. But what you can do is leverage that.

Something that I've been doing more recently and the ways that you can kind of leverage that -- I probably shouldn’t be saying this but, is I know that if I go and tell somebody that so and so is doing really well and if I can strategically leak positive information about a company that I've invested in or I'm an adviser in to other people that are like -- and get out ahead of that company.

A good example of something that I might do is in a company that I'm advising in or invested in, I have deep insight into what's going on, right? And I usually have a strategic six to twelve-month window ahead of what they're planning on doing. And if I know that bits of data over here are going to help them six months from now and they're going to need this person or this firm or this capital in six months, I can leverage that gossip in the way that -- and that distrust and basically deploy knowledge ahead of time and just set the stage up ahead of time.

And I think one of the biggest lessons I had that I took away from -- really from all that experience is I love sausage but I hate the sausage factory. I don’t want to know how it's made, right? So I've tried to remove myself from that a little bit. And I think the other lesson that was really hard for me to swallow, you hear about really crappy things happening to good people and what's really frustrating is these people that are doing really crappy things are being exalted. These investors are being exalted on every blog, tech blog and everything as being like -- All they do is help founders. Well, I know for a fact that people that you say help founders have destroyed founders. So, don’t tell me that that’s actually how it happens.

The thing that was really difficult for me to accept was people would say “it's just business”, which is the MBA way of saying, don’t hate the player, hate the game. There are a few players that I legitimately hate because they have strayed way beyond what I think is acceptable human interaction but it has allowed me to embrace the parts of the game in a way that allows me to work with people that probably otherwise I wouldn’t want to, in a way that benefits everybody.

Idan Cohen on Learning to Manage and Delegate Responsibility

In Chapter 19 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Are You Learning to More Effectively Hand Off Responsibility?"  Cohen notes the challenges of handing off his product vision to others as well as not diving into details enough.  He believes a balance must be found between the two and this is the underlying challenge he faces. 

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to more effectively hand off responsibility?

Idan Cohen: So I think that I have this problem where I’m just—some—on specific things I would go into the smaller details, smallest details. And it would be extremely hard for me to hand off responsibility because I have the image of—the exact image of what something should look like as the end product, and it’s extremely hard for me to accept a different direction or different angle on it. On the other hand, I definitely do not dive into details, small details enough sometimes, so at some point I will hand it off and will just let someone else take care of it.

And that’s exactly kind of right now it’s a little bit of like the wrong way to do it, because it needs to be somewhere in the middle, ‘cause you need to be able to trust the other person—that the other person can achieve your final vision, be able to visit him along the way and guide but not impose your opinion, or the way you see it, not just having him, you know, do the work, but actually letting him think his way through it. So I think it’s important to find that balance between those—trying to do that.

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

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

Transcript: 

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

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

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

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

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