Randall Metting on How to Start a Blog That Builds Your Personal Brand

In Chapter 1 of 10 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, brand marketer Randall Metting answers "How Did Starting a Blog Help You Build Your Personal Brand?" By channeling his passions for music, food, culture and his dog Shiner into a blog, Metting brands himself "The Unofficial Mayor of Austin".  The blog allows him to cultivate his passions and tell the story of Austin while building meaningful community ties. Randall Metting is a brand marketer working for Dulce Vida Spirits in Austin. Metting has built a career on helping companies and non-profits develop integrated marketing strategy and brand development programs. As "The Unofficial Mayor of Austin, Texas" Metting authors the randallmetting.com community blog. He is also an on-air radio personality for 93.3 KGSR radio in Austin. Metting earned a B.S. in Advertising from the University of Florida.

Jon Kolko on How Pressure Can Help and Hinder Employee Motivation

In Chapter 9 of 16 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and designer Jon Kolko answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?" Kolko finds that intrinsic motivation approaches better suit designers than extrinsic ones. He finds extrinsic factors tied to strategic goals are less tangible and can come across as fire drills and do more harm than good to design team productivity. As he grows as a leader, Kolko looks for ways to nuance both tools managing his team. Jon Kolko is VP of Design at MyEdu and the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design (AC4D). He has authored three books on design and previously has worked in design roles at Austin, Texas venture accelerator Thinktiv and global innovation firm frog design. He was a professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jon Kolko on How to Improve Social Interactions at Work

In Chapter 13 of 16 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and designer Jon Kolko answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" Kolko shares how working effectively with others, no matter what differences exist, comes down to respect. Respecting a person's point of view creates a more accepting foundation to have a discussion and to communicate more effectively. Jon Kolko is VP of Design at MyEdu and the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design (AC4D). He has authored three books on design and previously has worked in design roles at Austin, Texas venture accelerator Thinktiv and global innovation firm frog design. He was a professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

What a Nonprofit Learns About Building University Partnerships

In Chapter 19 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Courtney Spence answers "How Has Your Nonprofit Built Relationships With Universities and How is This Changing?" Experience teaches Spence to appreciate every university is different - from students to culture to community. When looking at a college campus partnership opportunity, Spence and her team focus on students first, then administration, then alumni as they scale university relationships. 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.

Bijoy Goswami on Giving People Space to Be Themselves

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?" Goswami references his MRE Model for understanding different personality types, the maven, the relator, and the evangelist. He notes the importance of giving every person space to be themselves and then meeting them in their space to create something together.

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.

Bijoy Goswami on Changing Priorities As You Get Older

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing As You Get Older?" The older he gets, the more Goswami puts a priority on being protective of his time. Choosing who and what to spend his time on becomes progressively more important to Goswami than other pursuits such as making money or even starting a family.

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 Motivating the Many Moving Parts of a Team

In Chapter 19 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and Manifold ad agency co-founder Jason Anello answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?" Anello uses his enthusiasm and passion to motivate a team as best he can, understanding that he also needs to break down the team into pieces and focus on each of the different personalities that contribute to the whole. 

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.

Phil McKenzie on Finding a Management Style to Lead a Company

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Phil McKenzie answers "How Would You Describe Your Management Style?"  Starting his company, McKenzie leads loosely.  Over time, he finds the managerial style that works best for him and his team is more assertive, hands-on, and built on structure and boundaries.  He learns to separate how he works and how he gets motivated from what others require to thrive. 

Philip L. McKenzie is the Founder and Global Curator of Influencer Conference, a global content platform that brings together tastemakers in the arts, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and technology to discuss the current and future state of influencer culture. Prior to that, he was Managing Partner of influencer marketing agency FREE DMC and an equities trader at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  He earned an MBA from Duke University and a BBA from Howard University.

Jullien Gordon on Why Living a Fulfilled Life Starts With Being Yourself

In Chapter 9 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "How Are Your Personal Experiences Shaping Your Professional Aspirations?"  For Gordon, it comes down to lifestyle design and in this, personal and professional are the same thing.  Gordon notes that at the end of the day your life is integrated and your behaviors need to be aligned to create conistent behaviors that support that.  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: How are your personal experiences shaping your professional aspirations?

Jullien Gordon: There’s no division between who I am and what I do, they are very linked. And so this is about lifestyle design for me, and my career is part of my life, there’s four domains of my life which are myself, my family, my career, and my community. So who I am is actually informing everything that I do, and I think that when we move through life in that way, we just feel more integrated and we feel more satisfied.

The way I think about it is that oftentimes we’re moving through life and there’s five different versions of ourselves. There’s who you really are, there’s who we think we are, there’s who we want to be, there’s who others think we are, and there’s what others need us to be. And to the extent that those five different versions of ourselves are spread out and they aren’t one, is where we find that we’re unfulfilled. Those are where leaks occur in our happiness and our joy. And to the extent that those things can be aligned, and you don’t feel like you have to be someone else—somebody else for somebody else, and that who you are becoming and who you are, are actually one, I find that that’s where I feel most alive and most fulfilled.

So, again, who I am informs what I do and so I don’t see a separation. There’s no separation between our personal and professional lives. If there was, where would it be? At our front door? At the driveway? At the parking lot? At our desk? There’s no line. It’s helpful to talk about them separately sometimes, but at the end of the day, our life is integrated, it’s one thing, it’s not these different compartments. If your day at work sucks then that’s gonna filter into your “personal life.” If your personal life is sucking, that’s gonna filter into your professional life. So there’s no distinction for me between the two. They’re all one for me.

Jullien Gordon on What It Means to Be a Leader

In Chapter 11 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"   Gordon notes the importance of having original thoughts and following to lead.  This gets him in a place where he can identify opportunities in his field and use his iteration process to release products and services that put him in a leadership position.  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 does it mean to be a leader in what you do?

Jullien Gordon: I think being a leader means having original thoughts, not just following the steps or the path that was currently laid out for you by, perhaps the original pioneer in your space. And so I like the notion of not following the leader but following to lead. At some point, the leader in your space is going to transition, exit, or go in a different direction and you have to say, “okay, I’ve been following and learning for this long from this person, but what original, authentic thoughts are coming through me that I need to bring into the world and bring forth?” So it really means being you at the end of the day because nobody can be you better than you, and while you may have someone who guides you for quite some time, ultimately you have to find out what is your authentic message and voice, and I think that’s what makes you a leader in whatever space it is you choose to operate in.

Erik Michielsen: What role does the trial and error process play in that leadership development?

Jullien Gordon: My whole life has been a journey of failing forward. I’ve made a lot of mistakes from losing amazing team members to unsuccessful online product launches to errors in written documents and published documents, and I constantly learn from that. I’m more of a get-it-done than a perfectionist, I used to be a perfectionist but now I’m more about getting it done and you can tell from my Good Excuse Goals book that it’s about getting the product out and then iterating from there, and getting it at least 80-90% right but not trying to get it 100% right and so. I recognize the consequences of moving in that way. But for me, even with mistakes and errors along my journey, my life has continued to impact other people’s lives. Whereas if I was trying to make things perfect, I still may be in cubby hole somewhere trying to make things perfect before I show it to the world, and my 80-90% right things have been out in the world and people have found them valuable and been inspired by them. And of course I need to close the gap over time but that’s the process for iteration for me.

Jullien Gordon on Improving Career Workshop Experiences

In Chapter 14 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "How Are You Learning to Facilitate More Effective Workshop Experiences?"  In his public speaking work facilitating career education workshops, Gordon shares how he has transitioned from providing his audience tools and answers to asking questions and allowing his audience to come up with authentic answers.  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: How are you learning to facilitate more effective workshop experiences?

Jullien Gordon: Originally, when I started this work, it was all about giving people the answers, the 8 cylinders of success. Here, here’s my 8 cylinders of success. Try this on and use it for your life, implement it. And while 5 of the cylinders may resonate with you, for somebody else, it may be 3 cylinders, for somebody else it may be all 8. But I found by instead of giving answers and just by asking the right questions, I help the individuals in the audience actually come to their own authentic answers. And it’s their own authentic answers that are gonna stick with them throughout their life. I can give you my weight loss program but if it doesn’t align with who you are then your chances of actually completing it are going to be slim. But if you come up—if I ask you the right questions in terms of your eating patterns, how your body reacts and you come up with your own authentic answers for your diet, your exercise routines, et cetera. What kind of exercise is fun for you? I can’t just run around a track. I need a ball. I need to be playing basketball or I need to be playing soccer. I can’t exercise just by running around a track, that’s not fun, that’s not engaging for me. So, again, it’s been by asking the questions and trusting that the people know the answers. That’s what interviewing is all about, the assumption is that the answer is already within you. And if I can create a safe space and ask the right questions and bring it out, then you are creating your own plan and strategy for the next phase of your life.

Jullien Gordon on Ways to Decrease Turnover and Retain Employees

In Chapter 21 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What Approaches Are You Taking to Help Organizations Better Retain Senior Management Talent?".  In his human capital strategy work, Gordon uses an interviewing process identify and close the gap between employee life goals and employer work expectations.  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 approaches are you taking to help corporations better retain senior management talent?

Jullien Gordon: So I’m actually going to these organizations and leading trainings where I ask key employees these core questions and this can be in a group space, or it can be in a one-on-one space. And then I take that data anonymously, and I look for patterns in terms of what the employees are really seeking for their lives in general and their expectations of their employer, and the reasons why they work, and I take that back to the employer to help them close the gap between what their employees want and expect and their current human capital strategy. And using those insights, we’re able to close that gap and increase retention and lower the turnover rates.

So that’s really what it is, it’s a simple practice but, again, it takes someone who can listen from a non-judgmental space, someone who can listen without any intent for the employee. So I go in to an employer and I speak with an employee, and I’m asking not because I’m even trying to retain you, I’m just asking out of pure curiosity about what your vision is for your life. And to the extent that I can help your employer help you achieve your vision for your life, the more likely it is that you will stay at this particular organization and be engaged.

Erik Michielsen: What have you found surprising about those interviews?

Jullien Gordon: First and foremost, there’s no standard answer, right? So when—especially when I ask the question around the definition of success, an employer might say more money is what’s gonna keep somebody, and they’ve tried that and they might get a little pop in performance for a month or two, and then the performance goes right back down to what it was and so when you really ask people what their definition of success is in the three ways that they measure it, you see all of these unique ways and I’ve done this in audiences of 4-500. And there are very few people who have identical answers. So that’s first and foremost, everybody has unique answers.

And then some of the answers that they have won’t cost the employer a dime to actually implement and support. For instance, if part of my definition of success is building strong relationships and the quality of my relationships, there are through affinity groups and things of that nature, an employer can actually offer that intentionally to their employees, not as a passive thing, but intentionally saying we have these spaces for people who are couples, people who are married with kids, people who are in this life stage and dealing with this, people who have cancer at our organization, whatever. People can find quality relationships in the context of their employer, so and companies aren’t just gonna be about technical things in getting things done and shipping. They are actually gonna be I think in the future more social environments, also like colleges where I am getting a lot of my life needs met through this space. Of course, from 8 to 5, I am working hard to move this organization and the clients from point A to point B, but there are wraparound services that don’t cost employers that much to—that will actually help the employees achieve their definition of success in not only their career but also in their life.

What Factors Determine Your Work Ethic - Lulu Chen

In Chapter 5 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?"  Chen considers nature versus nurture when thinking about the origins of her work ethic.  She finds influences do come from outside forces such as parents or work experience but also feels much of work ethic is inherent and part of who you are. 

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: Where did you learn your work ethic?

Lulu Chen: I don’t think you learn it. I think it’s just who you are. I think it could be developed, you know, the whole nurture versus nature argument. I think my parents always worked really hard. And so they were good examples of working really hard and I learned probably some of the work ethic from them but also I just—it’s never really a question—you just always do the best that you can. But I don’t know if that was learned or just who I am.

Erik Michielsen: And do you have people ask you about that? 

Lulu Chen: I don’t think people really talk about it. I mean I think you get hired again as a freelancer, if they know that you care and that you work hard. And that you’re invested in their project as much as they are, or, you know, I think that it becomes expected when somebody knows who you are, and you—if you’re having a slacking off day, you know, they’ll notice it, but it’s ultimately not because you’re trying to be lazy or something, you know. 

Adam Carter on Deciding Not to Grow a Nonprofit

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What Made You Decide Not to Expand the Scope of Your Micro-Philanthropy Efforts?"  As Carter gains experience, he finds it is not in his best interest to scale his non-profit in the funds it raises and the number of projects it completes.  Carter notes his struggle to do more good while staying true to his hands-on founding goals. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation, which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What made you decide not to expand the scope of your micro-philanthropy efforts?

Adam Carter: I think a lot of start-ups whether it’s a nonprofit or a business, they’re immediately thinking, okay, how big can I get? I think that’s kind of the instinct there. So when I started Cause & Affect, I was really excited to really create a model that could be ramped up in time. And so as I started the process, as I started to raise money, and then I started to distribute the funds to these projects around the world, I got to the point where I realized that there was a problem and that was that as I scaled up Cause & Affect, it would change the whole structure of what I had envisioned. You know, I created this so that I would be able to be out in the field personally overseeing all of these projects. I mean, Cause & Affect is based on the fact that I’m able to see exactly how every dollar is spent, and that I’m not just simply sending it over to organizations that look like they have a good website, or someone goes and visits and says, “Oh, it’s a good project. Okay, here’s a few thousand dollars.” That’s not how it works.

So what I realized is that for me to really scale this up, first of all it would require a lot more time. I mean, as it is I’m putting in a lot of my own time and money for traveling, and I’m content with that. That’s fine, but in order for me to do this really full time, you know, to that extent, I would have to get some income, and so then you just kind of work backwards. Well, what’s the minimum amount of income I would need to live my life and plan for a future, whatever? So, I mean, even if it was just, let’s say $50,000, from $50,000—If I’m gonna raise $50,000, that’s gonna go towards me, we have to be sure that’s only maybe 10% of what we’re raising. So then you’re looking at $500,000 that we’d have to bring in every year in order to justify a $50,000 salary for myself. And that’s obviously quite a challenge these days, and also once you—in order to bring in $500,000 a year, you might have to hire someone to help you with your marketing or your fundraising, and then you’ve got another salary to deal with, so that’s more money you need to bring in just to break even, and I felt like this was just setting up a lot of pressure for me personally, whereas what I’m really good at, I wasn’t born to be a CEO and to micro-manage four or five people working for me, and if I wanted to do that I probably would have set up a business or an NGO 15 years ago.

What I’m good at is the interpersonal relationships in the field and assessing each of these projects and finding the best way to help them, and finding out how to be the most effective with this small amount of money. Now, obviously, it would be wonderful to be able to distribute more money, and hopefully, down the road, we will find a way to do that, to ramp up these contributions in that there is still a way within this model to give a lot more money. I mean each of these projects that I’m assisting with, $1,000 or $2,000. I could easily add a zero to that if some other donors come on board that really share the vision, but I kind of realized that I needed to focus on the task at hand which was making sure that every dollar distributed goes directly to the people in need, instead of worrying about how big of a structure I could create and, instead of getting my ego in it of like, how big of an organization I could create.

Anatole Faykin: Why to Have Startup Co-Founders Who Are Lawyers

In Chapter 12 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "What Has Working With Lawyers Taught You About Business?"  Faykin joins a startup founded by two lawyers as a co-founder.  He quickly realizes each brings very different skills and, over time, learns to complement their negotiation and contract work with an operations and product development focus. 

Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Matt Ruby on How Childhood Independent Play Develops Imagination

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

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

Matt Ruby on Louis CK Style Influences on Making Better Comedy Videos

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Has Louis CK Taught You About Making Better Comedy Videos for the Web?"  Ruby notes how having full control over the creative process allows Louis CK to communicate a more personal point of view.  He notes how Louis CK is able to get more personal in his work on his show "Louie."  Ruby notes how this is also true with Woody Allen films and how the director also keeps ownership over his personal vision.  Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has Louis CK taught you about making better comedy videos for the web?

Matt Ruby: Well, I think the fact that he makes everything himself and, you know, like writes it, acts in it, edits it, directs it, and has full control over the process I think is, you know, I think you can sense it in the stuff that he makes, it feels more like something that comes from a single person’s viewpoint as opposed to so much of what’s on TV seems like it comes from a room filled with like 20 people that are all trying to agree which is cool but like a little bit more – makes stuff more homogenous and so I think, you know, part of what you see from — I’m thinking specifically the show Louis is that you can— if you do that, you can get stuff that’s sort of weirder, more personal or more—you know I think Woody Allen films have that too where it’s like, oh this really feels like it just came from one person, as opposed to like a committee decided that this was best. 

And I think it’s part of like what makes his stuff special and I think it’s something to—I don’t if I necessarily shoot for it in everything that I do but just something to keep in mind that is like, you know, oh, it’s okay to be cool or—not it’s okay to be cool—but it’s okay to be weird or to you know—sometimes his stuff will just get really absurd or just go off into some weird, you know, fantastical place and then come back to reality and, you know, sort of stuff that if you had a committee deciding on, they’d be like, no, that doesn’t make sense. Whereas like you can kind of indulge whatever your own personal vision for it is, and that’s what makes it unique to you and what you’re making is gonna be more unique.

Designing Great Products One Use Case at a Time - Ross Floate

In Chapter 18 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "What Have Your Experiences Taught You About What Makes a Product Great?"  He notes a product is great when the person using it is altered for the better.  He notes "product" is an assembly of features, any of which could create that altering user experience.  He shares an experience designing an in-flight magazine for Qantas Airlines and how it applies to his overall approach to work.  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.