Leslie Kerner on How the Aspen Institute Trains Leaders of Tomorrow

In Chapter 16 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, education software company executive Leslie Kerner answers "How Did Your Aspen Institute Fellowship Contribute to Your Professional Development?" Kerner joins a NewSchools Venture Fund-sponsored fellowship leadership development program at the Aspen Institute. There she learns from education entrepreneur peers working across startups, charter schools, school districts and nonprofits. The fellowship meets twice a year and is built off dialogue-based text reading of classic books from Aristotle, Kant, and Plato as well as more modern education industry focused writing.

Leslie Kerner is Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Professional Services group at Amplify, a software and services company innovating K-12 education. She is responsible for building and managing training, professional development and consulting services for schools. Previously, Kerner worked as a management consultant at Deloitte & Touche. Kerner earned an MBA from the Duke University and a BA from Northwestern University.

Randall Metting on How to Create More Engaging Brand Experiences

In Chapter 9 of 10 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, brand marketer Randall Metting answers "How Are You Learning to Create More Engaging Brand Experiences?" Metting how he has evolved his experiential marketing work from luxury experiences to localized experiences that bring the brand together with the best parts about a city or town. 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.

Matt Curtis on Learning Best Practices for Running a City

In Chapter 5 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "What Has Working in City Government Taught You About Best Practices for Running a City?" Serving on the United States Conference of Mayors Business Council, Curtis brings what he has learned working in Austin city government and learns from other municipal leaders on best practices to run a city. Curtis shares why experimentation is a valuable tool and why to engage community members for improvement ideas. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Hammans Stallings on How Parents Raise Gifted Children

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?"  From an early age, Stallings finds his family an extension of his career.  He grows up in a family of doctors and learns medicine is not the career for him via a variety of experiences, from doing home Skinner Box psychology research to taking personality tests in junior high school to learning at camps such as Odessey of the Mind and Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP).

Hammans Stallings is a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Why to Work With People Who Think Differently Than You

In Chapter 9 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" Stallings seeks out different personality types at work because they help him learn new subjects, new problem solving approaches and new ways of thinking.

Hammans Stallings is a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Honing Interdisciplinary Job Skills to Do More Impactful Work

In Chapter 10 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "What Skills Are You Working on Right Now to Become Better at Your Job?" Stallings finds honing his interdisciplinary skillset - psychology, design, marketing, and strategy - is helping him contribute more to a team and take on more leadership responsibilities.

Hammans Stallings is a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Brett Goldman on Making the Most of Living in New York City

In Chapter 7 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, real estate developer Brett Goldman answers "How Do You Make the Most of Living in the City?" Beyond walking around appreciating the architecture and buildings, Goldman soaks up city life by finding things that interest him culturally and expose him to new things. To do this, he makes it a weekly habit of reading about what is happening and making plans to see ballet performances, visit museums, and more fully embrace New York City.

Brett Goldman is a Real Estate Acquisitions Director at Triangle Equities in New York City.  He holds a BA in General Studies from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Real Estate Development from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

How to Relate to People Different Than You at Work

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, real estate developer Brett Goldman answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" Working on real estate projects, Goldman constantly meets people working different jobs, including contractors, tradesmen, and construction workers. He learns being curious and asking sincere questions allow him to relate to people better and gain acceptance and respect.

Brett Goldman is a Real Estate Acquisitions Director at Triangle Equities in New York City. He holds a BA in General Studies from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Real Estate Development from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Jason Anello on Getting a Guerilla Marketing Event to Go Viral

In Chapter 10 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and Manifold ad agency co-founder Jason Anello answers "What Did Doing a Zynga Blood Drive Project Teach You About Doing More Effective Guerilla Marketing?" To promote a new Zynga mobile game, Anello and his team send 100s of Zombies into the streets of New York City, trailing them with rhubarb and hibiscus mint flavored "blood pops." By handing out tiny stickers, Anello is able to get people to share the Zombie experience online and create a nationwide buzz that ties back to the Zynga game release.

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.

Jason Anello on Hiring Generalist Talent to Grow Small Business

In Chapter 16 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and Manifold ad agency co-founder Jason Anello answers "How Are Your Recruiting Priorities Changing As Your Business Grows?"  Now that his creative agency is at the 10 employee level, Anello notes the need tp hire talent for a flexible structure that blends generalist job skills across an advertising agency model of account management and creative departments.  He finds it is less about going deeper in a particular category and more about hiring, for example a developer, that can work laterally across teams. 

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.

Cathy Erway on the Benefits of Having Supportive Parents

In Chapter 1 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, writer and healthy food advocate Cathy Erway answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?"  Raised in a strict home and taught to be studious and diligent, Erway finds her parents support style transitions from "iron-fisted parents" to more of a peer support.  They push Erway to learn from trying new things, teaching her a work ethic in the process. 

Cathy Erway is a 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.

Cathy Erway on Making the Most of Living in a City

In Chapter 10 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, writer and healthy food advocate Cathy Erway answers "How Do You Make the Most of Living in a City?"  Erway appreciates the cultural diversity that comes with living in a city.  What she finds most enjoyable, however, is embracing the unifying element of food culture and the cross-cultural pursuit of finding affordable, satisfying food neighborhood by neighborhood. 

Cathy Erway is a 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.

Lulu Chen on How Fashion Stylist Work Leads to Art Director Job

In Chapter 13 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How is Your Graphic Design Education Relevant in What You Do as an Art Director?"  Chen talks about how a traditional art director job candidate has design and layout experience.  Chen talks about her unconventional path of working on sets as a stylist and how she came into her art director role. 

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: How is your graphic design education relevant in what you do as an art director?

Lulu Chen: The traditional candidate for an art director is somebody who came up the ranks more focused on design and layout. And, you know, I came up the ranks being on set, you know, and logging in those hours, and I did have that advantage of being an art director at the magazine because you play, you know, you play dual roles, and I also had the background, so I was able to kind of bridge that.

Just the experience and all the different shoots that you’ve been on, you know, there has—you know, there’s been good days and there’s been bad days, there’s been all different kinds of talents, there’s been all different kinds of projects, there’s been all different kinds of art directors, you know, having seen that, and learned from it, you know, that was my bridge. But it took somebody really giving me the opportunity to show that I could do it, because I wasn’t a conventional candidate. And I will always be appreciative of those people who believed enough in me to give me that chance. 

Lulu Chen on How to Work With Someone Who May Feel Misunderstood

In Chapter 15 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?'  Chen loves the entertainment and fun that come with working with different personality types.  She finds being understanding and patient with people that may act differently than she does opens the doors to positive working experiences.  She finds it important to give people a chance and get to know them. 

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: How are you learning to work more effectively with different personality types?

Lulu Chen: I love working with different personality types, because it can be quite entertaining. It’s more fun, you know, you never have a boring day. I don’t know—you just go with it. I think I have a very high tolerance and I also think that a lot of times, a lot of people are misunderstood, and they might come across a certain way but, you know, you just have to give them a little bit of time and try and be understanding. I have a good friend who’s very talented and, you know, people just say, “Oh, he’s crazy,” you know. But he’s not really crazy, he just care so much and he’s so passionate so that sometimes, you know, his mood and his approach to things might come across misunderstood but he really is coming from a good place, and has the best heart.

So I think sometimes, you know, that doesn’t always come out the first time you meet somebody or work with somebody. You have to really give people a chance I think. 

Mark Graham on Embracing a Corporate Career Path

In Chapter 9 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Mark Graham answers "How Are You Learning to Work Across a Corporate Organizational Culture?"  Graham shares how he has learned to embrace working at large corporations, starting with his first two jobs at Borders and General Motors and continuing on to VH1.  Corporate job experience teaches Graham how to manage more effectively across large, diverse teams. 

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 are you learning to work across a corporate organizational structure?

Mark Graham: Most people hate corporations but I sort of love corporations, and I think part of it is just that’s sort of the way that I was—that I’ve been raised in my professional career. My first job out of college, I worked for Borders. Rest in peace, Borders. No longer exists as a company, but I did work for a big organization and sort of learned in the marketing—in a marketing role, sort of learned how different areas of organizations interface and how projects get green-lit and budgeted and accomplished and realized. 

From there, I went and I worked at General Motors, another huge corporation. And so I think—and Viacom, again, that’s another huge corporation. For whatever reason, I enjoy it. I like being able to touch lots of different areas of a business, to interface with different people who have different skill sets, different goals, different needs. 

Now I’m on the editorial side but I used to work on the marketing side of the business. I sort of understand how the numbers work and how to really integrate people and understand different goals of different teams within the organization, and be able to navigate that way. So I think just having grown up in corporate environments, I just sort of get it, and I like it, I understand—I sort of understand how things work within those spaces, and it’s something that I feel very comfortable in.

Mark Graham on How to Create Original Content for Established Brands

In Chapter 13 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Mark Graham answers "How Are You Learning to Create Original Content for an Established Media Brand?"  Graham talks about the roles audience research and advertiser relationships play into original content strategy and development at VH1. 

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 are you learning to create original content for an established media brand?

Mark Graham: Well, when you’re creating content, the first thing you want to really sort of understand is, is who your audience is. Over the course of the last year and some change, VH1 has worked really closely with a market research organization, gone all over the country, found out what people like about VH1, what they don’t like about VH1, what they see VH1 as doing and what they see them as not doing. So sort of armed with that deeper level of information about who our customers are, we’ve been able to come up with content that’s not just for television. We have web-specific content that we’re looking to put together and break. Obviously, we like our convergent opportunities where we can deliver a consistent message through web, through social, through linear. But there’s also we realize that people do consume content, our audience does, through different means and different platforms and something that would work, say on the web, might not necessarily work on TV. 

Over the course of the last year, I worked closely with a couple of comedians here in Brooklyn on a web show that was sort of putting together the best viral video moments of the past week. That was a really interesting project and something that we, you know, experimented and tried out with specifically on the web, it did really well for us, we didn’t end up – we ended up doing 8 episodes of that which was a great learning experience for me. And so really I guess what we’re trying to do with original content for an established brand is really understand and be cognizant that, you know, just because we have a television channel that people have tuned into over the years, that’s not always necessarily gonna be the case, people’s taste are changing, and we really wanna make sure that we create content to reflect those changing tastes. And be able to put together packages that are interesting and fun and great for people to consume.

Erik Michielsen: How much exposure do you have on—to the business side and the whole advertising supported element of—

Mark Graham: Yeah. Obviously, without advertisers’ support, and without people tuning into our projects, we wouldn’t have projects to do. There’s our channel and then there’s our digital, and as we’re continuing to grow our digital, you know, one of the great ways to do that is to partner with advertisers who have goals that they wanna put together, and are also able to support digital programs for us, so I work really closely with our advertising sales team to understand which clients are looking to do specific things, if they have new campaigns coming out, if they have new brand messaging they’re interested in, how they’re looking to attach themselves to cool things like music, and celebrity, and interesting and fun ways that helps elevate their status with their customers, and also helps elevate ours, so, you know, working with advertisers is a great way for us to fund and support original content. And so really sort of helping to understand their goals, and what they’re looking to achieve, is a huge part of it. 

Before I landed at VH1, I was on the other side of this equation, I was—I worked in marketing on the client side, where we were working with agencies and media partners to promote our products, so I sort of have a good 360 understanding of the process now, which I think really helps us put together packages and frameworks for things that are going to be interesting for advertisers, and also interesting to our readers and consumers. Because it doesn’t matter if an advertiser loves something, if the audience is isn’t going to love it, you need to create content and create ideas and packages that are gonna work for both places, and that’s something that’s a huge focus of my job and of our organization, in really making sure that we create things that people read, and that advertisers like that continue to support future programs like that.

Matt Ruby on How Confidence Can Make You More Creative

In Chapter 9 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "How Is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Ruby speaks to the instinctual skills he uses to twist jokes on stage and take the audience on a journey.  For Ruby, the confidence that comes with having more control on stage allows him to ultimately perform at higher levels for his audience. 

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. 

Stacie Bloom on What Makes a World Class Science Institution

In Chapter 13 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Is Your Experience Teaching You About What It Takes to Build a World Class Scientific Organization?"  Bloom notes it requires being 1) Global; 2) Excellent; and 3) Multi-Sectoral.  Bloom notes "world class" requires working across global cultural boundaries, across scientific disciplines, and doing so  while consistently performing at the top quartile or better of a peer group. 

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 your experience teaching you about what it takes to build a world-class scientific organization? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I think in order to be really a world-class institution, you know it’s very easy to tout yourself as, oh, we’re world-class, to be truly world-class, you have to really be global, and you have to be excellent, and you have to be multi-sectoral. I think that you can’t really have a world-class institution or you can’t call yourself a world-class institution if you’re very isolated or insular or siloed you have to work across boundaries, scientific boundaries, cultural boundaries, you have to be metric oriented, you have to prove yourself to be in the top quartile of performers, internationally. And I think only then can you say that you’re really world-class.