Louise Langheier on What Makes an Aspen Institute Fellowship Valuable

In Chapter 13 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "How Did Your Aspen Institute Fellowship Contribute to Your Professional Development?" Langheier shares how her time as an Aspen Fellow has given her an immersive learning experience full of critical and reflective learning. The program integrates rigor and humanity into a collaborative experience Langheier finds both unique and rewarding.

Louise Davis Langheier is founder and CEO of Peer Health Exchange, a non-profit that trains college students to teach health education in public high schools. Louise was selected as a member of the 2011 class of Aspen Entrepreneurial Education Fellows, and was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2012. She graduated from Yale University. 

Louise Langheier on Assessing Job Candidate Fit Hiring New Employees

In Chapter 18 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "How Have You Learned to Better Assess Fit When Hiring New Employees?" Langheier shares how her organization continues to recognize the importance of assessing job candidate fit across both job skills and motivation to do the job. She notes this "skills and will" duality helps her company screen for candidates who can contribute to the organization and who the organization can best support in their professional development.

Louise Davis Langheier is founder and CEO of Peer Health Exchange, a non-profit that trains college students to teach health education in public high schools. Louise was selected as a member of the 2011 class of Aspen Entrepreneurial Education Fellows, and was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2012. She graduated from Yale University. 

Simon Sinek on How to Be a Better Teacher By Not Being the Expert

In Chapter 2 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Are You Becoming a Better Teacher?" To Sinek, teaching is as much teaching what you do not know as it is teaching what you do know. This approach gives him an opportunity to better engage his students, learn from their own experiences, and integrate the sharing into his teaching. It is less about being an expert and more about being a curious learner. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: How are you becoming a better teacher?

Simon Sinek: Teaching, like anything, is the art of sharing not just what you know but what you don’t know. I think I’m becoming a better teacher because I’m becoming a better student where I used to walk into a classroom or any kind of teaching opportunity to tell them what I know, and now I come into it to share what I know with the hope of hearing what they know because I wanna learn too. So I actually show up to a class with the desire to learn. And so, the only reason to share whatever thoughts, or ideas, or knowledge I have is so that together we can grow, and it has made me a better teacher for sure. I think all the best teachers are the best students. Anybody who thinks they know everything is missing out because you don’t. It’s the same thing I hate about people who refer to themselves as experts. “I’m an expert in X.” I was like, “Really? Really?” There’s so much more to learn. And so, even in my own disciplines, I don’t consider myself an expert in leadership, or inspiration, or whatever you wanna label it. I’m a student of leadership. I’m a student to what inspires. I don’t think I know everything, in fact, out of everything I know, I know this much, and so that to me keeps me curious.

Erik Michielsen: Have you found that there’s a difference between teaching college students and teaching adult learners?

Simon Sinek: No. There are people who have a desire to learn and those people who have a desire to make the grade, and you’ll find them everywhere. There are people who have desire to advance the greater good, or advance the cause, or advance the company, and there are people who have just the desire to make money. And the people who show up with curiosity and the desire to learn will always make better students. The ones who only wanna make the grades are pains in the asses because they complain about everything, and they throw their teammates under the bus because they’re “hurting their grade”, and it’s the same in a company. Somebody who only is in for the cash, they’ll throw their teammates under the bus because they’ve don’t wanna ruin their bonus, or get the credit, or—it’s the same. It’s the same.

Simon Sinek on Building Trusting Teams in the US Marine Corps

In Chapter 7 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Has the United States Marine Corps Taught You About How a Circle of Safety Motivates Staff?" Sinek shares what Marine Corps basic training has taught him about leading teams more effectively. The United States Marine Corps breaks down the individual and trains them to be interdependent on their fellow Marines. This creates a circle of safety bond of trust that allows Marines to increase team performance in the most difficult situations. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Simon Sinek on How to Collaborate on Projects More Successfully

In Chapter 9 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Have You Found to Be the Key to Creating Successful Project Collaborations?" Sinek notes collaborative success comes from first being clear on goals and how the individual and team will contribute to those goals. Clarity here creates motivation built upon shared values and beliefs teams can use to successfully work together. Sinek notes how self-centered behavior breaks down trust and the ability to form long-term collaborations. Using ad agencies as an example, Sinek shares how breakdowns in transparency and respect impair collaborative potential. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Simon Sinek on Managing by Turning Followers into Leaders

In Chapter 13 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?" Sinek shares what he has learned about management from retired Navy submarine captain David Marquet, author of "Turn the Ship Around." Sinek learns the importance of turning followers into leaders by supporting them, trusting them, and encouraging them to make decisions and take ownership. Sinek notes how the approach is more parenting than managing and results in greater employee engagement. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Simon Sinek on How Accountability Partners Keep You Committed

In Chapter 17 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Role Have Accountability Partners Played in Helping You to Meet Deadlines and Goals?" Sinek shares that as social animals we feel greater responsibility toward each other than to ourselves. As a result, Sinek notes when someone besides us is invested in the outcome, we do our best not to disappoint. He shares how this concept of accountability partners functions in the context of having a workout buddy as well as in the context of the writer-publisher relationship. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Idan Cohen on Finding Inspiration and Support Living in New York City

In Chapter 4 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen responds to "Living in New York, it's an aspirational city and people have big dreams - how has being around that community of people affected you?" Cohen shares how much more optimistic and supportive people are in New York City than where he lived before in Tel Aviv. As an entrepreneur, he finds the diverse, positive support system helps him dream big dreams and work toward those dreams.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Living in New York, it's an aspirational city. People here have big dreams. How has being around that community of people affected you?

Idan Cohen: So I think the main thing for me, moving here and being here, was the positive and optimistic approach that everyone has. You know, coming from Tel Aviv, which is a very entrepreneurial place or Israel in general, and a lot of people have a lot of aspirations, and they do something about it, and they are not afraid to shake things up, definitely more than anywhere else. They're always ready to cut corners and go around walls, and they have their own unique and successful way of doing that.

But the main difference of being here is, first of all, I feel that at the end of the day, it's just that people have more appreciation to what other people are doing. And I remember when I first moved here, when you would meet people and you'd tell them what you were doing or they would tell you what they were doing, and everyone is just, you know, “Wow, that's great. That's so awesome that you are doing that.” And in Israel, that was not like that. Everyone would start punching holes. It's kind of like the nature, that nature of, you know, “Yeah, it's great that you're doing that, but this is not going to work, this is going to work.” And it's not a bad thing. I mean, it's okay, but at some point, it starts grinding on you.

And here, even though sometimes it might be a little superficial, but that-- the fact that, like, everyone is a big support system, and in a place like New York, which is actually so big, and in a place like the US, then it's wonderful, and it helps a lot. And then combine that with being in a city that's extremely diverse and funnels the most talented people in the world, you know, in every domain, I think that's what makes it so interesting because where I came from, yeah, I was in a community that was doing-- you know, that was around technology, but even there, it's very segmented to very specific things just because you can achieve very specific things when you're, like, from there. Like, not every startup is the right startup. I mean yeah, I can give tons of examples, but things that you couldn't build in Israel. Or, I mean, you could move here and do them. Obviously I did that, but still, yeah, maybe even Boxee is not something that you can do from Israel. You have to be here. And that's the thing. Just in New York, you can find all these people, and they're all a big support system, and that's wonderful.

Idan Cohen on How to Attract and Retain Software Engineering Talent

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Has Your Experience Taught You About How to Attract and Retain Engineering Talent?" Cohen shares what he has learned about attracting and retaining top software engineering talent for product development teams. He finds three things help do this. The first is having a family-based culture where people love to work. The second is to provide a product vision and make sure developers feel connected to that vision. The third is to make sure the employee stays engaged in the work even when it may not necessarily be cutting edge.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has your experience taught you about how to attract and retain engineering talent?

Idan Cohen: So there's kind of three main things. One is culture. The other is the product and their connection to the product and the vision. And the third is just technically keeping them, you know, engaged and interested and intrigued. And I think we were always able to do that. Everything we worked on was always somewhat cutting edge and trying to do things very differently and working on new things. So that was great.

The product was something that they were connected with, and obviously the culture was-- where it broke was when one of those was missing. You know, I've seen people that were just working on something that was a little boring, and especially if they are pretty ambitious people, they start looking aside. I've seen when we recruited people, you know, they were not connected to the vision. In a start up, the most important thing when you connect someone-- everyone needs to be cheerleaders. Everyone needs to feel that they are building something for themselves first.

And I think that's what makes it, for instance, much harder when you are building like a B-to-B product, because at the end of the day, people are working on something that they are personally not going to use. And when you are working on something that you are going to use at home-- and you know, everyone at Boxee uses Boxee daily when they go home, and their families use it. That's an amazing effect on the way that they perform, the way they view the company, the way they like what they're doing. In terms of attracting talent, that's not easy because I think there's always the newer, sexier thing.

So it was easier at the beginning, and then as you're working sometimes on new things, and suddenly you can kind of lure people because there's something that they would find interesting, but at some point, you're-- like, through the process, you have these plateaus sometimes that are just a little harder to go and find exactly those extremely talented people that you want because suddenly, there is something else that's shiny.

And then I think it comes to personal connections that you can make with them, and again, that connects to culture. And I've seen that many times where I met with people, especially when I kind of tried to poach someone who was already working somewhere else, and I meet with them.

So a lot of times-- I've seen it happen again and again. So we go and sit down for coffee, and you know, and we bring it up, and he's not ready, and he's thinking of something else, and he actually thought of moving away. And you give it time. And you meet again in two months, and suddenly you see that as he learns you and who you are, and what the company is and comes for a visit, it kind of starts brewing in his stomach, and eventually, that-- he jumps ship and comes along and joins you. And I think that-- I've seen that work really successfully for us. So I do that a lot, just pinpointing someone and creating that relationship, especially if it's someone that I don't know, and then bring him over.

Lauren Serota on Turning 30 and Letting Go of Expectations

In Chapter 19 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What is on Your Mind as You Turn 30 This Year?" Serota looks at turning 30 as an opportunity for reflection and to assess where she has been, where she is, and where she wants to go. She looks at relationships, her work experience, and accomplishments and makes it a point to focus on what she has done versus what others have done.

Lauren Serota works as an associate creative director at frog design. She is also a teacher at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D). Serota earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Fabian Pfortmüller on Advice for Hiring and Motivating Millennials

In Chapter 7 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur and community builder Fabian Pfortmüller answers "What Do You Believe Are the Keys to Understanding and Engaging the Millennial Generation?" As a millennial, Pfortmüller finds company culture and values fundamental to attracting and retaining millennial talent. A mission of social impact matters. Additionally a job structure that details specific, accountable goals with an open plan to get there works well. Fabian Pfortmüller is co-founder of Holstee, a socially conscious online marketplace, and Sandbox Network, a global community for young entrepreneurial people. Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University.

Fabian Pfortmüller on Empowering Employees Working at Holstee

In Chapter 11 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur and community builder Fabian Pfortmüller answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?" Pfortmüller gets better feedback on his management skills by asking staff directly for feedback on what they expect from him. By understanding employee expectations, he learns to let go more and hand off responsibilities, stress less, and give employees more ownership of their work. Fabian Pfortmüller is co-founder of Holstee, a socially conscious online marketplace, and Sandbox Network, a global community for young entrepreneurial people. Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University.

Yoav Gonen on Developing Work Ethic by Doing Something You Enjoy

In Chapter 2 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City reporter Yoav Gonen answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?" Gonen shares how learning to work hard and develop a work ethic came naturally by doing things he enjoyed. He finds just because it is called "work" it does not have to feel that way if you have fun doing it. When smaller tasks need to come before more enjoyable ones, he takes an eager approach to knock out short-term tasks to work on long-term projects. Yoav Gonen is a reporter and City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Post daily newspaper. Previously he spent nearly six years covering the education beat for the New York Post. Gonen earned a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Journalism from New York University.

Yoav Gonen on Performing Under Pressure Meeting Story Deadlines

In Chapter 14 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City reporter Yoav Gonen answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?" Gone shares how deadline writing culture and the pressures it creates is a given in newspaper reporting. He finds the multiple daily deadline pressures more motivating than stressful. He shares another job pressure of newspaper journalism: staying ahead of the peer competition on your beat. Peer competition also creates pressure though. With experience Gonen thinks about it less as stress and more of a given in the nature of his work. Yoav Gonen is a reporter and City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Post daily newspaper. Previously he spent nearly six years covering the education beat for the New York Post. Gonen earned a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Journalism from New York University.

Michael Margolis on Learning Work Ethic After Graduating College

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?" Margolis notes he did not develop a hard work ethic until after graduating college, when he knew he had to find work and decided to create jobs and businesses to make an impact. He finds motivation in the process of proving to himself and others his work is meaningful. Margolis notes how he Michael Margolis is founder and president of Get Storied, an education and publishing platform dedicated to teaching the world how to think in narrative. He earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University.

Michael Margolis on Rethinking Your Career Goals After an Illness

In Chapter 7 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "What Experiences in the Past Year Have Most Influenced the Direction of Your Company?" Margolis shares how recovering from a long-term illness reshaped the aspirations he has for his company Get Storied. Going through the illness and recovery pushes Margolis to evolve the business model from a lifestyle business and his role as a self-employed author/speaker/thought leader running a virtual company into a full-time employee-led business and his new role as CEO. Michael Margolis is founder and president of Get Storied, an education and publishing platform dedicated to teaching the world how to think in narrative. He earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University.

Michael Margolis on Learning to Motivate and Develop Employees

In Chapter 12 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage and Motivate Teams?" Margolis shares two ways he is building these skills as he grows his small business. The first is how getting to know each employee personality allows him create a workplace better suited for employee learning and development. The second is having a company mission and vision employees embrace and putting an intentional culture in place to reinforce each of them. Michael Margolis is founder and president of Get Storied, an education and publishing platform dedicated to teaching the world how to think in narrative. He earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University.

Richard Moross on Turning Anger and Frustration into Motivation

In Chapter 1 of 14 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?" Moross shares how several "knock back moments" in his childhood fueled anger he equates to Incredible Hulk moments. Over time, he learns to channel this anger and frustration into motivation, which he ultimately uses to start a business and become an entrepreneur. Richard Moross is founder and CEO of award-winning online print business Moo.com. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member at Ladbrokes PLC. Before Moo.com, Moross was a strategist at design firm Imagination. He graduated from the University of Sussex.