Louise Langheier on the Lifetime Value of an Ashoka Fellowship

In Chapter 8 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "What Did Your Ashoka Fellowship Teach You About Social Entrepreneurship Best Practices?" Langheier shares how being recommended and becoming an Ashoka Fellow has opened new doors to help her lead as a social entrepreneur. She finds the unstructured network supports her needs as a leader seeking to affect social change in her nonprofit CEO job.

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 Why Tough Mentors Make the Best Mentors

In Chapter 9 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "How Are You Learning to Be a Better Mentor to Young Social Entrepreneurs?" Langheier shares how her mentor-advisor style is about pushing and challenging young social entrepreneurs to succeed. From her own experience co-founding non-profit Peer Health Exchange, Langheier finds mentors who invest in mentees by asking tough questions the mentors who are most likely to be vested in mentee success. She finds encouragement helpful, but finds the "push" or "challenge" the most important part of a mentor-mentee relationship.

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 What It Means to Be a Leader

In Chapter 10 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" Langheier shares how being a leader is about pushing yourself to grow and improve and also to invest in the growth and development of the people you lead. She finds celebrating successes of those on her team give her great joy, make her successful, and motivate her to continue finding pathways to invest in the success of her employees.

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 Teaching Young Leaders Outside the Classroom

In Chapter 11 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "How Are You Becoming a Better Teacher?" Langheier shares how asking questions and practicing inquiry has helped her better understand her employees' leadership development needs. She notes developing leaders in a workplace is different than teaching students and, for Langheier, success comes from understanding each individual employee's situation.

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 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 Essential CEO Leadership Skills for Success

In Chapter 14 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "What Leadership Skills Are Becoming More Relevant as Your Career Progresses?" She finds leading and managing people progressively important as she grows her non-profit Peer Health Exchange. To Langheier, that leadership is about building meaningful employee connections into the organization that leave team members fulfilled and keep them motivated to make an impact in their work.

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 Setting Time Horizon Goals in a CEO Job

In Chapter 16 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "As CEO, How Do You Decide What Time Horizon to Focus on in Your Work?" Langheier shares how much of her strategic planning goals are dependent on the phase of impact the company is in at the time. She also notes how she is proactively trying to delegate shorter term planning to team members while she looks at possibilities associated with longer term time horizons. She does this by creating an entrepreneurial organizational culture that rewards being creative and taking responsibility.

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. 

Mark Graham on Effective Ways to Manage Creative Teams

In Chapter 13 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively with Different Personality Types?" Graham finds managing creative teams as a team leader comes down to understanding what space each creative employee needs to be successful. Graham also shares what the team needs to be successful with employees and finds common ground where the individual has flexibility while staying aligned to team goals.

Mark Graham is currently a managing editor at MTV Networks. 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. 

Mark Graham on Leading by Teaching in a Manager Job Role

In Chapter 15 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "How Are You Becoming a Better Teacher?" Graham shares how in a role that requires him to produce content and manage a team that produces content, he finds identifying teaching moments key to building productive bonds with this team. A big part of this is learning to be a better listener to understand different points of view specific to team members.

Mark Graham is currently a managing editor at MTV Networks. 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. 

Simon Sinek on Finding Inspiration to Write "Leaders Eat Last"

In Chapter 5 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Inspired You to Write Your Second Book and How Did the Process Unfold?" After rediscovering his passion by writing "Start With Why", Sinek sees his life become more focused around safety and security in the presence of trusted relationships. Sinek redirects this experience toward an organizational leadership context that becomes "Leaders Eat Last." 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: What inspired you to write your second book, and how did the process unfold?

Simon Sinek: My books are my journey, and the funny thing is that it’s sometimes not obvious to me. The first book was about understanding why you do what you do and finding your passion. It was born out of a personal experience where I had lost my passion, and that exercise of trying to re-find it became the book. Having had that passion, the struggle has been “Who do I feel safe around?” And my whole life I’ve been a creative misfit, so it has always been a struggle like, “Who can I be completely myself around? And who makes me feel safe and all these things?” And I didn’t realize that, that that was my journey. And a number of books, successful and failed relationships, it makes you realize that that’s all we want, is to come home and feel safe, from our friends, from the people we love, etc. And so, I didn’t realize that that’s what I was investigating because I was looking at it sort of, “What makes great organizations?” And you realize it’s the same thing, which is when there’s a circle of safety that’s drawn around us, when the leaders of our organization commit to keeping us safe, we’ll give absolutely everything we’ve got to see their vision advance. When we don’t feel safe, we will invest more of our time and energy trying to keep ourselves safe internally rather than working together to seize the opportunities or face the dangers externally. The dangers externally are a constant. Changing technologies, or the vicissitudes of the stock market, or your competition, that’s a constant. But the dangers inside the organization are a variable, and they’re controlled by leadership. So the more I started to understand that, the more I started to want to share those ideas.

Erik Michielsen: And how did you get the process started?

Simon Sinek: I went out for dinner with my publisher, (chuckles) I told him what I was up to, and he said, “That’s your next book.” And I went, “Okay.” And the strange thing is it has actually morphed to about two or three times because I then started to learn the subject more. I started to realize it was deeper than what I originally thought, so it has taken a couple of twists and turns, but it was pretty organic.

Simon Sinek on Why Organizations Need a Circle of Safety

In Chapter 6 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What is a Circle of Safety and Why Should Organizations Consider Building One?" Acknowledging constant dangers and threats outside an organization, Sinek looks inside an organization to what leaders can provide employees to make the business better. He finds creating a circle of safety helps leaders foster secure environments that promote trust and through it, collaboration, innovation and productivity. 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 Building Trust Through Committed Leadership

In Chapter 8 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "Why is Trust a Leadership Skill That Should Be Taught?" Sinek shares that because trust is a feeling like loyalty, it is difficult to teach. Over time, however, by creating a circle of safety, Sinek shares ways committed leaders can create inclusive cultures at work that prioritize inclusion, openness, and safety. He shares an example of Goldman Sachs and how over 30 years its culture has shifted from the "Boy Scouts of Wall Street" and collaborative to something more individualist and self-centered. 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 Learning How Not to Manage People

In Chapter 12 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "What Did You Learn in Your First Job After College That is Still Relevant Today?" Sinek shares how he learned not to manage people while working at his first job after college. He works for a boss who focuses on the negative and chooses to point out team member weaknesses and not strengths. Sinek finds the experience demotivating and over time learns that the opposite approach - treating people with respect, showing empathy, focusing on strengths, and pairing people with complementary skills - is a better way to manage teams. 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.

Idan Cohen on How a Founder Job Role Changes as a Startup Grows

In Chapter 6 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "In What Ways Did Your Responsibilities Change in the Six Years of Growing Your Startup?" When he and his two co-founders started Boxee, they needed to team up and do everything. As the startup grows, the founders keep the vision and hire more professional and talented employees to execute on that vision.

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: In what ways did your responsibilities change in the six years growing your startup?

Idan Cohen: Well, starting a company and being three guys in a room, and the main difference, I think is just that you are doing everything. And as-- as things grow, and obviously, along six years, it changes a lot.

I think the main thing that changes is just that you can focus more on high-level strategy aspects of what you are doing and can have actually better professionals than you doing the things that you did before. And eventually I think that as an entrepreneur, that's what you bring to the table as the company grows, is you are the one who has the vision, and you set that vision, and you need to work with people in order to execute on it, but you can bring excellent people to help you execute it and people who are, frankly, more professional than you are. And that's great, like, this-- the feeling when you recruit someone who is better than you are, it's sometimes hard, like, at the beginning, before bringing him on, but then as he comes in and he does a better job, that's great. That's the best thing you can do.

And I think that's the second part of it is actually focusing on recruiting and bringing people in, just being able to identify those key members that you want in your team and bringing them over.

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.

Idan Cohen on What It Feels Like When Others See You as a Leader

In Chapter 9 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" Cohen shares what it felt like to realize that moment when others see you as a leader. He shares what it was like with his employees and what it meant for him to be mindful of that responsibility and what it was like as a startup going into meetings with industry giants who saw him and his team as leaders.

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 does it mean to be a leader in what do?

Idan Cohen: One thing is reminding yourself sometimes that other people look at you as a leader and view your thoughts, opinions, knowledge as, you know-- look up to it and wait to hear what you have to say. So eventually for me, I think one thing is reminding yourself that you have that power and that actually that you have that knowledge, that you've managed to acquire some understanding of this specific domain that other people don't have and you can lay it back and you can form opinions and you can set the agenda. I just-- I find myself a lot of times just needing to remind myself of that.

Erik Michielsen: At Boxee, when did you realize that you were looked upon as a leader?

Idan Cohen: I think pretty early on, but the difference was that, you know, we were always viewed as a leader when it came to, like, being on the cutting-edge of the TV experience and understanding what the future of TV is going to be like, but we never managed to really penetrate, obviously, kind of the mass-market exposure. And so in a way, I think that was what was a little harder for me, understanding that even though other companies are 100, 1,000 times bigger than you, they're actually still looking at you, and definitely when they meet with you, then they are looking to see what you have to say.

And it was interesting. Like, you would go into meetings with people who are, you know, much more senior and run huge operations and have a lot of power, way more power, and you need that power, that control that they have, you need that. You need their help. And eventually, you sit in a meeting, and you see them kind of, you know, kind of just taking whatever you are saying and really drinking that and appreciating it. And then you understand that actually, you have that power over them, not the other way around.

Idan Cohen on Selling a Startup After Six Years in Business

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Was It Like to Sell the Company That You Co-founded?" On one hand, Cohen finds selling his company Boxee to Samsung a relief after six years grinding away in a startup life. Through the ups and downs he also finds going through the acquisition process a challenge, from managing uncertainty to managing expectations with employees.

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 was it like to sell the company that you cofounded?

Idan Cohen: I think that the main thing was relief. It was a lot of responsibility that you felt like, “phew, it's now, you know, someone else's.” I don't need to get-- you know, wake up tomorrow or go to sleep tonight and think about this, that, you know, and all of those things that just keep grinding you daily when you run your own business. And I think that was the most-- that was the feeling, the most significant feeling that I had.

Erik Michielsen: Did you expect to feel that way?

Idan Cohen: No, I don't think so. Maybe I know that now, but, yeah, I wasn't expecting exactly that kind of feeling. You know, the whole processes can be gut wrenching, and there's ups and downs, and also, around acquisition, it takes time, and there is a lot of uncertainty. And it's also not-- just not easy to keep the team aligned as you are going through this because, you know, they don't know what's happening, but everyone feels what's happening, and it's hard to keep everyone going and you know, working at the same pace.