Geoff Hamm on Why to Do Business With People You Consider Friends

In Chapter 5 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "How Are Your Personal Experiences Shaping Your Professional Aspirations?" Hamm believes that work life and personal life are not mutually exclusive. With experience, he learns to prioritize and embrace doing business with friends who also work in the Internet industry.

Geoff Hamm is a business development executive and VP Strategic Alliances at mobile marketing platform start-up Applovin in San Francisco, CA. Previous to Applovin, Hamm held senior sales management positions at Tapjoy, Scribd, Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, Orbitz, IAC and Excite where he built deep relationships with advertisers and brands. Hamm graduated from the University of Illinois.

How Family Support Helps Tech Career Flourish

In Chapter 15 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Hamm involves his wife in all major decisions and finds assurance in her support and high-tech work experience. For higher level life advice, Hamm goes to his Dad for perspective and wisdom.

Geoff Hamm is a business development executive and VP Strategic Alliances at mobile marketing platform start-up Applovin in San Francisco, CA. Previous to Applovin, Hamm held senior sales management positions at Tapjoy, Scribd, Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, Orbitz, IAC and Excite where he built deep relationships with advertisers and brands. Hamm graduated from the University of Illinois.

Preston Smith on Having a Spouse Who Supports Your Career

In Chapter 11 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Smith shares how having a supportive spouse has given him security in trying times as he has grown from teaching into an education entrepreneur. The support grows in significance as Preston and his wife start a family.

Preston Smith is co-founder and CEO of Rocketship Education, the highest performing low-income school system in California. After graduating the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith joined Teach for America. After three years teaching 1st Grade, he founded a district school in San Jose and became its principal. Smith was selected as a member of the 2010 class of Aspen Institute New Schools Fellows. 

Simon Sinek on How to Establish Trust When Building Relationships

In Chapter 4 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" To Sinek, trust is a result of something and cannot be given nor formed overnight. He notes the difference between lust and love and why the vulnerability associated with falling with love is synonymous with the vulnerability that comes with the emergence of relationship trust. 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 do you establish trust when building relationships?

Simon Sinek: Trust is the result of something. You can’t tell people “trust me”. Trust cannot be formed overnight, just as you can’t go to one date and decide if you wanna marry someone. You might have lust, but there’s no real trust. The best definition of love I ever heard is that you can give someone the power to destroy you and trust that they won’t use it, and that’s kind of what trust is, is this deep love.

And it comes over time, and it comes from taking lots of little risks, exposing yourself to more danger, making yourself feel more vulnerable, sharing something personal, putting yourself in a position where you have to turn your back and hope somebody won’t stab you or steal your stuff. I mean this is what trust is. It is the result of you making someone feel safe and then making you feel safe, and it’s that dance, and that’s what it is. It can’t be one-sided.

And, again, it’s like dating. It’s like getting to know someone. It’s like making friends that does not happen overnight. And it’s a dance of give and take, give and take, give and take, give and take, and when you feel that that person will make you feel safe, trust will emerge. It’s not an app. It’s not a switch. It’s not something you turn on. It’s something that evolves. You start to feel it, and then, one morning, you wake up, you’re like, “Oh my god, I totally trust that person.” You’re not sure exactly what happened to get you there, but you found yourself there.

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 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.

Idan Cohen on How Entrepreneurs and Lawyers Think Differently

In Chapter 12 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Has Working With Lawyers Taught You About Business?" While he respects lawyers, Cohen still has a hard time with the worst-case scenario mindset lawyers bring. He understands the need for safety but, as an entrepreneur, he also understands you can't achieve certain things without taking chances. He shares how lawyers are not alone offering a protective mindset and shares an example from a conversation with this mother.

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 working with lawyers taught you about business?

Idan Cohen: That they always think of the worst outcome. It's a very pessimistic way of life. I also-- It's funny, but I have a lot of lawyer friends, and just-- I really appreciate them and love them, but you know, they go through an education process where they always think of the worst thing, and it's just a horrible way to go through life, sadly. I hope I'm not hurting anyone. I can't say I'm in favor of that. I mean, that's their job, to think of the worst-case scenario and figure out what to do in that case, but first of all, usually, they don't figure out what to do in that case. They just throw it at you, you know, and you need to figure out, and then you just have more things that you need to figure out. But just, you can't always do that. You need to take chances-- that's exactly when you take chances. And in a way, when you always think of what's the worst thing, then you don't take chances.

Erik Michielsen: That's right, because the worst thing is usually pretty bad.

Idan Cohen: Exactly. Growing up, I remember that especially after I got my license, my driver's license, and every time I would go out of the house, my mother would say drive carefully, or, you know, she would say something like you should really be careful out there. It's like, if you always focus on what's the worst that can happen, you're not going to enjoy that. I remember a couple of years ago, I was talking on the phone, and I told her that I think we're going skiing over the weekend or something. "You should be careful." I was like, why-- like, I'm telling you were going skiing. Instead of focusing on, "Oh, it's gonna be awesome. Who are you going with? What are you going to do?" You know, she's focusing on the dangers of going skiing, and she's 5000 miles away. You can't do anything to affect that, and I think that in a way, that's the same thing with lawyers. Let's try and then figure out.

Lauren Serota on Getting Parent Support Making Career Choices

In Chapter 1 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Serota shares how her parents creative a trusting yet objective home environment and why that helped her learn to make better decisions.

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).

Michael Margolis on Life Lessons From Going to Kathmandu

In Chapter 2 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "What Have You Found Most Rewarding About Traveling to New Places?" Margolis shares how traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal informed his life perspective. While in Kathmandu, he learns more about how language can either attract or repel people. He puts this in content of his communications career working in storytelling and how to prioritize the safety of your audience. 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 How to Be Confident by Being Yourself

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and entrepreneur Michael Margolis answers "What Role Does Confidence Play in the Work That You Do?" Margolis finds he is confident not because of what he knows but because he knows himself. This knowledge gives him a sense of security and creates a natural authority for him to be present, witness others, and get energy from being himself. 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.

Tricia Regan on How Personal Priorities Change With Age

In Chapter 14 of 15 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, filmmaker Tricia Regan answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?" As her carer matures, Regan finds herself thinking more about retirement and economic security. This pushes her to think about life changes that she will face in the next 10 or 20 years and how to manage her career to better prepare for them. She learns to be more assertive asking to be paid what she is worth when interviewing for new jobs and projects. Tricia Regan is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker known for writing, directing and producing documentary films, including the Emmy-winning "Autism: The Musical". She also has worked extensively in non-fiction television for A&E, ABC, FOX, Lifetime, MTV Networks and NBC. Regan earned a bachelors from Binghamton University and masters from New York University. 

Tricia Regan on Setting Career Goals Making Films for a Living

In Chapter 15 of 15 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, filmmaker Tricia Regan answers "What Goes are you Setting as You Look to What Comes Next in Your Film Career?" To continue making films for a living, Regan realizes she needs to set new career goals around taking better care of herself financially, politically, and personally. She notes the emotional toll making her film "Autism: The Musical" took on her and what she learned about the experience. Regan feels taking initiative across these areas will make her less vulnerable when pursuing new creative work to make films. Tricia Regan is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker known for writing, directing and producing documentary films, including the Emmy-winning "Autism: The Musical". She also has worked extensively in non-fiction television for A&E, ABC, FOX, Lifetime, MTV Networks and NBC. Regan earned a bachelors from Binghamton University and masters from New York University. 

Ken Biberaj on How Becoming a Father Puts Life in a New Perspective

In Chapter 4 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council Candidate Ken Biberaj answers "How Has Becoming a Father Put Your Life in a New Perspective?" Becoming a father allows Biberaj to look at his political career goals and family goals in a new way. Fatherhood helps him better see that working to improve the community ties to the development of his son and how school quality, public safety, and small businesses play a role in shaping that environment. Ken Biberaj is currently a 2013 Democratic Candidate for City Council in New York City. He is also a public relations executive for the Russian Tea Room restaurant at One Fifty Fifty Seven Corporation, a family business focused on real estate development, investment sales and retail leasing. Previously Biberaj was Florida Research Director for the Kerry-Edwards for President Campaign. Biberaj holds a JD from New York Law School, a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Political Science from American University. 

Slava Rubin on Why Lawyers are Fundamental to Running a Business

In Chapter 11 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin answers "What Has Working With Lawyers Taught You About Business?" Starting a company opens Rubin's eyes to how fundamental lawyers are to starting and growing a business. He sees lawyers as another example of subject matter experts that help executive management teams make decisions on running the business. From dealing with intellectual property to fraud to fighting lawsuits, Rubin gets an accelerated education on ways lawyers protect and serve business owner interests. Slava Rubin is CEO and co-founder of Indiegogo, the world's largest crowdfunding platform. Indiegogo empowers anyone, anywhere, anytime to raise funds for any idea—creative, cause-related or entrepreneurial. Prior to Indiegogo, Rubin worked as a management consultant. He earned his BSE degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Transcription

Erik Michielsen: What has working with lawyers taught you about business?

Slava Rubin: I had no idea how much lawyers are actually just part of the business process. I always thought lawyers need to be like the worst case scenario, that something has gone really bad. But what’s interesting is that maybe it’s the type of platform we have, so we have really equal opportunity, and we get ourselves into really interesting situations to the platform where people create their campaigns on our platform. Lawyers are just another subject matter expert that helps to navigate a decision, and knowing more facts and knowing more information helps to navigate the decision, so it’s really interesting.

Erik Michielsen: How do you interface with lawyers in your work? Slava Rubin: We have to talk to lawyers in all kinds of different areas, whether it’s setting up international entities, whether it’s dealing with fraud cases, where you have to deal with,customer issues, whether it’s IP or other digital media concerns. We actually dealt with a lawsuit where we were sued once and we were able to win, and, yeah, it was really interesting.

Clara Soh on What Rock Climbing Teaches About Relationship Trust

In Chapter 9 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, health economist Clara Soh answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" An avid rock climber, Soh shares the importance of finding a climbing partner you can trust and how she goes about building trusting climbing partner relationships. Clara Soh is a health economist and Senior Director of Policy and Research at a pharmaceutical trade organization in Washington, DC. Previously, Soh held senior roles at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) and Health Policy Research Northwest (HPRN). Soh earned her Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in Policy Analysis and Healthcare Public Finance from the NYU Wagner School and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.

Clara Soh on What It Means to Be a Leader

In Chapter 17 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, health economist Clara Soh answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" To Soh, leadership is about setting clear expectations and being present to support team members as they then work to accomplish the goal or complete the project. She uses structure and frameworks to keep her team organized and focused on its goals. As a rock climber, Soh shares how climbing has taught her leadership skills, especially the need to be considerate of the implications your actions while have on those following you when lead climbing a route. Clara Soh is a health economist and Senior Director of Policy and Research at a pharmaceutical trade organization in Washington, DC. Previously, Soh held senior roles at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) and Health Policy Research Northwest (HPRN). Soh earned her Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in Policy Analysis and Healthcare Public Finance from the NYU Wagner School and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.

James McCormick on Doing What is Best for His Family and Future

In Chapter 21 of 21 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, legal search and consulting firm executive James McCormick answers "What Steps Are You Taking to Do What is Best for Your Family and Your Future?" McCormick prioritizes his home life to make sure his son gets proper attention and is introduced to a wide array of experiences. He makes sure to carve out time with his wife in a schedule that gets far busier with children. At work he makes it a point to create an inclusive culture where everyone plays a role helping to grow the company. James McCormick is a Partner at Empire Search Partners in New York City. Previously, he practiced law as an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney for Proskauer Rose and Jones Day. He earned a JD at Tulane Law School and a BA in History at the University of Michigan.