Staying Inspired by Keeping in Touch With Teachers

In Chapter 19 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, education technology entrepreneur Adam Geller answers "How Are Your Personal Experiences Shaping Your Professional Aspirations?" Geller stays connected to fellow teachers and school administrators from his previous work experience. These connections and the updates they share on Facebook provide Geller a constant reminder of why he does what he does working to improve education by improving teacher training.

Adam Geller is founder and CEO of Edthena, a video platform enabling online teacher coaching, peer review, and group learning. He is a recent Education Ventures fellow at the Kauffman Foundation and the founder of Teach For Us, a network connecting Teach for America corps members and alumni. He earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a MA from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis.

How Teaching First Grade Inspires Mission of Faith

In Chapter 1 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "To What Do You Aspire?" Going into Teach for America, Smith is assigned to teach first grade instead of his preference for fourth or fifth grade. Teaching the children to read proves to be a transformational moment that connects Smith to student families and leads him deeper into a mission to provide great schools for every child.

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.

Preston Smith on Improving Quality Grade School Choices for Parents

In Chapter 8 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "What Inspires You Most About the Charter School Education Model?" To Smith, improving education quality comes down to creating a market of choices so parents can choose the best school for their child. While Smith notes not all charter schools translate into higher quality choices, he makes a point that charter schools represent a central way to innovation education by creating higher quality school options for parents and their kids.

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. 

Louise Langheier on How to Learn and Develop a Hard Work Ethic

In Chapter 2 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?" Langheier shares how she learned her work ethic at an early age from people she admired, including her role model parents. Over time, she learns from people give their all to something and rise to the occasion in moments of crisis.

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 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.

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.

Fabian Pfortmüller on Helping Your Community Achieve Dream Goals

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur and community builder Fabian Pfortmüller answers "What Programs Are You Creating as a Business to Give Back to the Community?" Pfortmüller shares how he and his Holstee team are creating programs to give back to the community they serve and support community members on their journey to achieve life goals. After testing a revenue sharing model with Kiva, where Holstee donated 10% of all revenue to micro-loans, Holstee evolved its internal community programs and created a Holstee Fellowship and an online story sharing site, My Life, to support its membership. 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.

Tricia Regan on Taking Advantage of Living in New York City

In Chapter 1 of 15 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, filmmaker Tricia Regan answers "How Do You Make the Most of Living in the City?" Born and raised in New York City, Regan finds living in the city electrifying. She embraces the activities around her and the social lifestyle that keeps her engaged with community and friends. 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.

Doug Jaeger on Learning Work Ethic From a Role Model Father

In Chapter 2 of 14 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and brand marketer Doug Jaeger answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?" Jaeger learns his work ethic from his father, who focuses on finding ways to improve and grow. This inspires Jaeger to try and improve his own surroundings in and out of work. Doug Jaeger is co-founder and creative director at JaegerSloan Inc. where he focuses on brand and experimental marketing for clients such as Squarespace, Samsung and PwC. He is an adjunct professor at New York's School of Visual Arts (SVA) and co-curator of JnrlStr. He graduated from Syracuse University.

Ken Biberaj on Learning Community Service From President Bill Clinton

In Chapter 18 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council Candidate Ken Biberaj answers "What Has Bill Clinton Taught You About How to Run a Better Political Campaign?" Biberaj shares why President Bill Clinton inspired his public service career and how learning from him before, during and after serving as an intern in his office has motivated him to do work that improves his community.

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. 

James McCormick on Learning Work Ethic From Two Inspirational Grandfathers

In Chapter 3 of 21 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, legal search and consulting firm executive James McCormick answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?" McCormick learns his work ethic from both of his grandfathers. The first starts a small business making automotive parts and teaches his grandson the benefits of being engaged in your work. The other teaches James the importance of studying and how concentration in schoolwork can lead to positive attention at home. 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. 

Leslie Kerner on What It Means to Be a Leader

In Chapter 15 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, education software company executive Leslie Kerner answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" Kerner finds the biggest part of being a leader is bringing out the best in people and helping them to achieve great things they did not even think they could do. She learns to do this through developing a leadership style using differentiation skills to help employees thrive in a way that makes sense for them.

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.

Courtney Spence on Fatherly Advice on Why to Work Every Day Doing What You Love

In Chapter 2 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Courtney Spence answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" From an early age, Spence is encouraged by her father to "find a way to make a living doing what you love." He encourages his daughter, saying "I don't want you to have a job but I want you to work every day of your life." This guides Spence from college into her social entrepreneurship nonprofit work. All the while her parents find moments and space to support their daughter's development.

Social entrepreneur and storyteller Courtney Spence founded 501c3 nonprofit Students of the World (SOW) to shine a light on progress and celebrate the world's problem solvers. She is building a movement of next-generation storytellers and creative activists through the SOW program The Creative Activist Network. Spence is a graduate of Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: Where has your family been most supportive in your career development?

Courtney Spence: Wow. They have been supportive throughout my entire career development. From the beginning, it was find a way to make a living, doing what you love to do, and my dad always said I don’t want you to have a job but I want you to work every day of your life. And it’s that different philosophy of I don’t go to my job that I have to, I go work hard because I want to. And, you know, it doesn’t mean that you enjoy what you do every day, all day, or even all month, but, you know, as long as you find your passion and are able to follow it, it just lifts you up and lifts those people around you. And so, I think that kind of started me off on that path when I was, you know, 16, 17, 18 through my early 20s, thinking about what I wanted to do.

Most recently, this has been a really wonderful year, but a year of a lot of challenges, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of new situations that I have not faced before as a leader in our organization, and some really hard times. And I think that, you know, it’s when the going gets tough, I get on the phone or I go to my parents’ backyard, and I’m lucky to have two really wonderful parents who are mentors and that who really are equally as passionate about my passion as I am. And so, I would say that while I would give them credit for putting me on the right path to following your passion, I think that knowing that I can turn to them in times of doubt, or crisis, or questioning what we’re doing, and being able to have that as like a sounding board, and a family is pretty amazing, actually, so.

Audrey French on How to Find the Right Mentor at the Right Time

In Chapter 6 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Have Mentors Helped to Motivate You to Do Your Best Work?" French shares how different mentors have been valuable at different stages of her career. Out of college, French works for a female small business owner who inspires her own entrepreneurial leap. Later, after leaving the business world, French finds a female mentor that helps her come to terms with her new life after the company and her motherhood aspirations. Audrey Parker French is an entrepreneur who co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She currently volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and teaches children's choir. She graduated from Wake Forest University and lives with her husband in Austin, Texas.

Hammans Stallings on How Role Model Father Inspires Work Ethic

In Chapter 2 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?"  Stallings watches how his father, a physician, works at his job.  He notes how his father orients to his work and how his father stayed connected to his work over time.  Stallings sees the sacrifices that come with a dedicated career and why mindfulness can be useful making that commitment. 

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.

How to Make Employee Culture a Competitive Advantage

In Chapter 12 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "What Has Working at frog design Taught You About What It Takes to Build a Strong Company Culture?" Working at 40-year old design strategy company frog design, Stallings sees firsthand how people not only can come together to solve client problems but also can individually contribute to shaping what the company represents in carrying on the company history via actions and values. As he assimilates into frog culture over time, Stallings learns how to contribute, embrace the impromptu nature of interaction, and, ultimately, add to how the company differentiates with its culture.

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.

Hammans Stallings on Becoming a Role Model Leader

In Chapter 19 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "What Goals are You Setting as You Look to What Comes Next in Your Business Career?" Stallings shares how his point of view on management and leadership have evolved with experience. In order to do better work, Stallings acknowledges the need to empower teams with frameworks, tools, and motivation that will get greater results. He questions the selfish nature of a leader or manager and thinks about how this plays against the talent development and team motivation outcomes that come from effective management and leadership.

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.