Bryan Law on Learning Languages in International Business Consulting

In Chapter 10 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "As a Non-Native Speaker, How Did You Overcome Language Barriers Working in Brazil?" Working as a management consultant, Law is staffed on a Brazil project and, as a non-native speaker, learns Portuguese when he finds the work is done in native language and not English. As an international consultant, the experience teaches him the importance of engaging clients in their native languages as best as possible. This helps him on future projects, including one working with the Mozambique government.

Bryan Law is a Principal in the Global Business Strategy Group at Google and a board member at Angola University. Previously, he was a manager at Monitor, management consulting firm. He has worked in consulting roles at Watson Wyatt and Mercer. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and a BA from Georgetown University. 

Etiquette Advice for International Work Trips

In Chapter 16 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "How Have You Learned to Work More Effectively Across Different Cultures?" Law quickly learns different cultures do business in different ways. While in the UAE working in Dubai, Law makes a social faux pas around a Muslim woman and eases tension by making fun of himself.

Bryan Law is a Principal in the Global Business Strategy Group at Google and a board member at Angola University. Previously, he was a manager at Monitor, management consulting firm. He has worked in consulting roles at Watson Wyatt and Mercer. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and a BA from Georgetown University. 

Bryan Law on What Marriage Teaches About Teamwork

In Chapter 21 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "What Has Marriage Taught You About Teamwork?" As newlyweds, Law and his wife learn that marriage is about making decisions that are best for the couple. He finds making collective decisions with his wife brings a better perspective into thinking about problems and, ultimately, leads to better decisions.

Bryan Law is a Principal in the Global Business Strategy Group at Google and a board member at Angola University. Previously, he was a manager at Monitor, management consulting firm. He has worked in consulting roles at Watson Wyatt and Mercer. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and a BA from Georgetown University. 

Ramsey Pryor on How to Work With Difficult People

In Chapter 16 of 16 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, product management executive Ramsey Pryor answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" Pryor finds working with difficult people is something most everyone experiences at some point in their education or career. He learns to respect that these people may have things going on outside of class or work and to be mindful of this, especially as his own family commitments grow outside of work. He also learns that it helps to try and diffuse tense situations rather than escalate them.

Ramsey Pryor is a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based collaboration and security software products. Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM. Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.  

Adam Geller on the Importance of Self-Reflection

In Chapter 20 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, education technology entrepreneur Adam Geller answers "What Role Has Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?" Geller shares how self-reflecting has helped him professionally by honing his sales delivery. Personally, Geller finds self-reflection helps him think through his actions and identify gaps where asking for advice would have helped him make better decisions. He also learns how to more openly ask friends and colleagues for feedback to understand how his actions are affecting others.

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.

A Simple Rule to Live a More Fulfilling Life

In Chapter 21 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, education technology entrepreneur Adam Geller answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing As Your Experience Grows?" As he gains experience as an entrepreneur, Geller finds that work alone will not allow him to live a fulfilling life. He pushes himself to set aside more time outside of work to feel more fulfilled. From cycling to yoga to healthy eating, Geller pursues things that add joy to his life. He finds that happiness outside of work makes work more enjoyable and sustainable as well.

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.

Geoff Hamm on Ways Childhood Shapes Personal Values

In Chapter 16 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental to Shaping Who You Are Today?" Hamm shares how seeing his parents' go through a divorce as a child taught him how he would and would not treat his wife as an adult. As he starts a family, his childhood experience keeps him mindful of how to disagree with his spouse in front of their children. Hamm also shares the profound influence his late grandmother had on developing his passions for cooking and respect for strong-willed women.

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.

Why Wanting to Be Rich is a Waste of Time

In Chapter 20 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing as Your Experience Grows?" Growing up, Hamm remembers always wanting to be rich. Now nearly twenty years into his career, he finds that ambition seems more like a waste of time. He finds success more about waking up and loving what you do while also having an opportunity to raise a family. More than anything, Hamm learns that spending precious time with family is irreplaceable, especially after family members pass away.

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 Staying Humble When You Think You Are Successful

In Chapter 18 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "At This Moment in Your Life, Where Are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?" Smith shares a big life lesson he learned from crashing a car while in high school. The lesson reminds him to stay humble even when you think you have everything figured out. As a professional, this helps Smith embrace support from an executive coach, his Aspen Institute Pahara Fellowship cohort and a group of advisors he terms his "kitchen cabinet."

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 Taking Better Care of Yourself After Starting a Family

In Chapter 22 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing As You Get Older?" Smith shares how he is learning to take better care of himself to make sure he is capable of serving his family and business. Raising two kids and going through a burst appendix health scare, Smith makes a point to set personal wellbeing priorities and routines to keep balanced in how he lives his life.

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 Finding Meaning Living in the Moment

In Chapter 4 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur Louise Langheier answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing As Your Experiences Grow?" Langheier shares how her personal aspirations are becoming less specific and more focused on being present in the moment. Nine months pregnant, Langheier shares how starting a family is fundamental to this, as is being present as a friend and as a citizen.

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 How to Manage Ups and Downs in Life and Career

In Chapter 11 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "How Have You Learned to Adapt When Things Have Not Worked Out as Planned?" At age 40 and nearly 20 years into his career, Graham shares how he has had his share of ups and downs. He works through the challenges by staying focused on the levels of competency and effort he exhibits in his pursuits. Regularly reflecting on past failures and successes also helps him analyze situations, understand why they happened, and avoid repeating them if they were not positive ones.

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. 

Conrad Doucette on How to Handle a High Pressure Job at a Startup

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, musician and digital strategist Conrad Doucette answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?" Doucette finds constantly working in high-pressure job environments teaches him how to turn the chaos into calm, in what he terms a "Zen plateau" or "beautiful, bright soundscape." He also notes that pressure can feel like no pressure and no pressure can feel like pressure.

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for the band Takka Takka. He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts. When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks. Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan. 

Conrad Doucette on Giving Better Advice When Asked for Help

In Chapter 17 of 17 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, musician and digital strategist Conrad Doucette answers "How Have You Learned to Give Better Advice When People Ask You For Help?" Doucette puts himself in the shoes of the person asking for advice. In his younger years he would have dispensed advice based on his point of view rather than the perspective of the person asking for advice.

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for the band Takka Takka. He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts. When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks. Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan. 

Simon Sinek on Pushing Beyond the Tried and True Into Something New

In Chapter 15 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Do You Balance Experimentation and Commitment in the Projects That You Pursue?" Sinek shares what he has learned about striking that balance between pushing boundaries developing new concepts and appreciating the need to stay committed to your best work. He notes that innovation requires risk and, in his own life, he pushes himself to practice what he preaches. This requires Sinek to create new material while staying mindful there will always be an audience for the "greatest hits". 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 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.

Lauren Serota on Thinking About Your Biological Clock At Age 30

In Chapter 20 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing As You Get Older?" Now 30 years old, Serota shares how she thinks differently about her relationship and starting a family than she did when she was in her late twenties. The biological clock considerations for having a family now are more real in her own life. As her friends' kids grow into 6 and 7 year-old children, she starts to think more seriously about having kids. She also comes to appreciate the lifestyle she has built for herself in Austin that has allowed her to balance working at frog with teaching design.

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).

Nina Godiwalla on How Life Changes After Having a Second Child

In Chapter 5 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and entrepreneur Nina Godiwalla answers "What Challenges Have You Faced Raising Two Young Children While Working Full Time?" Godwalla shares how having a second baby has significantly changed her social life. With the added responsibility at home, working mom Godiwalla and her husband realize that the reality of having a second child is that your social life, from date nights to seeing friends, will get constrained. Nina Godiwalla is an expert on diversity, leadership and women in the business world. She is CEO of Mindworks, which provides leadership, stress management, and diversity training to companies all over the world. She is also a bestselling author and public speaker. Godiwalla earned an MBA from Wharton, a MA from Dartmouth and a BBA from the University of Texas.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: What challenges have you faced raising two young children while working full time?

Nina Godiwalla: I have to say what happened for us, what fell off the bottom is, where we are challenged is, with the second kid, especially, it cut off our social life a lot, it cut our social life significantly. So we used to have it to where, “Okay, I’ll take it. You go out tonight. I can go out with my friends later,” so we weren’t doing a lot of things together, because it’s usually, when we travel, we’re gone for work, so it doesn’t really justify we’re not gonna take a vacation, and we don’t leave our kids and go on a vacation together, but our time together, after the second child, has been cut significantly, just spending any time together alone, or going out and socializing.

We’re actually both fairly disciplined people, so we just see this as a situation, whereas I know a lot of other friends will say to me like, “Oh, you have to still socialize and do all sorts of things,” and I just, I do—I enjoy being with my kids, and, to me, I see it as, for the next couple of years, it will be this way, and even with my husband, when we’ve had our first kid, we said, “Oh, we’re gonna do a weekly date night,” a month, weeks later, and I thought, “Maybe we’ll do monthly,” we don’t do either.

Maybe it has only been a couple of years now, but it doesn’t bother me that much, and he has more of a kind of a discipline, logical mindset too where we both kind of see it as this is just it is what it is right now, and we’re not gonna, probably not spend a lot of time alone, it’s gonna be the four of us together and just deal with it, and we’re not gonna spend a lot of time with our friends, and when we do spend time with friends, it’s when we have the whole family together, and it’s just this chaotic—it’s they have their two or three other children, we have our two children—our conversation is so broken. You just started to say something, and then someone’s kid is screaming over, so it’s these broken conversations that there was no real in-depth conversation, but at the same time, it is what it is right now.

Erik Michielsen: Is that something where you have to just kind of feel out other couples and their kids and figure out, “Are we all okay in this environment here?”

Nina Godiwalla: I think other parents get it because they can’t have the conversation either. They are really trying. Before I had kids I was one of those unforgiving people where I really felt like, “Can they—?” I still remember it, I have a friend that I could hear her baby crying in the background, and I was thinking, and I’d be in the middle of telling her something, and I thought, “Can she just not leave the kid for a minute or two and let me finish talking or telling my story?” And it’s just interesting, as a parent now, I mean I see things so differently, like if I hear someone’s kid crying, I’m like, “I will talk to you later.” I just I don’t want you to have to try and listen to me and listen to the kid screaming at the same time.

My mindset is so different. Before, I was very harsh on parents, so I had a long way to come, and now I’m just incredibly forgiving. If I see somebody with like a kid on a plane, I try and let them know like a million times that whatever their child does is perfectly fine because I won’t fly with my children. I don’t bring my children on a plane, and everyone always makes fun of me because I fly, I’m flying for business and they’ll say, especially on the East Coast, like, “Do you really have children?” Because I fly here fairly frequently, but none of—and I have a lot of friends here, and they said, “I’ve never seen your children, like this is mysterious that you really have children.” “Oh my God, I don’t fly with my kids.” I mean that’s my—and so it’s that sort of I know what a challenge it is and I don’t even wanna go there. (laughs)