Bryan Law on Going From Introvert to Extrovert in a Business Career

In Chapter 2 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "When Are You At Your Best?" Law finds his best working on collaborative teams and helping lead them to achieve goals. An introvert in his early 20s, Law attends business school and learns to be more extroverted in his behavior, seeking out opportunities in student government. This helps him build acumen working with large teams.

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, a 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.

3 Ways to Build Management Consulting Project Manager Skills

In Chapter 11 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "What Core Skills Did You Learn Working on Management Consulting Projects?" Growing into a project manager role working in management consulting, Law finds three areas on which to focus. First, he learns what to prioritize in order to run a client project efficiently. Second, Law makes sure to build a strong relationship with the client that goes beyond the project. Third, he builds a team dynamic around inclusion and trust to do his best to make the project work as rewarding for team member professional development as possible.

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.

How Getting Married Changes Your Priorities

In Chapter 22 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing As You Get Older?" After getting married, Law finds he is more selective about what he is and is not willing to do. He focuses more on the type of work he enjoys that will give him opportunities to create impact in his work and maintain a work-life balance.

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. 

Product Management Advice for New Entrepreneurs

In Chapter 16 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, education technology entrepreneur Adam Geller answers "What Have You Learned About Product Management by Building an Online Education Platform?" Geller shares how relaunching the Edthena teacher coaching video platform was a complex challenge with many moving parts. To get the team to come for the product relaunch, Geller shares how instilling ownership in employees motivated them to successfully ship product. 

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.

Learning to Build Technology for Teacher Education

In Chapter 18 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, education technology entrepreneur Adam Geller answers "What Has Been Most Challenging About Building a Technology Platform for Teacher Education?" Geller learns that technology startup success does not happen overnight. He pushes beyond the myth of overnight startup success by being patient and incrementally building product features and growing user base. These incremental gains help him sell into education buyers and better manage sales cycle buying constraints.

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 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.

Geoff Hamm on Performing Under Pressure Working in Sales

In Chapter 7 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?" Hamm finds high performers can benefit from putting pressure on themselves to succeed. He gets motivation building better business relationships, beating the competition, and making his company successful. As he builds sales experience, he develops confidence, learns his strengths and weaknesses and discovers where and when to put that pressure on himself.

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 Starting a Grade School and Becoming Its Principal

In Chapter 5 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "What Made You Decide to Leave a High School Teaching Job and Become a School Principal?" After completing his second year teaching at Teach for America and going through CMAs - Corps Member Advisor - training and development, Smith runs into bureaucratic obstacles during his third year teaching. The challenge gets Smith more engaged in the local community and leads to him starting a new San Jose grade school that he leads as principal.

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 Measuring Success Managing Charter Schools

In Chapter 16 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "How Do You Define and Measure Success in What You Do?" As CEO running a network of K-5 charter schools, Smith defines and measures success using a number of qualitative and quantitative inputs, from student learning outcomes to teacher satisfaction surveys to parent participation analysis. These help Smith work toward a goal of waking up every day knowing he is doing everything he can to build great schools full of happy employees and achieving students.

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 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. 

Mark Graham on How Having a Baby Puts Life Balance in Perspective

In Chapter 3 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "How Has Becoming a Father Put Your Life in a New Perspective?" Three months after having a baby, Graham shares how having a son has given him a new appreciation for finding balance in his life. From being a husband to being a father to having a career, Graham sees the importance of being present where you are to be devoted and successful.

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 How to Socialize Your Successes in an Entry-Level Job

In Chapter 8 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "What Did You Learn in Your First Job Out of College That is Still Relevant Today?" In an entry-level marketing assistant job, Graham learns the importance of socializing his successes on the job. As an entry-level hire working in a large corporation, Graham learns to clearly explain to others the value he contributes to a project and how that relates to the company's success as a whole. 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 Essential Advice Every Intern Needs to Know

In Chapter 14 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "How Have You Learned to Give Better Advice When People Ask You For Help?" Graham shares what he does to counsel interns on how to build career skills in an internship and get a full-time job working in media and entertainment. He shares the importance of making connections and keeping in touch with your professional network. Additionally, he shares the importance of saying yes and taking initiative to go above and beyond your job description. Lastly, he pushes interns to socialize their successes to others in the organization can better understand the contribution they make in their time working the internship.

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 How to Collaborate on Projects More Successfully

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

Lauren Serota on the Why Trust is the Key to Project Collaboration

In Chapter 13 of 21 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, creative director and educator Lauren Serota answers "What Have You Found to Be the Keys to Creating Successful Project Collaborations?" Serota finds building trust essential to creating successful creative team project collaborations in her work at frog design. She learns to both understand team expectations and communicate her own expectations to motivate her team and create an inclusive environment where each team member has a stake in the project.

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 Turning Your Passion into Your Mission

In Chapter 6 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and entrepreneur Nina Godiwalla answers "How Do You Define and Measure Success in What You Do?" Godiwalla shares how work success is less about results and more about staying immersed in mission-based work that allows her to use her passions to achieve a greater purpose. Over time she finds herself achieving dream goals as she builds her diversity and leader training business. 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: How do you define and measure success in what you do?

Nina Godiwalla: For me, I think less about success because my life has had this major shift from working to purpose. I’m very clear now that I have a purpose and I’d say I can actually articulate it a little bit better that way because I was in a meeting about 2 weeks ago, and I was talking about what I do, and as I get very worked up, I was very passionate about it, and the guy that I was speaking to said, “You sound like you’re really not working, you’re on a mission,” and that was interesting because I thought, “Yeah, I know, because I don’t feel like I work anymore,” and, you know what? Because I don’t feel that way, I am not measuring success. I’m not sitting around thinking, “Did I do these three checkmarks?” It’s almost like I’m growing—I can see that things are changing significantly around me. Every year of my life is wow, I said a year or 2 years ago that was a dream to me. That is something I would have loved to do but never thought. I hadn’t even thought about getting that far, and then I find myself 2 years later doing that, and so I think that is success to me, is being able to find that purpose, and then just going after it full force, and being able to adapt and be flexible as things are constantly changing around me.

Erik Michielsen: When someone asks you, “What is your mission?”, how do you respond?

Nina Godiwalla: I think one of the major messages I have is really focused on step up, speak up, when you’re in a place of power, really being able to take your power and help other people that might not be in power, and those have played to both my focuses, leadership and diversity, and that applies from a diversity standpoint, so such a small example is if you’re in a room and you hear an inappropriate joke about a certain minority group, if you’re not part of that minority group and it makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, a lot of times we’d just gonna look the other way. The most important thing for you to do at that moment is be able to say something and be able to stand up for that group because that group has been criticized and it’s an opportunity for you as not being a part of that.

From a leadership standpoint what I’m focused on is being in a place of power, whether you—wherever you are. You don’t even have to be high in the hierarchy or whatever it is, but a great example was we were just talking in a meeting, we were at the State Department, we were having this talk about how people repeat, someone gives their credit to the wrong person, so a very senior person says, basically, he repeated what someone else said, and everyone kind of starts giving credit to the senior person who said it, 15 minutes before, two other people had already mentioned it, and we’re giving examples of what’s a way to actually remind people that that’s not the right person, that’s not the person that really said it, and it’s something along the lines of, “Oh, well, Joe, that’s a great point—that’s a great way that you’ve summarized Sandy’s comments earlier, that’s—that was really impressive the way you did it concisely,” or something like that, and, basically, giving back credit to the person that did it. And if you are the most senior person in that room, it’s even more important for you to do that because you’re acknowledging to the rest of the staff, I’m aware of where that came from, and even if you’re not the most senior person, you’re in that room, and so you have an opportunity to bring attention to that, so it’s those sort of things, always making an impact, whether you formally have a hierarchical place or not.

Nina Godiwalla on How Job Success Can Isolate and Overwhelm

In Chapter 8 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, author and entrepreneur Nina Godiwalla answers "How Have Awards and Accolades Validated Your Work and Your Mission?" Godiwalla finds receiving awards, such as being inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame, validate her work and her mission. As a public speaker traveling extensively, she finds it progressively difficult to get to know people well during short trips. Travel-related time constraints limit her ability to connect with the amazing people she meets which leads her to feel frustrated and isolated. 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: How have awards and accolades validated your work and your mission?

Nina Godiwalla: At this point, I feel like it just helps me realize I’m going in the right direction but it doesn’t necessarily change anything major for me. Now that I’m so clear in what I’m doing, the awards and the accolades are like an extra bonus, like it’s nice, but before I felt like I was almost choosing what I would do based off of awards and accolades to some extent because that would be a great thing to do to get this award or get that, and now I feel I’m more along the lines of I’m so clear on my mission, I’m so clear on the purpose, and what I need to accomplish, fantastic, they’re just not nearly as important to me, I think, now that I’m so clear on my path.

Erik Michielsen: And you’re meeting some other people that are part of those communities, do you feel like you share similar views and there’s more work to do?

Nina Godiwalla: We come from completely different areas, one of that, I mean when I got inducted in the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, Sandra Day O’Connor, as you know, she was one of the recipients, there are people that are colonels in the military. We all came out of so many different disciplines. Again, it’s like an amazing opportunity to meet fantastic, accomplished people, but definitely coming from very different backgrounds, and I feel like also, at this point, I’m so overwhelmed with—I feel like I’m constantly meeting such amazing people that I don’t even have time to get to know anybody anymore, and so the journey almost feels lonely at times because I’m overwhelmed with amazing people that I can’t follow up with. It’s absurd, it is absurd as it sounds, and I know that’s a choice, I mean don’t get me wrong, you create how busy you are, but there is always the next thing that I’m going to, the next thing I’m leaving for. And I mean I go to events all the time, I’m speaking. People give me their business cards, and I’d say I’ll follow up, and I have such good intentions, I really want to, I write it down, but by the time I get back, I’m already—there’s the next one where I meet 15 other people, and then I go back, the next one, so in a lot of ways, yes, I mean it’s fascinating, it’s amazing, but it’s also just completely overwhelming to be around, just meet all these amazing people all the time. (chuckles)

Erik Michielsen: Yeah, yeah, you wish for all that, sometimes, to come, and you get it, and you’re like I’m feeling more isolated and more lonely than ever.

Nina Godiwalla: Yeah, and I’ve heard that from several people, which I thought was interesting. I wouldn’t have—someone said it to me today, actually, she said— I was saying how, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to connect a little bit more with people geographically because several of us travel a lot?” And she said, “Yes. Sometimes it gets lonely,” and I hadn’t thought of it that way, and I was thinking, “That’s exactly what I mean.” I mean it feels lonely somewhere along the lines even though you’re constantly with such amazing people.