Stacie Bloom on Using Trial Jobs to Explore Science Career Options

In Chapter 7 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Did You Find Most Challenging About Teaching College Biology at Bard College?" Teaching biology at Bard College while doing her post doc work at Rockefeller University, she finds it easy to connect with college students. She uses the opportunity to explore career options and find out if teaching is a good fit. Teaching one college class helps Grossman Bloom rule out that as a career option and she continues using the exploration and trial approach in other pursuits, including a role at Nature Medicine. Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What did you find most challenging about teaching a biology class at Bard College?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: College students.

Erik Michielsen: How did you connect with them?

Stacie: As a post doc it wasn’t that hard to connect with a college student. I still felt like that was kinda my life. I was making no money. I was in jeans and sneakers all the time. I felt like a kid still and I felt like a student still. I think they probably looked at me very differently.

At the time I was trying to explore career options for myself. I thought, “maybe I’d like to be a college professor.” And that was a way for me to rule it out.

But it was a great opportunity to see if that was a good fit for me.

Erik Michielsen: What did you learn about yourself through the experience?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I learned that for me, it was important for me to do trial runs of things before I went full-fledged into them. When I started at Nature and left the lab, I was doing it just two days a week as an intern. That’s what really was a good way for me to see, to test the waters. And, same thing with teaching. So, take on one class at a college, try it out, see if I like it. I didn’t like it, so I didn’t do it.

Stacie Bloom on Getting a Post Doc Lab Job Working for a Nobel Laureate Scientist

In Chapter 8 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "How Did Working for a Nobel Laureate at the Rockefeller University Shape Your Science Career?" After earning her PhD, she looks to return to New York City for her post doc. She applies to Rockefeller University and gets an opportunity to work for Paul Greengard, who goes on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine five months later. The Rockefeller lab experience shows her the best of science and what is like to be in a world renown successful laboratory where funding is not an issue. Ultimately, she finds the lab environment was not for her and decides to choose something different.

Stacie Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How did working for a Nobel laureate at The Rockefeller University shape your science career?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: So, that was a pretty serendipitous event in my life. I knew I wanted to come back to New York City and I was applying to post doctoral positions in New York City and a friend of mine at the time who was in New York City said to me, “if you are going to go and do your post doc there, you should go to the best possible place you can go and that’s The Rockefeller University.” And, for people who are not familiar with it, The Rockefeller University is one of the most unique universities you will ever come across. It doesn’t have an undergraduate program; it has a graduate program and an MD-PhD program. It’s small, it has no departments, it has no silos, it’s unbelievably well funded, it’s an amazing intellectual place.

And I applied and got an interview in this guy, Paul Greengard’s, lab. I was interested in the stuff that he was doing. I went on my interview and gave my presentation, went out to dinner with him and got the offer, and five months later he won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. And, I never could’ve known that that was going to happen when I accepted my position in the lab. And I always joked with him that it’s good that I got in before he won the Nobel Prize because after he got it, the applications to the lab were skyrocketing and I always thought I would never get in and he always said, “yes, you would still get in, you would still get in.” But that experience showed me the best of science - what’s it like to be in one of the most world-renowned successful laboratories,  what’s it like to be a scientist in a lab where funding isn’t the biggest issue, like it is in most labs.

And for me, even in that environment, I knew I didn’t want to stay in the lab. The fact that I chose a different path, even though I was in this amazing environment was really emblematic of the fact that that environment wasn’t for me and I needed to get out of there and choose something different.

Stacie Bloom on Leaving Academia for a Science Industry Job

In Chapter 9 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Did You Find Most Challenging Transitioning Out of Science Bench Research Into the Field?" Working in a protective university science environment as a post doc, Grossman Bloom finds the greatest challenge leaving the security of the academic culture for outside work. By building a strong working relationship with her boss, Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard, she is able to test an outside opportunity by interning twice a week at Nature Medicine.

Stacie Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen: What did you find most challenging transitioning out of science bench research into the field?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I think the most challenging thing was getting my mind readjusted to the fact that I was leaving that track. You know, that’s the only track I really knew and then I was entering into sort of uncharted territory. I think also the university is a very protective environment. Nobody is--It’s not like at a law firm where you have x number of years to make partner, and if you don’t make partner, you sort of have a tough decision to make. You can waiver around in a university lab as a post doc for infinity and nobody is ever going to kick you out. So, making the decision to leave a track and leave the security of the university atmosphere, I think was the most challenging.

Erik Michielsen: How did you get over it?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I just did it; it was like ripping off a band-aid. I did it more slowly than others. I was really fortunate, I was in a laboratory, as a post doc, of a Nobel laureate who was very flexible in what he allowed me to do and let me leave the lab part-time to pursue an internship at Nature Publishing Group. Nature is a great scientific journal and it’s based in New York City. And he let me sort of dip my toe in the water and feel it out. And, I got the internship at Nature and then when it came an offer for a full-time position, it was a little bit easier than pulling off a band-aid.

Stacie Bloom on Solving Problems With Public Private Partnerships

In Chapter 18 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What are Public Private Partnerships and Why are They Important to What You Do?" She notes these public private partnerships are alliances that bring together academic and industry groups to collaborate and drive fields forward. In her experience at the Sackler Institute, Grossman Bloom notes how public private partnerships also enable traditional competing firms such as Coke and Pepsi to come together, share information, and work with universities to solve global problems.

Stacie Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What are public private partnerships and why are they important in what you do?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: So public private partnerships are alliances that bring together industry people with academic people, typically, and why they are important is because very often and historically those two sectors have been siloed. A lot of people believe that by forcing conversations between those two sectors and increasing collaborations and cross-fertilizations of ideas, that you can drive fields forward.

Erik Michielsen: So, why are they important to the nutrition science program that you’ve just launched?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: A public private partnership is a really important element of the Sackler Institute because it brings often-competing groups of people to the table and forces them to talk in a more collaborative way, to hopefully drive progress in the field. In our public private partnership we currently have a number of leaders who have come on board. This includes Pepsi, Coke, Pfizer, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, DSM, Nestle. I think it’s pretty clear what the impact is of bringing these mega companies together at one table. But then when you are also introducing the academic partners, Cornell, Columbia, Tufts, Hopkins, Wageningen University, universities from all over the world. You are starting with such a powerful group of people and sharing information that may not normally be exchanged.

How to Find Teaching Moments in Success and Failure - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 4 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin answers "What Makes Failures More Meaningful Learning Experiences Than Successes?" Rubin notes both failures and successes are learning experiences. He makes a point to celebrate, share, and understand successes with the team when they occur. He uses failures to help navigate the team toward successes, citing a Michael Jordan story as a way to put the entrepreneurial journey in context. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com, a crowdfunding startup whose platform helps individuals and groups finance their passions. Before IndieGoGo, Rubin worked in management consulting for Diamond Consulting, now a PWC company. Rubin founded and manages non-profit Music Against Myeloma to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer. He earned a BBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcript: 

Erik:  Why are failures more meaningful learning experiences than successes?

Slava Rubin:  Well, I think both are important.  You really have to understand when you do something well and when there is a success and make sure to share it with everybody on the team and really understand how we got here and enjoy it.  

I think the failures just help us learn how to navigate towards the success.  There is a classic Michael Jordan commercial where it’s like black and white and he’s walking out of a tunnel and he says ‘I have shot – I have missed, you know, 97,000 free throws, I have missed 100,000 shots, and for all these misses, you know, that is why I have won six championships.’  It’s because he’s been out there and put it out on the line.  Like any entrepreneur, you know, with great risk it can come reward, and with risk comes some failures.

Erik Michielsen:  Is there one specific failure that you can point to in your development that’s really helped you get to where you are now?

Slava Rubin:  I would say that there have been some painful times whether it be like when my dad died of cancer when I was fifteen or even with IndieGoGo, you know, the market crashed in 2008, and it was pretty bleak times with my two co-founders, and I – and it was just about really focusing on what’s important in either one of those situations, and looking forward, and just taking one step at a time, and executing, and here we are.

How Entrepreneurial Spirit Shapes Career - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 2 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "What Made You Realize That You Were an Entrepreneur at Heart?" Parker first accepts the "entrepreneur" identity after co-founding her company, CLEAResult; however, upon reflecting upon her past experiences, Parker recognizes she has been happiest when she is creating something. She recalls helping a woman start fter graduating from college, Parker helps to start an insurance agency. While in college, she helps to start a women's a cappella group. Parker is currently on a one-year sabbatical. Parker co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm. In 2010, CLEAResult ranked #144 in the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies. In late 2010, CLEAResult was sold to General Catalyst Partners. Parker graduated from Wake Forest University.

Finding Teaching Motivation in Light Bulb Moments - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 18 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About Helping People Have Light Bulb Moments?" She channels the thrill she gets having her own "ah hah" learning moments to work with others until they too have a light bulb moment and learn something new. Parker is currently on a one-year sabbatical. Parker co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm. In 2010, CLEAResult ranked #144 in the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies. In late 2010, CLEAResult was sold to General Catalyst Partners. Parker graduated from Wake Forest University.

Courtney Spence on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 2 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?" She finds it harder to find and manage time, as increasing responsibilities and interests are pressuring her to better prioritize and schedule. Spence is finding relationships easier to navigate and manage as she comes to accept as you get older and have less time, you realize everyone else is in same boat. As a result, she finds keeping up with her college friends more manageable than previously thought. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World - http://studentsoftheworld.org - a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What is getting easier and what is getting harder in your life?

Courtney Spence:  Wow.  Well, it is getting harder to find time, I think.  That’s something – I think back to even just my college years and all of the things I was able to do, and volunteer, and go to church, and still have time to work out every day, and hang out with friends, and bake cookies for people.  And do, I mean it was – I had, you know – I had all this time, and then you know, you make the transition into the workforce and the workplace, and you realize, okay, my time is a bit more limited.  But particularly, for me in the past year, I just – I can’t seem to find the time. I have found more and more things that I’m interested in doing and learning about and knowing about, so there’s – it’s almost like my horizons keep getting wider, but my time somehow seems to be a little bit less.  So that’s hard. 

I think it’s – at the same time, I guess I would say what’s getting easier is this concept of relationships in a sense that, you know, most recently this year, I was able to reconnect with some friends from college that I hadn’t seen since we graduated, so its been over ten years, and we picked up like it had been yesterday that we are at Duke, and there was just this sense of awe that I had that, you know, I was sort of worried about some of these friendships and these relationships, and what would it be like, I haven’t seen them in so long, and it was – it was incredible, and I think there is something I have understood as you get older and you don’t find that you have the time that you want to put into relationships.  You realize that everybody else is in that same boat and that more often than not, if you have had a period in your life where you’ve been close to people, you will always be able to go back to that foundation.  So it’s not to say that you don’t have to work at relationships and friendships because you do, but I think there is this sense that, you know, everybody is going through their own battles, everybody is going through their own struggles, and you know, if you ever had a connection, you can still find that connection again.

Courtney Spence on How to Use Art Education to Create Social Change

In Chapter 8 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About Working at the Intersection of Social Change, Art and Education?" Spence finds the continuing change present at this intersection provides a powerful storytelling platform for individuals looking to do good in the world. She finds telling stories of progress through the lens of the good happening in the world, it is more actionable. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What do you enjoy most about working at the intersection of social change, art, and education?

Courtney Spence:  What I enjoy most about working in that intersection of art, education, and social change is the fact that it is constantly changing and it’s full of individuals that really have a burning desire to contribute to society through the talents that they have been given and through the talents they wanna develop.  You know, when you’re in the education world it’s all about curiosity, it’s all about learning from others, listening to other stories, and understanding how that is your story also and what do you take from that.  So that’s when we started Students of the World, the concept of let’s go out and be ‘students of the world’ just as we are students at Duke, or at UT, or at UNC, and, you know, listen to other stories and translating that into something that can cause social activism, social change.  It’s really the power of storytelling at its best.  That’s what social media is.  We’re all telling stories.  Y’all are telling stories here. 

Students, you know, are telling stories as they write essays.  Our students are going out and retelling the stories that they have been told, and, you know, social media has really – we all know it has just exploded over the course of the last, you know, seven to ten years, but what’s really exciting is we’re starting to see so much more often that people are using that for good, for, you know, the Do-gooder Awards that YouTube does.  You know, the Ford Foundation just announced a really, you know, 50 million-dollar grant for cause-related social documentaries.  There is really this understanding that the power of storytelling can be best used when it’s a force for good, and it’s telling the stories of those who are doing great work across the world.

I think that there is really so much momentum to use social media for, you know, in a more creative way for the education of others, to really inspire people to take action, and there is this concept that we have always believed in at Students of the World is the importance of telling stories of progress.  Problems paralyze people and they make them feel that, you know, they can’t contribute because it’s war, it’s poverty, it’s famine, it’s all of this.  But when you tell stories of progress when you show problems through the lens of the good that is happening in the world it’s not only inspiring to others but it’s hopefully inspiring to a point of taking action.  And so being in that space you find that you have, you know, people that are able to educate through media, through art, to create change, and that’s – it’s just a really exciting place to be in.

Courtney Spence on How to Make Student Filmmakers Non-Profit Advocates

In Chapter 13 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence shares how to leverage the passion of college student program participants to help non-profits non-governmental organizations (NGOs) thrive. Spence notes how student energy and enthusiasm complements a sense of mission and purpose working with the NGOs, ultimately becoming a champion or advocate of the cause. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How has the college student perspective advanced the cause of your NGO program partners?

Courtney Spence:  I think one of the really wonderful things about working with college students is this ‘can do’ spirit and this sense of optimism and a real desire to contribute. You know, college is a time where you are being inspired consistently through courses, through new friendships, through professors, through internships.  At its best college is, you know, it’s four years of incredible inspiration and stimulation in ways that – and challenging you to think in ways that you haven’t thought before. 

So when you take people that are in this moment in time, in their growth as a person that we’re they’re, you know, they’re able to apply things that they learned in theater class to what they’re, you know, learning in their public policy class, in ways that they wouldn’t have seen overlap, they’re seeing it, and when you apply that kind of person and throw them into a program where their whole purpose is to go listen, partake in stories, and then kind of regurgitate those in ways that can make a difference.  It’s a perfect match because what happens is these students come in, they are willing to rough it.  Will sleep in barns.  Will sleep on floors.  I wanna work with the family.  I wanna plant beans.  Just throw me, I will do anything.  I wanna learn.  I wanna be a part of this.  And there is just this sheer enthusiasm and energy, and then yet, there’s a real sense of like mission and purpose, and here is what we’re here to do. 

But what happens is, you know, the relationships that I have seen that our students have forged with the organizations and the individuals on the ground are really, really profound because, you know, they’re not worried about a gazillion other things that they have to do.  More often than not, they know more about the organizations than a lot of the volunteers and staff that they’ll meet on the ground because, for three months, they have been so excited in preparing and reading everything that they can get their hands on. 

So what we’re able to do for our organization is to say we’re not just sending you a team to come in for a week and do, you know, a five-minute video for you, we’re sending you seven, very optimistic, very energetic, very talented creative young people that wanna come in and more or less dedicate a year of their life to your organization, to understanding it, to telling your stories, and then being a champion and advocate for your cause, and that’s not found many other places, and, you know, we’re lucky that we’re able to do that because, you know, this is how Students of the World started.  It has been a very organic growth as an organization, but that, I think, is something that we’re able to give to our organizations that I really only in the past year have started to really appreciate.

Courtney Spence on How to Improve College Internship Programs

In Chapter 14 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "What have you learned about designing a more impactful college internship program?" Spence shares what she has learned about designing more impactful college internship programs. Using training, benchmarks, deliverables, and feedback interviews, she creates a more structured and measurable 10-week internship program. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What have you learned about designing a more impactful college internship program?

Courtney Spence:  I have learned a lot.  So you know, this year we went, you know, and formalized the Students of the World experience to be a ten-week internship and really formalized it more so in the spring and in the fall, so in the spring our students have deliverables and benchmarks, both research and creative that they have to hit every month. You know, last year was the first year we did, you know, three-, four-day trainings with each team, and that was tremendous. You know, we invested so much more in the student experience last year because we made that hard decision to go from seven to three teams and really had to trim down, but, you know, by doing less we were able to do so much more.  And we were able to do exit interviews with our students when they left at the end of the summer, and it was – it was really incredible because I think, you know, our students, the feedback that we got was overwhelmingly positive, the work that we got was overwhelmingly positive.  Problems that we would have encountered every year prior to last year in the field weren’t there as frequently.  There were still problems but they weren’t there as frequently.  

And I think one of the important things that we have learned is really, you know, at the very beginning, the way that you communicate with students is extremely important and understanding that you need to set goals and benchmarks, and here are our values, and here is what we do, and here is what we don’t do, and communicating that all up front, and being able to say this is what we – at minimum, this is our best hope for you guys in terms of the work that you’ll produce, but we know you’re gonna, you know, shoot for the moon.

And, you know, one of the things that we did this last year, which was sort of a learning year for us was, you know, we had all of these expectations of what we could do in post production and, you know, you hear six weeks of work, and our students were like ‘what are we gonna do for six weeks?’  You know, and then what happened was – at like, you know, five-and-a-half weeks, they’re like ‘I can’t believe we only have three days left,’ you know, because there was just so much more work that they wanted to do and that we could have done, but really kind of setting those goals from the beginning and being able to be realistic in what we can achieve but also giving students the flexibility and creativity to work within sort of some broader frameworks means that they’ll come back with really creative products that are very effective for the organization.  You know, we had students do stop-motion animation, which was not even anything I knew anything about until last year, but because, you know, we were able to give our students some creative freedom, an expression of how they wanted to tell the stories, we got some really, really great work out of that.  

And then I just think really constantly, you know, checking in with the individuals as well as the team, and what we did last year is we had each -- the producer of each team wrote us a weekly report of here’s where the team is at and we wanted both in terms of the work that they were doing but also in terms of the emotional, where is the team at, and it was really nice to empower our producers to take on that role and then come with us, and, you know, and talk with us as they were having, you know, issues and problems throughout post production.  I think it’s important when you work with college students to empower them to take leadership within projects that they’re, you know, they’re involved in, and not just talking down to them, but actually saying we’re all in this together, so let’s find a way to work in effective ways.

Courtney Spence on How to Teach College Students to Take Criticism

In Chapter 15 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "How do you teach your students to embrace feedback without taking it personally?" Spence shares what she has learned about teaching creative college students how not to take criticism and feedback personally. She teaches students to embrace feedback by grounding the work in its fundamental and positive purpose, complementing it with a continuous improvement mindset built on giving back by making art. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How do you teach your students to embrace feedback without taking it personally?

Courtney Spence:  I think there’s always a challenge of – in any job that you do is taking criticism and feedback without taking it personally, especially if you work at a company or the way that you personally work is to take things personally, is to be emotionally invested in the work that you’re doing.  So, you know, that’s something that I still struggle with myself but that is certainly, you know, as we work with young, creative talent, young, you know, college students that, you know, are used to producing work for a grade or producing it for, you know, creativity for creativity’s sake, there is sort of a process that we have to go through with them, and not all of them. 

Some of them understand it, but some of them don’t, and it is ‘how do you take feedback and criticism on the work that you have done, the artistic work that you have created, and take that feedback, and then refine it to make something better?’  And I think what we always start with is the end goal, so we’re there to give back through media.  Some people build houses, some people teach English, some people provide, you know, aid and service. Our service is through storytelling, it’s through media, and if it’s not the best story it can be if it’s not accurately reflecting the organizations and the individuals that were on the ground, then we’re not doing our job.  And it’s really easy for people to get stuck back in to ‘but it would be so much more cool if we could do this’, or, you know, really getting into the creative element, but you always have to go back to that fundamental question, that fundamental purpose, and that is we are here to make a difference, to make a positive difference through our work, and through really focusing on the positive aspects of things that are going on in this world. 

So if you aren’t interested in telling stories of progress and if you’re more investigative, wanting to uncover what, you know, all the bad in the world, this organization isn’t for you.  And so, what I think we have done through our application process has really found students that do believe in the mission of giving back through art.  And so when we do get, you know, feedback or criticism of the work as we’re going through reviews, you know, we always kind of huddle together, and it’s like okay, listen, we’re here to make these stories to help make a difference for this organization to help them fundraise and they have to play an active role in how those stories shape up.  So it’s just trying to level it up to, you know, what is our greater purpose, and I think that has worked pretty effectively for students to understand okay, this is how – not only this is how the real world works but this is how I can contribute in the most effective way at this organization.

Courtney Spence on How to Teach Creative Students Teamwork

In Chapter 16 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "What do you find most challenging about teaching creative students teamwork?" Spence shares how she teaches her creative student program participants teamwork. In her application process review and interview, teamwork is a top priority. Teams are sent abroad in challenging and often extreme conditions that require collaboration under pressure. Spence creates team leadership opportunities, for example in the producer role, as well as by training students to communicate in emotional and time sensitive environments. Spence is founder and executive director of Students of the World, a non-profit that partners with passionate college students to create new media to highlight global issues and the organizations working to address them. Spence graduated with a BA in History from Duke University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  What do you find most challenging about teaching creative students teamwork?

Courtney Spence:  In our process of application review, interview, we really – I mean it’s all about teamwork.  How do you work with a team?  Tell us about the challenges that you’ve met there because, you know, if they’re not comfortable working with a team, they’re certainly not gonna be comfortable working with a team in the West Bank, like it’s, you know, the stakes are a lot higher, and we have, you know, really, I think, done a very good job of finding the individuals that prefer to work in teams.  I would say overall that my sense of the millennial generation is that they – they do prefer teamwork. 

They’re not as comfortable with hierarchy, and this is a leader, and this not. For a long time we didn’t have specifically designated roles because the feedback we were getting from students is they didn’t wanna feel like there was a hierarchy in the team and they wanted it all, you know, we’re all in this together, which is still more or less how we operate.  We have someone that is the producer that sort of makes sure every – all the trains run on time or at least as close to on-time as we can get them to run, you know, make sure people are, you know, happy, dealing with team dynamics, so they are, you know, in a way of the team leader, but even still we call them the producer, and there’s really, you know, opportunities for leadership in our seven-person teams in various ways.

I think what we offer them in training and as we go through the production and post production is how to anticipate problems that are coming up in the team. How to open lines of communication, you know, among people that might not always be comfortable communicating about how they are reacting on an emotional level.  You know, we really encourage lots of daily meetings and communication, and, you know, when you’re in the places where we work, when you’re seeing the kind of poverty, and disease, and things that, you know, we don’t get exposed to on a daily basis generally here in the U.S., the emotional reactions and the emotional kind of rollercoaster that you go through when you’re on these productions is really dynamic because on one hand you’re working with people that basically will be your friends for life.  You’re working with, you know, individuals that will provide inspiration for you for the rest of your life, I guarantee it, but you’re also seeing, you know, some really severe problems, and some really, you know, things that are wrong in this world.  And so if you’re not working as a team, if you’re not communicating, it’s gonna be ugly.  And so we do a lot of training with them upfront, but I would have to say that they more or less know how to do that, we just sort of give them the tools and the best practices to really maximize their teamwork, and its worked out really well.

How Childhood Passions Lead to Design and Technology Career - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 3 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares the stories behind his childhood interests in art and technology. Early studio art ceramics work pushes Kolko to be creative. As a child, Kolko plays with early Internet computers to call pirate bulletin boards and hack RIT password files. Collectively, these shape Kolko's education, leading him to Carnegie Mellon University and catapulting him into his career. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  Where did your passions for technology and art originate?

Jon Kolko:  My passion for art originated through a ceramics – ceramics mentor of mine named Alec Haislip.  He’s one of the premier potters in Upstate New York. He studied with a number of the folks that were responsible for Bauhaus and things like that and – so I studied wheel thrown ceramics for as long as I can remember. 

I think I started when I was 5 or 6 and that was like a thing to do and then it became a release and then it became – now, it is a, ‘Wow!  I wish I had more time on Saturdays to spend in my studio.’  Very much art driven.  It’s functional ceramics but it’s also, let’s make it the way I want to make it.  There’s no constraints.  There’s no clients.  There’s no deadlines. 

On the technology side I’ve spent a great deal of time playing with the early foundations of the internet and I was using dial out remote BBSes on remote voxes at RIT when I was 7 or 8 years old to call you know pirate bulletin boards and stuff like that.  Like, we got a cease and desist, my dad actually still has this letter, we have cease and desist from one of RIT’s heads of technology ‘cause we’ve – we’ve hacked their password file back then.  It was like you run crackerjack overnight and it brute force hits it with anything, what I am gonna do with a bunch of accounts to RIT’s vox but I do remember you know getting my first Magnavox 28612 and going to town on it, also the Apple 2c and all that good stuff so I know both of those – were – were pretty prevalent in my life growing up and then it sounds like it was well designed but it was in fact very arbitrary that I ended up going to Carnegie Mellon. 

I remember I got a brochure to attend pre-college there for design, I thought it was cool.  I went - I went to undergrad there, I continued to do my Masters there and years later, you do some research and you’re like, ‘Wow!  That’s like the epicenter of everything technology leading up into what is now normal culture.’  So, you know I think I got super lucky with all of those things, sort of leading to what is now my – my job, my career, and my passions.

How College Interdisciplinary Studies Shape Design Career - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko learns problem solving in a Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) interdisciplinary studies program. Studying Human Computer Interaction, or HCI, Kolko majors in computer science, cognitive psychology, and statistics. These problem solving skills prepare Kolko for his design career. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  How did your interdisciplinary studies at Carnegie Mellon impact your career trajectory?

Jon Kolko:  Directly.  I got a Masters in Human Computer Interaction or HCI which traditionally has been a convergence of cognizant psychology, computer science, design and statistics and that – so fundamentally that career is interdisciplinary, that career path and then if you combine that with sort of an under – underlying approach on just in design like with a big D or however you want to frame it. 

I’ve always approached problem solving with those different lenses on, albeit be not nearly as equally weighted.  I always tended toward the computer science design side of things and away from the cognitive psychology and statistics point of view.  It’s only recently that I’ve actually started embracing both of those two. 

Arguably, they are harder for my small little creative brain to understand because those are like real science elements as opposed to these design disciplines.  I say that completely tongue in cheek so – and so I learned an interdisciplinary approach but I don’t think it ever occurred to me that that’s was what it was because it just seems like how else would you approach solving a complex human problem and then – then from multiple perspectives.  That idea of empathy of being able to view it from a different – a different point of view, I think is pretty fundamental to solving any problem.

How Design Thinking Problem Solving Can Improve - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 11 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko interprets design thinking. He talks about the rise of "Design Thinking" philosophy, specifically using design methods to solve strategic business and organizational problems. He notes its shortcomings, specifically how design "doing" must complement design "thinking". He notes the "doing" part is often thought of as menial - commoditizing and offshoring product design for mass production overseas. Kolko argues against this, noting overseas designers will solve local design problems. Because design is connected to culture, problems must be locally solved, or at least locally engaged. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

The Cathartic Power of Epic Failure - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares how failure has been fundamental to advancing and refining his career. Kolko notes how the greatest moments in his professional life have come after epic failures. For example, after being part of a failed startup, Kolko waits tables at a restaurant, where he decides to apply to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to teach. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

How to Improve Design School Education and Teaching - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 15 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares how design schools can improve how they teach. He notes that most design professors teach what they have learned which is rooted in traditional design theory such as Bauhaus form giving, meaning color theory, typography, 2D design and 3D design. He highlights these are relevant for manufactured product design and not necessarily for social problem solving design. Kolko notes how innovative design thinking and doing programs are coming from abroad, including KAOSPILOT and CIID in Denmark and Malmo University in Sweden. These programs are focusing more on social problem solving design and less on mass-produced product design. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.