Online Learning Limitations for Career Education - Jullien Gordon

In Chapter 16 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What are the Limitations of Using Online Learning Tools for Career Education?"  After creating several online learning programs for career planning, Gordon finds it is fundamental to have a live event or live interaction to build a successful career coaching or inspirational speaking experience.  Gordon references both Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar as examples of motivational speakers who complement core live event work with online resources.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What are the limitations of using online learning tools for career education?

Jullien Gordon: It’s been tough. I have created quite a few online programs to help people navigate their career in a more powerful way. And what I found is that one of my gifts is actually my presence and the listening in the safe space that I’m able to create. And when you think about Tony Robbins or Zig Ziglar, those guys—their businesses are built off of live events. While they may have audio programs and things of that nature, there’s something about being in a live space. I also believe in the wisdom of the crowds and you—in some cases, you can’t facilitate that online. But when I’m asking the right questions and I’m creating safe spaces for people to help each other, get clear on their answers, I just found that there is something unique that happens in a live event that can’t happen online. That’s really been difficult for me is to translate that safe environment online. What is safe about being online is that sometimes people feel like they can be anonymous, and that’s where they get safety online, but there’s just an energy that happens in a live space that I haven’t been able to translate online yet. I’ve seen a lot of people get inspired online, but I haven’t seen a life transform online. I have seen a life transform in my events. Like right there, in the moment. I haven’t seen that online before.

Jullien Gordon: Career Planning Advice for Millennial Professionals

In Chapter 17 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon "What Steps Have You Found Most Effective to Help Young Professionals Create Career Plans?"  When working with younger professionals - Gen Y and Millennials - on career planning, Gordon starts with a process to help clients get clear on life and career goals.  He lays out his 4-step process to create a dream life, attract a dream career, build a dream team and land your dream job and walks through why and how to do this.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What steps have you found most effective to help young professionals create career plans?

Jullien Gordon: Good question. So whenever I’m talking to a young professional to help them think about their career plan, I like to break it down into four different steps. And the four steps are, one, creating your dream life. Next is attracting your dream career. Then building your dream team. Then landing your dream job. And of course the acronym for “dream” means to have your desired relationships employment and money. So it’s really about your life design, and the reason I start with creating your dream life first is because your life is bigger than your career, a lot of times people allow their career to define who they are, when in fact who we are should define what we do.

And so I start with your life first. What is your vision for your life? And then let’s find a career path that actually allows you to have the life that you want. And so we start with creating your dream life and that’s a visioning process, thinking about your perfect average day, or your perfect average week, and what you want your desired relationships to look like, and your relationships not just being with your significant other or your kids but your spiritual source, your parents, your friends, your colleagues, what do you want those relationships to look like? What do you want your employment to look like? How do you want to create value? What problems do you want to solve? How do you want to use your passion on a daily basis? And then money, what is enough? And do you have enough? And really getting clear on what that is.

And then from there, attracting your dream career is all about your professional and personal branding, that’s your résumé, your cover letter, your web presence, and your business cards, the way you network, et cetera. Building your dream team means of course your networks up, down, across and out. So not just—a lot of people have strong networks across in terms of their Facebook friends, but if you look in their cellphone, 95% of the people are in their age group, I found that the most powerful form of networking is networking up with other professionals, with peers, with mentors, with leaders in the community, et cetera. Those are the people who are on the other side of the door that you’re trying to get into. Your peers can get you to the door, but you want to know who’s on the other side of the door who – or who has the key.

And then of course, finally, landing your dream job is all about the interview process, and nailing your first 90 days at whatever new organization that you’re at. So that’s how I like to help people think about their career journey.

Lulu Chen on How Fashion Stylist Work Leads to Art Director Job

In Chapter 13 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How is Your Graphic Design Education Relevant in What You Do as an Art Director?"  Chen talks about how a traditional art director job candidate has design and layout experience.  Chen talks about her unconventional path of working on sets as a stylist and how she came into her art director role. 

Lulu Chen is a photo art director working in retail e-commerce in New York City.  Previously, Chen worked as a freelance stylist for leading fashion catalogs and magazines.  She earned a BFA in design and art history from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How is your graphic design education relevant in what you do as an art director?

Lulu Chen: The traditional candidate for an art director is somebody who came up the ranks more focused on design and layout. And, you know, I came up the ranks being on set, you know, and logging in those hours, and I did have that advantage of being an art director at the magazine because you play, you know, you play dual roles, and I also had the background, so I was able to kind of bridge that.

Just the experience and all the different shoots that you’ve been on, you know, there has—you know, there’s been good days and there’s been bad days, there’s been all different kinds of talents, there’s been all different kinds of projects, there’s been all different kinds of art directors, you know, having seen that, and learned from it, you know, that was my bridge. But it took somebody really giving me the opportunity to show that I could do it, because I wasn’t a conventional candidate. And I will always be appreciative of those people who believed enough in me to give me that chance. 

Adam Carter on Searching for Meaning by Traveling Abroad

In Chapter 4 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "Where is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?"  After graduating college, Carter decides not to pursue traditional career paths and instead looks for meaning traveling abroad.  He starts his adventure by buying a one-way ticket to China.  Over time, he works summers selling beer at baseball games to finance international travel.  Ultimately, Carter decides to break out of this routine, walk away from the beer vendor life, and relocate to Brazil. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Where is your comfort zone, and what do you do to break free of living in it?

Adam Carter: I broke out of my comfort zone when I graduated from college because I decided that instead of following the kind of pre-described path, of, you know, starting to interview and starting to work, and working towards a certain career goal and then retiring, whatever, that I just completely broke away from that, and that’s when I started to travel. So I think buying a one-way ticket to China is a great way for anybody out there to break out of their comfort zone. 

I’ve always respected those that have been able to do that on a professional level or on a personal level, and I’ve often had to reinvent myself or do that myself and then constantly thinking, okay, what can I do to challenge myself? What can I do to present a whole new set of stimuli or opportunities? And so as I continued to travel, I realized that I wanted to find a way to live abroad and continued to seek out a new comfort zone, but, at the same time, I had this job. I was a beer vendor in Chicago with the baseball stadiums, which was fantastic. I was able to go home every summer, make money. It was easy. You know, I’d go home, I could live with my mother, I could save my money, and then I could go travel and do my philanthropy work and everything, which was a great lifestyle and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it got to the point, where I realized, “Okay, I’ve been doing this for 17 years now,” and I could see the guys around me, some of which have been doing it for 30 years, and they’re in their 50s, or in their 60s, and they got the bad knees and bad back and they’re kind of humbling around there, and I realized, I don’t want to do that. I want to do more in my life than be a beer vendor. 

So I had to really step out of my comfort zone and walk away from this job. And you know, my cohorts assured me, they’re like, “all right, dude, you’ll be back next year. We’ll see you next year.” I said, “Well, never say never, but I feel like I’m making this move, I got to do it.” I knew there was only one way to do it, and that is, you know, walk away and just cold turkey. I mean, there are challenges inherent in that, as I was saying, it’s all of a sudden, you have to provide income and you have to realize, okay, I’m an adult and I have to provide for my future, cool, but I felt like I never would have taken the next step if I had this comfort zone to come back to. I think it’s really important to—not to be afraid of what’s out there and to embrace uncertainty, and to me, I think one of the lessons that I have learned personally and that I try to pass to people that I meet is to embrace uncertainty, because uncertainty is the one certainty in our life, and yet, it’s the one thing that often brings people down. And the more that I’ve—every challenge that comes my way, I try to embrace it and say, “well, it’s all in how I’m gonna deal with this and how I react to this, because we all know that if this uncertainty doesn’t happen, a month down the road, something else is gonna come up,” so the more I can kind of, you know, take everything with a smile and be like, here we go again. Let’s see what we got to do here. It’s really helped me just find my place in the world. So I’d say that being ready for the unexpected and having confidence in yourself and having confidence in the fact that, okay, things are gonna work out in the end. You know, we often stress about these little things, then we look back ten years later, and I’m like, “I can’t believe I got so stressed out like that because, look, it doesn’t even matter,” so I try to keep that mindset, which has really enriched me I think as a person.

Adam Carter on Finding Life Advice in Unexpected Places

In Chapter 11 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "At This Point in Your Life, Where are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?"  Carter finds good advice in a network of friends pursuing different field of work and study.  He finds the best advice often comes from the most unexpected places.  For example, in his micro-philanthropy work, Carter finds inspiration meeting and learning from local heroes in places such as the shanty towns of Rio. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: At this point in your life where are you seeking advice and coaching?

Adam Carter: Luckily, I have a network, a lot of friends that are involved in various fields, fields of study, fields of work, and I’ve found that sometimes some of the most insightful information comes from the most unlikely of places. So I always try to keep myself open to those friends that I—sometimes friends that I really respect that have climbed up in whatever field that they’re involved in, but, at the same time, I’ve found that sometimes it comes from the people on the street, the people that you would never assume would be those to be giving advice, and in my philanthropy work, I’ve become so inspired by some of these local heroes that I’ve been working with, or just some of the people that I have come into contact with through these projects. The 85-year-old woman in Rio, in the shantytowns in Rio, We can see her living conditions are horrible. They’re sub-humane, so “we’re going to fix the roof. We’re going to get you a new mattress. What else do you want?” She’s like, “no, that’s great.” And we’re like, “okay, how about a new fan, you know, to get—“ she’s like, “well, that one still works fine.” “Okay, well, how about—“ and just that humility. Someone finally shows up at her doorstep to help her and she has the humility to say, “No, that’s great. That’s all I really need.” I mean, that’s incredible. We’re used to hearing about people that just want to take, take, take. So, I mean, sometimes it’s—as I said, people you would never expect to learn something from. You’re not even seeking advice, and all of a sudden you get this life lesson thrown at you. So that’s been one really rewarding aspect of receiving advice.

Ken Rona on How to Be a More Engaged Parent

In Chapter 4 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "What Does It Mean For You to Be Engaged in Your Children's Education?"  Rona reflects back on his own childhood education experience growing up with Eastern European immigrant parents and taking on school more or less alone.  As a parent, Rona shares how he stays engaged as an advocate for his 7-year old daughter and his son in Pre-Kindergarten. 

Ken Rona is a Vice President at Turner Broadcasting, where he leads teams across advertising sales, big data software development and business strategy.  Rona earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What does it mean for you to be engaged in your children’s education?

Ken Rona: I think folks would say I’m a very engaged parent. When I was growing up, my parents were busy earning a living. That they worked very hard to keep food on the table, and keep us, you know, in clothes, you know, we had a lower middle cla—what I would call lower middle class existence. And we had everything we needed but not much more. We had, you know, a few toys but it was, you know, a pretty modest life. And I kind of had to figure out school by myself. I more or less was left alone to kind of figure that stuff out. And I made some choices—I’m not exactly sure that they were wrong, I mean I certainly turned out well. 

But certainly early on, certainly like from junior high school, high school, and into college, parents weren’t very involved. Partly by my design, truthfully, they probably wanted to be more involved and I kind of kept things at arms bay and—because I thought that I could make—I was a person on the ground, right, I was a person that could make decisions better. And part of it is because my parents were eastern European immigrants, right? 

So part of my involvement with their education is to say I believe that you can have a better experience than mine in school. And I am one of the science dads, me and one of the other dads come in and do science experiments for the kids. Charlotte certainly understands what an experiment hypothesis is—at least on a basic level. I’ve tried very hard not to be, you know—what I’m committed to is not being a helicopter parent, right? The kids have to figure out their own way but in an appropriate pace, right? 

So I’m sure by—I’m sure by grade 12, our involvement will be much less after colleges are picked. But for now, I’m very committed to staying engaged and making sure that Charlotte has a good experience and that she has an advocate. So I would say actually that the primary way I’m involved with Charlotte’s school is that I’m an advocate for her, not that—and I’m trying to teach her to advocate for herself. Both my wife and I would say that I think that—and you know, she’s 7, so she’s not really in a position—although she does a—I think a pretty good job of it. 

So my involvement is, you know, is to be an appropriate advocate. I’m not planning on—I’m not planning on being one of these parents that calls up your kid’s first job and say why didn’t you promote him, right? That’s not—That’s—They’ve gotta run there.  But I think at age 7, at age 8, you know, for the foreseeable future, her mother and I and Doyle—you know, Doyle requires less advocacy at this moment, because he’s in preschool, but I would expect that we will continue advocacy, but interestingly you know, we—You also have to be really thoughtful about when you don’t advocate. 

So—just today, we got the class list for what class she’s—Charlotte’s gonna be in next year, and she’s—there are 3 classes in her school, each class has 21 kids, and there’s a shuffling from year 1—from 1st grade to 2nd grade, and Charlotte’s—like we’re not super thrilled with Charlotte’s shuffle. There are a very few friends from that class in her new class, right? Seems like—and I think that’s a shame, right? Because we just moved to Atlanta. And I—My wife and I haven’t discussed it but I’m pretty sure we’re on the same side of it like we’re not gonna advocate for changing a class, we’re not gonna—like Charlotte’s gotta kind of figure out how to be successful in an environment which is very friendly, right. Is it exactly what I would’ve wished for her? No. But like that is part of our existence, right, that you—that—this is not an incredible hardship, right? She certainly has friends in the class, she will make other friends. She knows all of those children. I would’ve liked that one or two of her close friends would’ve been in the class, that didn’t go that way. It’s gonna be fine, right? 

So I think that part of what you need to be able to do in supporting your children’s education is knowing when to not advocate, right, when to hold back and not be involved, because I think being involved is actually easy. You can just say yeah I gonna be involved. I think restraint is the harder part.

Ken Rona on Shifting Parenting Style When Kids Start Grade School

In Chapter 5 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "How Has Your Parenting Approach Changed as Your Children Have Entered Elementary School?"  When kids start going to school, Rona realizes as a parent the need to share his children with the world.  He finds teaching his kids sharing and empathy are key grammar school skills and finds setting expectations a powerful motivator for his 7-year old daughter. 

Ken Rona is a Vice President at Turner Broadcasting, where he leads teams across advertising sales, big data software development and business strategy.  Rona earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has your parenting approach changed as your children have entered elementary school?

Ken Rona: The insight that you have when your kids start going to school is that they’re not yours any more. They’re not solely yours. You share them. You know, the children need to be not just an effective--within the family, right? Not just be part of our family unit. But now they need to be kind of—they need to be in the world. 

So I think that there is—there is more kind of thinking about helping pointing out moments of where you can share, where you can empathize, right? And Charlotte actually does it quite naturally for the most part, except with her mother. But, you know, at school I think pretty naturally. So I think the other thing I think we’ve done is we’ve—we’re on Charlotte because she is actually in grammar school and Doyle is still in pre-K. 

For Charlotte, the expectations go up a bit. So—we expect her to do her homework. We expect her—she has opportunities to make money. Right? Both by doing schoolwork and by doing some other stuff. So she gets less for free. Right, so there’s a little more—there’s more expectation. She I think thinks it’s probably—if she was here, you’d say, Charlotte, how do you think about that? How do you feel about that? And she would say, it is not fair that I have to do something and Doyle doesn’t. And I think that’s exactly, when you talk about what’s the difference and Doyle is not in that stage. 

Doyle, I’m happy to—I’m happy to, you know, make good on the same things that—like if he’s willing to spend time doing math, which he does on the computer. I’m happy to pay him out at the same rate I pay Charlotte out but there are things that we will do for Doyle that we won’t do for Charlotte because like I said there needs to be expectations, like she’s—She’s 7 years old and I think it’s reasonable to ask her to do certain things. And in fact, l think we can probably ask her to do more than we are because she’s quite capable. I think she probably—she probably is coasting a little bit. But she gets asked to do enough stuff where she understands our expectations on her. And she treats my requests and her mother’s requests a bit differently. She’s probably more responsive to me initially, and now she’s become responsive to my wife—for my wife’s requests. 

Doyle is still a work in progress. Try to get him to brush—Try to get that boy to brush his teeth like you think you were—I mean—you know, I don’t really even have a parallel like you know you thought you were asking him to rip out his own toe nails, I mean it’s just—But, you know, we expect people—so for Charlotte, we expect her to take care of herself, we expect her to take care of her body, and she rises to that occasion. Doyle—Doyle still needs some help on it.

Anatole Faykin on Founding and Selling an Internet Startup

In Chapter 6 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "What Were the Main Learning Points From Starting and Selling a Company?"  He talks about the massive amount of uncertainty starting and growing a company and managing the adverse climate that comes with that.  He notes how Internet startups operate in a fluid, fast changing market that requires quick adaptation to changing market conditions.  Faykin shares how a fast changing environment requires short term, incremental goals along with being open-minded for change and new opportunities.  Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Anatole Faykin: How to Improve Entrepreneurship MBA Programs

In Chapter 8 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Can MBA Programs Better Educate Entrepreneurs?"  Faykin notes that for business school programs to more effectively teach entrepreneurship, it is paramount students are forced to actually create and launch a startup while in school.  He points out that a graduate business school environment does provide MBA students studying entrepreneurship benefits, in particular the ability to start something in a low-risk environment. 

Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Creative Ways to Practice Your Instrument - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 10 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "Where Are You Trying to Improve Most as a Professional Musician?"  For Doucette, improvement is tied to sharpening his fundamental skills.  As a drummer, practicing rudiments, playing a full kit, working off instructional books and performing with others all point Doucette to a specific conclusion: the more he plays the more he realizes he should be practicing more. 

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  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.

Stacie Bloom on Finding a New Job in Neuroscience Education

In Chapter 1 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "Since We Last Spoke, What Has Been the Most Exciting Thing to Happen in Your Life?"  Bloom details how she was presented an opportunity - in between her Year 1 and Year 2 Capture Your Flag interviews - to leave the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) for an executive position at NYU and why she accepted it. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  Since we last spoke, what has been the most exciting thing to happen in your life?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I would say that I really got this amazing new job about one year ago. And I think it happened very shortly after I got the chance to interview for you the last time. This is not something that I was expecting to necessarily get or wasn’t really even looking for it at the time. I think I was ready in my last position to explore new possibilities but I hadn’t even really thought much about what those possibilities could be. And then this opportunity presented itself to me and it just really sounded like a great fit.

Erik Michielsen:  Could you tell me more about the opportunity?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  Sure. So my new position is as executive director for the NYU Neuroscience Institute, which is a new entity that we’re currently in the process of building at NYU up at the medical center.

Erik Michielsen:  Now, is that part of the university or is it part of—How does that work within the context of the university and the medical center?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  Yeah, NYU is interesting in terms of that relationship, so the main part of NYU—what people think of as NYU is all located around Washington Square. We call it Downtown. And the hospital and the medical center are in the 30’s and we call it Uptown. You know, obviously, they’re the same umbrella organization, although they have a slightly different governance structure and different tax identification numbers, making them a little bit fiscally independent, from what I understand.

Stacie Bloom on Developing Manager Skills in a Science Career

In Chapter 2 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "How Are Your Responsibilities Changing As Your Career Evolves?"  Bloom notes how she is becoming more detached from the daily work and more involved managing the people doing the daily work.  Bloom now overseas organizational finances and sees this as a natural progression in her career.  Bloom shares how  her science career background supports her strategic, operational and financial management responsibilities plans running the organization. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How are your responsibilities changing as your career evolves?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I would say I’ve become more detached from the actual daily work of the place and more involved in the management of the people who are really doing the amazing work. I would say I’m more involved in managing the finances than I was in my last position where we had a whole department doing that and now that operation rolls up to me for the first time, so I would say you know as my career evolves, taking a higher level position overseeing the entire organization, which I don’t think is a unique position for someone whose career is evolving necessarily. 

Erik Michielsen:  How is your science career experience most useful in your current role? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I think that I couldn’t do my current role without my science career experience. And it’s a really—it’s been a very interesting evolution for me. So my position as executive director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute, in that role, I’m really overseeing the strategic financial and operational plans to actually run this, what my scientific experience gives me that makes it such a special position for me is just the ability to understand everything that’s going on there. So when we’re interviewing a potential faculty candidate, I fully understand the science, how that fits into the existing infrastructure of scientists and clinicians who we have and how that person can build bridges and really foster translational progress that will bring, you know, hopefully new therapies to neurological and psychiatric patients, so that scientific background, I think it gives me credibility, I hope it gives me credibility but certainly it gives me the ability to truly understand at the most molecular level all the work that we’re doing. 

Stacie Bloom on Leaving a Nonprofit Job to Work in Higher Education

In Chapter 3 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What New Challenges Are You Facing in Your Career?"  Bloom notes the challenges she has faced transitioning out of a relatively small nonprofit and into an 18,000 employee-strong university, NYU.  She also details the challenge of understanding the governance and leadership structure of the organization. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What new challenges are you facing in your career?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  There are a lot of new challenges in this job, I would say understanding how a very large university system works has been an interesting challenge. I was previously working in a small not-for-profit organization, maybe 65 people, all of a sudden, I’m at this medical center, 18,000 people. It’s a very different type of organization, so I’m going from a place where I sort of knew everyone, if I had an HR question, I would walk to HR, there was 2 people working in there. You know, now, it’s a situation where if I have an HR question, I’m sending an email to a vague email address and getting a response from a person who I’ve never met before. 

I think also in a very large organization, things move at a different pace, because there are a lot of levels, sort of checkpoints to get through and a lot of policies and procedures, of course. I think also understanding the governance and the—how the leadership is organized at such a big place was a little bit challenging for me coming in. It’s not as simple as a CEO, a COO, a CFO, and some directors and vice presidents, it’s an incredibly large organization with a very diverse and big leadership structure. 

Stacie Bloom on Finding Purpose Working in Neuroscience

In Chapter 7 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Bloom hopes that the research work done at the NYU Neuroscience Institute will translate into some kinds of new therapies that improve patient outcomes.  She notes how an aging patient population is generating increases in neurological diseases - autism, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's - is creating economic and psychological challenges and how her work at the NYU Neuroscience Institute aims to foster research science and clinical science collaboration to create new therapies for the diseases. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What makes your work meaningful?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  What makes my work meaningful is the hope that what we’re doing will someday reach the patient. The expectation that the research that’s going on at the NYU Neuroscience Institute will have a translational component to it that will allow it to be developed into some kind of a new therapy and that will ultimately be able to improve patient health and patient outcomes especially as the patient population and the population in general is just aging. The affliction of neurological disease like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, the increase in the prevalence of autism in our population, these things are having such a big societal impact on us economically, as well as psychologically. And the hope that the work that we’re doing and what we’re building will have an impact on  alleviating some of that.

Erik Michielsen:  What are some of the signals or some of the steps you look for in working toward that, that goal? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I mean the purpose of the institute is really to build bridges between the basic scientists and the clinicians, to really become a very translational entity. And by translational, I mean it’s a sort of pedestrian phrase but bench to bedside, so everybody talks about the lab work that’s being done at the bench with all of the pipettes and the chemicals but that actually reaching the bedside in the hospital and actually reaching the patient. And one of the purposes of one of the big goals of the NYU Neuroscience Institute because we have both of those populations, we have the basic scientists and we have these amazing clinicians, one of the goals is to bring those 2 populations together and to foster the types of collaborations and conversations that can push the field forward in that kind of a way.

Stacie Bloom: When to Step Back and Think About the Big Picture

In Chapter 8 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "When Are You at Your Best?"  Bloom notes how she benefits from taking a step back from the minutiae of daily live to get a strategic, big picture perspective and make decisions.  While she enjoys performing under pressure she notes the importance of gathering different insights to make the decision. She shares the experience of putting together the Neuroscience Institute for NYU Langone Medical Center. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  When are you at your best? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I think I’m at my best when I’m under pressure. I think I’m at my best when I have the opportunity to think strategically and take a step back and look at the full picture. I think you know it’s very easy in any job to get very wrapped up in the day-to-day minutiae and all of the little details, it’s not so often that you have the opportunity to just take a deep breath, take a step back, assess the overall picture and make very strategic and important decisions. And I think those are the times when I’m at my best. 

Erik Michielsen:  How have you come to realize that over time? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  You know, I think when I started this job as executive director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute, there wasn’t a lot going on at the very, very beginning. We had to lay out all these plans and that was the time that I was thinking most big picture strategically, and then as it was rolling out we were hiring people, I was putting together the administrative infrastructure, we started recruiting the faculty and life became more about, you know, how do we on board this person? Where are the fire exits? You know, I have to go through this checklist for human resources and train all of these people? How do I get them on payroll? What are their scientific areas of interest? How do I transfer their grants over? And I realized, wow, I’m gonna get really wrapped up in these daily details, at least once a week, I need to stop, and think back at why are we here? What’s our vision? What’s our mission? How are we accomplishing it? What are the steps that we’re making? What are our major accomplishments? What are our goals? And allow myself the opportunity to think that way and give myself the time to work like that.

Stacie Bloom on Learning to Manage High Potential Employees

In Chapter 10 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Leadership Skills are Becoming More Relevant to You as Your Career Progresses?"  Bloom notes why management skill development is central to her current growth.  As she gains management experience, she gets more comfortable making difficult decisions and helping high potential employees flourish. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What leadership skills are becoming more relevant to you as your career progresses?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  The leadership skills that are becoming more relevant to me as my career progresses are definitely those associated with management. Managing a larger and more diverse team of individuals. I would say there’s a lot of different personalities, there are a lot of very difficult conversations, I think for me a few years ago, having those difficult conversations was unbelievably taxing, it was so stressful. I’m at the point now—I don’t love to have a difficult conversation with an employee, nobody does. But I’m certainly at the point now where I feel a lot more comfortable. I know what needs to be done. 

And that’s part of management, putting people on a professional development career path is something that’s become more important as I’m supervising higher levels of individuals, really talented people who I’m hoping they’ll stay with me for 2 or 3 years but I know that they’re not gonna stay with me forever, these are the people who are gonna have my job and more, very soon. Mentoring those people is really, really important to me. Making sure that they understand that they’re on a path where they’re gonna be able to accomplish great things. And I really take that mentorship very, very personally and very seriously.

Stacie Bloom on How to Be a Better Mentor

In Chapter 11 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Do You Find To Be the Most Important Elements of a Mentorship Experience?"  Bloom shares how mentors have shaped her non-traditional science career outside the laboratory.  She notes the importance of respect, trust, open communication, selflessness, and dedication to your personal network and knowledge development.  She also makes it clear a good mentor does not necessarily need to dedicate a large amount of time to the relationship; rather it just needs to be focused and dedicated. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What do you find to be the most important elements of a mentorship experience?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  You know I think a relationship with a mentor is really important. For me, it was really key in helping to shape my career, I try really hard to be a good mentor, in particular to people with PhD’s who are looking for careers outside of the laboratory, so outside of that very traditional career path. And I’ve hired a lot of those kinds of individuals and they’ve gone on to do amazing things. I think a lot of communication, open communication, having a mentor who you really respect and trust is really important, someone who’s really selflessly being helpful to you and not undermining you. And I think someone who can help you build your network, someone who will take you to places where you can meet people who may be able to help you in your career. I really think of a relationship with a mentor as being like a lifelong relationship.

Erik Michielsen:  And how do you set aside time to be a mentor? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I don’t think it takes a lot of time to be a mentor. I don’t necessarily say, okay, today I’m gonna set aside an hour of my time to being a mentor, but I get contacted by a lot of people. I’ve spoken at a lot of conferences and I’m invited to give talks at a lot of universities about my career, and afterwards I’m contacted a lot. I also have hired a lot of PhD scientists who have worked for me and I’ve spent a lot of time with those individuals. I don’t think that you necessarily need to set aside time, but I do think that it’s really important to take the time to help people like that, so I get a lot of cold calls, I get a lot of emails, I’m always trying to respond, if I can’t respond to an email directly then I usually ask someone who’s worked with me or -- and for me, to help me and maybe they can step up and be a mentor to that individual. I think it’s very hard to field all the calls and all the emails but I do try to make an effort to get back to everybody. Because I think my career path has been unique and I think that it’s a really—that it’s a career path that a lot of people could pursue, I don’t think that I’m so special, but I think knowing how to do it and how to navigate it is really important.

Stacie Bloom on Reflection-Informed Personal Growth

In Chapter 12 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Role Has Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?"  Bloom shares how reflection has become more important as she gets older.  Now in her 30s, Bloom uses reflection to set more clear priorities in her work and her relationships. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  What role has reflection played in shaping your personal growth? 

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  I’ve become a much more sort of reflective person over time. I think, you know, I was in my 20’s, I was running around all the time, I was doing a million things, I didn’t really think about my actions, I just sort of lived for the moment. And now I realize I wanna create a legacy, and I wanna build a great Neuroscience Institute at NYU, I wanna help contribute to an effort that really will bring benefit to people’s lives, and in my own personal life. I want to have a successful relationship with my husband, and I wanna raise great kids. And a lot of that is looking into myself and my actions and my behaviors, and trying to make the best decisions that I can to make sure that I’m gonna be proud of my life.