How Creating a Company is Like Building a Family - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 14 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "How Creating a Company is Like Building a Family?" When starting her business, CLEAResult, she did not think there were parallels. Over time, however, she finds those parallels, from establishing trusted relationships to building and implementing learning programs. From a feminine or woman's perspective, she finds meaning knowing she was the family mother of a company that has now grown up to do good in the world. 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.

How to Decompress and Relieve Stress - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 19 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "How Do You Decompress and What Effect Does That Have on How You Show Up in the World?" Parker starts with a good night's sleep and prioritizes outdoors exercise. She complements this by knitting and doing crochet. Lastly she finds long drives on open road to be a great way to reflect. 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.

Why to Give Yourself Permission to Make a Change - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 20 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "Why is it Important to Give Yourself Permission When Going Through a Change Moment?" She learns to surrender, or relinquish, control and accept it is OK to sometimes do nothing. After co-founding, growing, and selling her company, Parker embraces the restorative idea of taking time off and begins 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.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  Why is it important to give yourself permission when going through a change moment?

Audrey Parker:  Change is always uncomfortable.  That’s the nature of it.  And allowing and giving myself permission to let the change be whatever it’s gonna be without knowing how it’s gonna go, just surrendering control, surrendering the knowledge – we don’t know what we’re gonna change into.  We don’t know how it’s gonna go.  We don’t know how fast it’s gonna go.  And giving myself permission to just experience it as it comes and just trust that it will be whatever it will be, it’s not comfortable, but trying to control something that really I have no control over doesn’t make much sense.  It’s just amazing how often in my life and a lot of people try to control things like that, that they really, you know, can’t, just putting a lot of energy into something that could be better spent doing other things.  So it’s been nice to just give myself permission to just do nothing sometimes, literally, just do nothing.  And there’s this voice in my head going ‘why are you just doing nothing?  This is crazy.’  You need to be doing something.  You need to – you have to be doing something.  And there is this – the rest of me, it’s just like ‘no, actually, I don’t, I’m just gonna sit here, and I’m gonna do nothing, or I’m just gonna, you know, stare outside out the window, or I’m just gonna daydream.’  And there has been a lot of that just need to come back into balance, and I didn’t plan that.  I didn’t sit and think this is what I’m gonna need or this is what I’m – how it’s gonna go, or, you know, I’m gonna go spend time with that person, or I’m gonna go travel here or there.  I’m just letting it unfold.  And it’s a much more enjoyable process that way.  It’s still uncomfortable but it’s much more enjoyable.

Erik Michielsen:  When did you decide to give yourself permission when thinking about change?

Audrey Parker:  I gave myself permission when I exited CLEAResult.  I set a clear intention that, you know, this has been so much my identity, it has been so much my life, it has been so much my focus, I’ve been so determined and committed, and I have no idea what’s on the other side of this.  And I just allowed myself to have time and space and just whatever I need basically.  I set it up that way.  And that’s why I decided I – some people were saying ‘oh I’m sure you can’t take a full year off; I’m sure you’ll be bored after just a couple of months or a few weeks or something.’  And I just knew I need a year.  I need a year.  And I just need to give myself whatever time and space I need, really. So it was nice to give myself that permission because it’s just – it’s allowing things to just unfold, and, like I said, I like it that way.

How Personal Identity Philosophy Shapes Aspirations - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 21 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "How Have Your Views on Your Personal Identity Changed as You Have Aged?" After selling and leaving her company, CLEAResult, Parker asks herself "who am I?" She realizes identity is something we put on, so after dissolving her CLEAResult persona she can now put on a new identity and be anyone or anything she wants. 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.

How to Be at Your Best Each Day - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 1 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "When Are You At Your Best?" He shares how it is when he takes care of himself physically and emotionally. In his mid-30s Curtis comes to realize that in order to help other people solve their problems, he needed to be at his best. By prioritizing rest, diet and exercise, he now feels he can give his all every time. Curtis is the communications director for Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell. Curtis' charity work includes affiliations with Capital Area Food Bank, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Students of the World, the Rainforest Project and the Art Alliance. In 2011, Curtis won "Austinite of the Year" in the Austin Under 40 Awards. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 2 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?" He finds what once seemed hard, especially relationships, and healthy living is getting easy. He finds challenge staying organized and on top of new technology, including keeping current with mobile technology and smart phone applications. Curtis is the communications director for Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell. Curtis' charity work includes affiliations with Capital Area Food Bank, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Students of the World, the Rainforest Project and the Art Alliance. In 2011, Curtis won "Austinite of the Year" in the Austin Under 40 Awards. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

How to Break Out of a Comfort Zone and Live More Fully - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 7 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "Where is Your Comfort Zone and What Do You Do to Break Free of Living in It?" Curtis shares how for the longest time, his comfort zone was living a sedentary life at home. After breaking free of this by moving into the city and cutting his cable TV, Curtis now focuses on how he can become more centered each week. He finds waking up early an effective way to get the alone time necessary to plan his future. Curtis is the communications director for Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell. Curtis' charity work includes affiliations with Capital Area Food Bank, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Students of the World, the Rainforest Project and the Art Alliance. In 2011, Curtis won "Austinite of the Year" in the Austin Under 40 Awards. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder - Richard Moross

In Chapter 1 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?" He shares perspective on managing and growing his company, Moo.com. Personally, he finds the little things in life getting easier. What gets harder are making the big decisions and answering the larger questions of purpose. Additionally, Moross finds it hard to carve out time to relax and spend time with family. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How to Define and Measure Quality of Life - Richard Moross

In Chapter 2 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "How Do You Define and Measure Your Quality of Life?" He begins with how he starts his day, and builds upon this talking about the positive nature of facing challenges. Initial challenges, getting past early company growth phases, evolve into exciting challenges of building a team, cultivating employee growth, and managing a sustainable business. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How Family Provides Entrepreneur Emotional Support - Richard Moross

In Chapter 4 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Moo.com CEO and London entrepreneur Richard Moross answers "Where Have Your Parents Been Most Supportive to Your Career Development?" He shares how the massive emotional support from parents and family helped him make the transition from a salary job to a new world as an entrepreneur. After making the transition, Moross finds additional support in his brother and sister, who both help in different ways to help the company grow. Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com. Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a senior design strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company. He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

Courtney Spence on How Being True to Oneself Brings Out Personal Best

In Chapter 1 of 16 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit founder and executive Courtney Spence answers "When Are You at Your Best?" She notes how she performs best around those she loves and those who she can be herself around. This results in more open and trusted settings that allow Spence to thrive. 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:  When are you at your best?

Courtney Spence: Probably at my best when I am working with people I really love, that I can be really honest with.  I’m a pretty emotional person and I take everything personally which is both good and both bad, but that means that particularly in a work environment if I am not – I don’t feel like I’m with people that I can be honest with, and when I’m upset, be upset with, or be -- I’m angry or when I’m happy, I feel comfortable, I trust them enough to be who I am.  When I’ve been in environments where I did not have that, it was very hard for me to even be a shade of my best.  But I would say, you know, for me, personally, in the last, you know, year and a half, really, I have assembled a really great team of people that I’m working with and it’s just so liberating to be able to really be true to who you are both at home and in your workplace.

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.

How to Define Success as State of Productive Completion - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 2 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares how he defines and measures success. He defines it as a feeling of productive completion. It is about getting the inbox to zero, closing out the to-do list, and opening time to be proactive and not reactive. This then opens doors to daily writing and other creative pursuits. 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.

Learning by Using Left and Right Brain Thinking - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 1 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings shares how he defines success by blending left and right brain thinking in his professional pursuits. Early in his career, Stallings, educated in studio art, psychology, and economics, focuses on analytical left brain pursuits. Over time, Stallings transitions more toward emotional and intuitive right brain exercises. He learns the most complex decisions are best made minimizing time spent thinking about them. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

How to Balance Personal and Social Relationships - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 2 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings shares how he learned to build relationships. He learns more outgoing socialized relationship building through his mother and her community activities. Learning from a physician father, Stallings develops skills around personalized one-on-one relationship building. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

How Passion for Studying People Develops - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 3 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings shares what keeps him curious about learning new things. Stallings constantly looks for gaps and sees them as opportunities to improve. Always comfortable as an outsider, Stallings embraces studying human behavior and learning from it. Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design. Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

How to Balance Being Challenged and Nurtured - Lauren Serota

In Chapter 2 of 18 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, interaction designer and researcher Lauren Serota shares when she is at her best. She believes this occurs when she balances being challenged and nurtured. Serota is an interaction designer at frog design - http://frogdesign.com - and a professor at the Austin Center for Design - http://ac4d.com . She earned her bachelors degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).