Clara Soh on What Makes a Good Project Manager

In Chapter 19 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, health economist Clara Soh answers "What Has Your Experience Taught You About What Makes a Good Project Manager?" Soh shares how awareness, organization and preparation help her better lead and manage project teams. She notes the many resource variables involved in health policy and science research project management. By using these approaches she is able to bring together teams of programmers principal research investigators to manage and complete projects successfully. Clara Soh is a health economist and Senior Director of Policy and Research at a pharmaceutical trade organization in Washington, DC. Previously, Soh held senior roles at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) and Health Policy Research Northwest (HPRN). Soh earned her Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in Policy Analysis and Healthcare Public Finance from the NYU Wagner School and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.

Clara Soh on Adapting Job Skills to Work in Washington DC Politics

In Chapter 20 of 20 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, health economist Clara Soh answers "At This Moment in Your Life, Where Are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?" Soh shares how she gets research career advice from peers and experts in her field. She notes this academic and collegial community is different from a new one she needs to navigate for her job - the political network of Washington DC. She shares approaches she is taking to build new relationships for her work. Clara Soh is a health economist and Senior Director of Policy and Research at a pharmaceutical trade organization in Washington, DC. Previously, Soh held senior roles at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) and Health Policy Research Northwest (HPRN). Soh earned her Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in Policy Analysis and Healthcare Public Finance from the NYU Wagner School and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.

Matt Curtis on Combining Politics and Travel Passions in a Career

In Chapter 2 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Are Your Personal Experiences Shaping Your Professional Aspirations?" Curtis shares how starting to travel the world has allowed him to combine his passions for city government and helping others make a greater difference in what they do. Traveling to new cities allows Curtis to get new perspectives on how cities work and to put his own passion to work to find ways to improve city planning. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Traveling Europe to Find City Planning Best Practices

In Chapter 4 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "What Did Your Travels to London, Madrid and Paris Teach You About How Cities Can Better Plan for the Future?" Curtis discusses how his European travels have informed him about the importance of city planning around population growth. He finds European cultural centers such as London, Madrid and Paris understood the importance of transportation infrastructure and integrated it into the city fabric. This is a valuable takeaway that Curtis takes back to the United States and his city planning conversations. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Learning Best Practices for Running a City

In Chapter 5 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "What Has Working in City Government Taught You About Best Practices for Running a City?" Serving on the United States Conference of Mayors Business Council, Curtis brings what he has learned working in Austin city government and learns from other municipal leaders on best practices to run a city. Curtis shares why experimentation is a valuable tool and why to engage community members for improvement ideas. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Innovative Ways Cities Can Create Local Jobs

In Chapter 6 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "What Have You Learned About What Cities Can Do to Drive Innovation That Creates Jobs?" Curtis shares ways cities can find innovative ways to grow organically, or from within, and inorganically, or from the outside. Organically, it comes to municipal programming such as job training, small business support services, and strong education systems to grow and retain talent. Attracting talent - both individuals and companies - starts with creating a local city culture and community that attracts job seekers and job creators. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on How to Build Trust by Being Forthright

In Chapter 8 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Do You Establish Trust When Building Relationships?" From the get-go or onset of a conversation, Curtis tries to be forthright and clear in his communication. He gets feedback that this straightforward and often blunt communication style is well-received for its sincerity. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on 3 Ways to Give More Effective Mentor Advice

In Chapter 12 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Are You Learning to Be a Better Mentor to Young Professionals?" As someone well-versed in seeking out mentors and asking for advice, Curtis learns three principles to giving more effective mentor guidance. First, it pays to be positive. Second, transparency is essential. Third, Curtis pushes hard to get as much insight from a mentee as possible before making recommendations. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on How Weight Loss Improves Emotional Health

In Chapter 13 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Have You Learned to Adapt When Things Have Not Worked Out As Planned?" As a heavier and younger man, Curtis found handling change hard and would get angry and upset when it happened. Over time, working in public service and controlling his weight, Curtis learns to take unexpected changes in stride and use his experience to work through the issues. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Improving Public Speaking Skills by Singing Karaoke

In Chapter 15 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "What Does It Mean to Perform Under Pressure in the Work That You Do?" For Curtis, performing under pressure in his work means presenting to or speaking to elected public officials. He shares how performing karaoke and singing karaoke has helped him get more comfortable standing up in a crowded room and presenting with confidence. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Two Easy Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Are You Learning to Communicate More Effectively?" Curtis shares how showing enthusiasm and curiosity when having a conversation or meetings lifts the quality of communication. This helps him as he seeks to improve writing, grammar, and speaking skills. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Matt Curtis on Learning to Work With Different Personality Types

In Chapter 18 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, HomeAway government relations director Matt Curtis answers "How Are You Learning to Work More Effectively With Different Personality Types?" Curtis shares how working in public service has helped him realize the importance of giving someone space to share their feelings and vent a little. This helps Curtis better connect with people who act, feel or think differently than he does. He also learns how the pace quickens in shifting from public service to working in the private sector. Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas.

Audrey French on Creating Impact Doing Meaningful Volunteer Work

In Chapter 18 of 18 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Audrey Parker French answers "How Do You Make the Most of Your Volunteering Experience?" French talks about the social impact she is able to create by volunteering in Travis County, Texas as a court-appointed special advocate for non-profit CASA. There she works for abused and neglected children in the foster care system and helps them navigate the legal system. Audrey Parker French is an entrepreneur who co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She currently volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and teaches children's choir. She graduated from Wake Forest University and lives with her husband in Austin, Texas.

Bijoy Goswami on Managing Complexity by Embracing Simplicity

In Chapter 18 of 19 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, leadership philosopher Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are Your Responsibilities Changing as Your Career Evolves?" As Goswami develops a greater mastery of his stewardship skills, work opportunities expand from individual-level into organizational- and community-level. By striking a balance embracing simplicity and managing complexity Goswami shares how he makes the transition.

Goswami is able to perform at higher levels. Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software.  Goswami graduated from Stanford University.

Andrew Epstein on Creating Education Equality in American Schools

In Chapter 4 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, charter school CFO Andrew Epstein answers "Why Do You Believe That Education Equality is the Civil Rights Movement of Our Generation?"  Epstein believes all American children need to be educated and failing schools and poor teaching are creating generations of children that are not learning to read and write.  As more low-skilled jobs move abroad, Epstein sees college preparatory education as more important as ever.  He believes charter schools address this problem by introducing choice into a previously closed market. 

Andrew Epstein is CFO of the Ascend Learning Charter School Network.  Previously, Epstein was a finance executive at Democracy Prep Public Schools and an operations executive at Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Records.  He is a former Teach for America corps member and middle-school science teacher.  He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Simon Sinek on How to Improve Strategic Thinking

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Do You Make Strategic Thinking More Implementation Friendly?"  To Sinek it comes down to language and the importance of using words people understand.  When the language is simple, the directive becomes clear to everyone and can be more easily followed and implemented.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  His goal is to "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" and help others find fulfillment in their work.  Sinek is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action".  He works regularly with the United States Military, United States Congress, and many organizations, agencies and entrepreneurs.  Sinek is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and an adjunct staff member at the think tank RAND Corporation.  Sinek earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen:  How do you make strategic thinking more implementation friendly?

Simon Sinek:  Language.  Strategic thinking can be more implementation friendly when you use words that you understand. It’s amazing to me how often we read strategies that are incomprehensible. To be the pre-eminent supplier, you know, we’re gonna—I mean, what—I mean these are things that you can’t do. Based on what metric? We wanna be the best? That’s your strategy? Like that’s not a strategy. That’s nothing. We wanna be the—we wanna be ranked number one. What—revenues, profit, quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, what? It’s complete nonsense, you know? And so the more specific a strategy can be, the clearer the language can be, the more implementable it can be.

I’m a great believer that if you speak like a scientist, only scientists will understand you, but if you speak like a truck driver, both truck drivers and scientists will understand you. And the amazing thing is if you actually speak like a scientist, even a lot of the scientists don’t understand you. The point is use very simple terminology that’s somebody who’s not in your industry who doesn’t know your business would understand what you’re trying to do. And if that’s the basis of the language that you choose to use that anyone can understand what you’re attempting to do and if you started someone tomorrow, they would be able to take the reins and go because it’s so crystal clear. That’s the standard that we need to use inside our own organizations. When the language is clear, when the language is specific, when the language is simple, it’s easy. It’s easy to implement. Right? Off the races you go, you know?

Why Legalize Startup Crowdfunding For-Profit Investing - Slava Rubin

In Chapter 12 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, crowdfunding entrepreneur and IndieGoGo CEO Slava Rubin answers "What Role Does Government Relations Play in What You Do?"  Rubin notes how the entrepreneurial campaign element of his crowdfunding company IndieGoGo has allowed him to collaborate with President Obama's Startup America Initiative and help startup business initiatives receive financing.  He notes the potential in for-profit investing using crowdfunding.  Slava Rubin returns to CYF for his Year 3 interview.  As CEO and Co-Founder, Rubin has helped transform cause and project fundraising by establishing his company IndieGoGo as a global leader in crowdfunding.  He is also active in philanthropy, starting the Music Against Myeloma annual charity event to fight cancer.  He graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What role does government-relations play in what you do?

Slava Rubin: Well, we’re actually really excited that we’re partner with President Obama’s Startup America to help stimulate entrepreneurship in America. So, there’s three major groups of funding categories on Indiegogo. Number one is creative, number two is cause and number three is entrepreneurial. So, within entrepreneurial it’s really important to figure out how we can work together. I mean, there’s great case studies of entrepreneurial campaigns for example Walk In Love, which went from a single designer who was selling t-shirts in a kiosk was able to fund his campaign on Indiegogo and now has 15 employees in a Lancaster, Pennsylvania Mall or two engineers in California that were turned down by 43 VCs were able to fund their electronics product on Indiegogo and then got a $650,000 investor or a gluten-free bread company that was able to start from her own kitchen and now be named by CNBC as one of the Top 15 Start-ups in America. These are all examples of how people can use Indiegogo today. In the future, there’s the potential for the government shifting the law around funding online and being able to allow for-profit investments, which would be very interesting.

Erik Michielsen: And where does it stand today and, you know, what are the hopes for tomorrow?

Slava Rubin: So, this is very timely question actually just this week there was a new crowd funding law that just passed the House of Representatives. So, that’s actually two bills that have passed in the house to allow crowd funding to become legal, specifically what that would mean is that you don’t have to be accredited investor, which means you don’t have to have over a million dollars of net worth and the actual entity raising the money would not have to register with the SEC, which can be a very cost prohibitive process. The White House is very much behind this proposal, which they’ve already said but the Senate has not weighed in yet. So, really it’s a matter of seeing what the Senate will see and if any of the financial institutions that are lobbying against this will slow this down really allowing crowd funding to become a for-profit opportunity will really bring in significant more liquidity into the funding of entrepreneurial businesses and allow for many more jobs to be created.

What It Means to Be a Community Leader - Matt Curtis

In Chapter 7 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, public affairs and communications strategist Matt Curtis answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  Curtis aims to make his a community a better place that he found it.  He notes the challenges that come with leading in a fast growing city of Austin, Texas.  He notes it requires defining goals, effective messaging, recruitment of the messengers, and then securing commitments from individuals and organizations to work toward goals.  Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was communications director for Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn.  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.