Skipped the School Bus

And off the grid we go

For the next six weeks, I will not have access to internet or phone…or really anything needing a power outlet.

For someone who wakes up to NYTimes on her iPhone, leaves not one tweet unchecked, Flipboards before bed, engrossed in tech startups on the daily for the past 3 years, with heavy doses of 200+ email onslaughts per day, this will be quite the foreign experience.  

It’s one of UofM’s great hidden gems—the New England Literature Program.  6 weeks, 8 credits of 3 classes, 40 incredible people, and 3+ mountains to climb.  

I’m a nervous, excited, scared shitless tangle of energy.  

I’m excited to correspond with friends by snail mail, to lay my fingers over not a backlit keyboard, but a typewriter, to spend time outdoors, to be in tune with a world without screens, to think, to write, to reflect.

I think more than missing any device, service, or habit, I’ll miss my family.  

Letters and mail are more than welcome, in the meantime!  Feel free to write to:

c/o NELP
P.O. Box 998
Raymond, Maine 04071

Opportunity Cost and the 4th Dimension

Econ 101 tells us it’s the foundation between scarcity and choice.

Intuition and gut tells us it’s what we want more.

We’re faced with infinite choices on a day-to-day basis, from the minute our alarm clocks thunderously announce the day, to our tired tumble under the covers after a long day…or not.  Depends what you’re willing to give up.

What textbooks and teachers alike often forget, however, is the factor of time.  Sure, you might give up producing fewer guns for more butter, you might take in a few more dollars by selling this new product line versus continuing an old one, but we forget to ask ourselves…how often is this event going to happen again? 

Whether it’s sacrificing a few days out of your week before two exams to attend the 2012 Startup Weekend Organizers Summit, or dragging yourself out of a few hours of productivity to grab coffee with a potential sales lead, seize moments that are scarce, not simply tangible goods or returns.  If the Summit only happens once a year, the only time you’ll see the greatest people you’ve ever met in one place, or when you’re only in the same town as Sarah once every five months, then get on it.  Chances like these are the ones dreamers look back and say, “if only I had…” or “we almost…”  Should have, could have, would have.   Don’t let yourself say any of those words down the line.

It’s these moments that create stories, build bonds, and take ideas like Zaarly and launch them into action.  They’re moments that can help you find a job.  They’re moments, settings, people, and places you can never reconstruct. 

So.  Are you going to be a would’ve, could’ve, should’ve kind of person, or are you going to say, “and that’s where we did this”?

A Piece of You Can Save a Whole Dan.

Today balloons are being filled, laughter shared, love shown.  Today, my friend Dan is on nearly week 8 in the hospital, diagnosed with aplastic anemia.

_______

I first met Dan through MPowered, and he subsequently worked alongside me to co-organize Startup Weekend U of M 2011, in addition to participating…and creating the one and only epic Drunk or Child.

Dan rocks.  I could go on and on for pages about how much I love him, and how much others do, too.  How generous he is, how funny, how witty, how thoughtful, how he’s always willing to give up his own time or resources to help someone else.

I could go on and on about all the memories we’ve shared.  The funds we raised, the late nights we pushed through, the way he can make anyone laugh and feel comfortable. 

And I could tell you about him.  His sisters, his family, his manly Infiniti coupe, how he always wears nice jeans and a troublemaking grin. 

_______

Dan needs a bone marrow transplant to survive.  There is a 1 in 20,000 chance that you could be the one to give away a part of you to save a whole of him.  For those of you away from Ann Arbor, here’s how you can help.  It only takes a little piece of you to light up another life.

Stay tuned for the launch of DansOurMan.com.

How do you let someone go?

Hi.  You’re not right for me.  This isn’t going to work because of a, b, and c.  Even more so now that you’ve just committed d.  Here’s a feel better package, but after that you need to leave.  Simply put, you’re fired. 

There’s no easy way to say it.  Whether you’re ending a business or personal relationship, your message is as clear as, “We are not a match.  You are not helping me, and I am not helping you.  Please leave.”

In my time serving on MPowered’s executive team, one of the deepest and lasting learning experiences has been in learning when to let go—if at all.  Whether it’s a peer, a fellow leader, or friend, it never gets any easier.  But there’s certainly ways to make the road a little less rocky, and taste a little more like mint chocolate chip.

• Leave the emotions at home.  Tensions are high.  Emotions are the last thing this recipe for disaster needs.  Be cognizant of your body language, your tone, and most importantly, your volume.  It’s in our nature to mirror the person across from us, and once things have escalated, there’s no turning back.  

• Use specific examples.  Be ready to refer to specific straws that have broken the camel’s back.  Avoid accusations, and instead point to ways that the person on the other end has broken your contract, agreement, or collaboration.  Facts will have never seemed so friendly, and instead of fingerpointing with “You did x” or “You didn’t understand y,” speak for yourself!  Try “I feel that when you did x” or “I think you didn’t understand y.”  

• Anticipate reactions.  You can never fully prepare yourself for the reaction on the other end, but it doesn’t hurt to empathize.  There’s no reason to be unnecessarily harsh or meek if that’s not either yours or his/her style.  Be deliberate in your delivery.

• Keep it in person, not on paper…or print!  Two words: email forwarding.  Sound scary?  It is.

• Short, sweet, and safe.  Concise, to-the-point statements will carry you through, and lessen the pain for both sides of the table.  Now’s not the time for long-winded goodbyes, or a recap of an annual performance report.  Focus on the issues at hand and what has provoked this act.  

• End on a positive note.  It’s over.  Why scold, nag, or be upset?  After all, this is a person you’ve worked with, and at least at one point (if not still) enjoyed being around!  Have a heart.  We all do.  And you never know when you’ll cross paths again. 

In most cases, be sure to come in with a decision already made.  Stick to your gut, always remember why, and don’t trip on the way over.

At the end of the day, this should be your very last resort.  Letting people go not only distorts your team dynamic, it also sets you back in performance and transitioning is certainly no easy feat—both emotionally and at work.  

Better yet—this can be easily steered clear of!  Set expectations early (even better if they’re in writing), and always check in!  Great collaboration is a two-way street, requiring signals and movement from both ends.

Great leadership is not about control or delegation.  It’s about inspiring the team, laying a foundation of common ground, common goals, and a united mission to build, create, and innovate.

A Little Lingo for the New Year

In the new year, I need becomes I want, I should becomes I will or I will not, and I can’t becomes I choose not to.

Your choices, your hopes, your wants, your needs, your dreams are all your very own. What they become is borne of your creations and actions.

Let’s build something lasting, something sustainable, and something meaningful. Let’s take leaps of faith. Let’s take a smart risk or two. I’m ready for 2012, are you?

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

One of the very best gifts my parents has ever bestowed upon me is my brother.  Better than any doll because he never breaks.  Better than any gift card because he’s never spent.  Better than any single surprise because he’s full of them.  He is my brother and therefore one half of me.  He is one half of all that I see, I hear, I feel, I think, I learn.  He is my most persistent teacher and I am his most persistent fan.  His ears and thoughts double as my Pandora’s box.  He’s shown me that anything is possible.  He’s shown me that ideas are only letters and punctuation without action.  He’s shown me I have much yet to learn.  He’s first to point out my flaws and I am first to point out his.  He is my best friend in every sense of the word.  Through all of life’s trials and tribulations, all of its leaps and laughter, he is the goofy, gut-wrenching, (sometimes) garrulous gift that keeps on giving.

Apples + Oranges = Double the Yum

I think the bubble is popping.  After a month of taking in its comforts and discomforts, I’m attempting to slowly slip out of its all-consuming powers.

The college bubble.  With the onset of classes, orientations, student organization meetings, events, parties, and more, the ends of the earth felt as if they were closing on the tips of State Street and South University.  While the resources are vast, the support is incredible, and the experience is one-of-a-kind, like any community, the college one has its drawbacks. 

40,000 students.  40,000 experiences, pathways, backgrounds, families.  Yet too often we surround ourselves with the same old—in our organizations, in our industries, in our friendships.  Despite our perceptions, do remember that it is in difference there lies the potential to contribute.  A more dynamically diverse (both intellectually and culturally) team can power a much stronger engine.  You have all the tools you need to learn and succeed by age five.  And you can learn from a five year old.  From a fifty year old.  Surround yourself with a little something new.  Get out of the building.  Get out of campus.  Instead of passively absorbing content someone else is spewing at you, create your own content for a change.  Actively seek what you want to know.  Actively know that a little different is a little better.  

Humble Pie: Part 7 of the Food Pyramid

Humble pie.  Tastewise, it may be on the same level as Popeye’s spinach and brussels sprouts.  But an extra helping or two might just be what the doctor ordered.

It’s a fine tightrope to walk between possessing complete self-confidence and complete conceitedness.  But possessing humility is a rare asset. 

By tossing the gem of humility in your toolbox, you’ll find that you’re learning, not to mention hearing, much more than before.  Throughout my summer at the Kauffman Foundation, I was continually both humbled by and struck by the humility of those that surrounded me.  Whether in a contained work environment or between the streets of South University and State, it’s all too easy to trip up on your tightrope of confidence + conceitedness.  

As a very wise Munro Richardson of the Kauffman Foundation has once guided me:

Be willing to say “I don’t know.”  Don’t worry about perceptions.  There is little admiration for those with an answer for everything—instead, try practicing listening.  You might come across a golden nugget you wouldn’t have had you only been practicing answering.  

In classes, tests, and exams, we’re consistently punished for saying “I don’t know.”  Yet avoiding such an admission is avoiding a learning opportunity.  We’re taught that the Hermione Grangers of the world are the ones to emulate, yet why is that she plays a supporting role in many of her adventures?

From the words of Danny O’Neill of the Roasterie Coffee:

Put on your sales hat and ask, “What can I do for you?”  Sellers and consultants are most often pegged as ‘good with people.’  They’re willing to step back, eliminating the “I,” and reconsider whose agenda is on the table.  Expect to give and take.  Too often, we are so wrapped up in our own goals that the true reciprocated value of a potential relationship is lost in the glories of “networking,” of overeagerly selling our personal wants.

And finally, with the help of Munro:

Pick your fights and pick your buttons wisely. In class discussions, team meetings, weekly updates, and more, that knee-jerk reaction to speak out against a differing opinion or idea may spill over in negativity or overconfidence.  Put in your own cost benefit analysis—is it worth it to pick this fight?  Rather than insisting on your way or the highway, will it pay off to play devil’s advocate instead—rooting for the underdog?  Will it pay off to compromise?  Put yourself in another’s shoes.  What’s the root cause of this opinion?

Jumping at every opening to argue your way might feel like a win, but you may load up on a large dose of backfiring.  By lending yourself to such situations, you’ve automatically labeled yourself as the overbearing antagonist.  Instead of being a problem pointer, try being a problem solver.  Sure, a dose of compromise doesn’t seem to serve as the tastiest complement to humble pie, but perhaps it will pave the way to a stronger relationship.  A new relationship is like a new hire—you need to be willing to provide guidance and commitment to make it work.

There’s no right or wrong way to go about snagging your very own slice of humble pie—and keep in mind, just like with any of Grannie’s famous pies, humble pie is simply pie; a dessert, not a substantial meal.  A small amount goes a long, long way, whether you’re headed to class, to an interview, or to a meeting and more.

Confessions of a Cheetah Child

I am the product of cheetah parents.  Unlike the big cats, they do not roar, but they purr.  They have semi-retractable claws (key word: semi).  They are fast, they are fearless, and they are formidable both as hunters and as family protectors.

Growing up, my parents were unlike their tiger counterparts—I did not attend Chinese school on the weekends, I was encouraged to pursue interests in drama and the arts, and yes, I received my fair share of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

They always said yes.  Yes to anything I wanted to pursue; they never cringed at my constant piano and swimming bills, my tuition, my books, my magazine subscriptions, or all the trivial things a growing girl requests.  But the yes always came with a stipulation; they wanted to see me put my all into it.  They hoped I would appreciate it, they dreamed I would achieve the very same dreams that filled my sleep at night.  Nothing was ever simply given outright—it was earned, and only then deserved.  As my long-awaited sixteenth birthday neared, my parents weren’t about to fork over a car simply because I now held a plastic card to freedom.  Since I was twelve, I knew the rule—any car was mine, if, and only if, I received award recognition at the state level for one of my academic and extracurricular pursuits.

They taught me the power of resilience, the power of perspiration, the power of dogged tenacity.  And now, as I round up my first summer away from home, I’ve begun to wonder…have I been bred to become an entrepreneur?

In Mark Suster’s series on Entrepreneur DNA, he lists 12 attributes to possess to become a successful entrepreneur.  But is there any kind of training that might encourage these traits?  Where are these qualities most persistent?  Most accessible?  Most dominant?  Most visible?

Does playing team sports build entrepreneurs?  It sure helps in the competitiveness, resiliency, perspiration, and decisiveness departments!

Does playing instruments build entrepreneurs?  You’re taught to pay attention to detail, to put in the hours, to continue to iterate on your previous attempts at a piece.

Are science labs the secret ingredient behind producing lean startup experts?  Spending hours in the lab equates to hours of experimenting, testing, measuring, and even pivoting.  

Perhaps Momma Xiao was onto something.  Perhaps she wasn’t.  In any case, Cheetah Mom, thanks.

Bucket List Begone!

We all have a bucket list, but what are we waiting for?  Why is it that we collect these hopes and desires only to note, “I want to do this someday,” and prioritize monetary needs before anything else?  Why is it that society influences our youngest generations to work 80, 90, 100 hour weeks when they are in their prime, in their 20s?  When they could be exploring so many things beyond the walls of their cubicle, beyond the ends of an Excel spreadsheet.  But instead, we save all these things for our so-called bucket list, which simply collects dust as we proceed through the expected stages of life.  Why not save the crazy workweeks for later?  When, perhaps, after exploring so many new things, after allowing ourselves to explore so many new facets of the world, we may be much more informed?  Our perspectives may be broadened, our relationships may be stronger, our minds more mature, and our lives more fulfilled.

More to come soon.  Current reads: Success Built to Last, the Audacity to Win, Ahead of the Curve, and the Alchemist.

18 Candles + a Dose of Disrupt

I have been eighteen years old for just over ten days, and I feel ten times more enlightened, and more humbled already.  

In ten days, I’ve left my hometown of Seattle for my first trip to the Big Apple, attending TechCrunch Disrupt.  Day twelve finds me in Kansas City, Missouri, for my second day as an intern at the Kauffman Foundation.

Over the course of countless panels, fireside chats, and meeting entrepreneurs across the globe, Disrupt served a great launchpad in identifying the next big trends in tech, in addition to opening up new questions and thoughts to ponder. 

We are on the brink of a “societal revolution,” as Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures puts it.  As founders, we are revolutionizing the way people approach a problem.  As leaders, we are revolutionizing how people think and behave.  As students, we are revolutionizing the way our peers + our following generations view the world.  As MPowered members, we are revolutionizing the way our campus evolves, empowering them to embrace entrepreneurship + entrepreneurial thinking as a way of life.

Such a revolution requires noise.  It requires interaction among many parties, and it requires collaboration and compromise as well.  It requires the promise of achieving a remarkable end result.  

Such a revolution requires certain key players.  It requires founders, leaders, and strong team members.  Are good founders always good leaders?  Are good leaders always good entrepreneurs?

These are questions I continue to search answers for as summer @ Kauffman progresses.  My biggest question lies here—what are the traits that produce a great entrepreneur?  While many have tackled this question, from Mark Suster to Thomas Zurbuchen and more, perhaps we can also examine the behaviors that lead us to become entrepreneurs.  Is it the competitive streak from playing sports throughout those teenage years?  Is it the persistence of learning an instrument as a child?  Perhaps a better understanding of where this entrepreneurial mindset stems from the is the first step to igniting an even more powerful societal revolution.

What are your thoughts?  Post to follow soon.

—And parents: instead of yet another bundle of gift cards, jewelry, or gadgets, considering purchasing your child a ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt for their next birthday.  You won’t regret it.

Thanks to the Kauffman Foundation for the great opportunity + ongoing summer of learning!

Why I thank God I didn’t go to Cornell

Almost a year ago to this very day, I sent a letter that has changed my life forever.

I remember the day like it was yesterday.  I delayed.  I took a shower.  Read a book.  Checked cnn.com.  I panicked like a guy whose wife just went into labor.  And finally, the moment of truth.

I sealed the letter, and off it went to Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Four months later, I packed my bags for the University of Michigan, in some Midwest town, to this place that I knew absolutely nothing about except that it was cold.  I didn’t even know that the school was split into two campuses, or that people were fanatics about football…and what was all this “Go Blue!” nonsense?

And yet—the longer I’m here, the more I never want to leave.  I’ve caught the Wolverine fever.  Although frustrated by the “college bubble” that we reside in, the campus and its neighboring Ann Arbor community has been incredible.  Just three months ago (a lifetime, really), in conjunction with MPowered, I’d organized the University of Michigan’s first Startup Weekend, and it was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m honored to have been a part of it.

But this wasn’t the original plan.  On March 15th of last year, I thought I was the happiest girl in the world.  I’d been accepted to Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, a dream I had long ago given up.  By March 16th, I’d all but hopped on a plane to Ithaca.  

Why did I do it?  Why did I choose a school I’d never laid eyes on, let alone an entire part of the country that I’d never stepped foot in?  I could have graduated from the University of Washington at age 19.  I could have entered the Ivy League.  I could have stayed right at home, right in my comfort zone.  And…I could have hated my college experience.

Instead, I embarked an adventure.  Sure, I’d miss Seattle, I’d miss the familiarity, the home-cooked food, the friends, and even the rain, but I needed to seek what was beyond my current scope of the world.  And I didn’t want to limit myself.  I didn’t want to set barriers early, both academically and socially.

I came thinking I would study Business and English.  Today, I’m not so sure.  Instead, the incredible faculty and friendships I have found here have taught me to explore.  To challenge myself.  To be unafraid of uncertainty, or failure, or criticism, or rejection, or most importantly, of compromise. 

And today, as I write this on the last night in my dorm room (aka messy hurricane of packing supplies), I don’t want to leave.  This community of leaders, of explorers, of change agents have impacted me in ways I could have never imagined.  In the past four weeks alone with MPowered, with our Center for Entrepreneurship, and with my fellow friends, peers, and risk-takers, I have learned more than ever about leading and building a team, the dynamics of this university, of entrepreneurship education, and much more.  But more than anything, I have had to make decisions.  As a part of MPowered’s exec team, no longer do my decisions only affect myself.  My decisions affect programs, projects, and people.   

The University of Michigan has provided an environment in which I have learned, thought, and created.  It has shown me my fears, my flaws, my failures.  It has enabled me to grow as a student, as a thinker, as a leader of an organization.  And it has shown me that with a little bit of smart risk-taking, a healthy dose of invention, and a dash of fearlessness, we can lead our very own action revolution.  

Compromise (Yes, it’s real.)

Failure.  It’s a seven-letter death sentence.  It’s that look Tiger Mom gives you when you’ve done poorly at a piano recital, it’s that C on your English paper, it’s that product that never took off, it’s that “oh, crap” moment when you realize things aren’t quite going according to plan.

And oftentimes, when it happens, it happens.  We push it aside, ignoring its existence.  We refuse the acknowledge it even happened, and it’s buried in that pile of “oh wells” we all keep in our closets.

Yet when taken as a learning experience, failure can be the best teacher of all.  Why not take initiative and apply the learning from our failures to create success?  Cut the bs.  We failed.  So what?

Instead—let’s take a step back.  Let’s revise, reinvent, reinnovate, reincorporate, and adapt what we’ve learned into something successful.  

As Paul Buchheit recently noted, we are driven by ego-fears: by the fears of being embarrassed, humiliated, rejected, criticized.  But perhaps our true fear lies in compromise.

Nobody likes to admit that they’ve failed.  Failure is one of our biggest ego-fears.  But compromise in fact is one of the most valuable traits one could have.  It means a person is willing to take a step back, evaluate where we agree, where we can work together, and where we can improve.  Compromise is not a matter of winning or losing—it’s a win-win on both sides of the equation.  Compromise is enhancing and honing mutual ideas, hopes, and goals.  Compromise is the first step in slapping failure in the face and turning it into a success.  

So next time you’re sending out that resume of yours…it could do you well to list “Compromise King/Queen” under those special skills and achievements!

*post inspired by Paul Buchheit’s “Serendipity Finds You.”  Check it out!

”%*&!”—the dreaded four-letter word, “Team”

How do you motivate a team?

It’s a question that’s come up many times in the past month, a question I love to hear the response for. 

Throughout my time in higher education, group work has been consistently stressed in all my courses and projects, no matter what the subject.  I’ve spent inordinate amounts of time working together with others, often people I rarely interact with as soon as the project’s done with.  I’ve labored over team homework for calculus, a business plan competition, skits for Chinese class, projects for MPowered, and more.

No matter if you’re trying to drag Danny out of bed to solve derivatives + integrals, or pull Dan to check out a venue when organizing Startup Weekend, you’ve got to be able to spark that motivation to get them going.  

Where does that spark come from?

• The story.  Share it, mold it, shape it together.  

Oftentimes the first push is the hardest—navigating unfamiliar territory as a team, whether it’s a new math problem or planning a new Student Business Consulting program is always a murky task.  But when you build your story alongside your team, when they are there creating it with you every step of the way, you build ownership and dedication.  

• Providing ownership.

Nothing’s more discouraging than working hard on a project without getting any credit for it.  But maybe you don’t trust your new team’s judgment, or you can’t stand the idea of them taking the reins.  Get over it.  Give them a sense of ownership, a sense that they are a piece of the working puzzle, and they’ll want to see the fruits of labor just as badly as you do.  People want to feel like they are needed, wanted, and making an impact.

• Plan to fail, and plan to fail fast.

Sometimes things just don’t work out.  Your project’s progress should be 100% transparent with the rest of the team.  Sure, there’s mistakes—but that way, everyone can see where it’s going wrong and learn from it.  Everyone can become a part of the driving force that makes your project a success.

• Creating genuine interaction.

When was the last time you had a real conversation with your boss, professor, or project manager?  When was the last time you weren’t pitching something, persuading, or being sent to do a task?  As David Pisor of the Elysian Hotel in Chicago puts it, genuine interaction means you “value authenticity, and you value the the process.”  A strong relationship with your team is a multi-directional street that requires cooperation and two-way conversations.  

Entrepreneurial vs. Entrepreneurship vs. Entrepreneurialism

Try and say that three times fast.

With the launch of Obama’ Startup America and the latest buzz fueling the entrepreneurship bug, the team at MPowered and I sat down to brainstorm something new.  How do you impress the importance of entrepreneurship to someone with no exposure, no interest, and no apparent path to it?

We set out first by attempting to define entrepreneurship—but what is it, really?  As something so very subjective to one’s personal goals and path, entrepreneurship could mean just about anything.

But that’s part of the glory of it.  Entrepreneurship can come from everywhere—from little Lucy’s lemonade stand to the crazy guys at DrunkorChild.com to the awesome energy of Startup Weekends around the world.

It’s a word that’s thrown around carelessly—and it’s time to brand entrepreneurship a little differently.  To the average college student, “entrepreneurship” conjures up faraway images of this creature called a “startup,” and is instantly linked with business.  On this campus, it’s instantly linked with the Ross School of Business, an entire world of its own—and one on a very different dimension from entrepreneurship.

Here’s our formula:

Character + Action + Thought = Energy

Character—Perseverance, Passionate, Serving a larger purpose, Ethics, Social know-how

Action—Doer, Challenge the status quo

Thought—Independent

Put those together, and you’ve got little Lucy on a run for her money!

More to follow.

*post inspired by @nickseguin.  check him out at nickseguin.com!