In this clip from a previous episode, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky discusses why people should be passionate about what they do, because otherwise it's impossible to compete against people who are. Adam also shares the importance of analyzing your own strengths and weaknesses in what he calls "vocal self-criticism."
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Every Brandeis student knows his name, but few have heard from the President directly. That changes today, as Zev sits down with President Ron Liebowitz.
Ron Liebowitz has served as the President of Brandeis University since 2016. The former president of Middlebury College, Liebowitz is a recognized administrative leader in higher education, whose academic scholarship centers on political geography, Russia, and higher education.
In this episode, President Liebowitz and Zev cover a wide-range of topics, including:
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Brian Turner is the first to admit that he’s not the smartest person in the room. He’s rarely been the best at anything, whether as a high school baseball player or student or leader. How did he become a strong player, a good student, and the CEO of a $100+ million consulting company? In everything he’s done, curiosity has been his lifeline.
In this unique conversation we get inside the mind of Brian, the person and leader. He speaks about how curiosity is central to his leadership style, using imagination to change his team’s perspective, and the simple thing he does to stay present. We also dive into the challenges and shifts of his first year as CEO and want he wants to improve moving forward. As always, listen to the end or read below to hear his advice for recent graduates.
Takeaways & Advice:
Topics:
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Steve Grossman, Former MA Treasurer and DNC Chair, and now the CEO of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, discusses running his family business for 25 years, reflections on both failed and successful campaigns, his advice for candidates, building trust as the new DNC Chair, leading the Democratic Party to pick up Congressional seats in the midterms (the first time in a President’s second term since 1822), depositing over $300 million of Treasury funds into community banks, how the ICIC is working to tackle the racial wealth gap, and advice from his grandfather that changed his life at 17.
Listen to the end to gain insight into walking with his wife during the pandemic, as well as his advice to be a great listener and follow your passion.
Top Three Takeaways:
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Guest bio:
As CEO of ICIC, Steve leads a dynamic and growing team of professionals dedicated to achieving economic prosperity in America’s inner cities. Prior to joining ICIC, Steve served as Treasurer of Massachusetts from 2011 until 2015.
Prior to taking office, Steve served for 35 years as President of Grossman Marketing Group, a fourth-generation marketing communications firm started by his grandfather. Steve has been an active leader in many civic, philanthropic and political organizations. These positions include former board chair of Brandeis University, former national chairman of the Democratic National Committee, former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), founding board member of MassInc and life trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Steve graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar. He is married to Dr. Barbara Wallace Grossman, a theater historian and director, who is a professor of Theater at Tufts University. Steve and Barbara have three sons, David, Ben and Josh, and six grandchildren.
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Alan Frazier, a pioneer in the healthcare venture industry with $7.1 billion in capital raised, discusses starting his firm in 1991 with a $5 million fund, turning down the role of CFO of Microsoft, going from a CPA to CFO of a fast-growing biotech startup, how his childhood prepared him for life as an investor, the importance of hiring people with the right values, traits of great entrepreneurs, how storytelling allows venture capitalists to help build companies, and reflections on his professional career and community involvement.
Listen to the end to gain insight into spending more time with his foundation and giving back to the community in recent years, as well as his advice to find a group of mentors to support you on your journey.
Top Three Takeaways:
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Guest bio:
Alan Frazier is the chairman of Frazier Healthcare Partners, a leading provider of growth and venture capital to healthcare companies, which he founded in 1991. With over $7.1 billion total capital raised, Frazier has invested in more than 200 companies, with investment types ranging from company creation and venture capital to publicly traded companies and buyouts of profitable lower-middle market companies. Since 2005, 61 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by Frazier, have completed IPOs or M&As.
Prior to forming Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Alan was the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Immunex Corporation. Later, he served as the senior financial advisor and chief financial officer of Affymax and worked on the spinout of Affymetrix. Prior to Immunex, Alan was head of the Emerging Business Practice and co-head of the Technology Practice for the Seattle office of Arthur Young Company (now, Ernst & Young). Alan holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington. He has served on numerous boards, including Calypso Medical Technologies, Portola Pharmaceuticals, and TridentUSA Health Services. Alan is active in his community, having served on the boards of UW Medicine and Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. Alan’s continuing drive and passion come from his “love to create” and his “love to build.”
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At 33 years old, Ryan Frazier already has an impressive career. After his first company (launched a few years out of college) was acquired by Simply Measured/Sprout Social, he’s back in action with Arrived Homes, which he co-founded and leads as CEO. Speaking with us shortly after announcing a $37 million funding round with participation from Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Spencer Rascoff, Arrived is at an exciting point in the startup journey. Ryan discusses the inspiration behind wanting to open real estate investment to the masses with Arrived, doubling in size this year, going through two acquisitions with his first company DataRank, being labelled the e-commerce kid in his first job out of college, lessons learned from his team of disruptive founder/investors, traits of great entrepreneurs and leaders, and the importance of listening and curiosity in the startup journey.
Listen to the end to gain insight into his effort to prioritize personal health as well as his advice to look for opportunities with personal growth and learning over salary early in your career.
Takeaways/traits that stood out: being highly observant, intentional around lifelong learning, low-ego, and a great listener. For young people starting out, prioritize opportunities for learning and personal growth in early jobs rather than salary. Visit www.ArrivedHomes.com to start investing with just $100 and a few minutes!
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Adam Selipsky, one of today's top CEOs, joins us this week to discuss returning to AWS, empathetic leadership, his effort to be a better listener and lifelong learner, bringing a heightened sense of mission to AWS, and his advice for young people to be highly observant and vocally self critical. Prior to rejoining AWS in May, he served as CEO of Tableau Software for four years in which the market cap of the company more than tripled, before being acquired by Salesforce for $15.7 billion.
Top Three Takeaways:
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Guest bio:
Adam Selipsky is the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. Having previously led AWS Marketing, Sales, and Support for 11 years, from 2005–2016, Selipsky helped launch and grow AWS from a startup into a multi-billion dollar business. Prior to rejoining AWS in 2021, Selipsky was most recently President and CEO of Tableau Software. He led Tableau through its acquisition by Salesforce, in what was the third-largest software industry acquisition at the time. Selipsky has also held various leadership roles at RealNetworks, and before that, was a Principal at strategy consulting firm Mercer Management Consulting. He has an AB in government from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Matt McIlwain, one of the northwest’s top venture capitalists, discusses traits of great entrepreneurs and startups, triangulating feedback as part of the learning loop, being there at day one and for the long run, tough decisions along the startup journey, his personal journey of investment, consulting, and operating experience before becoming a venture capitalist, and the importance of curiosity, humility, and listening.
Listen to the end to gain insight into practicing essentialism, as well as his advice to make decisions based on the topics and people that you resonate with.
Top Three Takeaways:
Link to Matt’s post on the Learning Loop: https://www.madrona.com/the-learning-loop/ & recommended books Essentialism, by Greg McKeown + Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
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Guest bio: Matt McIlwain is a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Seattle, Washington. He has been a venture capitalist since 2000, and currently invests in a broad range of software and data driven companies with a focus on cloud computing, dataware, intelligent applications and the intersections of innovation. Matt currently serves on several boards including ExtraHop, Qumulo, Smartsheet, Suplari and Terraclear. He has been named several times to both the list of Top 100 Venture Capitalists by CB Insights and The New York Times and the Forbes Midas list.
Before joining Madrona in 2000, Matt was Vice President of Business Process for the Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC). He also was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, concentrating on strategy and marketing in technology-driven sectors and prior to that worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
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Kris Engskov, now a healthcare entrepreneur, discusses serving as the personal aide to President Clinton, the transformative experience of being a Starbucks barista for their executive training, pivoting to the health care industry first as President of Aegis Living and now as the cofounder of a venture-backed startup. He has fantastic insight into listening and asking questions, employee-first culture, servant leadership, and amazing stories from his time in the White House.
Listen to the end to gain insight into his deliberate and intentional learning, as well as his advice to get in the door at the right organization no matter the job title.
Top 3 takeaways:
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Kris Engskov, now a healthcare entrepreneur, recently served as the President of Aegis Living, a national leader in assisted living and memory care. Prior to joining Aegis, he held many senior roles at Starbucks including president of the company’s flagship U.S. Retail business leading 170,000 employees across 8,300 stores, and president of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) division where he spent five years building the Starbucks brand across 30+ countries.
Early in his career, he was in public service. From 1993 to 2000, Kris held a number of positions in the Clinton White House, including Assistant Press Secretary and Personal Aide to the President. He received his B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
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Ashleigh Hinde, Founder and CEO of Waldo Contacts, discusses industry disruption, the extreme highs and lows of the startup journey, seeking opportunities to travel, taking time away from the corporate world, traits of great entrepreneurs, and being told her business would be more successful with a male co-founder.
Listen to the end to hear about Ashleigh’s recent focus on training her mind to better serve her by stopping negative thinking, as well as her advice that you don’t need to do something you dislike just for the sake of a career.
Top 3 takeaways:
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David Zapolsky discusses being hired as the only litigator at Amazon in 1999, how the legal department has transformed and stayed the same, Amazon’s leadership principles maintaining their culture, how showing ownership and curiosity allow employees to rise in organizations, a typical day at the office, and reminding himself he’s working on some of the most interesting and challenging business problems in the world.
Listen to the end to gain insight into David’s recent effort to sleep more and his advice to make your own luck by choosing roles where you’ll be happier and do your best work instead of resume-building.
Top Three Takeaways:
Potential next steps: Research Amazon leadership principles and consider if I want to try and implement one or two of them into my own habits. Read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker and consider changes to my own sleep routine. And Subscribe to Voyager Talks & follow on Instagram or LinkedIn for updates on new episodes!
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David Zapolsky is Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Amazon. He’s been with the company for 21 years and was named General Counsel in 2012. Prior to joining Amazon, he worked at multiple firms in New York and Seattle as well as the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. David currently serves of multiple boards including the Alliance for Education, University of Washington Foundation, and the King County Bar Foundation. He is a graduate of Berkley Law and Columbia College.
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Today we’re joined by David Billstrom, the CEO of Kitsbow Cycling Apparel, which manufactures 100% of their clothing in Old Fort, North Carolina. David tells us aboutbeing forced to shut down his first business, producing 120,000 face masks during the pandemic, a big failure and successwith the 45 companies he’s been involved in, being a mediocre investor, why businesses should be involved in their community, and more.
Listen to the end to gain insight into David’s new practice of asking questions rather than making statements, and his 3 step plan for finding a job that includes not applying for jobs.
Top Three Takeaways:
While a manager at Intel, David got an 'MBA' on the street. He would study business books at night and try to apply the principles at the office. Being curious is one of the greatest traits a person can have (and something we can all aim to improve.)
Failures are the only way you learn. The successes are so dramatically influenced by luck and timing that it allows you to take credit when it’s not warranted.
David has recently been trying to ask questions instead of making statements. Particularly as a CEO, an incredible power is unlocked from asking these types of questions; you get more nuanced answers and create an environment where new ideas and possibilities can come to the surface.
PLUS David’s advice for finding a job: Use the power of the internet to research and find companies with a culture and values that are aligned with your own, as well as a boss you can learn and gain insight from, and ignore the actual job description.
Thank you all for listening and please remember to subscribe to the show and follow on Instagram @Voyager.Talks or LinkedIn for updates on new episodes!
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Today we’re joined by Mary Kipp, the CEO of Puget Sound Energy, the oldest and largest utility in Washington State with over 3,200 employees and $3 billion in revenue. We discuss Mary’s journey from growing up on a cattle farm to majoring in theater, and being a prosecuting attorney before going in-house at El Paso Electric. She tells us how she rose in the ranks at El Paso Electric to become CEO, about her own leadership style and traits of great leaders, the most challenging parts of her job, and her deep commitment to fighting climate change as well as the personal impact of having those higher level goals. If you stay until the end, you’ll also hear which new belief has most improved Mary’s life in recent years along with her advice for college students.
Top Three Takeaways:
Thank you all for listening and please remember to subscribe to the show/write a review if you enjoyed and follow on Instagram @Voyager.Talks or LinkedIn for updates on new episodes! - Zev
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