Stuck in your Career? Consider a Start-Up!

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning in again this week. I'm

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your host, Elise Cortes, joining
you live from Dallas, which is home

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base for me. If you've been
tuning in for a while, you know

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this program is all about helping people
create more meaningful and purposeful lives and equipping

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leaders inside organizations to make work a
rich and compelling part of life so employees

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thrive, give their best performance,
and want to stay. I talk with

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my guests to draw on their expertise
and share my own experience consulting, speaking

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and developing workforces across the globe.
Each week. In these conversations, I

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hope you walk away with something you
can immediately put to use, and if

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I can do anything to help you
along your journey. Go to my website

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at leastcore tes dot com and use
to contact me future to message me and

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let's open a conversation and explore what's
going on for you and how I might

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be able to help. Whether you
want to learn how to help, how

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to help you visioneer a future of
purpose by facilitating meaningful dialogue and a shared

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strategic path forward among all of your
stakeholders. You want to talk about how

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to develop vitally inspired leaders and a
meeting infused culture inside your organization. You

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want to see about joining a cash
fire online community to take to stoke your

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own passion, inspiration or purpose discovery, or provide this as a gift and

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benefit for your team, or you'd
like me to speak for your company or

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conference adding your rate. I'm glad
you're listening with us, and thanks for

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being with us. Now onto this
week's program with us today is Steve Kahan

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Kahan excuse me, who has successfully
helped to grow six startup companies from early

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stage development to going public or being
sold, resulting in more than three billion

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dollars in shareholder value. He's currently
CMO at Thiotic, which will become the

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seventh is just written a book published
by Widely and Audible and available on Amazon

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dot Com called Be a Startup Superstar. We'll be talking about his own remarkable

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career in startups and the state of
today's workplace, the opportunity within startups,

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and some of the keys to the
C suite he shares from his book.

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He joins it today from Sugarland,
Texas. Steve, welcome to Working on

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Purpose. Thank you for having me. You're welcome, and make sure for

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our listeners please say your last name
right for us Kahn Kahn okay, important

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and names are so important, Steve
Kahan okay. So it's important. I

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think that our listeners really understand just
who it is that we're talking to here.

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Steve. You've got really an amazing
background, and so let's help our

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listeners understand a bit about your powerful
perspective and just where it came from.

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So you've been part of seven startups, including the one that you're at today,

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and all previous six of them were
sold, were or went public.

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Will you just quickly trace for us
your backgrounds or our listeners understand just what

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we're hearing from. Yeah, so
absolutely for me, what I found after

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graduating college that the traditional path from
school to climbing the corporate ladder could not

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only be high risk for my career, it could almost feel like a death

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trap. And like so many parents
my parents used to tell me, my

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father in particular, you would say, Steve, get your degree, go

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to work for a large corporation.
You work hard, they'll take care of

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you, and you will have a
great career. And that's the path I

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took. So I started out actually
working at a large corporation. And I

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remember about a year and a half
then opening up my bank statement being down

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to fifty dollars in my bank account. I was twenty two years old,

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working in a cubicle of the fourth
floor of a nonascript office building in Schaumberg,

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Illinois, and I remember staring at
my bank statement and the pile of

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claims I was supposed to process that
day, wondering how on earth would I

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ever get ahead? Work long days
and the student loans would grab a hold

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of my paycheck before it ever hit
my bank account. And on that day

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I decided that I would ask myself
a question, and that question was how

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could I earn a great living and
love the work I do? And it

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was at that point that I decided
to join my first startup. Now at

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my seventh startup. It's been an
incredible ride working with hundreds of amazingly smart

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and talented startup entrepreneurs, and I've
been blessed to work with great people and

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to have had a fair amount of
success along the way. Yeah, and

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I appreciate very much that what you're
drawing and what you're standing on for us

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to be able to learn from you, Steve and I. And since I

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do focus on the world of work, I do that because we spend at

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least, if not more than a
third of our lives there. I want

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it to be much more fulfilling than
it is for most people. And in

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your book you cite some really,
really devastating figures that I want to surface

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for our listeners to give them some
idea of just why what we're talking about

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is so important. And so here's
what I find compelling. And this in

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a time when the unemployment rate is
shockingly low yet in twenty nineteen and the

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economy is strong too, college graduate
graduates were struggling to even secure jobs,

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you say, And you say that
a graduation seventy five percent didn't even have

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a job lined up, and that
the average student debt was for ten dollars,

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and that only thirty one percent of
US and Canadian employees are actually engaged.

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So this is just put this all
together here, and we've just really

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got a recipe for disaster, I
think. So would you say more about

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your perspective of what this looks like
from a startup mentality and the opportunity for

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people at large. Absolutely so,
as you mentioned first of all, I

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would tell you I believe in many
ways this belief. This means that we

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have an epidemic on our hands.
And this is when the economy is good.

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That's all you read about is how
great the economy is, how it's

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very much a full, full economy
for from the perspective of jobs, and

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basically an interesting sort of story.
A friend of mine, Josiah Sternfeld,

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who's a professor at the University of
Texas McComb School of Business, when he

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asks his students where they plan to
work when they graduate, the overwhelming majority

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say a large corporation. And there
are forty six thousand startups just in the

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United States alone, and these startups
are desperate to hire, right, And

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so when you look at these numbers, just as it relates to the average

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student loan debt, that a number
of good percentage, roughly a third of

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US and Canadian employees are not engaged
at work, or that those that are

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graduating college don't have jobs. This
is against a backdrop where startups are desperate

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for hiring, and that connection from
those who could have a job to the

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companies that might desperately need those people
just as not happening. M Yeah,

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And I'm very focused, Steve,
on my in my book that I'm writing,

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in the work that I do when
I'm out speaking, in my programs

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on helping to make work, you
know, really fulfilling and meaningful. In

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fact, just today I was working
on some of the marketing, the market

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piece of it. And know,
since you've got your book out already,

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you'll appreciate this. But I did
a quick search today on the web and

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I just typed in why is work
so boring? And I got one hundred

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and thirteen million search results. I
typed in, why does work suck so

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much? Twenty nine million, five
hundred thousand. Isn't there more in life?

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Seven or twenty nine million? So
there's clearly right such an opportunity to

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really make life and work so much
better than it is. You know,

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people feeling stuck. You you talked
about that also in your search results,

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what you got. But so what
I'm really focused on is trying to help

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people live that meaning fulfilled life and
certainly in their work. And that's another

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reason that I wanted to have you
on the show, Stee, because I

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really get the strong sense that you
just you'd play at work absolutely. I

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mean when you sort of look at
a startup environment, let me let me

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put it in perspective, at least
the first startup that I joined, and

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I've had very interesting experiences, so
I made all the mistakes when I joined

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my first startup. And I remember
on my very first day, I looked

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in the office next to mine and
there were people unplugging the coffee machine,

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putting it on a dolly, you
literally rolling it right out of the office.

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And what I came to find out
a few days later was because the

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company couldn't afford to pay for that
coffee machine. But here was the cool

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thing I was blind to. And
I was so pumped and excited to work

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with a small team of crazies who
were hew bent on changing the world,

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and in that case, it was
changing the way applications were being developed.

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So in this startup environment, I
was the first one hired in from a

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marketing perspective. So I took the
opportunity to learn everything I could and deep

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dive on the functional area of marketing
because if I didn't do it, it

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wouldn't get done. And so what
was just amazing was the huge, just

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great opportunity that I had to learn
so much. And just a few years

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later that company that couldn't afford to
pay for the copy machine went public.

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I got the bug and never left
the startup world. Those types of stories,

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if you learn how to pick the
right startup, are possible. I

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absolutely I find that just titillating,
and I want to go back and juxtapose

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that with just a recent experience that
I had got. This is back on

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the heels of how disengaged employees are
Steve. But quickly I was out at

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one of my favorite places where I
do my copying and printing and shipping and

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and to print off something for one
of my programs I was doing, and

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literally I stood in line for about
eight minutes and nobody said anything. That

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even look my way. And then
I stood there for another two minutes and

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literally I watched all the employees in
this place look bored out of their mind,

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and they were just like listless,
like robots. And finally I stood

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in that line and I did a
Google search for somebody who could do printing

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for me, and there was service
someone right across the street. And I

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picked my feet up and I went
right out the door and voted with my

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pocketbook and my feet and left.
It was like, you know, back

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to what you were saying, it
was the opposite of what you just said.

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It's talk about going through life completely
dead. Who wants that? Absolutely,

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And that's part of what attracted me
to startups. And if you kind

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of contrast them versus large corporations or
the type of experience that you ran into,

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it's oftentimes what you'll find is that
people are hired and to pigeonholed smaller

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roles are kind of bored with their
job. There's kind of incumbent mindsets.

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It's there's bureaucracy, acceptance of the
status quo. In this case that poor

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service in your case, poor service
was okay. And then you sort of

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contrast that versus startup. You just
can't act that way. So rather than

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in many cases, what you see
is these these bigger companies that are giant

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ships, hard to maneuver, slow
to change course. That startups for me

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anyways, they're like steed boats darting
around those giant ships. There's more innovation.

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Smaller companies, they move fast,
much more nimble. There's a better

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chance perhaps to move up in your
career, and and so there's there's risk,

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there's frequent change and less training,
often less defined career paths. But

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if you're entrepreneurial for sure, the
startup is an environment that you really ought

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to consider. Then another reason I
wanted to showcase you step because I really

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haven't. I've I've done a lot
on entrepreneurship, but not startups, and

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so your unique perspective was one that
I thought could really advance the conversation,

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and I think it already has.
And so to that end, I want

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to I want to say a little
bit more about some stats that you see

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in your book that are quite interesting. You say in your research that you

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found that in spite of startups being
desperate for hiring, desperate for talent,

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that fourteen percent of college graduates with
bachelor's degrees or hire are unemployed, and

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forty three percent are underemployed. I
just find that astounding. So why aren't

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they targeting startups? The reason why
they're not targeting is if you think about

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universities and college career days, it's
not the startups that are there. They

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can afford to be there, right. And so, for example, the

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company that I'm with right now is
company by the name of Dichotic. When

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I joined there about four years ago, we were eight million in annual revenue.

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Four years later, we're one hundred
million in annual revenue. And so

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the company itself is located corporately in
Washington, D C. And you're never

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going to see Facotic, for example, in Lawrence, Kansas, at the

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University of Kansas at a recruiting day, right, It's just not going to

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happen. And probably a lot of
startups right inside Lawrence, Kansas aren't going

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to be there either. And then
when you think about those that are graduating

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college, oftentimes there's this misperception that
when they hear the words startup, they

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immediately think of two things. First
of all, they think, well,

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oh, that means that I've got
to start up my own company, and

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I'm not Mark Zuckerberg, so the
odds of that being successful are low to

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risky, or they just think that
startups themselves are risky. And there's no

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question that more startups that will not
make it. In fact, about seventy

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percent don't make it. But for
me, this is now my seventh startup,

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and as you mentioned, all the
six prior have had successful outcomes.

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So I've kind of learned how to
pick the right startup, so how you

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can reduce that risk. And so
you've got to be proactive to go look

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for these companies. And there's and
there's some really cool ways that you could

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go about doing that as well that
are really easy. Actually, and I

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know about that one right now.
If you share, go for it,

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you can keep it quick aside,
there's so many other things I want to

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get out of you too, and
I know you do talk about that in

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your book, but let's have a
teaser, yes please, Sure, So

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in any city across the US,
there are accelerators, right, and these

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are companies that will be organizations that
provide seat capital to these to these companies

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and in particular technology companies. And
if you just google startup accelerators in the

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city that you live. You'll see
that they'll post all the companies that they're

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funding, and those companies post jobs
across every functional area right on those sites.

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That's a little known place to go
find some great opportunities that exist right

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now. Awesome. Well, and
while we have a little bit more time,

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I think it might be fun actually
to share just really what we mean

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by startups. So what you mean
by startups? You have a great quote

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in your book from Chris Caine,
the co founder and CEO of munch Money,

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who defines a startup as the largest
group of rebels, rule breakers and

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unconventional thinkers that you can find to
create breakthrough change in the world. That

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sounds good to me. Sign me
up. I love that absolutely, and

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so let me just put it in
a context for you. So, according

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to the United States Small Business Administration, a startup is a company that's been

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in business for under a year and
in the formative stages and that paid such

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a poor pitch of what actually defines
a startup and Chris Kne's definition, or

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my friend Doug Irwin, who's chairman
of adventure capital company, he offers a

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far more instructive definition, one I
like. In addition to Chris Knes,

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he says that a startup is a
company that operates like it's the last frontier

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for outlaws, a place where non
conformists can live, create and sell their

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ideas. And to me, that's
so cool because who doesn't want to be

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involved in that. It's a place
where you get to be the rough riding

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revel, running circles around the slow
moving, bureaucratic large organizations. So really,

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a startup is not a company that's
defined by size so much. It's

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really a culture. It's a mindset. When I mentioned a team of crazies

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hell bent on changing the world,
that's what a startup actually is. And

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I wanted you to contrast that,
because it really does. It's just exactly

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the opposite of what we found in
that printing and shipping company, by the

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way, that is very very large
that I talked about before. And I

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do think I dare say that if
more of our listeners did join a startup,

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we wouldn't we wouldn't see the dismal
engagement numbers that we do. So

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thank you for sharing that in indulging
me, and with that, see if

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we can't. Let's grab our first
break. I'm your host, Alis Cortes

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live on the YEIR with Steve Kahan, who is currently the CEMO at Psychotic,

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which will become the seventh company he
joined that was sold or went public.

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He's the author of Be a Startup
Superstar IG Not Your Career Working at

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a Tech Startup. He joined you
today from Sugarland, Texas. We've been

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talking a bit about his own career
and the problems and challenges that are unique

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in the marketplace. Today, after
the break, we're going to talk more

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about startups and entrepreneurship. Stay with
us, We'll be right back. Alice

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Cortez is a speaker and engagement and
development catalyst. She designs and deliver for

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his professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

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organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employee

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engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more or to invite Elise to speak

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00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:19.640
to your organization, please visit her
at www dot Elise Coortes dot com.

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She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose. This

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00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:37.000
is working on purpose with elease Cortes
to reach our program today, send an

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email to a lease Alise at a
Leasecortes dot com. Now back to working

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on Purpose. Thanks Christine with us, and welcome back to working on Purpose

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if you just joining us. My
guest is Steve Kahan, who has successfully

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helped to grow six startup companies from
early stage development to going public or being

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sold, resulting in more than three
billion dollars in shareholder value currently CMO at

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Dichotic, which will become the seventh. He has just written a book called

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Be a Startup Superstar. I'm your
host, Alis Cortez, So Steve,

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in your book you also and also
in your Ted Talk. By the way,

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your Ted Talk is also great.
I really enjoyed that too. You

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talk about seven traits as successful startup
entrepreneurs and really how they act and attitudes

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that they share. Can you give
us a taste for a few of those

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traits? Sure? So let me
just cover them as I see them.

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And again this is built on the
basis of working with some with some great

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talent over the course of many years. So first of all, I think

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I've branded these under what I call
seven Keys to the C Suite. Because

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if you have these seven traits,
you will get there. So first is

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developing your leadership skills and self confidence, and that is really key, and

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there's a number of things that you
need to be able to do that to

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make that real. Second is standing
out from the herd, and for me,

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this is really all about how you
go about differentiating yourself when you're at

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an organization. Third is acting like
a leader, even if you don't have

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the title yet. And that's something
that I really did no matter what role

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I had at any point in my
career, and I believe that it's very

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key. You must adopt winning work
habits, for example, being part of

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the solution, or paying attention to
some of the nitty gritty details about being

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a control freak and carefully choosing the
company that you keep is one of those

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seven traits. And finally, embracing
the power of kindness, which is in

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short supply in today's world, and
I think can go a long way of

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helping you succeed and build on the
success that that many of your listeners already

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are achieving. And thank you for
doing that for me, Step I didn't

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I didn't necessarily understand that those some
those traits were the same ones that I

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wanted to talk about about keys to
the get me this c suite. So

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now we've got a teaser for you
listeners. If you wrote those down,

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then after the next break, we're
going to talk more in detail about each

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of those. So if you didn't
catch them all, don't worry. So

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the next thing I want to talk
about, then, Steve is I'll just

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bet that many of our listeners have
have they're holding on to a limiting mindset

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about startups and what it is they're
looking to, how they want to hire

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and who they want to hire.
And you say in your book that they're

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that syrups are they have big ideas, and they're desperate for talent, and

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they're hiring all kinds of people,
and you say specifically arts, seat,

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technical, young, old, green, experienced, virtual, whatnot. And

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you also go on to say that
startups have, along with those big ideas

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a lot of funds and they need
people who can join the team and bring

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their vision to to help them bring
their vision to tuition. Again, that

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sounds incredibly compelling to me, and
I'm certain it would it would help reverse

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some of the trends that we're seeing
about how awful work is. Will you

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say more about what kinds of people
startups are looking for? Right? So,

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I think first of all, that
there's some traits that that startups look

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for that I certainly look for that
I'm hiring that I believe make you a

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standout candidate at a startup. So
let me cover what some of those are.

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So, first of all, it's
people who embrace accountability to get things

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done. People communicate in thoughtful,
smart, confident, and respectful ways,

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and it certainly catches my eye for
someone who asks questions and listens rather than

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just talks. Someone who is not
an eye person. And I people you

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know them because they're the ones that
take all the credit for seemingly everything versus

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the weed people. You'll be working
with small teams and very closely with them,

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and being a good teammate means that
you're part of the we people.

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Someone who's prepared to work hard because
at a startup, really in life,

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no matter what company you're at,
there is no easy button. I certainly

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believe someone who pays attention to the
details. And finally, I think someone

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who has persistence and tenacity. And
the reason why that is so important is

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that at startups in particular, you
are going up typically against bigger, better

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funded competitors who have all the advantages, and so you're going to run into

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obstacles along the way, and you've
got to have the persistence to plow through

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them, not make small obstacles into
huge mountains, and really just have the

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tenacity to stick with it, to
hold on one second longer than the other

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guy, really gives you an opportunity
to win and win big. Those are

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some of the I think skills interest
experience that make you a great standout candidate

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at a startup, no matter what
function that you're that you're applying for.

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Excellent. Well, I want to
weave in here some commentary that we're getting

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from the online chat function here at
W four C y Bill says that he

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says with people not people having everything
on the phone, people lack people skills.

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And so what you talked about is
that the importance of being kind,

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asking good questions. I want to
acknowledge that to me, that is an

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illustration of having very good people skills. And then Kim is asking is it

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easier to get a job at a
startup than it is somewhere else? You

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know, I don't know that it's
a matter of easy versus not easy.

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There's just so many of them right
in front, so there and and another

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way to find find them. So
I gave you one, let me give

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it listeners another one, and I
get these all the time, right,

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and so is to go directly follow
some of the startup leaders online, see

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what they say and what they're communicating
about. And I met a number of

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people over the years, for example, that have reached out to me in

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a sincere, thoughtful way via something
like a LinkedIn messenger, right, And

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so oftentimes what they're interested in is
how they could go about achieving the same

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level of success. And what you'll
find is that many executives at startups they

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want to pay it forward. They
realize that there are people that help them

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along the way as well. And
so don't be dissuaded if, for example,

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you don't get everyone to respond to
you, you're dealing with busy people.

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But more often than not, you
will get that response. And then

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so long as you're sincere and you're
communicating in a heartfelt way and not overly

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salesy things like that, then you
could transition the conversation to you where the

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person that you're talking about could learn
a little bit more about you, which

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then opens up opportunities perhaps at that
company or through the broader network of that

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executive that you're speaking to. Directly
contacting executives is something that those that are

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looking for jobs just don't do enough
of, and it could just pay amazing

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dividends. That's a great piece of
advice, Steve, great piece of advice.

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And next, let's surface the actual
opportunity here within startups. I was

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a little bit amazed at the numbers
that you quote, not that you talk

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about. Of course, there's Fortune, there's Fortune five hundred companies, so

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that means there's five hundred CEOs.
That's a limited number of seats, and

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they often stay there for quite some
time, as you say, But then

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you compare that to the forty six
thousand plus startups in the US, and

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you say, you can start to
see that there's a lot more executive roles

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available within that. Yeah. So
first of all, let's take a look

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where jobs are being created. So
since nineteen ninety five, sixty five percent

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of all new jobs have been created
from small and mid sized businesses. And

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as you were alluding to, what
if you want to eventually get into the

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c suite and the Fortune five hundred, I've got two words for you if

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that is your goal, and that
is good luck. And obviously there can

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only be five hundred CEO positions in
the Fortune five hundred and maybe five thousand

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in the C suite all told,
and many of those people stay in their

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jobs for years. So that means
that your odds of getting in the c

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suite and the Fortune five hundred are
about the same as your odds of being

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drafted into the National Football League,
where two hundred and fifty four players are

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selected in each year's NFL draft.
Now compare the to the over forty six

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thousand startups in the United States alone, you could obviously see there are many

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more executive leadership opportunities, right,
and so if you want to make it

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to the c suite, go to
where those opportunities are much more available.

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If you do a great job,
and the startup route is without question will

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provide a much greater opportunity for you, which is just where I wanted to

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go next. Steve Is, I
want you, if you would please to

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surface for our listeners the many benefits
that you see of joining a startup,

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especially in comparison to working for a
larger organization. Right, So I think

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first, first and foremost that the
versatility and roles so in most jobs in

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big, older school companies sort of
as I mentioned, pigeonhole, you in

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a role which means that you've got
a limited range of authority where no single

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individual has the ability to influence the
entire company in a significant way. And

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think about it. When you get
hired, you get hired to fill a

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role in an established business, much
like that that person that you ran into

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that you were taking an example of
earlier during during this show. And so

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at a startup you get an opportunity
to wear many hats by filling different roles

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within various departments. You also get
access to the leaders. So think about

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it. If you went and worked
at Facebook, for example, the odds

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of you running getting past the security
and seeing Mark Zuckerberger like zero, right,

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And so you get access to leaders. Right. So, people in

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entry level positions work on big world
changing projects with and alongside the company's leaders,

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and that just gives you the opportunity
to learn so much from those people.

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With our question, there's more upward
mobility and I also think there's great

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financial rewards potentially, so at startups, if you choose the right one,

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the financial awards rewards through stock options
could potentially be amazing, right. And

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so what I found, at least
for me personally, that if you're investing

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in the stock market, you're investing
in people, in companies. You could

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do some research and limit the risk, but you're really investing oftentimes in companies

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and people and CEOs that you just
don't know, and so there's risk obviously

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associated with that. What I've always
viewed is I want to make an investment

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in me right and in the people
that I work with, where I know

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what's going on. And if you
get in early enough at the right startup

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and have the opportunity to get stock
options, which you should ask for those.

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You know, oftentimes when you get
older, you might make more money.

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But you know, it's kind of
a funny thing. When you start

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making more money, you get married, you have kids, you buy a

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house, you go on vacations,
you start buying stuff, and it's hard

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to get ahead on your base pay
and bonuses. And for me, because

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my expenses went up along the way, it's exactly that story. But it's

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really the stock options that provide you
the opportunity for that separation with the chance

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at making some bigger gains again,
so long as you select a good one

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and get in early enough. Great
advice, Steve, and with that,

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let's grab our last break. I'm
your host Alis Cortez, who've been on

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00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:47.960
the year with Steve Kahan, who
is currently in the CMO at Chotic,

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00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:51.920
which will become the seventh company he
has joined that has has sold or went

408
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:55.799
public. He's the author of be
a Startup Superstar. You're not your career

409
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:59.119
working at a tech startup. You
joined it today from Sherland, Texas.

410
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.680
We've been talking about startups and entrepreneurship. After the break, we're going to

411
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:06.240
get into those keys to getting into
the C suite that you mentioned earlier.

412
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:20.720
Stay with us, we'll be right
back. Alise Cortes is a speaker and

413
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.880
engagement and development catalyst. She designs
and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement

414
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:30.680
workshops and can bring her expertise to
your organization. She will help ignite meaningful

415
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:37.119
development within your workforce that will increase
employee engagement, performance and retention. To

416
00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:40.119
learn more or to invite Elise to
speak to your organization, Please visit her

417
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:45.640
at www dot Elise Coortes dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help

418
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:58.240
get your employees working on purpose.
This is working on Purpose with Elise Cortes.

419
00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:02.799
To reach our program today, send
an email to a lease Alise at

420
00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:10.440
a Leascortes dot com. Now back
to working on purpose. Thanks for sting

421
00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:14.400
with us, and welcome back to
working on purpose if you're just tuning in.

422
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:17.119
My guest is Steve Kahan, who
has successfully helped to grow six startup

423
00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:21.759
companies from early stage development to going
public or being sold, resulting in more

424
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.000
than three billion dollars in shareholder value. He is currently the CMO at Psychotic,

425
00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:29.440
which will become the seventh. He
has just written a book called Be

426
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:34.079
a Startup Superstar. I'm your host
at Last Cortes. So, Steve,

427
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.160
before we get into those principles that
you mentioned earlier, I did want to

428
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.839
hit one more thing before if we
can that you started to allude to and

429
00:33:40.039 --> 00:33:45.079
kind of relates over. But you
talk about three things that we can use

430
00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:49.200
right away to carve our path,
and I think they're perfect for whether you're

431
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:51.240
going to startup or not. It's
certainly going to start. Would you say

432
00:33:51.240 --> 00:33:54.640
though something about those three? Yeah, I'd be happy too. So first,

433
00:33:55.160 --> 00:34:00.200
view yourself as a startup, so
the startup of you. So ask

434
00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:05.960
yourself, why should someone invest in
you? How do you respond to that?

435
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:10.000
What's your elevator pitch? What I
found is that startup execs they want

436
00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:15.199
to know why you and they want
to know it in the first sixty seconds.

437
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:19.880
So many people will memorize elevator pitches
for the companies that they work for,

438
00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:24.920
but they don't memorize one for themselves, and you absolutely should. Second,

439
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:30.159
when you choose to join a startup, approach that decision as an investor.

440
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:36.199
So what criteria would you use to
join a startup? Can you separate

441
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:38.880
a startup with a good story versus
a startup that has both a good story

442
00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:43.480
as well as a good chance for
success. So, for example, does

443
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:47.559
the company's products have some unique dimension
that's value buy its target buyers? And

444
00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:53.920
Third, create your own personal blueprint
to guide your career success. So many

445
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:59.079
of us have created plans for which
we're so proud. Those plans have goal

446
00:34:59.239 --> 00:35:02.960
strategies, tactics, key milestones.
You might even identify ways to reduce risk

447
00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:09.760
but have you documented a plan for
your career and that plans to contain all

448
00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:17.440
the conventional elements like goals in key
milestones, but also some unconventional So,

449
00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:22.800
for example, have you to find
the type of people you want to surround

450
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:29.519
yourself with at work? And I
think Jack Welch, who was the former

451
00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:32.599
CEO at General Electric, I think
he had it right when he said nothing

452
00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:37.440
matters more to winning than surrounding yourself
with a plus talent. So what's the

453
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:42.760
type of a plus talent you need
around you to bring out the best that

454
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:46.440
you have to offer? Association is
so powerful. I could not agree more.

455
00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:49.559
Thank you for that, Steeve.
I just thought that those were used

456
00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:52.599
for pretty much anywhere we work,
and they're so crisp, so awesome for

457
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:57.599
all our listeners. Okay, so
let's get on to some of those seven

458
00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:00.719
trades or the keys that you say
to get into the We may not be

459
00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:02.159
able to get through all of them, and that's okay, but if we

460
00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:07.119
could start with the one that,
of course I really find near and dear

461
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:08.320
to my heart because it's a lot
of the work that I do. But

462
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:14.400
you talk about the need to develop
leadership skills and self confidence, and I've

463
00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:16.519
been doing that for years with people. So could you say more about your

464
00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:21.719
perspective? Why are those things so
important to navigate your career into getting you

465
00:36:21.800 --> 00:36:27.159
to c suite? Right? So, in a small environment typical small environment

466
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:32.239
of a startup, the higher ups
they see everything you do. So nothing

467
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:38.679
will make you stand out faster than
leadership skills in self confidence, and so

468
00:36:39.320 --> 00:36:44.760
you really need to have both of
those trades. So, for example,

469
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:49.280
some of the things that I recommend
that you do to make that happen.

470
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:54.639
One of those is visualizing your success
until you read, until it's real.

471
00:36:55.119 --> 00:37:00.360
If you haven't, you need to
create a vision for what you want that

472
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:07.039
just visit it often. And so
I know it might sound hopey to create

473
00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:15.599
a vision board or picture of yourself
for having some wine on the French of

474
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:21.840
the era or wherever that might be, but I have really used that quite

475
00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:25.400
a bit because when you have a
strong vision for your success, it will

476
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:30.679
make your outlook far more positive.
And that way, even when you experienced

477
00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:36.760
setbacks, you'll be able to remain
undeterred and refocus on your vision. Right.

478
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:42.440
And so to me that is really
key. Another one for me that

479
00:37:42.519 --> 00:37:47.920
I think is really important is becoming
an expert, building deep knowledge in one

480
00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:53.159
particular area and being a constant learner. I will tell you in the thirty

481
00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:59.400
years that I've been involved in startups, and most of them were technology and

482
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:05.679
cybercurity, is that the world of
marketing has completely changed in thirty years.

483
00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:08.119
I mean, the things that you
did thirty years ago, ten years ago,

484
00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:14.000
even five years ago are very different
in terms of how you connect with

485
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:16.639
buyers today. And what that means
is just as soon as you think you've

486
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:22.360
got it all down, you learn
how much you how little you actually know.

487
00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:28.039
And so I think those are a
couple keys, and there are more

488
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:35.079
to helping you to develop some of
those leadership skills and self confidence. I

489
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:37.159
echo and applaud that, of course, Steve, and I would say certainly,

490
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:39.400
you know you talk about standing out
from the herd, of course,

491
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:45.320
and a big reason that I am
where I am in terms of my particular

492
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:49.000
niche is because I've spent the last
five years hosting this radio show and every

493
00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:52.920
week I have a great conversation like
the one that we're having, and what

494
00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:58.880
it's done for me is it's really
catalyzed ongoing curiosity and learning and really situated

495
00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:02.159
me in a specific niche around meaning
and purpose. Who knew that you could

496
00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:06.880
have two hundred and fifty nine unique
conversations around meaning and purpose. You are

497
00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:09.719
my two hundred and fifty ninth episode. But that's exactly how it happens.

498
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:14.480
So I really appreciate what you said
there. It is so important to distinguish

499
00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:17.800
ourselves. And so here here,
yes, I agree. Another one that

500
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.920
I want you to talk about if
you would, because I know Bill had

501
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:23.079
mentioned it earlier in the chat room
because he talked about having people skills,

502
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:27.800
but you talk about embracing the power
of kindness. Will you see more about

503
00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:32.199
that one next? Yeah? So
that is it's so important, right,

504
00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:39.119
And so there's this kind of belief
that nice guys and gals will finish finish

505
00:39:39.280 --> 00:39:45.400
last I I just don't buy that. And I believe that you need to

506
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:50.239
strive for kindness in the workplace because
it can actually, in my view,

507
00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:55.320
enhance productivity and make others perceive that
you're a leader, all the while improving

508
00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:00.000
the atmosphere of the whole office.
And so I think that there's a few

509
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:05.199
few ways to do that. So, first of all, walking in other

510
00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:07.800
shoes, right, and that really
is all about empathy. And so if

511
00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:13.280
you want to inspire people to work
their hardest to come up with their best

512
00:40:13.320 --> 00:40:19.159
ideas love working with you or for
you, you need to understand their feelings

513
00:40:19.159 --> 00:40:24.760
and their perspective. And really developing
that skill to know what to say to

514
00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:32.000
motivate those around you and perform at
their best is absolutely necessary to get to

515
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:38.239
the c suite and succeed. And
there's a number of ways you could develop

516
00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:45.239
empathy by, for example, listening
without interrupting. Don't try to formulate a

517
00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:51.320
response while you're listening, Summarize your
understanding of what someone said before you're talking

518
00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:57.559
to find common ground, ask empathetic
questions like what's on your mind or how

519
00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:04.159
do you feel this new project is
going three sixty feedback sessions things like getting

520
00:41:04.159 --> 00:41:07.800
to know your team. For example, at our organization, we oftentimes will

521
00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:14.159
go around the room with a team
or a new team and learn about the

522
00:41:14.199 --> 00:41:19.119
one thing that nobody else knows about
you that you might share. And one

523
00:41:19.159 --> 00:41:23.400
other thing I would say that is
so important and this is so overlooked,

524
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:30.599
is to say thank you and mean
it. And gratitude is contagious and people

525
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:34.960
just don't say thank you enough and
even if you're not getting enough thank yous,

526
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:37.400
you could be the catalyss. You
could be the one to start it.

527
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:43.280
And appreciation is one of the easiest
ways to make someone's day. You

528
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:45.880
could say face to face, you
could write a short note, you could

529
00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:51.440
write an email with thank you in
the subject lines and the quick text go

530
00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:58.039
shake someone's hand. There's so many
ways to do it. That helps to

531
00:41:58.360 --> 00:42:06.599
through the in your environment and really
your overall job satisfaction because you'll feel great

532
00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:12.440
just doing it. Completely agree that
kindness when exercise well, and you can

533
00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:16.760
see easily, you can readily identify
when an organization is operating from kindness the

534
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:21.599
second you walk through the front doors, right. And the other thing that

535
00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:24.199
I would say to what you're talking
about there, Steve is I would certainly

536
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:29.840
position in the phrase emotional intelligence,
which is very well talked about today,

537
00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:34.440
and everything that you described I think
fits under that umbrella. And I find

538
00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:38.920
that more and more hard driving people
are starting to recognize the importance of inculcating

539
00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:44.280
these kinds of behaviors that you just
described so beautifully, so awesome contributions,

540
00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:47.920
Steve, thank you. I want
to talk about this one of the others

541
00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:52.000
that I want to talk about for
sure, because I think it's terribly lost,

542
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:55.039
especially in hard driving people. Is
you talk about taking care of what

543
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:59.800
matters as being one of those keys
to getting to the C suite, and

544
00:42:59.800 --> 00:43:05.519
those those seven principles say more about
that one. Yeah, So this is

545
00:43:05.559 --> 00:43:09.079
one of the big reasons why people
choose not to join startups. And I

546
00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:13.519
will tell you I was not really
great at this in the beginning of my

547
00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:17.480
career. That I learned and here's
what I've learned is that in my case,

548
00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:22.960
I'm kind of a workaholic, and
yet I've figured out how to spend

549
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:28.960
enough time with my family. And
here's how I do it. And here's

550
00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:32.840
where I'm going to go encourage your
listeners to do right now. So the

551
00:43:32.880 --> 00:43:37.239
first thing is is that you've got
to be your own top priority. So

552
00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:43.719
many people and if you're anything like
me, that you manage your days and

553
00:43:43.800 --> 00:43:49.079
weeks by your calendar and is the
most important item on your calendar, you

554
00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:53.800
are you priority number one. And
so right now, go open your calendar

555
00:43:54.119 --> 00:44:00.559
and see if if it reflects this. If the most important item on your

556
00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:05.760
calendar is you, and I'll bet
if you're checking your calendar right now and

557
00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:09.519
you're looking to see how many appointments
you have with yourself this week, I'll

558
00:44:09.519 --> 00:44:15.719
bet you there's too few, and
think about some of the time that then

559
00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:22.800
is slipping by. For example,
if you blocked off time for yourself and

560
00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:27.280
your family, you might be able
to get in extra workouts, not miss

561
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:34.639
a kid's gain, build in time
on your calendar such that you can go

562
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:40.320
educate yourself and learn more, or
to think more strategically, right, and

563
00:44:40.360 --> 00:44:47.199
so not letting someone go grab that
open time on your calendar with another soul

564
00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:54.519
sucking meeting that really just doesn't offer
any way of helping you advance the completion

565
00:44:54.639 --> 00:45:00.440
of your core objectives. And so
if you put yourself as the most important

566
00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:07.400
already on your calendar first, you
will find that you are taking care of

567
00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:12.840
what matters, which is yourself and
your family, while being your best at

568
00:45:12.920 --> 00:45:15.639
work. Yes, and what I
love about that when you start it just

569
00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:19.800
the way I hope that you would, and that you know entering it,

570
00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.320
scheduling it as an occasion on your
calendar to take your family to dinner,

571
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:28.320
to go to the yoga class,
to study Spanish or whatever you're going to

572
00:45:28.360 --> 00:45:30.639
study, well, one it looks
like it work event anyway, so you

573
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:35.480
should recognize it as such an honor
it that way. And two when you

574
00:45:35.559 --> 00:45:38.280
do block it off like that,
it's easier for you to follow through with

575
00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:43.320
it. So I think that is
really sage advice and really easy just to

576
00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:47.159
start doing tomorrow. It's so easy, right, And you could put in

577
00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:52.480
there like if you hadn't been home
to have dinner with your family often enough,

578
00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:57.239
block off that time. And it's
really a little bit And I really

579
00:45:57.280 --> 00:46:00.280
don't like this phrase work life balance. I heard phrase the other day called

580
00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:07.880
work life harmony. Yes, that's
so much better because work life balance suggests

581
00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:12.519
that there's a right and a wrong
answer, and then people get stressed out

582
00:46:12.599 --> 00:46:15.320
right, It's like I'm out of
balance. And but if you view it

583
00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:19.119
as more of sort of ebbs and
flows, you don't have to be perfect,

584
00:46:19.239 --> 00:46:22.960
right, You just need to be
maybe good enough for you, right,

585
00:46:22.039 --> 00:46:25.880
And that's really what you should be
shooting for. It takes a lot

586
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:30.480
of weight off your shoulders, it
does, and I agree with you it

587
00:46:30.559 --> 00:46:34.639
is that the best the most modern
phraseology today is work life harmony, and

588
00:46:34.679 --> 00:46:37.360
which you know predate or outdates the
others that came before it, like balance,

589
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.880
et cetera. Let's see, we
have time for maybe one more of

590
00:46:40.920 --> 00:46:44.559
those principles, Steve, which one
would you like to talk about and share

591
00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:47.639
with our listeners and say a minute
or minute and a half. So I

592
00:46:47.639 --> 00:46:54.239
think we talk a little bit about
differentiation and how to differentiate your yourself,

593
00:46:54.280 --> 00:47:02.280
and I'm gonna I'm going to offer
up one and that is to regularly challenge

594
00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:06.400
the status quo. So we've all
heard things, if it ain't broke,

595
00:47:06.519 --> 00:47:09.239
don't fix it. That's the way
we've always done things around here. The

596
00:47:09.320 --> 00:47:15.320
status quo is strong, and it
could permeate a culture for keeping a company

597
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:19.119
in the current state of affairs because
it's comfortable, predictable, and less risky.

598
00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:24.360
But growth oftentimes requires change, right, and so you don't want to

599
00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:31.840
be the constant contrarian challenging everything.
But the pace of change is incredible and

600
00:47:31.880 --> 00:47:37.480
our ability to keep up with it
just isn't and so you simply can't achieve

601
00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:42.199
and build on success if you continue
to do the same things. It's one

602
00:47:42.239 --> 00:47:46.159
way to differentiate yourself. Excellent.
Well, I want to be sure and

603
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:49.480
give you the final word, Steve. I like to give my guests that

604
00:47:49.599 --> 00:47:52.800
the final thought here in the show, and you know this program is really

605
00:47:52.840 --> 00:47:55.159
designed to help people across the world
develop more meaning, passion, inspiration,

606
00:47:55.280 --> 00:47:59.400
purpose in their lives and their work. What would you like to leave listeners

607
00:47:59.400 --> 00:48:04.199
with today, say in about thirty
seconds. So, today's startups have big

608
00:48:04.280 --> 00:48:08.480
ideas, and they're well funded,
and they're desperate to hire smart, motivated,

609
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:15.599
hardworking people willing to share their talents
and innovative workspaces that are buzzing with

610
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:21.199
energy and opportunity. And if you
want to earn a great living doing what

611
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:27.599
you love or the right startup,
you could be a godsend way to finish.

612
00:48:27.679 --> 00:48:30.440
Steve, thank you so much.
I'm so glad that you and your

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00:48:30.440 --> 00:48:32.960
team found me and you came on
the show and shared your your heart,

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00:48:34.039 --> 00:48:37.239
your soul, your enthusiasm, and
your expertise. Thank you so much for

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00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:40.679
being on the show. Thank you
for having me listeners. You want to

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00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.119
learn more about Steve Kahan and his
Ted Talk or his book Be a Startup

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00:48:45.159 --> 00:48:50.559
Superstar, go to the website be
a Startupsuperstar dot com. That's where you

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00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:52.679
can actually find the Ted Talk and
access to his book. You get on

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00:48:52.679 --> 00:48:55.960
Amazon as well. By the way, That's where I got mine. Last

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00:48:55.960 --> 00:48:59.199
week, if you missed the live
show, you can always get to be

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00:48:59.320 --> 00:49:01.679
recorded podcast. We were on the
Earth Mike Coles talking about how his own

622
00:49:01.719 --> 00:49:06.480
experience of being a traveling professional away
from his young son sets him on a

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00:49:06.519 --> 00:49:08.840
journey to create an app that allows
distant parents to read to their children using

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00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:14.360
their own voice, while also meaningfully
connecting family members and teaching language and comprehension

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00:49:14.440 --> 00:49:17.440
skills. Next week, we'll be
on the air with Maallette l Lafontesis talking

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00:49:17.440 --> 00:49:22.840
about her remarkable journey from her uber
successful French businesswoman to paraplegic to fulfilled writer

627
00:49:22.920 --> 00:49:27.000
and motivational speaker. See you there. Remember that work is at least or

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00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:31.719
third of our life, so let's
work on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed

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this week's program. Be sure to
tune in to Working on Purpose featuring your

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00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:43.199
host Alis Cortes, each week on
the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This week,

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find your life's purpose at work