Launch Bytes Week 11/1: Launch towards a better you

However you define “you”, Launch Bytes will make you a better one. Every Thursday, I’ll curate a compilation of my posts from the prior weeks. I hope to inspire you with clever content, dynamic ideas, and practical solutions to inspire new ways of thinking. Welcome to a better you.

How do you inspire your team to achieve the seemingly impossible?

Think and imagine forward to the future... where you want to be... and remember the wins we've had in the past.

Global Complexity and Innovative Partnerships

“The problems we are facing are so complex that they can’t be solved by any one sector. We need to disrupt how we form partnerships as well as the ideology that doing good business has to come at the cost of good for the planet.” - Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation in a panel with Lisa Jackson of Apple, moderated by Eric Schurenberg.

Innovation, creativity, and… humility?

Humility enables you to be open to new ideas and created shared ownership.

How do you deal with a controlling co-worker?

It starts with a little bit of empathy....

The importance of values

“You have to know your values because your values are the foundation to how you make your choices.” - my brilliant friend Ayse Birsel in her Design the Life You Love workshop at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.

Challenging assumptions and thinking differently

"Get outside of your own head and get more perspectives because it's easy to forget when you are having a conversation, you are approaching it from the lens of yourself." -Hayley Romer, Publisher and CRO for The Atlantic.

Applauding the 1st class of the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars!

Identified after a worldwide search, these 10 companies undergo an intense 13 weeks to arrive at #TechStarsDemoDay where they pitched to a full house of investors and shared key milestones. They range from a digital companion for new moms (MamaMend) to on-demand insurance for the adventurous (Buddy), insurance for the homeshare and freelance economy (Safely and Portabl.co.) In its 10 years, TechStars’s mentor-driven model has helped more than 1,500 companies that have received $5.8B in funding. I am proud to be a TechStars Mentor.

Thunderclap to the entrepreneurs and their families: Mark Lee (Enroll Hero) Navid Rastegar (FitBliss) Jeff Beck, LCSW (answersnow) Susan He and Kevin Jin (Aligned Business) Mike Minett (Portabl.co) Mike Tinney (FixHealth) Charles Merritt (Buddy) Sara Bates and Jon Bates (MamaMend) Andrew Bate (safely) Satadru Sengupta (Halos Insurance) View pitches @ demoday.techstars.com Kudos to Managing Director Mee-Jung Jang and her team ( Brad Johnson, Jackson Boyer, Maria Leonardi, for their amazing work, to Greg Baxter and the MetLife team, and David Brown, TechStars co-Founder.

Launch Book of Champions: Jim Citrin

James Citrin has a sixth sense when it comes to identifying great leaders. One of the most sought-after executive recruiters, he leads Spencer Stuart’s N. America CEO Practice. He has worked on more than 675 CEO, board director, and other top management searches and succession assignments, including some of the most valued media and technology companies today. He has also authored several bestsellers including Lessons from the Top, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, and The Career Playbook: Essential Advice for Today’s Aspiring Young Professional. What I admire most about Jim is his generosity - whether it's in investing time to mentor others or in using his platform to raise awareness for pressing causes. Each year, he runs the NYC Marathon to raise money for the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), an institute that catapulted the immunotherapy approach 65 years ago into reality in the war on cancer. Thank you Jim for your inspiration, championship, and friendship.

What's Next?

Have ideas for what we should include? Or questions on your career that I can help answer? Post in the comments.