Alex discusses his transition to business and teaching at Stanford. Rodriguez, who co-teaches a class on Strategic Pivoting with Professor Allison Kluger, shares insights into their teaching framework and what he’s learned through teaching. 

Alex also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, resilience, and preparation in both his athletic and business endeavors. Alex also touches on handling setbacks, maintaining authenticity, and the value of humility and gratitude in personal development. Alex also shares what he’s learned about effective communication and team-building, and how it can help shape young leaders and athletes.

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Finding resilience in the face of setbacks

23:07: [Jeffrey Pfeffer] So, what advice, in coming back from setbacks—which is, I think, amazing—how did you find the inner resilience to do this?

23:29: [Alex Rodriguez] This is tough. I mean, everybody handles setbacks their own separate way. I don't care who you are. I mean, I don't care how perfect you are. Name the best CEO—he or she—they've had setbacks, I guarantee it. So, again, I think this is where baseball has really helped me because baseball is the epitome of setbacks. So, I think having the resilience, the confidence, the perseverance from inside to keep trying. I mean, I remember in my darkest hour, I would send 10 emails out—one or two responded—and it was heartbreaking. And part of it was 'cause I was a pariah, and people don't wanna be around me. And Allison works really, really hard with the administration, like, you know, vouching for me. And it's something that I'll never forget. I mean, here I am, in my darkest hour, trying to fight back. And Allison, out of all people—they're probably saying, "There are 750 major league baseball players. This is the one? You got the guy that got suspended for all these years?" And she's like, "Yeah, he's actually a nice guy," and this and that. It's like, "Ah, I'm not sure if I'm buying it." But, I mean, here we are seven years later, and I couldn't be more proud of the partnership.

How Alex shapes his communication style with his skills

29:38: I think my style of communication is a blend between sports and business, and a little bit of entertainment and levity. I always think about, what is the number one or two things that I'm trying to deliver, and then I'm trying to go—every good story has a good headline, has a beginning, middle, and end. And then maybe go back and repeat my headline, and if I can say more with less words, the better.

What makes a great communicator

28:28: Part of being a great communicator is sticking to your circle of competence—speak with passion, but about something where you have real knowledge, where you have something to actually add.

Show Links:

• Alex Rodriguez | LinkedIn
• Strategic Pivoting for your Next Chapter
• MattAbrahams.com
• Think Fast, Talk Smart Podcast

Sarah shares her impressive career journey from engineering in Northern Ireland, to McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and various leadership roles, notably CEO of Nextdoor and CFO at OpenAI.

Sarah offers insights into switching roles within the C-Suite, the challenges women face in tech, and the importance of networking, curiosity, and owning one's power. She discusses her transition back to a CFO role, her views on organizational culture, and practical advice for building effective teams. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Show Links:

• LinkedIn Profile
• Social Profile on X
• Ladies Who Launch Profile

Episode Quotes:

The power of curiosity and connections in tech

06:19: So I went to this conference. It was two days back to back, and I came back to work, and the VP said, “Where have you been?” Like, we were a bit worried about you. And I was like, “Oh, I was at this conference.” And I walked around this conference, and it was super nerdy. Like, you know, it's the nerds of the nerds. But I was there with my Goldman Sachs business card, and I would just stop at every booth and talk about what someone's technology was and who they were. And that has paid dividends so long in my career. Number one, it got me into the one space that wasn't cracking when the bubble really burst bad. It got me a pathway over into equity research, which actually became the much longer part of my Goldman career. These people that I met at that stage, many of them were young engineers, have become very senior in the technology industry over time. And it was just such a good learning moment for me. Not just that network is important, but curiosity is important. The people who don't look like you or seem like you can actually become incredibly important, interesting, and useful in your career path.

How is Sarah aligning impact with opportunity?

14:32: First and foremost, I think it's really about aligning where you can have the most impact, right? The whole, if you're going to change the world, start by giving something big a push. To me, that meant OAI or OpenAI right now at this moment in time. I think it is in the crucible of how much AI is going to change the world. And in particular, the mission statement of OpenAI around building technology that will benefit all of humanity was incredibly important to me. Like, we're not just advancing AI, we're actually shaping the future of how society will interact with intelligence itself. And so there's not many places in the world, it might be an N of 1 where I think you can go do that. So, you have to sometimes just recognize that. The role doesn't matter, the title doesn't matter, because the role itself puts you right in that moment. 

Sarah's perspective on aligning personal impact with broader change

03:23: I always want to put myself where I feel like I can have maximum impact, but importantly, the thing I'm impacting will have maximum impact. There's a quote that's always stuck with me: "If you want to cause change in the world, give something big a push." And so I often try to put myself in that place.

James relays his journey growing up in Sheffield, England, and studying economics. From  working at McKinsey, to founding a digital banking startup in Kenya and finally joining Andreessen Horowitz as a partner. 

James emphasizes the importance of boldness, continual learning, reaching out to influential figures, and the significance of generosity in networking. His story is an inspiring testament to young professionals and entrepreneurs.

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Lessons from FinTech wars

10:31: [Jeffrey Pfeffer] So what did you learn from your research on FinTech wars? And then I'm going to ask you, what did you learn from starting the bank?

10:56:[James da Costa] I think one of the most interesting things that I saw is, number one: very often, I think the very best founders are at their best in crisis. They love it when they're thrown the most difficult challenge. I came back from David [Vélez] from Nubank again. He's at his best when the central bank is about to tell him that he's going to get shut down or that he's running out of money because he's then able to galvanize himself and every single person around him to take on that challenge. Reid Huffman compares it to great startup operators being like doctors or emergency care workers. They're used to being in these high-stress environments. And so it was amazing to see how calm and how articulate many of these people were faced with. They respond with massive action, but they often break up the stimulus to the response.

How James landed a partnership at a prestigious VC firm straight out of business school

05:07: For me, in my career, I've always followed my energy and interests. And so, on the one hand, that's meant that I've had a career that involves supporting corporates build startups in the UK and abroad. It then kind of jumps to building a digital bank myself in East Africa. And now I'm over here in the Bay Area. And so, at first look, you might kind of not see these things. But over time, I built a real knowledge and excitement for a particular industry, which was FinTech and financial services, and had the chance to just meet many, many entrepreneurs in that space and learn a lot about the space. And I think that, combined with actually being an entrepreneur myself and then, at Stanford, spending a lot of time convening other entrepreneurs around Stanford, inviting successful entrepreneurs to come back and talk to people, it meant that I was sort of in the right place at the right time, as they were looking for a new investing partner to join that team.

Show Links:

• Fintech Wars: Tech Titans, Complex Crypto and the Future of Money
• LinkedIn Profile
• Social Profile on X

Christine shares her experiences as an Asian immigrant from Taiwan with an exemplary career in data science and analytics. Christine’s journey includes overcoming job discrimination and still coming out on top at prestigious companies like Apple, the New York Times, and Spotify, as well as her current role at Flatiron Health. 

Jeffrey and Christine discuss the importance of visibility, networking, asking for what you want, and overcoming self-doubt. This episode provides valuable insights not just for Asian Americans or immigrants, but for anyone facing similar challenges in the workplace.

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

The advice that empowered Christine to lead with confidence

08:36: So instead of waiting to see what this person was going to do, at your encouragement, Jeff, I went to my boss, or our common boss, and said, "Hey, this just happened; it was out of the blue, but here's why I think I should continue to lead this department." My boss was very receptive, and the whole shenanigan just went away. What you did for me there, Jeff, is remind me of the value that I was bringing to the table as a leader and really pushed me to defend what I have built and what I deserve. [09:23] And with that, Jeff, I am forever grateful. And every time I run into situations like this—[09:42]I always ask myself, "What would Jeff advise me to do?" And the answer is always very obvious.

How overcoming fear of rejection helped Christine get to where she is today

19:50: I think from my experience, the hardest part was getting out of my head, right? 'Cause I think we're all just afraid of rejection, right? And I remember the night before I was going to ask Carolyn [CEO of Flatiron Health] for this opportunity, I was role-playing with my husband, right? And I was like, "Oh my God, what is this going to do?" And basically, he said to me, "Christine, what's the worst thing that's going to happen? The worst thing that's going to happen is that she says no, and you go back to your current job." I think this is something that really took me a long time to learn. I think even at this stage, 20 years out of college, I still need to catch myself when I do that. And that's why I think having taken your lesson, or having your book, your podcast, has been such a great reminder of what I need to do to really achieve my goals

Success requires more than just performance

13:30: From my experience, performance is table stakes. You need to do so much more than just performing to be successful. You need to have the right boss. You need to be hired at the right time. You need to make sure that the right people with the right power are aware of your impact. And you need to have allies and sponsors in the organization. You also need to be in the right place at the right time in order to progress.

Show Links:

• Christine’s  LinkedIn Profile
• Flatiron.com

Omar shares his inspiring journey from growing up in Syria and studying computer science in Germany to working at top tech companies, Microsoft and Meta. He delves into the philosophy and goals behind his startup, which aims to democratize access to personal AI assistants. 

Additionally, Omar discusses the importance of building a brand, forming strategic relationships, and acting with confidence. Practicing these rules of power helped Omar have successful pitches, secure investments, and build his company to where it is today.

He reflects on valuable lessons learned from Professor Pfeffer’s class, such as networking relentlessly, bringing energy to every room, and questioning conventional wisdom. Omar shares how some pivotal choices in preparing for a meeting, such as searching for commonalities and having a working product to demonstrate, open doors to conversations with pivotal people. This episode is full of power-based tips that can be incorporated into the branding and networking habits of any listener. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Democratization through AI

03:48: One of the things that I noticed are still exclusive is having access to a personal assistant or to an executive assistant, someone, or something that you can delegate tasks to, tasks that you do not want to do but you have to do so that you can stay focused on the things that you actually want to do. And so when I looked at that, I noticed that this is very limited to people who can afford it, or wealthy, or executive. But the rest of the population did not have access to this. And I thought AI could be the democratizing factor here, where you could give every single person on Earth an assistant that can help them be more productive that can let them delegate tasks that they do not want to do but yet have to do so that they can stay focused on the things they care about most. So that was the motivation to start this company.

On acting with power and confidence

16:42: [Jeffrey] One of the things that struck me is that you showed up with confidence and with power. You act and speak with power. Can you talk a little bit about that? Cause I suspect, I mean, you're not talking in your native language, which was, I mean, you're from Syria, and then you lived in Germany, but you show up with an enormous amount of confidence and assurance. 

17:00: [Omar Shaya] This is also something I learned from your class, doubling down on this whole concept of acting with power. And the way I see it, it's not about me acting with power for the sake of myself only; it is a service to the audience. If I speak with confidence, if they can hear me well, if they can follow the ideas I'm talking about, if they can understand what I'm saying, I see that as my responsibility towards the audience, and not only about me asserting a certain power or something like that. And so that was also the framing of what it means to show up with power or acting with power to me.

Building strong connections through networking

16:01: Networking, to me, is about building relationships, and that's how you start getting energy from networking, versus seeing it just as a transactional act, but being curious about the other person, learning about them, seeing how you can help each other, and trying to build energy. Some sort of relationship, whether a friendship, a business relationship, or just a human connection, I think that's how you turn networking from something you don't like into something you might enjoy and get energy from.

Show L inks:

• OmarShaya.com   
• MultiOn.ai
• Omar Shaya’s LinkedIn

Gina brings her expertise on how effective communication can elevate your leadership. Drawing fascinating parallels between political figures and startup founders, Gina and Jeffrey explore the importance of inspiring confidence and maintaining energy, even in the face of setbacks. 

Gina reveals the significant advantages of building a dedicated community space using Mighty Networks over a Facebook group. She candidly shares the challenges and triumphs she faced while building her company, emphasizing the value of resilience and persistence in the tech world. 

Gina also puts Jeffrey in the hot seat with a question of her own about the power dynamics at play on the biggest political stage possible and Jeffrey shares his thoughts on the power principles at play in the presidential race. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On the vision of Mighty Networks

08:09: How do we create the conditions through software, which actually scales to everybody on the planet with a phone, with a computer, with access to the digital network of the internet? How do we actually use software to make those connections so that anybody can join a community and instantly feel welcome, instantly meet the most interesting people, and certainly the people who are the most relevant to what they want to accomplish or the transition that they're in and navigating? That's our vision. And so what we do at Mighty Networks is we offer a software platform that anybody can show up and create a Mighty Network and choose a community, courses, events, challenges, being able to bring those different things together that ultimately create a network that gets more valuable to every member with each new person who joins and contributes.

The drive behind Mighty Networks

17:13: I think what has really kept me going in the context of Mighty Networks is: I very much want to live in this world. I want to live in a world where every creator, every brand, every person who wants this incredibly powerful asset to be able to make a living, to have an impact, to help people. It's too important to be set back. And it's too important to leave it up to the people that would otherwise do it. And is there ego involved in that? Probably. That's okay. Like, that's what allows me to get up tomorrow morning and move this forward, then embrace it.

On building a future of connected communities and personal growth

25:11: My main motivator is I want to live in this world where we have, brick by brick, bit by bit, created this future where people are members of amazing communities that are powered by software and AI that was not even possible six months ago. And how I define success is being surrounded every day with people who are interesting, curious, ambitious, and bring to the picnic something I can learn from.

Show Links:

• Mighty Networks
• LinkedIn Profile
• Wikipedia Profile

Jeffrey fields questions on power dynamics and leadership, giving tips on how to build sustainable power, how to empower yourself and others, and a discussion on who might be the most powerful person alive today.

Other questions from the audience covered topics such as overcoming bias, executive presence, networking, and navigating power struggles within organizations. Pfeffer also discussed practical steps for rebranding, negotiating exit offers, and the importance of managing up. 

We highlight key insights from Jeffrey’s 'Seven Rules of Power,’ along with recommendations for further reading, watching, and real-life success stories from diverse individuals. This episode offers valuable lessons on harnessing power effectively to enhance career growth.

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How to empower and be empowered? From: Kelly Zou

06:24: If you wait for organizations to empower you, you'll be waiting a long time. You need really to empower yourself. So, I think one of the things I try to teach the students is to be proactive. I actually thought that one of the contributions of my class was to teach people social science around power. I actually think the biggest contribution of my class, both online and on campus, is to get people to be proactive out of their own way and to cause them to be more ambitious and more proactive than they have been in the past. So, empower yourself. I think that's the way to do it. And to empower others, you need to understand what they bring to the table, and you need to appreciate their contributions to the work that you're trying to do.

If our opponent has such a strong existing brand or power, what do you recommend we do to amass power to overcome the strong opponent quickly? From: Corinna Kasiman

40:22: Sometimes, you're in situations in which you are not going to succeed. And I think the other thing,  In addition to people spending insufficient amounts of time building relationships and insufficient amounts of time making sure that people know about their good work, the other thing that people, I think, do make mistakes about is they stay too long in environments in which they have almost no hope of succeeding. And so you need to be pretty clinical about whether this is a situation in which you're going to win. And if the answer is no, you're a talented human being with lots of skills; go find a place where you're going to have more chance of success. 

Power is a tool

44:28: Power is a tool, and like any tool, you can use it for good or evil…You can use a knife to do surgery, or stab somebody. You need to master the skills of power. I begin the 7 Rules of Power with a quote, sometimes attributed to me: If power is to be used for good, more good people need power.

Show Links:

• The Kingmaker (2019)
• All Is Fair in Love and Twitter - NYT
• Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work - Deborah Liu
• Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time - Keith Ferrazzi
• Acting with Power with Deborah Gruenfeld - Video
• Ep 1 – Deborah Liu, CEO of Ancestry
• Ep 3 – Jon Levy, Founder of Influencers and author of You’re Invited
• Ep 5 – Jason Calacanis, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Author
• Ep 25 – Dana Carney, Professor & Director of the Institute for Personality and Social Research at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business
• Acting With Power and Using Your Influence with Deborah Gruenfeld

First, Jed talks about Stanford’s MSx program, from which he is a recent graduate. Then, Jed takes us through his remarkable career journey, including his roles in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, corporate strategy at DreamWorks, and founding/selling a successful FinTech company. 

Jed shares several stories from these experiences including a humorous interaction with powerful media billionaire David Geffen and how Jed formed his relationship-building framework via gaining entry to LA’s hottest nightclub. 

Listen in and enjoy hearing about Jed’s experiences and applications of Jeffrey’s Paths to Power course, and how he used the opportunity to its maximum benefit. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

• 00:00 Introduction to Pfeffer on Power
• 01:40 Meet Jed Simon: Career Trajectory
• 05:05 Navigating Difficult Bosses
• 08:17 Rules of Power: Networking and Rule-Breaking
• 11:39 The Power of Networking
• 16:19 Lessons from the Nightclub
• 20:56 Final Thoughts and Anecdotes
• 24:04 Conclusion and Podcast Outro

Episode Quotes:

The power of first impressions

20:43: You talk a lot in class about the power of a first impression. And I want to say, it's not, like, if you flub the first impression, there's no coming back. But I think it's, like, maybe a 50x effort to get back to where you could have been, had you done it right in the first place. And my company, my startup, we were a fintech company. We hadn't raised much money, I think a million or two million bucks. And we needed to get some validation. [21:11] I saw Wells Fargo Lender Finance. as, kind of, the number one lender. And I got a meeting with Andrea Petro... [21:38] she said, you know, normally we have a $25 million minimum for a loan, we're going to make an exception, I'm going to get back to you. So, they ended up offering us a $12.5 million loan, but she said she wanted us to raise some capital, and she's, like, from one of these places, I'll make the intro. So, we ended up raising $10 million from investment plus $12 and a half million from this. It was, like, that one little thing had this cascading effect. So, the first impressions are so important and we got that right.

On utilizing your network

11:40: In your class, there were different guests who talked about how they use networking, and there’s certain pieces of that which really resonated. And I talked to my power coach, and she gave me some insight as well. And look, I recognized early on coming to Stanford that one of the key components of this place is not just the academics. Academics are easy to over index on because you get graded. It's straightforward. These things are assigned. But the real magic of Stanford is the student body, the classmates in MSX and these MBAs. I mean, this is the hardest business school to get into in the world. These are the most exceptional students in the world, and they're all here. And it's a very friendly, welcoming place. So, I decided about six months ago in your class that I'm going to meet as many of these MBAs. Because I knew all my classmates, I wanted to meet as many of these MBAs as possible… [12:55] So, I think, in the last 4 or 5 months, I've done, on average, 2 to 3 a day, one-on-ones. And at this point, I've probably done one-on-ones with 80-100 MBAs. And it's really been a powerful thing.

How do you build relationships

15:27: You have to give things; you can't always be asking for them. How can I be of service?  What can I provide of value?  That’s how you build enduring relationships. 

Show Links:

• LinkedIn Profile

Amir is a trailblazing leader who has revolutionized healthcare giants like Stanford Healthcare and One Medical. Curious about how to build influence without direct control? From fixing hospital roofs to improving parking, Amir’s approach to practical issues offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to turn around underperforming departments. Learn how he fosters a supportive environment for doctors and staff, creating a culture that thrives on continuous improvement.

Discover the secrets to aligning executive skills with organizational needs, as Amir dives into the importance of understanding board expectations and leveraging lean and design thinking approaches. Amir involves patients in improvement processes and engages multidisciplinary teams to ensure sustainable success and scalability. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

The importance of alignment, trust and empowerment from the board leadership

20:43: It's important to have that alignment, trust, and empowerment from the board in the leadership, you know, until we lose that right. And that's why cultivating that right, maintaining those relationships, and keeping people informed is very important. Because we are trying to do things with a certain philosophy and a certain approach. And it's also why showing progress, making traction, and having some early wins is also important because you want to keep building on that confidence. If you're like, no, no, no, it's coming in the future, you can lose some of the confidence of those stakeholders. So, showing, you know, that foot in the door: "Hey, wait, hold on; we're making some progress here." And showing the measurements, showing the tractions, and continuously improving is really important. And then bringing other people into this solution. Bringing clinicians, bringing staff, bringing technologists, bringing the board, bringing the patients. Let's all work on this. This is all of our mission.

The value steam processes matter

07:20: I think a great experience, whether it's for faculty, clinicians, staff, or for patients, is thinking through all those small steps of the process. And I think when we're often finding ourselves irritated with an experience, it's often something like, I can't believe nobody's thought about this. Well, you know, that's often the case. Either folks haven't thought about it or haven't put the energy or effort to think about those things. I think ultimately a great experience, whether it's for patients, customers, or consumers, or for physicians, faculty, staff, is thinking about all those things. How do we stitch these things together? The details matter. The value stream processes matter, and I don't think you can have great experience and ignore those details, whether it's for faculty, staff, or patients. I think they're kind of one in the same.

On having patient-centric approach in everything they do

19:43: We need to understand it from the patient's perspective, or if we're serving a child, the parent's perspective. And the more of those perspectives we had, the better picture we had of, ah, now I see what's going on here. If we could just stitch a few of these things together upstream, we'd make it better for the patient, the consumer, but also we wouldn't create all this downstream work for the clinician and staff that could be avoidable. That was absolutely important, and it also infused our organization with a customer experience mindset.

Show Links:

• LinkedIn Profile   
• HealthierCapital.com

Rene, a former maxillofacial surgeon, shares how his personal experiences, including those of his children’s illnesses, motivated him to innovate in the field of electronic medical records and co-found the start-up Medeloop.ai, a revolutionary clinical research platform utilizing AI for accelerated drug discovery, playing a crucial role in addressing his own son's complex medical condition, underscoring the platform's real-world need and impact.

Rene and Jeffrey also discuss the importance of networking and how it can catapult your career to new heights. Rene sheares the story of his transformative encounter with Amir Rubin, former CEO of One Medical and Stanford Healthcare, illustrating how meaningful connections can open doors to unimaginable opportunities. Listen to learn practical tips that can also help you network and advance your own career.

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

00:00 Introduction to Pfeffer on Power

00:26 Renee Caissie: From Surgeon to Startup Founder

02:29 The Birth of Medeloop

04:56 Using AI to Diagnose Rene’s Son

08:00 Leveraging Networks for Success

11:07 Practical Advice for Networking

18:17 Building a Personal Brand

20:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Episode Quotes:

 How AI transformed Rene's life

05:49: We spent a couple thousand dollars and came to the office, and we built a bot that would take all of this data, all of his symptoms, and it actually found that Tom had what's called EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) that caused malabsorption of certain nutrients that, in certain rare cases, could cause motor tics. So he was missing this enzyme called lipase that wasn't being excreted by his pancreas. He ordered lipase on the internet, gave it to him, and three days later, Tom had no more tics. It disappeared. So we went from having a prognostic that could have, a couple of years to a lifetime to a pill that costs 50 cents a day and being fully cured using today's technology, using AI.

How do you stand out and make meaningful connections?

12:08: I think it's important when you do approach somebody to not just come in with an ask. You need to provide value, and there's a whole bunch of ways you can provide value. One of the easiest ways is to make a connection. So, if you meet someone, there's a fair chance there's somebody else that they might want to meet or that you could propose, making an introduction is an easy way to provide value, but not just coming in with an ask of, Amir doing something for me, but me being able to provide something to Amir really makes a big difference because powerful people get asked for things relentlessly. So it's important to shine, to make sure that you differentiate yourself from others that might approach them, but also come in with some sort of value that you can provide to these people.

The power of getting out of your way

08:32: I was never one to go ask for help before, and that's the first thing that I learned in your class: to get out of my own way and meet people in class. So the first thing that I did was actually, in your class, make sure to be the first guy up front. When class concluded, you always had a guest speaker that came in, and I always knew what I wanted to say to them. I was very well-versed in what they've done in the past, and I made sure to make an impact during those five minutes. I think I did that quite well. I was able to connect with people who have had a drastic impact on my company.

Show Links:

• Medeloop.ai
• Faculty Profile at Stanford Medicine
• LinkedIn Profile

Luciana opens up about her experience in Jeffrey Pfeffer's "Leading with Power" course, which shifted her perspective from execution to leadership, revealing the critical role of resilience, discipline, and strategic understanding of power dynamics, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry. Luciana's insights will leave you empowered and ready to navigate your own career path with confidence.

Learn how ManaGrow's commitment to long-term relationships with entrepreneurs and investors across 40 countries has driven sustained growth and client loyalty. Tune in for practical advice on expanding your professional network, maintaining client trust, and creating lasting business success in today's global market.

00:00 Welcome

01:03 Meet Luciana Doria Wilson

02:01 Luciana's Early Career in Finance

03:05 Transition to Board Roles

07:07 Founding ManaGrow

09:52 Impact of Stanford's Power Course

12:06 Networking Strategies and Business Growth

15:27 ManaGrow's Unique Approach

17:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

The impact of the power course on Luciana’s business approach

[12:06] Jeffrey: So, what was the difference after you took the class? What did you do differently in terms of the networking that you had done before and then after the class?

[12:16] Luciana: So one thing is that I'm more selective. The other thing is the strategy behind my mind. So if I want to create impact, what is it that I need? Who do I need to speak to? I was able to get access to very interesting people during my career, but I wasn't using those relationships to do the things I thought were important or aligned with my values. So that's how it changed. It's a completely different picture from what I was doing before. I was able to help and get help, and this is something ongoing in my life.

What makes Managrow different?

[17:09] Jeffrey: It strikes me that a lot of what you're doing, other organizations are also doing, particularly investment banks and business brokers. What do you believe is your competitive advantage?

[17:21] Luciana: Most of the boutiques do only transactions, and the relationships with their customers are based on the deals. We work as a boutique, so we do not compete with banks because they are doing the largest transactions. And with the small ones, we are different because we know better the customers, investors, and entrepreneurs. So it's the concept of the boutique; that's why it's very different from those that are only doing transactions and don't care about long-term relationship that they are building between these entrepreneurs.

On getting out of your comfort zone

13:39: There is a lot about getting out of your comfort zone... It's something you choose, not something that happens.

Show Links:

• Managrow.com
• Luciana’s LinkedIn Profile
• Stanford Alumni Women’s Impact Network

Deepti brings us lessons in power distilled to "three superpowers" of courage, creativity, and determination. Her inspiring journey showcases how you can exploit structural holes in professional networks, craft resources almost out of thin air, and pursue objectives with unwavering intentionality. Jeffrey and Deepti discuss how she doesn't just talk about the importance of personal branding and leadership; she embodies it. Deepti also stresses the importance of building and using your network, sharing how embracing your role as your own Chief Evangelist Officer can open doors and create opportunities, particularly for people historically left at the margins. 

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

00:00 Welcome

01:21 Deepti’s Career Journey

04:18 Leveraging Power and Networks

07:15 From India to Global Influence

10:00 Trailblazer Founders

16:41 Building Economic Opportunities for Diverse Communities

19:37 Closing Thoughts

Episode Quotes:

Deepti’s three principles in taking your own power
18:33: The first three principles that I personally use, which I believe are my superpowers, but I also believe are superpowers for any given person: courage. It's like taking bold actions and making bold asks because what is the worst that would happen? You would hear a no; that's about it, right? So, just take the plunge. The second thing is to build networks and support networks around you who are invested in your success. And there are lots of people, at least in today's world, who are invested in your success. Go out there and find them, and, at the same time, have that insane kind of determination for what you're after because it is the impact that you wish to create. It's not about who is stopping you. Just be like water. Like, if you see a river, it finds its way, right? So everybody's able to kind of find that way if you just have the determination. Build networks and support networks around you who are invested in your success. And there are lots of people, at least in today's world, who are invested in your success. Go out there and find them, and at the same time, have that insane kind of determination for what you're after because it is the impact that you wish to create. It's not about who is stopping you. Just be like water. Like, if you see a river, it finds its way, right? So everybody's able to kind of find that way if you just have the determination towards the impact that you wish to create.

Don’t bet on the horse bet on the jockey
11:27: There's a whole coaching industry out there of products, services, and frameworks that prepare startup founders with so-called business model innovations, product-market fit, failure mindset, and culture training for teams, but no one ever teaches them the importance of leadership skills, building networks, thought leadership, investing in communities, and showing up with confidence and conviction to convey their ideas. And to me, it's more like telling a friend how to play chess on your behalf. I mean, you can make as many plans and business models as you want, but unfortunately, strategies and frameworks do not come in handy on a battlefield. And it's a very different set of skills that you need to succeed as an entrepreneur. And in doing the research that I did in writing this book, I found that venture capitalists, investors, and board members, and dozens of them that I interviewed, do not actually bet on the horse that is your idea, but they actually bet on the jockey that is the founder itself.

On providing opportunities for entrepreneurial idea for people with diverse background

17:46: I have to say that a lot of the times we talk about how we can provide for fair systems from the institutional perspective, and what we can do as institutions to increase that diversity. But my take is that, all that needs to be done and is a responsible thing to do, but until that happens, what we as individuals can do is to take part in the systems; and that is only possible by way of taking our own power and building our own influence .

Show Links:

• DeeptiPahwa.com
• Link to Trailblazer Founders
• Amazon Page
• LinkedIn Profile

John and Jeffrey discuss how corporate titans like Amazon sculpt their industry-dominating strategies. John Rossman helped mold Amazon's colossal marketplace. John tells Jeffrey his six cardinal rules for skillfully navigating Amazon’s early days and the pivotal role of trust in accelerating one's career. John also shares insights into using memo crafting as a clarity tool and customer happiness as the central dogma. Check out this episode for some real insight on navigating corporate power. 

• 00:00 Welcome to Pfeffer on Power: Introducing Jon Rossman
• 02:42 Jon Rossman's Journey: From Amazon to Author
• 06:37 Rules to Navigating Corporate America: Rule 1: Earn Trust
• 07:53 Rule 2: Be an Active and Early Risk Manager
• 09:54 Rule 3: You Have to Manage Dependencies
• 12:19 Rule 4: Having the Right Sense of Urgency
• 14:50 Rule 5: Manage Up
• 17:04 Rule 6: Clarify in Your Communications
• 21:29 Amazon as a Political Place
• 23:26 Why Jon Left Amazon
• 25:11 Wrapping Up: The Essence of Power and Autonomy

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

You have to manage dependencies

10:00: So, the 14th leadership principle at Amazon is "deliver results." And the other ones tend to get the fanfare, but I'm telling you, the 14th is the one that differentiates Amazon. Like, you have to deliver results. Well, most things are not within your control; then you're really managing dependencies, and so you see this very active dependency management process. And so it's all based off of kind of "trust, but verify," like, you're always featuring the bad news. You're always having check-in meetings. You don't trust what they say. You ask more for proof points and demonstrations, and you don't assume anything. And so, sometimes, that gets into hedging and creating alternate paths. But people that are successful at Amazon are extremely good at managing dependencies upon others.

Why clear expectations are the cornerstone of trust

06:42: Trust and transparency sound like such great attributes to have, but most people don't really understand what trust is. Trust is about setting expectations and hitting expectations. And if you can trust that somebody sets good expectations and then hits those expectations, you can work together through almost anything. And most people don't actually understand what that word "trust" is; they think it means something like, you know, trustworthy or something like that, but you can actually create a formula. And what most people don't do well is they don't set expectations very well. And when you don't set expectations very well, then you each have a vague understanding of what the expectation is. And that's where so many things go sideways.

Without risk, there are no new innovations

08:20: Alpha risk is where we create new innovations. And so, you have to be extremely good at communicating your concept and where it's going. You also have to be very good at teaming networks and internal negotiating relative to this. So, this builds off of the trust aspect of setting expectations.

Show Links:

• JohnRossman.com
• Profile on Linkedin
• Amazon Author Page
• Big Bet Leadership: Your Transformation Playbook for Winning in the Hyper-Digital Era
• The Amazon Way: Amazon's 14 Leadership Principles
• Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader
• The Amazon Way on IoT: 10 Principles for Every Leader from the World's Leading Internet of Things Strategies

Deborah emphasizes the impact of physical body language and personal presence on the perception of power. The discussion further delves into the utilization of 'outside-in' and 'inside-out' techniques for asserting power and the notion of differentiating between status and power. 

Deborah argues that possessing power comes with responsibilities that may not appeal to all while striving for status is universal. From the width of your stance to the tempo of your speech, the nuances of body language speak volumes about your place in the social hierarchy. Deborah and Jeff examine the choreography of power—how to enter a room, how to take up space, and how to pace your movements to nonverbally assert dominance. For those who've ever felt overlooked or underestimated, this episode is a toolbox for crafting the presence you deserve.

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:53 Understanding Power and Body Language
• 01:42 The Evolution of the 'Acting with Power' Class and Book
• 02:20 The Impact of Visuals and Nonverbal Cues on Power
• 03:22 The Role of Personal Growth in Power
• 08:50 The Power of Imagination in Power Dynamics
• 11:46 The Importance of Taking Up Space
• 22:31 The Role of Status and Power in Hierarchies
• 23:53 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Power
• 27:59 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

A technique on how to show up more powerful

06:31: One set of tactics or techniques is what I call outside-in techniques, and they have to do with just changing how you carry yourself: your physical body, how you stand, how you use your arms, how you use your eyes, and how you sit. The other set of tactics that I really think is equally important, maybe even more important in some cases, is what I call inside-out tactics. The inside-out tactics have to do with having ways to reframe situations and our role in those situations that are empowering. One of the things I like to say in my classes is that there are a lot of things about power and social life that are not under our control. We can't, for example, control directly how people perceive us, but we can always control, once we know how, where our attention goes.

How do you act powerful?

12:26: Being open in some ways feels very vulnerable, and it is. But when you have a lot of power, you can afford to be vulnerable. This is why the alpha gorillas sit with everything exposed because nobody's coming for them. It's the lower-down-ranking animals that have to protect their bodies. So having an open chest, in particular, conveys a lot of authority and power. That's an especially important technique for people who are smaller in stature. People always ask me if I can't carry myself like a tall person and I can't dominate someone physically with my height, what options do I have? I often tell them that the most important thing is that you carry yourself with an open chest because what you're communicating when your arms are capable of moving away from your body is that you are ready to fight for whatever you want, regardless of how big you are. 

On being comfortable with power

23:25: There are people who just feel that it's not who they are to carry themselves in a way that takes ownership of superiority, authority, control, or having interests, experiences, and expertise that are privileged above other people. They're just people who feel like they can't do that. And I think it's one of the big challenges that a lot of executives face. In this way, I think we're really aligned, which is that most people realize they need to be comfortable with power in order to be successful. But they have to get past this fear of being held accountable, fear of losing status, fear of making enemies, and also fear of failing to show up as an authentic, powerful person when how you really feel is a little bit smaller.

Show Links:

• Faculty Profile at Stanford School of Business
• Profile on LinkedIn
• Acting with Power: Why We Are More Powerful Than We Believe
• Wikipedia Page

In this episode, Steve unpacks the stark contrasts and surprising similarities of power's role in both the private and public spheres and discusses why today's brightest stars are shying away from public service—a trend he believes is crucial to reverse.

What has Steve learned about power from working closely with notable figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, and Meg Whitman, and the personal sacrifices they made on their paths to success? From the indispensable value of determination and the wisdom that you only get from defeat to the essence of intelligent communication and ambition, Steve and Jeffrey go over the essential qualities that forge a successful leader—be it in the worlds of tech or politics.

• 01:51 Public vs Private Sector Power
• 02:42 Steve's Personal Journey and Motivation
• 05:51 Lessons from Powerful Figures
• 11:41 Determination and Ambition
• 18:55 Insights into Biden's Campaign
• 22:14 Public and Private Sector Leadership: Differences and Similarities
• 24:13 Closing Remarks

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Are the public and private sector leadership qualities more similar than we think?

22:45: Private sector and public sector require you to be not just a good communicator, but a great communicator. And I think the best leaders in the public and the private sectors are people who are not only great communicators. They have the rarest of all personal traits, and that's the ability to inspire people. Tenacity in both sectors. It is tough. You've got board issues. You've got employee issues, legal issues, labor issues, and politics. You got all the issues. You have to be incredibly tenacious.

What makes a successful politician?

12:19: It's not just persistence and determination; it is insane determination. It is the willingness to sit in a small room hour after hour, calling people, begging for money, and to go out the next day and have people beat the living shit out of you. In the public and with your family, my opponent for the gubernatorial race not only ran hit ads on me but managed to get my wife and two and three-year-old children into the hit pieces. It's not easy. Winston Churchill once said, in war, you can only die once. But in political life, you can die many times over again, and it's true. It's hard. It's tough.

What Steve learned from Meg Whitman of Ebay?

18:07: I think there are three things. I mean, one of them—it's where I was starting—Pierre and Jeff really handed the keys to a rocket ship to her. It was the first thing with a community growing like crazy that was, you know, there's always a little bit of good luck in the long term success. Second, look, Meg's just very smart. She's a Princeton grad. She was an athlete. She has a degree from Harvard, a background at Disney. She was smart. She was experienced. And third, I would say she's just a great communicator. And I think she worked hard at listening. She had a lot of superb traits.

12:19: Leadership has a lot of facets for students out there. I'd urge you to look broadly, and it goes beyond the standard pedigree.

Relevant Links:

• Profile on WestlyGroup.com
• Faculty Profile at Stanford University
• Steve Westly LinkedIn
• Wikipedia Page

The discussion centers around effective communication strategies to navigate through challenging situations and accelerate career growth. Topics include managing anxiety during public speaking, shifting communication mindset, being present-oriented, the importance of preparation, and leveraging structure in spontaneous speaking situations.

• 01:06 Introducing the Guest: Matt Abrahams
• 02:59 Matt’s Career Journey
• 05:09 Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
• 10:37 Tips for Effective Communication
• 15:18 Spontaneous Speaking and Its Importance
• 21:47 Conclusion and Farewell

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Communication is about connection, not perfection

17:52: Many of us worry about not doing our communication right. We want to be perfect. We want to do it right. And I'm here to tell you, after doing this for decades, there is no right way to communicate. There are better ways and worse ways, but there is no one right way. And by fixating on trying to do it right, we actually get in the way of doing it well at all. It's all a bandwidth issue. Cognitive bandwidth. We only have so much bandwidth, and if part of that bandwidth is dedicated to hyper judgment, hyper-evaluation, we have less effort to put into what we're saying. So it's about connection, not perfection. Communication is about connection, making it relevant. So after we manage anxiety, that's where we have to go.

What are the keys to speaking better?

20:03: If we manage anxiety, we connect rather than worry about being perfect. Make sure that we see things as opportunities, not threats. We listen well, and we use structure. Those are the keys to being better at speaking in the moment.

How do we get over the fear of public speaking?

05:09 [Jeffrey Pfeffer]: What is your advice to help people get over this fear of public speaking? 

05:17[Matt Abrahams]: We have some evidence that upwards of 75-85 percent of people report it as a major issue that they have. And quite frankly, I think the rest of the people are lying. I think we could create a situation that would make them nervous too. The goal, I don't think, is to overcome it. I don't think we ever truly can overcome it. Those of us who study this believe it's innate to being human to have this anxiety, but there are certainly things we can do to manage it. When it comes to managing anxiety, you can look at it as a two-pronged approach. First, you have to deal with the symptoms that we experience—the rapid rate, the sweaty brow, the shakiness—but you also have to address the sources of anxiety—the things that initiate and exacerbate it. It's a two-pronged approach.

Relevant Links:

• MattAbrahams.com
• Think Fast Talk Smart Podcast
• LinkedIn Profile
• NoFreakingSpeaking.com
• Faculty Profile at Stanford
• Speaking Up Without Freaking Out
• Think Faster, Talk Smarter

Levitan speaks about the lessons he learned and the importance of retaining the company’s culture even amidst leadership changes. Pfeffer and Levitan also shed light on 'imposter syndrome,' the need for behavioral interviewing during executive searches, and the pivotal role of effective coaching in personal and professional development.

• 00:00 Introduction and Overview
• 00:29 Guest Introduction: Tony Levitan
• 00:57 Tony's Journey with Egreetings
• 01:36 The Challenges of Startup Founders
• 03:19 Tony's Personal Experience and Lessons Learned
• 04:06 Tony's Reflection on His Time at Egreetings
• 08:43 The Impact of Leadership Changes on Company Culture
• 12:23 The Importance of Effective Hiring and Recruitment
• 16:56 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
• 21:23 The Role of an Executive Coach
• 24:29 Conclusion and Farewell

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On the importance of inquiry

18:26: One of the things that is the easiest door in for many is we all are asked to make business decisions off of data. And yet, when it comes to two things, we don't tend to bias towards data. One is people. We don't tend to have as much data on people, right? We make decisions off of gut feel and things like that. The other is being able to take an external view of ourselves and our competency, right? So I have a couple of clients who are wrestling with their identity as a competent leader, and yet they're surrounded by data that says, "You are making a difference. You are delivering impact." They just have a hard time seeing it, and they don't have people around them who are helping them see it on a daily basis.

On the importance of having a coach

22:41: When I made the shift at InWhack, Inc., it took me a while to figure out where my sweet spot was going to be because I think, just like I had to figure out where I could deliver as a coach, people who look for a coach need to do some reflection on what would be helpful to them.

What references should really tell you

14:17:  One of the mistakes we made at Egreetings is, we actually—I feel embarrassed to share this because it's so obvious, but we had the executive search firm do the reference checking. And I mean, you want to talk about misaligned incentives, right? I mean, their incentive is to close the search. Our incentive is to have deep insight into who's coming to work in our company. So, that's one of the things I always mention. The other thing is that References aren't so much about, should I hire this person or not. References really ought to be about how do we most effectively work with this person. What does this person need to be effective in working with us?

Relevant Links:

• Profile on LinkedIn
• Profile on X

After having a long successful career in the education sector in these prestigious roles, Dr. Crew shares insights on navigating the sphere of power, the cost that comes with it, and the wisdom necessary to make careful choices. 

The talk explores aspects of power like ego, greed, the lure of linking to powerful individuals, and the personal, professional, and political consequences of the pursuit of power. Dr. Crew emphasizes the importance of staying grounded, maintaining humane leadership, and being observant of warning signs in a volatile political environment. 

Significantly, he stresses that ethical leadership rooted in keeping the welfare of students at the forefront has helped him navigate these challenges.

• 00:01 Introduction and Guest Presentation
• 01:53 The Price of Power: A Discussion with Dr. Rudy Crew
• 03:30 The Pitfalls of Power: Ego, Lack of Ideas, and Wrong Associations
• 05:52 Recognizing Danger Signs in Power Pursuits
• 08:03 Navigating Political Challenges in Power Positions
• 10:51 The Consequences of Tough Decisions in Power Positions
• 17:20 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Power: Advice and Insights
• 20:57 Staying Grounded in Power Positions: A Personal Anecdote
• 22:52 Conclusion and Farewell

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and his work on JeffreyPfeffer.com

Pfeffer on Power is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Lead by the kind of quality work your provide

18:25: I remember having to make budget cuts, and those budget cuts were going to be pretty deep. But there's goodwill in the culture. If there are other things that you did or have done traditionally that made people feel like this was not a vendetta, unfortunately, this was a bad fiscal year in the state of California, and we had to make budget cuts. But the fact of the matter is, there was humanism brought to the table. There was a sense of honor brought to the table. There was transparency and a sense of humility brought to this that no one enjoyed watching people walk out the door and be without a job. You can create a cultural wave of positivity and yet do some things that are very, very, very unpopular and sometimes very uncomfortable.

There’s no good deed that gets unpunished

17:05: My advice has always been, pay the price. Don't do the wrong thing, but just understand that by doing the right thing, you will still accrue a consequence. There's no good deed that goes unpunished.

Every job comes with a quid pro quo

15:57:  When you get the job, be prepared to lose the job. That would be the first of many commandments, right? Be prepared to lose it, and by losing it, I mean, it may be gradual, but the fact of the matter is every decision you make comes with a consequence, and that consequence generally is added up in political terms, and the accumulation of that is what I would say to you is quid pro quo. That is the giant quid pro quo. It's the one that you're going to ultimately pay permanently for.

Relevant Links:

• Faculty Profile at USC Rossier  
• Wikipedia Profile
• LinkedIn Profile
• APB Speakers page

EPISODE 25 – Dana Carney, Professor & Director of the Institute for Personality and Social Research at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

SHOW NOTES:

Dana Carney, a world-leading expert on body language, is a professor at the Haas School at UC Berkeley who also runs the Institute of Personality and Social Research. She shares the most up-to-date tips on the strategic use of body language and facial gestures to persuade other people about your power or an issue.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

• Why people respond to others based on how they look

• The data shows that taller and good-looking people make more money

• The why and how people look and come across through gestures

• The 43 cues that have nothing to do with power

• The 9 cues that have everything to do with power

• How to differentiate between who has power and who does not

• What, in addition to access to and control over resources, creates power

• What to be careful of if you’re taller or bigger

• Non-selfish, pro-social reasons for mastering your body language

• Myths and facts around eye contact

• Why Anna Wintour wears sunglasses to fashion shows

• The visual dominance ratio

• Behavioral nudge action planning

• Physiognomic cues that influence power

• Why body language, how people look, and the gestures they make are so important

• Nonverbal communication within the animal kingdom

GUEST BIO:

Dana R. Carney is a Professor and the Director of the Institute for Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley in the Haas School of Business. She is also an affiliate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Cognitive Sciences. Carney is one of the world’s leading experts on nonverbal behavior. 

Professor Carney’s fresh, modern approach to nonverbal behavior has made her the go-to figure in this space, serving as a consultant for corporate seminars, and academic gatherings. From Blackrock Advisors to the Los Alamos National Lab, Carney has consulted private equity, tech firms, and small businesses alike, in addition to speaking at many academic conferences and at most major Universities in the U.S. and beyond. Carney’s catchy and informative videos on nonverbal behavior have skyrocketed her account practically overnight, @danarosecarney, to 64K followers over a half a million total likes. She has been featured in Men’s Health, Time Magazine, Forbes India, Reader’s Digest, Quartz, World Bank Blogs, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Muse and many more (NYT, WSJ, etc.).

Prior to serving on the faculty at UC Berkeley, Carney was an Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard in the Psychology Department working with esteemed colleagues such as Mahzarin Banaji (implicit bias expert and author of the bestselling book Blindspot) and Wendy Berry Mendes. She received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from Northeastern University (working with the world’s expert on the link between nonverbal communication and power, Judith A. Hall) and her master's degree at California State University (working with the world’s experts on the link between nonverbal communication and each anxiety and social skills, Jinni A. Harrigan and Ronald E. Riggio, respectively). She received her B.A. from the University of San Francisco (working with one-half of the team of Maureen O’Sullivan and Paul Ekman—the world’s leading experts for over 60 years on the nonverbal cues associated with and accurate detection of deception).

Professor Carney is currently in the final stages of writing a popular book on nonverbal behavior. Nonverbal communication is, at once, much more complex and much more interesting than the media would have the public believe.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danarosecarney

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 24 – Tosin Joel, Founder, GTBOOL

SHOW NOTES:

Meet Tosin Joel, a leader of businesses, organizations and cross-functional leadership teams who, using the 7 Rules of Power, creates centers of change for herself and others around her. A Nigerian-born woman who was the first in her city to attend university, Joel has learned how to leverage her differences and become successful in the oil industry and beyond.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

• How her growing, education, and first jobs impacted her career at Eni

• How she applies the 7 Rules of Power to overcome challenges

• Why knowing she wants to be a center of change shapes her decisions

• How she went from being an outlier to having a seat at the table

• Ways to differentiate a career to set a precedent

• Ways of managing pressure

• The value in leveraging human capitol

• Turning obstacles into opportunities

• The birth of her nonprofit company GTBOOL (and what it stands for)

• Her passion for creating awareness and connecting people

• The power of networking and keys to her success

• Mission, purpose, and legacy goals

• Where her self-confidence, boldness, and willingness to ask come from

• Her goals around creating opportunities for others

• Balancing her professional and personal lives

• Practical relationship advice

GUEST BIO:

Tosin Joel partners with executive teams, and boards to transform organizations and drive step changes in performance. As a Senior Program Manager at Amazon, she reinvents operational efficiency to maximize value capture, and leads business process optimization for competitive advantages. She was Project Head and Geodata Country representative for the Italian multinational giant Eni. She helped the energy operator to maximize the production efficiency of their assets to boost value and reduce costs. With both consulting and operating experience, she is able to help executives see the potential in their operations. Step by step, she led companies through transformational initiatives that result in a stronger operational and financial profile. Tosin worked with major oil-and-gas independents in Europe, Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Joel is the founder of GTBOOL (www.gtbool.com), a networking organization centered on personal growth and sponsorship of high talent professionals in big corporates and mentorship of startups.

She has been named amongst 100 most Influential People of African Descent and has served on the board as country director. Tosin is an alum of MIT Sloan and Stanford LEAD, where she built unique networks to create global impact projects.

She facilitated Silicon Valley design thinking club entrepreneurs.

Post Stanford LEAD, She has climbed several corporate ladders, established a unique brand, and receives numerous invites to speak during international conferences. She has also won many awards, including MIT Sloan Alum Volunteer Award, Best International Humanitarians, International contribution award for Women in tech, Humanity 100, Intellectual contribution awards for leadership and contributions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tosinjoel

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 23 – Michael Gruen, Co-Founder & CSO, DominateX

SHOW NOTES:

Meet the amazing and insightful Michael Gruen, a prodigy and social influencer who has started companies by breaking the rules, not getting in his own way, and only following what he knows to be true. His questioning of the status quo and not taking anything for granted are just two of the traits this free thinker employs to create a compelling level of success for himself and those he advises.

In this episode, discover:

• Michael’s career trajectory and his influence on the internet

• Why he doesn’t believe anything as it is stated to him

• How the link between power and money works

• Reasons to not fear polarizing responses

• The value in making yourself a scarce asset

• What patience, persistence, and providing value create

• The flywheel effect

• His secret to getting into exclusive rooms

• The differences between egotists and narcissists in relation to business

• The surprising statement he told Donald Trump in the Oval Office

• Advice on how to become powerful

• What he sees as a harmful problem in society

• The uniquely powerful style of his emails

• The number of winners in a good negotiation

• The principles of generosity, gratitude, loyalty, and appreciation

• His philosophy on removing judgments and receiving feedback

• Why knowing your flaws and having no ego are superpowers

GUEST BIO:

Michael Gruen is a dynamic and accomplished Gen Z entrepreneur, investor, and media personality who has significantly impacted various industries in his young career. His drive, creativity, and innovative vision have made him a rising star in entrepreneurship and investment.

Gruen's journey began at a young age. He enrolled in college at 14 and quickly developed a passion for finance and entrepreneurship. He co-founded Frax, the world's first fractional stablecoin and crypto native consumer price index. The Frax Protocol introduced the concept of a cryptocurrency partially backed by collateral. It stabilized algorithmically to create highly scalable, decentralized money in place of fixed-supply digital assets like BTC. As a co-founder, Gruen played a pivotal role in the development and growth of Frax, which quickly became one of the most popular stablecoins in the world with a peak market cap of $2.9B. He was responsible for developing Frax's vision and strategy and overseeing the company's day-to-day operations.

In addition to his work with Frax, Gruen has a proven track record of success in various industries, including finance, sports management, and entertainment media production. He co-founded and served on the board of directors for several successful companies, including Sway House, TalentX Entertainment, TalentX Gaming, Ani Energy, CrossCheck Studios, and Animal Capital, a venture capital fund. His work with these companies has helped him develop a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and business.

Gruen has also been recognized for his contributions to the entertainment industry. He was the first to secure an overall deal at a major studio for an influencer, Josh Richards, at CrossCheck Studios. He procured a comprehensive agreement for Nickelodeon star Jace Norman at ViacomCBS, working directly with Brian Robbins, now CEO of Paramount. In addition, he has played an integral role in transforming Creator Edge Media into a premier talent management agency for top influencers, helping them build long-term partnerships with some of the world's biggest brands.

Leading publications, including Forbes, Business Insider, and Variety, have recognized Gruen's impressive achievements. He was named a member of Forbes' 30 Under 30 class of 2022 and has been featured as one of the top 29 up-and-comers changing the world of venture capital, one of the 24 power players transforming the music industry through TikTok, and one of the 19 talent representatives helping creators turn social-media fame into diversified businesses by Business Insider.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Gruen is committed to positively impacting the world. He has given some of his company's profits to charity. He has also given a lot of his time and money to help with education and to help young people.

With his entrepreneurial spirit, innovative vision, and commitment to creating a better world, Michael Gruen is a trailblazer and thought leader in entrepreneurship and investment.

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Ep 22 – Dafina Toncheva, General Partner, USVP

SHOW NOTES:

Dafina Toncheva, General Partner at USVP, discusses how she’s strategically used the Rules of Power concepts to manage her career. From a small town in Bulgaria to now being a major figure in Silicon Valley, she has succeeded in an industry that has not traditionally welcomed women. Join us and learn how the principles of power apply to women and men, and how to use those principles of power to navigate an extraordinarily successful career for yourself.

You'll learn from Dafina:

• Where she’s from, how she got to the U.S., and her career trajectory

• What political forces led her to desire to look for opportunities abroad

• How she ultimately ended up at Harvard and the only way she knew to get there

• Her path between college and her current career

• The lens she used to decide to join USVP in 2012

• The use of power in her career to make the most impact

• The importance of aligning your success goals with the company’s goals

• How she navigated in a less-than-welcoming business environment

• How she has stood up for herself and put the Rules of Power into action

• The importance of developing constructive professional relationships with board members

• A surprising take on what is as important as the investments that are made

• How managing the narrative of the firm is incredibly important

GUEST BIO:

Dafina Toncheva (dafina@usvp.com), a general partner at USVP, invests in emerging technologies in the enterprise space with focus on Enterprise SaaS applications and security. She has led investments in and joined the boards of Luma Health, Arkose Labs, Raken, Percepto, Carrot Fertility, Nfinite, Sepio Systems, Trust Lab and Surgical Safety Technologies. Dafina served on the board of Prevoty, a leader in application security, who was acquired by Imperva where USVP was the lead investor and largest shareholder.

Prior to joining USVP, Dafina was a principal investor with Tugboat Ventures. Before that, she spent two years at Venrock helping to expand the firm’s investments in SaaS, virtualization, security, infrastructure and enterprise applications. Dafina led the first institutional investment round in Cloudflare (NYSE: NET). Her other investments included Aria Systems, Kenna Security (acquired by Cisco) and Matrixx Software. Before becoming an investor, Dafina held positions in development and product management at Microsoft focusing on authentication systems, digital signatures and business workflow. She has co-authored several key patents.

Dafina holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Computer Science, magna cum laude, with special focus on cryptography, efficient algorithms and database systems from Harvard University.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dafinat/

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Ep 21 – Nick Binkley, Singer-Songwriter, Former Banking Executive

SHOW NOTES:

My old friend and very successful financial executive, Nick Binkley, talks about his career in finance, rising to the position of vice chair of Security Pacific Bank, and then vice chair of the Bank of America, and then a partner in a very successful venture capital firm. Nick has a lot of lessons around the 7 Rules of Power for all of us to pay attention to.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How Nick went from a guitar-playing Peace Corps volunteer and campaign manager to a banker

• What he saw in the Tunisian economy that sparked his desire to become an international banker

• How visualizing where he wanted to be and breaking the rules facilitated his career change

• The way playing the game allowed him to develop a new approach to statement analysis called the Binkley Tree

• What accelerated his career in the ten years he went from a vice president to a vice chair and member of the board of directors at Bank of America

• The power of changing the narrative about yourself

• A unique presentation opportunity that furthered his career

• Brand building in humorous, thoughtful, effective ways, and with the creation of an international magazine

• The importance of having family members and a broad base of people who appreciate your skills

• The rule of power that most resonates with him

• A story of how success excuses everything

• The one sin Jeff sees students commit in their beliefs during difficult circumstances

• How his songwriting and music interests have helped in his career, personally and professionally

GUEST BIO:

Nick Binkley (born Nicholas Burns Binkley October 31, 1945) is a former banking executive with a lifelong interest in foreign affairs. He is also a singer-songwriter, recording artist and film producer.

He was educated at Colorado College (BA in Political Science) and the Universite d’Aix-Marseille (France) and received his graduate degree (MA in International Studies) from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Binkley attained the position of Vice Chairman of Bank of America Corp and served on its board of directors and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He later formed Forrest Binkley & Brown which successfully made venture and private equity investments across a range of enterprises.

Following retirement from the world of finance, he became identified with the title of his first album, Pin Stripe Brain, released in 1995. A troubadour striving for East-West peace, Binkley’s song “Novi Mir” (Russian for “New World” or “New Peace”), his film FREE TO ROCK and subsequent albums, Let The Boy Jam, 100 Parts of Heart, and Stardust Angels Ghosts remain emblematic of a life that spanned the worlds of finance, music and international politics.

https://www.nickbinkleymusic.com

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 20 –  Tadia James, Managing Partner, Aligned Generation

SHOW NOTES:

Tadia James is the Managing Partner at Aligned Generation. Tadia shares the rules of power which have helped her excel in the financial industry, where women or people of color manage less than 2% of global assets. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• How Tadia has consciously built her career
• How her jobs at JPMorgan and Gingerbread Capital led her to start her own company
• The three pillars Aligned Generation advises and develops startups within
• How her story speaks to issues of women and underrepresented minorities
• What she focused on to gain visibility when she was often the youngest and only woman and person of color in the room
• How she gets out of her own way and shows up in ways that convey power
• The discipline necessary to help achieve goals
• The things done to acquire visibility while at Stanford Business School
• Being clear on using time intentionally
• The considerations of time and opportunity costs in attending graduate school
• Advice to students regarding making use of opportunities available on campus
• Why she started her own firm
• The joy of helping founders, entrepreneurs, and capital investors
• What the process of ‘gassing’ herself up before public appearances looks like

Special note: In this episode Ms. James is referring to Amy Cuddy's TED Talk, "Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are." This talk was given at TEDGlobal in 2012. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are/c

GUEST BIO: 

Tadia James
Bridge-Builder, VC Investor, and Strategist, Tadia is the Managing Partner at ALIGNED GENERATION, a strategic consulting agency on a mission to accelerate and scale the impact of investors and startups building a more equitable and balanced society. 

Current Focus: Addressing the racial wealth gap. 

Tadia started her career in finance at the JP Morgan Corporate & Investment Bank in various positions including: Sales Strategy, Product Management, and Cybersecurity Threat Intelligence. She also taught financial literacy to inner-city youth in NYC at the DREAM Organization for 5 years where she led the development of the DREAM Scholarship Fund. Tadia went on to become an early employee at Gingerbread Capital, a family office venture capital fund that invests in female founders and female fund managers at the seed stage and beyond. 

An avid tech investor and startup advisor, Tadia is known for her ability to bring big visions to life through disciplined business execution and strong partnerships. Featured in “Forbes” and “31 under 31: The Future of Venture Capital”, she has a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Florida and an MBA from Stanford.

Website: https://www.alignedgeneration.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadiajames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TADIAJAMES/

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 19 – Andrew Yang, Entrepreneur & Author. Humanity Forward

SHOW NOTES:

My guest today is Andrew Yang, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and a 2021 candidate for mayor of New York City. Named by President Obama as a Presidential Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship, he is the founder of Humanity Forward, Venture for America, and the Forward Party. Yang’s New York Times bestselling book The War on Normal People helped introduce the idea of universal basic income into the political mainstream. Andrew shares how through practice, he learned to embody particular rules of power to make effective changes in the world.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• The non-profits he started to improve the operation of America’s electoral system

• A brief overview of his career and entrepreneurial background

• Why he was an accidental presidential candidate

• What the Forward Party stands for

• How his background as an Asian American inhibited him from embracing specific rules of power

• The importance of building a personal brand with a strong social media presence

• Learning new behaviors to promote himself, which in turn benefits his causes

• Why apologizing is not always the right thing to do

• How he re-framed networking to become something enjoyable and rewarding

• The idea of acting and speaking with power

• The romantic motivation he had to put himself into the public sphere

• The athleticism of public speaking

• Coaching and practice to become stronger, better, and more comfortable

• Taking the world as it is and maximizing your ability to do good things within it

GUEST BIO:

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, non-profit leader, and former 2020 presidential candidate.

After working as a lawyer and executive at several early-stage technology companies, Andrew eventually became CEO of an education company that became #1 in the country. He then started a national entrepreneurship non-profit, Venture for America, which worked to empower thousands of young entrepreneurs to bring their dynamism to communities across the country, from New Orleans and Baltimore to Denver and Detroit.

Andrew was named a Presidential Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the White House under the Obama administration and a Champion of Change for his work with Venture for America. Initially dubbed a "longer than long shot" candidate by the New York Times in 2018, Andrew became a top-tier contender for the presidency, raising nearly $40 million in grassroots funding.

With a vision to rewrite the rules of the United States economy through a “Freedom Dividend” of $1,000 a month for every American adult, Andrew became one of the most exciting stories in the 2020 race. Andrew's nationwide support, known as the “Yang Gang,” propelled him to seven Democratic primary debates, outlasting six senators, four governors, three members of Congress, two mayors, and one secretary.

Following this unexpected run for president, Andrew formed the non-profit Humanity Forward, successfully lobbying Congress for direct cash relief for struggling American families during the pandemic while simultaneously distributing over $8 million directly to struggling families.

From his presidential and New York mayoral runs, Andrew has seen first-hand what’s preventing our country from getting things done, and he is now directing his energies towards fixing the machinery of our stagnant democracy. With Forward - Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, Andrew lays out the case for a variety of democracy reform measures that can unclog the pipes of our system and realign the incentives of legislators with the wellbeing of the American people.

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Episode 18 –  Gary Loveman, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO

SHOW NOTES:

Meet Gary Loveman, the former CEO of Caesars, the large casino company, and a former senior executive at Aetna, and now running Well, a health-related startup. Gary made the remarkable transition from being a professor to running a company. He is extraordinarily thoughtful on issues of power and influence, coming in as an outsider and being exceptionally successful.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

• How Gary came from outside into an industry dominated by insiders
• The techniques used to get people on his side and overcome their resistance
• Why critical relationships have to work, and how to make them work
• The value in making unwanted news tolerable for each person affected by it
• The humility, transparency, and feedback involved in collectively reaching goals
• Your duty to shareholders, colleagues, employees, and customers to cultivate working relationships
• Being strategic and thoughtful as you interact with other people
• Overriding certain feelings to present yourself as the leader your organization needs to see
• What’s required to be an effective leader of people who have limited access to you
• Compelling stories around Gary’s determination to tell the truth under all circumstances
• The idea of reputation and sustaining credibility
• The meaning behind his famous maxim, “If you want to be liked, get a dog.”
• His lesson in the forced curve grading distribution at Harvard Business School

GUEST BIO

In 2019, Gary Loveman, Ph.D., co-founded Well, a member engagement platform built to enable every individual to achieve their best health. Well's digital platform combines the member's health history with clinical algorithms, artificial intelligence, and dynamic incentives to guide every member towards improved health and lower costs. Well's platform is supported by a team of expert healthcare professionals, and provides member support across the spectrum of healthcare needs including behavioral health, chronic condition management, health coaching and wellness, benefits and system navigation, pharmacy and telemedicine.

Dr. Loveman is also Senior Lecturer in the Department of Finance at Harvard Business School. He previously taught Service Management in the M.B.A. and executive education programs at the School from 1989-1998. He was named the first recipient of the School’s Apgar Award for excellence and innovation in teaching. Loveman was awarded the B.A. in economics from Wesleyan University, and the Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an Alfred Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellow.

Dr. Loveman left HBS in 1998 and became Chairman, CEO and President of Caesars Entertainment Corporation. During his seventeen year tenure, Dr. Loveman oversaw a period of growth that included several major acquisitions making Caesars the largest and most diversified company in the gaming industry. In 2008, Caesars went private in a $30.7B transaction led by Apollo and TPG. He pioneered the use of cutting-edge technology and data analytics to deliver differentiated customer service and guest loyalty. Dr. Loveman also led the development of Wellness Rewards, Caesars’ widely recognized, incentive-based health and wellness program for the company’s 70,000 employees and their families. He was voted “Best CEO in the Hospitality Industry” for four consecutive years by the Institutional Investor magazine, was inducted into both the Hospitality and Gaming Halls of Fame and is the subject of case studies at HBS and Stanford Business School.

Dr. Loveman joined Aetna in October 2015, serving as President of Consumer Health and Service, Aetna’s health services business through January 2018. The Consumer Health and Services organization was responsible for helping Aetna members achieve their best health and for fostering innovative collaborations with health care providers to improve the overall quality, cost and experience for Aetna members. Dr. Loveman led the company’s population health management and consumer engagement strategies, health and clinical services, care management, digital consumer health products, analytics and data science, pharmacy and marketing areas.

From 2012-2015, Dr. Loveman chaired the Business Roundtable’s Health & Retirement Committee, which focuses on improving the quality and affordability of the nation’s health and retirement systems. He serves on the Board of Trustees at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Board of Directors of the Boston Celtics, where he is a member of the ownership group. Loveman serves on the Board of several private health care companies and served previously on the Visiting Committee of the M.I.T. Department of Economics and the boards of FedEx, Tapestry and Ventas, Inc.

Among Dr. Loveman’s publications include five articles in the Harvard Business Review, two books (with co-authors) and more than 30 HBS case studies.

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Episode 17 – Robin Lumsden, Founder & Managing Partner, Lumsden & Partners

Today, we meet Dr. Robert Lumsden, who has gone from a tennis player to the Special Forces, to law, to business, and now to owning a sports franchise. He is always paying attention to building his brand, getting out of his comfort zone, and thinking about what he can do for other people to build the relationships that will, in turn, make him successful.

Topics discussed:

• The principles of 7 Rules of Power he uses to build his career

• The jobs Robin held before attending Stanford, beginning at age seven

• What it is like to be an adversary for some of the most famous lawyers in the U.S.

• Three of his most significant deals and why he didn’t get a Porsche in one of them

• Why he came to GSB and what he learned there

• Why his goal at GSB was to know the successful professors and business people

• How he got into Condoleezza Rice and Eric Schmidt’s classes

• How he used his time at Stanford to build his brand in Austria

• His motive behind building a fantastic media presence

• The importance of delivering considerable value to your peers

• Overcoming certain cultural barriers

• The varying roles of showing up authentically

• Using specific times of day to your advantage

• The power of getting out of your own way

• Where mentors can lead you

• The power of pictures

• What’s next in Robin’s career

GUEST BIO

Dr. Robin L. Lumsden MSx (Stanford) MA Economics (Stanford) LL.M. (Berkeley)

Robin is the founder and managing partner of M&A law firm Lumsden & Partners, one of the most successful boutique law firms in Austria, founded in recent years. Robin, who is a member of the bar in Austria, New York and Washington D.C. spent more than 15 years as a corporate lawyer and advised clients such as Volkswagen on its €3.9 billion acquisition of Porsche and General Electric on its sale of its plastics division to Sabic for US $11.6 billion.

Whilst conducting his studies at Stanford (MSx & MA in economics) he worked on a digital asset fund with Sebastian Schwarzenegger, invested in blockchain and crypto businesses. He sits on various boards of trusts of high-net-worth individuals. He further was an advisor to Palantir & personally to its CEO Alex Karp, GE, Google and the Schwarzenegger family. Robin is also an officer with the Austrian Special Forces (equivalent to the Navy Seals). His military experience has shaped his character and made him appreciate teamwork.

Previously, as a junior Robin was a professional tennis athlete, playing inter alia at Wimbledon. Recently, Robin acquired the majority of the American Football Franchise, “Vienna Vikings” in Austria, a team that won the EuroBowl (equivalent to the Super Bowl in Europe) in 2022 against Hamburg.

www.lumsden.at

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_0cwys_EMM

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Episode 16 – Dr. Laura Esserman, Professor of Surgery and Radiology UCSF, Director of the UCSF Breast Care Clinic

Dr. Laura Esserman is a leading figure in the transformation of American medicine. Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, Laura is dedicated to increasing the speed at which we learn about new cancer drugs and treatments. She discusses her transformation into becoming a more effective version of herself through storytelling and cultivating empathy with opponents.

Join us and learn about:

• Adjustments in her behavior that make her extraordinarily effective
• The importance of knowing what you want to accomplish over being likable
• Realizing to become successful, she needed to get out of her way
• The listening and give-and-take skills that enable effectiveness
• Allowing the space for people to think differently than yourself
• Finding common ground to accomplish shared goals
• How fear of criticism can impede problem-solving
• Patient-centered care with a ‘no risk, no change’ philosophy
• Going to the mat and doing things for others
• The principles she lives on
• Her lesson with running a mammogram van in San Francisco
• How empathy and understanding aid negotiations
• Using the press and publicity to make change happen
• Why storytelling is paramount for learning
• Her goal of bringing personalized medicine to trials and patients
• The unique skills she brings to her patients that will surprise you

GUEST BIO

Dr. Laura Esserman is Professor of Surgery and Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and director of the UCSF Breast Care Clinic. Her work in breast cancer spans the spectrum from basic science to public policy issues, and the impact of both on the delivery of clinical care. Dr. Esserman is recognized as a thought leader in cancer screening and over-diagnosis, as well as innovative clinical trial design. She led the creation of the University of California-wide Athena Breast Health Network, a learning system designed to integrate clinical care and research as it follows 150,000 women from screening through treatment and outcomes. The Athena Network launched the PCORI-funded Wisdom Study, which tests a personalized approach to breast cancer screening in 100,000 women. She is also a leader of the innovative I-SPY TRIAL model, designed to accelerate the identification and approval of effective new agents for women with high-risk breast cancers.  In 2020, she got FDA approval for an I-SPY COVID trial, designed to rapidly screen and confirm high-impact treatments to reduce mortality and time on ventilators.

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Episode 15 – Phillip Mohabir, Co-Founder & CEO Vivo Surgery

Phillip Mohabir is an executive with IMAX and is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vivo Surgery. He shares how he has used my power materials to accelerate his career, along with the lessons learned from his experience coaching graduate school students and how these lessons are helpful to you.

Topics in this episode: 

• The Rules of Power used to accelerate his career inside IMAX
• What he learned from his coaching experience that can be helpful to you
• What facilitated his move from operations to investor relations
• Vivo Surgery, his virtual classroom start-up with a waitlist of 900 medical students
• The pursuit of his MBA
• The value of increasing visibility to people in positions of power and influence
• Redefining employee evaluation criteria toward the goal of achieving a perfect score
• Why sponsors may be more important than mentors
• Retooling the DCF model learned at Stanford
• Learnings from being a course coach and the impact on careers
• The three most common obstacles to overcome in order to move a career forward
• How to help others overcome impostor syndrome, conflict avoidance, and to become more agentic toward their career
• The importance of self-promotion

GUEST BIO: 

Phillip built his corporate career at IMAX, ascending to various Operations roles, before successfully navigating into Investor Relations and FP&A. He graduated as a Bregman Scholar, for highest academic standing, when completing his Executive MBA at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Since 2018, he has also been a course facilitator for several programs across Stanford GSB, including the online iteration of Professor Pfeffer’s Power course. More recently, he co-founded Vivo Surgery: an online surgical education and training startup that has been increasing access for medical students to learn from surgeons in live operating rooms.

Connect with Phillip on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/phillip-mohabir1

Check out Vivo Surgery:  https://www.vivosurgery.com/

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 14 – Marcelo Miranda, CEO, Consolis Tecnyconta

Marcelo Miranda is CEO of Consolis Tecnyconta, a leading provider of precast concrete solutions in Spain. He shares how he implements the rules of power to build brand and relationships and harnesses power for overall good by using technology to create more sustainable, affordable, and humanized construction for the people. Also, understand how he built an amazing reputation and image by delivering results and being open to working with people in the media.

During our conversation, you’ll learn:

• The benefits of building relationships with human resource associations in Brazil

• How he built his visibility within the executive marketplace in Brazil and then Spain

• How creating a positive image aids advancement and positive results

• Why he was willing to be the face of his organization

• The type of person everyone likes to work with and how to work with challenging personalities

• The story and results behind being on the cover of a major Brazilian business magazine

• The value of having an effective public relations strategy

• Why he pursued an international career

• The lessons used from Dr. Pfeffer’s class and books used in building his career

• The most important lesson for him regarding power

• Working with technology to develop a more sustainable construction sector

• Why, if you want to start something that will make a difference, somehow you have to break the rules

• How perception becomes a reality and the importance of storytelling

• The importance of staying authentic

GUEST BIO

Marcelo Miranda is a Senior General Manager with skills in structuring complex businesses, investments, turnarounds, start-ups, and M&A. Evaluation and development of new businesses and products. Strong skills in innovation and sustainability management. Recognized for people leadership and development of high-performance teams. Strong international exposure.

Member of the Board of Start-ups and Associations.
Honored by Forbes Magazine in Brazil´s list of 10 top CEOs under 40, 2016.
Elected by Korn Ferry, Você SA, and FIA as “one of the CEO’s of the Future” in 2007.
Honored by EY as one of the 3 Sustainable Executives of 2015, Entrepreneur of the Year Prize.
Elected by Encontro Magazine as the Executive of the Year 2015.

www.linkedin.com/in/marcelom-miranda

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 13 – Christina Troitino, Director of Strategy and Operations at Morning Brew

Meet Christina Troitino, the director of strategy and operations for the startup Morning Brew. Christina tells her story about shamelessness, breaking the rules, agency, and surmounting her background prior to attending Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How her Hispanic background and witnessing her family living under the Hugo Chavez regime gave her context to understand how unfair the world can be

• That being aware of power constructs, especially in “unfair” spaces

• How her job at Amazon showed what happens when employees are not treated their best to move forward goals effectively

• The value in accepting the “rules of the road” within power dynamics

• The shameless way she secured having dinner with Martha Stewart at the Sundance Film Festival

• Her writing experience as a Forbes contributor on the food business

• What percentage just asking plays in creating new opportunities

• How breaking the rules serves her career

• The two Stanford GSB events she helped create at the start of the pandemic

• How Paths to Power techniques enabled her to move from her first to her current job

• How she leveraged her role internally consulting for executives at YouTube to accelerate her career

• The importance of being willing to promote yourself, being boldly confident in yourself, and visualizing outcomes

GUEST BIO:

Christina Troitino is a media strategy and tech professional and the Director of Strategy and Operations at Morning Brew. Prior to her current role, Christina worked as a Strategy & Operations Lead at YouTube, where she served Google and YouTube c-suite members in strategic annual planning and operations amid the rise of TikTok. Christina also draws experience from her positions at Meta, General Assembly, and Amazon.

When Christina is not thinking about the future of media, she is thinking about food: She made it to the Top 100 home cooks on MasterChef Season 6 (ranking against 44,000 entrants), she was the subject of an ABC Family pilot about professional women who cook, she was a Forbes.com contributor of 60+ articles and interviews (including: Rene Redzepi, Nathan Myhrvold, Jennifer Garner, RZA, etc) and she founded food site Pâté Smith, aimed at inspiring young people to cook (2.7MM PVs 2015 - 2017).

Christina has an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, and a BA from New York University. She is originally from Albany, NY.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinatroitino/


Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

EPISODE 12 – Lucinda Stewart, Partner, Spencer Stuart

Lucinda Stewart shares the inspiring ways, throughout her career and life, that she has successfully made her way in traditionally male-dominated fields like sports, business, and the Bering Sea. A true example of a business person who embodies the 7 Rules of Power, Lucinda shows how getting others to want to help you on your career journey is integral to success.

Lucinda shares insights on:

• Formative experiences of often being the only woman in certain situations

• The impact her father’s attitude toward her limitless abilities has on her

• Climbing Mount Constance at age 13

• Working on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea

• How the fishing boat got her an instant hire position at Morgan Stanley

• Why we are all capable of doing way more than we think we can do

• The person she befriended for protection in a dangerous situation

• Tips on getting people to help and support you

• Why developing other people is the favorite part of her job

• How she got into the Northwestern MBA program after being turned down

• Pushing the envelope and pushing through

• Her successful initiative to bring more women on boards in Seattle

• Her push-up contest with Jeff Bezos

• The credibility of brand

• Being fearless for a cause or good reason

• Her logic behind training for her first half Ironman

• As a spouse and mother, setting examples and boundaries to balance work

• The interesting story behind marrying her husband

GUEST BIO:

Lucinda Stewart is based in Seattle and is a member of the Private Equity, Healthcare and TMT practices. Lucinda works with many leading Private Equity firms and focuses exclusively on private equity backed executive searches. She specializes in healthcare services and healthcare IT, and the majority of her work is placing CEO and CFOs in leading platforms for her clients. Lucinda brings a career of experience as a PE backed multi-site operator at National Surgery Centers where she ran Corporate Development, a Private Equity investor for a top Healthcare PE firm, Frazier Healthcare, and an investment banker in Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette’s healthcare M&A group.

Lucinda was named “40 Under Forty” by Puget Sound Business Journal, has served on the Mercy Corp Venture Board, and is currently on the Investment Committee of SpringRock, a HCIT venture capital fund. She earned her M.B.A. from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and her B.A. from University of Puget Sound, where she was recruited to play soccer.

www.linkedin.com/in/lucindastewart/

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

Join Vivas Kumar, CEO, and Co-Founder of Mitra Chem, as we discuss why power and influence are essential topics for people doing their own startups. This episode packs an incredible set of actionable insights from a leader in the race to end climate change. Vivas explains how he used and will continue to use the concepts learned in my The Paths to Power class at Stanford GSB.

In this episode, you will learn:

• The motivation for Vivas’ family to move to the U.S. from Singapore 20 years ago

• His realization that education goes well beyond just books

• Why just putting your head down and working hard to be successful is not true

• Who plays by a different set of rules, and the results gained

• Acquiring power and influence to enact positive change in the world

• Mitra Chem’s mission to solve climate change and how it got funded

• What he learned from working for Elon Musk

• Why IQ and EQ have certain limits while relationships have none

• Transforming relationships into resources

• The learned skills of speaking and acting with power and confidence

• Joining Toastmasters to get out of his own way and a critical skill learned

• Going beyond the fear of failure and failing with integrity

• Vivas’ ability to create resources and activate his network

• Marrying confidence with urgency to solve a global problem

• How he built an identity associated with solving the problem of batteries

• Why in-person meetings build credibility and gravitas

• The ultimate two resources

• What to do rather than ask someone for an investment

GUEST BIO

Vivas Kumar is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mitra Chem. He was previously at Tesla as a senior manager responsible for the global battery supply chain, and a Principal at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. He earned a BS in electrical engineering from Rice University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivaswathkumar/

Produced by The www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Laura Chau shares how her story of origin, along with some of the 7 Rules of Power, like getting out of her own way and building a powerful brand, enable her to lean into the power she has cultivated in her career as a General Partner at Canaan.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• The role conscious brand building plays in achieving and maintaining power

• How to best work within current constructs of the world to create effective change

• The importance of a defined brand and voice as tools to achieve goals

• Why ambition as a personality dimension predicts success

• How culture and upbringing can contain scripts that are not useful

• The avenues she used to build power: a podcast, panel events, conferences, a Clubhouse show, Substack, Medium

• Getting maximum mileage out of everything she does because time is limited

• The value in making sure people remember you

• Why your personal style is a reflection of more than fashion

• Staying top-of-mind to ensure you don’t miss opportunities

• How Laura gains new clients

GUEST BIO w/ social links:

Laura Chau is a General Partner at Canaan, an early-stage venture capital firm, where she leads the consumer technology investment practice and serves on numerous boards.

Laura was one of the first employees at Kabam, one of Canaan’s portfolio companies that was acquired by Netmarble in 2017. She has also worked at Branch Metrics and Greenhouse in sales and marketing functions, in addition to working closely with Marie Kondo, Netflix star and author ofThe Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, to help launch her venture-backed e-commerce business.

Laura holds a B.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum.

Laura's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-chau/
Laura's Substack: https://laurachau.substack.com/
Laura's Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurachau

Produced by The MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Daryn Dodson is the founder and managing director of Illumen Capital and is an African American who is changing the world of investable assets so that more women and people of color have a more significant role in investing the multiple trillions of dollars. Daryn shares his personal history along with business philosophies inspired by The 7 Rules of Power.

In Episode 9 you’ll learn:

• How Daryn’s family history of integrating Washington, D.C., informs his mission of working for justice, equity, and inclusion

• The impact of applied education

• The program he built to rebuild lives and businesses after Hurricane Katrina

• His work to ensure entrepreneurs of color and women-led firms have access to capital

• The value of working on biases toward women and people of color

• What counterintuitively happens when implicit bias is removed

• A guiding principle learned from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Fiduciary duty and the experiment he conducted with asset allocators

• Why publishing findings encourage boards of pension funds, university endowments, and investment committees to go after the often overlooked and underestimated market of people of color and women

• How he has used Rules of Power to: Get out of your own way / Build a brand / Break the rules

• How bias increases during periods of high stress

GUEST BIO w/ social links:

Daryn is a passionate advocate of social and economic justice, especially for disadvantaged and marginalized groups. His work with impact investors, private equity funds, Fortune 100 companies, universities, and foundations has been viewed through the lens of addressing the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.

Daryn previously led the Special Equities Program as a consultant to the Board of the Calvert Funds, a $12 billion pioneer of the impact investing field. Through this vehicle, Calvert maintains a portfolio of more than 40 funds on five continents, representing over 350 underlying portfolio companies. Prior to serving as a consultant to Calvert, Daryn served as Director of University and Corporate Partnership for The Idea Village, where he created a platform engaging leading private equity firms, business schools, and Fortune 500 companies to invest over 100,000 hours and $2 million into more than 1,000 New Orleans entrepreneurs post-Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Dodson currently serves on the Board of Directors for Ben and Jerry’s. He earned his M.B.A. from Stanford, where he serves on the Dean’s Management Board, and his A.B. from Duke University.

Daryn's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryndodson/
Illumen Capital: https://www.illumencapital.com/applied-research

Produced by The www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Valerie Shen is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at G2 Venture Partners, overseeing all operational aspects of the firm, which has almost one billion dollars under management. Valerie exemplifies many of the principles within the book 7 Rules of Power and speaks with us about how she began (yes, began) her career as a Chief Operating Officer for a venture capital firm.

In this episode:

• Valerie’s background before attending business school

• Her pivotal internship

• How she landed her job as a Chief Operating Officer

• Why she accepted the position

• How she met her mentor by sending a cold email

• The importance of choosing a focus within the company’s roles

• The importance of differentiating yourself

• What a COO does in a venture fund

• The rules of power used to get such a high-level role so early in her career

• Taking a position that matches your natural skillsets and what you enjoy

• Crafting a job that plays to your abilities

• How she got her job as COO at G2 Venture Partners

• A provocative take on her experience of being an Asian woman in tech

• The danger in highlighting differences

• The issue of cognitive load

• Advice on having the willingness and ability to self-promote

GUEST BIO w/ social links:

Valerie Shen is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at G2 Venture Partners. She oversees all operational aspects of the firm and fund, including fundraising / LP relations, recruiting / HR, fund administration, impact reporting, legal, compliance, and marketing.

Prior to business school, Valerie was an analyst at Kleiner Perkins’ $1B Green Growth Fund, where she helped the team found G2. Before that, Valerie was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked across four continents, primarily on energy projects. She has also held positions at the U.S. Senate, X (Google’s “moonshot factory”), Goldman Sachs, Jane Street Capital, and The Wilderness Society.

Valerie holds a B.A. degree summa cum laude in Environmental Science & Public Policy and Earth & Planetary Sciences from Harvard University. She holds an M.B.A. and M.S. in Environment and Resources from Stanford University, where she was a Siebel Scholar and an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Website: https://www.g2vp.com/valerie-shen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-shen/

Produced by The www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Meet Sadiq Gillani, a Senior Advisor for travel at Attestor Capital, where he is Chairman The Advisory Board for Condor, the second largest airline in Germany. We discuss how he used his association with Lufthansa to leverage his career, his career philosophy, how he spots new opportunities, personal brand building within a corporation, and surviving the departures of people who hired him at Lufthansa and Emirates. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Using ideas of power to leverage knowledge and experience toward becoming more successful

• His series of career moves created by proactively managing his career

• Using power as an amplification of performance

• Leveraging platforms and identifying opportunities as they appear

• What put him in the ecosystem of travel startups

• His experience lecturing at Stanford for six years

• How internal and external activities simultaneously reinforce company and personal brands

• Aligning his interests with the company’s for mutual benefit

• Repositioning himself as an expert on innovation within the travel industry

• The questions he asks to spot new opportunities

• His transition entirely to a portfolio career, sitting on boards, and advisory work

• A word of caution on personal brand building within a corporation

• The connection, interdependence, and interplay between the external and internal

• Why looking ahead to future implications of current work can pay big dividends

• The importance of staying relevant to your network

• The trade-off between risk and return within a career

• The importance of getting more operating experience to broaden out

• Looking broadly into your role within your company

• Surviving the departures of the people who hired him at Lufthansa and Emirates

• The value of having mentors and friends within your organization

• Cultivating internally diversified relationships

GUEST BIO:

Sadiq is a Senior Advisor for travel at Attestor Capital, where he is Chairman of the Advisory Board for Condor, the second-largest airline in Germany. He sits on the board of eTraveli, an online travel agency owned by CVC Partners, and the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council for Travel.

Sadiq is also an Executive Coach and is creating a self-development program based on the work of Carl Jung. He started an MBA course at Stanford on the Travel & Airline industry and was a lecturer there from 2014-2020. He previously headed up the in-house consulting and transformation team of Emirates Group, reporting to Sir Tim Clark. He spent seven years with Lufthansa Group, where he was the Chief Strategy & Innovation officer, reporting to the CEO, and was Head of Network & Fleet at Eurowings.

He began his career as a strategy consultant with Bain & Co. and was a partner at Seabury, a boutique airline consulting firm (now part of Accenture). He completed his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School and holds a B.A. and M.Phil in Management Studies from Cambridge University. He was included in the Financial Times' Top 100 leaders list, the World Economic Forum´s Young Global Leaders, and Capital Magazine's Top 40 under 40.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website www.sadiqgillani.com
Instagram @sadiq.gillani
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/sgillani

Produced by The www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Meet former Chief Investment Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust and board member of several organizations including Oregon Public Broadcasting (and former student of mine), Rukaiyah Adams. We discuss how she uses power to overcome career challenges and how the personal and professional intersect to affect career decisions and success.

Discussed in this episode:

• Forging a career in finance after receiving her JD and MBA from Stanford Business School

• How fewer than 2% of the trillions of dollars in managed assets are managed by women or people of color – and what rare breed this makes Rukaiyah

• Being asked to run for mayor of Portland

• Overcoming early career challenges

• The advantage of operating differently from her peers

• The value in understanding roles to acquire power

• How not being perceived as a threat facilitated advancement

• The non-linear trajectory when the personal and professional intersect

• Her values of family, making space for love, and work feeding her spirit

• What informed her decision to move from the East to the West Coast

• Being open to what her spirit needs to open clarity in professional outcomes

• Lessons learned in class that have propelled her to a position of prominence

• Interrogating power

• How power actually happens

• The pressures of running a foundation and the importance of the team

• Moving forward without certainty of the next step

• Creating a platform to talk about ways American capitalism needs to evolve

• The consideration of finding a partner who compliments and supports your career

• The most significant business decision of any career

• Seeing the residue of slavery everywhere in finance

• Stepping from being an object in capitalism to a subject in control of capital
  
  

GUEST BIO:

Through August 2022, Rukaiyah Adams was the Chief Investment Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust. Her team ensured the long-term financial strength of the organization. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Adams consistently delivered top quartile performance. In 2017, her team’s performance placed Meyer in the top 5% of foundation and endowment CIOs. The team remains among the best. Under her leadership, Meyer increased assets managed by diverse managers by more than 3x, to 40% of all assets under management, and by women managers by 10x, to 25% of AUM, proving that hiring diverse managers is not a concessionary practice.

Before joining Meyer, Ms. Adams ran the $6.5 billion capital markets fund at The Standard, then a publicly-traded company. At The Standard, she oversaw six trading desks that included several bond strategies, preferred equities, derivatives and other risk mitigation strategies.

Ms. Adams started her career as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher and Flom.

Ms. Adams was a recent chair of the prestigious Oregon Investment Council, the board that manages approximately $100 billion of public pension and other assets for the State of Oregon.

Ms. Adams serves on the boards of directors of Albina Vision Trust, Self Enhancement Inc. Foundation, Oregon Public Broadcasting and Oregon Health and Science University Foundation, as well as on the investment committee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She also sits on Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

She has given two Ted talks. Her 2016 Ted talk — A Homegirl’s Guide to Being Powerful — about her path to becoming a more thoughtful investor and the role of investment capital in achieving social justice has more than 11,000 views.

Ms. Adams holds a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College, a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

SOCIALS:

Twitter: RukaiyahAdams
LinkedIn: Rukaiyah
Instagram: MissRukaiyah

Produced by the www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES: 

Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur and angel investor, amongst many other things, and shares with us three rules of power that have made him an incredibly effective business person.

• How Jason turned $100,000 into $100 million
• Growing up in middle-class Brooklyn
• Fixing laser printers by day and going to Fordham at night
• The unconventional way he got into Fordham • Willingness to break the rules
• The power of frequency
• Why there is always room for an exception
• Creative distribution of his publications
• What made Digital Dim Sum a success
• The importance of networking and relationships
• Standing up for who you believe in
• Creating smart controversy
• The lasting impressions of hosting high-quality events
• A valuable technique for introducing guests
• Creating strength when nobody’s opinion matters
• Demonstrable Growth – what it is and why it works
• The Tipping Technique
• The three rules of power that contribute to Jason’s success

JASON’S BIO:

Jason Calacanis is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and podcaster. He is known for being an early investor in companies such as Robinhood and Uber. Overall he has invested in 300 startups, four of which have reached billion-dollar valuations. Jason is also a co-founder of Weblogs, Inc., which was instrumental in the dot-com era of online blogging.

In 2009 Jason founded Open Angel Forum, an event that helps startups find angel investors. Jason’s book Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000 was published in 2017.

Jason currently resides in San Francisco, California. Dr. Pfeffer has been on Jason’s podcast This Week in Startups four times.

Jason’s blog: https://calacanis.com/

Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/

Produced by the www.MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Dr. Sarah Buchner shares what she’s learned in my Paths to Power class at Stanford in the MBA program and how she’s successfully applied power to her career as the Queen of Construction.

• How the power game began for her when she started her career at age 12 in Austria

• The ways she learned to show her power

• The advantages of being an outsider

• The uniqueness of her PhD

• Why she always uses “Dr.” in her email signature

• How she financed her PhD

• Ideas about breaking the rules and standing out

• What from the class and book, 7 Rules of Power, are helping launch her startup

• The boldest networking moves she’s made

• The benefits of getting out of your way

• What she’s done with branding herself in terms of appearance and acting with power to build her brand

• The secret to her handshake and other branding decisions

• Why her first business cards stood out

• How success has helped activate the “success excuses everything” principle

• Networking the right way

• The bold statement she made to a board member while in her 20s

SARAH’S BIO:

Dr. Sarah Buchner holds a PhD in civil systems engineering/data science and a Stanford MBA and is a serial entrepreneur in the construction tech space. She is the definition of self-made: growing up in a tiny village in Austria in a non-college family she started her career when she was 12 years old as a carpenter and worked her way up in the construction industry. Her current startup (performance management software/fintech) targets the skilled labor shortage in the US. She is starting with the construction industry, but her plan is to expand into oil and gas, mining, agriculture and other spaces where there is a tight (day) labor market. Her mission is to put more money back into the people's pocket who actually do the work: the craft.

Sarah's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-buchner/

Produced by the MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Jon Levy is a behavioral scientist specializing in human connection, trust, and influence. He is the author of the New York Times Best Seller “You’re Invited”, and Founder of Influencers, the secret dining experience and private community. Jeffrey speaks to Jon about how he started his Influencer Dinners and shares some of the amazing content from his book.

• How Levy started hosting Influencer Dinners
• Why relationships, connections, and trust lead to an extraordinary life
• The model Levy developed after researching the behavior of highly influential people
• What has been learned after hosting 2500 people at 266 dinners in 11 cities in four countries
• What highly influential people need instead of another rubber chicken dinner
• What reading about scientific concepts does for Levy’s life
• How the IKEA effect accelerates the rate at which people bond
• Why vulnerability creates trust (and how it’s the opposite of what corporate America tries to do)
• The unseen loneliness of some influential and important people
• The five concerns of billionaires when meeting people
• Elements that create a memorable event
• The three things not sharing dinner guest’s professions until after dinner does toward building connection
• The most significant factor in Levy’s success
• What draws crowds and creates a committed group of people

JON'S BIO:

Jon Levy is a behavioral scientist and NY Times Best Selling author known for his work in human connection, trust, and influence. Jon specializes in applying the latest research to transform the ways companies approach marketing, sales, consumer engagement, and culture. His clients range from Fortune 500 brands, like Microsoft, Google, AB-InBev, and Samsung, to startups.

More than a decade ago, Levy founded The Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience for industry leaders ranging from Nobel laureates, Olympians, celebrities, and executives, to artists, musicians, and even the Grammy winning voice of the bark from “Who Let the Dogs Out.” Guests cook dinner together but can’t discuss their careers or give their last names. Once seated to eat, they reveal who they are. Over time, these dinners developed into a community. With thousands of members, Influencers is the largest community of its type worldwide.

Jon’s second book, You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust and Belonging, was released to critical acclaim quickly rising as an international best seller. In it Levy demonstrates the importance of trust, and community to accomplishing what is most important to us.

In his free time, Jon works on outrageous projects. Among them spending a year traveling to all 7 continents, or to the world's greatest events (Grand Prix, Art Basel, Burning Man, Running of the Bulls, etc.) and barely surviving to tell the tale. These Adventures were chronicled in his first book: The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure

Produced by the MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES:

Benjamin Fernandes, CEO and founder of Nala, the African payment system, and former student of Jeffrey Pfeffer, discusses how dedication creates opportunities in starting a business. Nala’s valuation is $100 million and their ultimate mission is to increase economic opportunity for Africa globally.

• How hosting a local TV show at age 17 exposed him to the business of mobile cross-border payments in Africa
• The door his unique ability to keep people’s attention opened
• How Nala is working to reduce the cost of sending money globally into and out of Africa
• What ideas Fernandes found helpful for building his business from Pfeffer’s class at Stanford
• Advice on fighting imposter syndrome
• A unique protocol-breaking technique that ultimately gained Nala investors
• The benefits of being proactive versus reactive
• The value in having employees take responsibility for their role
• What being scrappy brought to Nala
• Why building relationships and networking matter and create leverage
• Showing up for yourself and the people you work for
• The education found in talking with founders
• Three questions to ask a founder

BENJAMIN'S BIO:

Benjamin Fernandes is an award-winning Tanzanian speaker and entrepreneur. Benjamin grew up in Tanzania, then earned scholarships that took him to America for the first time at the age of 17.

At age 21, Benjamin was the youngest African in history to ever be accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an Exec Ed from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, being the first Tanzanian to attend both institutions.

Fernandes was previously a national television personality in Tanzania. After that, he worked at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the United States.

In 2018, Fernandes founded Nala, a fintech startup that is on a mission to increase economic opportunity for Africans globally. NALA recently raised $10m backed by leading US investors such as Y-Combinator, Accel, Amplo and Bessemer Partners.

In 2020, Fernandes was listed as the 15th most influential Tanzanian. In 2022, Fernandes was listed in the inaugural ROW100 most influential technology leaders in the world.

Web and Social Media:
https://www.nala.com/
https://www.instagram.com/benji_fernandes/
https://twitter.com/Benji_Fernandes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminf7/
https://www.facebook.com/fernandes.benjamin7

Produced by the MunnAvenuePress.com

SHOW NOTES

Deb Liu, CEO of the $4.7 billion company Ancestry, author of Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work and a former student of Jeffrey Pfeffer, Ph.D shares how she overcame enormous amounts of challenges and career discrimination, why amplifying your work is a generous act, and questions to bring you to reaching your career goals more efficiently.

• How her careers at PayPal, eBay, and Facebook helped her learn to use her voice to overcome challenges
• The challenges Asian women face in their careers and how she overcame them
• How she actively worked to change her shy nature to cultivate power and executive presence
• Why asking for help and resources is a sign of strength
• How differently telling the story of a product shifts support and revenue
• How a core team of four expanded to twelve and the impact that team created
• The Hero’s Journey in relation to projects, failure, and changing perspective
• The importance of sharing more about the work you are doing, especially to your manager
• A new way to look at self-promotion
• How people are willing to engage in power and influence if they don’t think it’s for selfish motives
• The value in giving your team credit
• Recommendations she makes to other women
• Questions to ask to bring you closer to reaching your job and income goals
• The importance of a learning mindset
• Creating balance at home

DEBORAH'S BIO

Deborah Liu is a seasoned technology executive based in Silicon Valley. She is currently the president and CEO of Ancestry, the company at the forefront of family history and consumer genomics. Prior to this, she served on the leadership team of Facebook, where she was the vice president of Facebook App Commerce. During her time there, she founded Facebook Marketplace and created Facebook Pay, Facebook Audience Network, and App Ads. Previously, she spent several years at PayPal, where she led the eBay marketplace product team, created the charitable donations and social commerce teams, and worked in corporate strategy. An alum of Duke and Stanford University, she also serves on the board of Intuit and is cofounder of the nonprofit Women in Product. She lives with her husband, three kids, and mom in California. 

Deb's Newsletter: https://debliu.substack.com/
Book order link: https://amzn.to/3FmjU0v

Produced by the MunnAvenuePress.com