Matt Curtis on How to Use Positivity to Give More Helpful Feedback

In Chapter 16 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, Matt Curtis answers "What Type of Feedback Do You Respond to Best?" Curtis finds he responds best to feedback that acknowledges his work, is frequently given and is done in a positive tone. Whether it is about something he could do better or something he has done well, Curtis finds these three feedback elements motivate him best at work.

Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was deputy to Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He has represented the City of Austin at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. In 2011, Curtis joined the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Policy Advisory Board to work on national best practices facing American cities. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Improve Advocate and Sponsor Relationships

In Chapter 5 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "What Role Have Advocate and Sponsor Relationships Played in Your Development?" Goswami reflects on what he learned form his mentor, Martin, who passed away over the past year. He finds mentorship, advocacy and sponsorship are all about finding alignment with another to facilitate mutual stewardship. This alignment creates a common ground to help the relationship flourish and generate results through mentorship, advocacy, and sponsor actions.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Matt Curtis on How to Find Common Ground in a Negotiation

In Chapter 17 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, Matt Curtis answers "What Role Do Negotiation Skills Play in Your Work?" Curtis shares how he negotiates often in his work and how being being a patient, friendly active listener helps him find common ground and win-win outcomes in negotiations. He finds this is especially true negotiating common ground working with government, given concessions are nearly always part of a negotiation.

Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was deputy to Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He has represented the City of Austin at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. In 2011, Curtis joined the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Policy Advisory Board to work on national best practices facing American cities. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Empower a Stewardship Ethic in Others

In Chapter 6 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are You Learning to Empower Others to Be Community Stewards?" Goswami shares how he first has one-on-one coaching conversations with others. He then employs models of experience to visualize the journey stewards might take and how that compares with something like community service. This then allows him to refine what it means to steward and how that energy will express itself.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Matt Curtis on Building Strategic Partnerships With Local Government

In Chapter 18 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, Matt Curtis answers "How Are You Improving How Your Company Builds Strategic Partnerships?" Curtis shares how working with local government stakeholders on local government issues is about not forcing issues on another party. Instead, Curtis creates construtive dialogues to help him understand both sides and build consensus on the right path to take. He finds it helpful to engage in local government groups such as Congress for New Urbanism, The National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors and the Urban Land Institute to work through best practices.

Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was deputy to Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He has represented the City of Austin at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. In 2011, Curtis joined the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Policy Advisory Board to work on national best practices facing American cities. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas. 

Bijoy Goswami on Simplifying Focus To Do More Impactful Work

In Chapter 7 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "On a Daily Basis, What Does It Means to Contribute in the Work That You Do?" Goswami shares how the contribution he makes in his work as a steward to help others on their journey is rooted in focusing his energy on journey stewardship each and every day. By taking a singular focus on stewardship, Goswami can repurpose this action across different mediums, from a YouTube cartoon project to speaking engagements to writing.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Matt Curtis on Why Transparency is Key to Collaboration Success

In Chapter 19 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, Matt Curtis answers "What Have You Found to Be the Keys to Creating Successful Project Collaborations?" Curtis finds the key to a successful project collaboration is being transparent. For Curtis, transparency opens a collaborative conversation or negotiation more directly toward moving forward with a solutions-focused outcome.

Matt Curtis is the director of government relations at HomeAway Inc. Previously he was deputy to Austin mayors Lee Leffingwell and Will Wynn. He has represented the City of Austin at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. In 2011, Curtis joined the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Policy Advisory Board to work on national best practices facing American cities. He earned his bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas. 

Bijoy Goswami on Rethinking What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "What is a Journey Entrepreneur and How is One Different Than a Traditional Entrepreneur?" Goswami shares two definitions of what it means to be an entrepreneur. The first is the opportunistic entrepreneur who sees a strategic opportunity to make money and pursues that by starting a company. The second is what Goswami terms a "Journey Entrepreneur" who seeks to express himself or herself in the most clear way possible while fully embracing a motivating passion. He shares how Christian Louboutin, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson all represent journey entrepreneurs who stay true to values and seek to express themselves by following their passion.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Make Progress By Living in the Present

In Chapter 11 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "As a Business Owner, How Do You Decide What Time Horizon to Focus on in Your Work?" Goswami finds he is more capable of achieving goals by living in the present and not making long-term plans. He embraces living on a journey that often takes unexpected turns and gives himself flexibility to take those turns when things go differently than planned.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Get Paid by Sharing What You Know for Free

In Chapter 12 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "How is Your Business Model Evolving as You Gain Experience?" Goswami shares how his business model blends giving away knowledge for free with getting paid to help clients solve specific problems. As an author, speaker and teacher, Goswami uses different means to freely share knowledge and create value. Using Google search as a comparable he then looks for ways, specifically management consulting, to scope out work specific to individual customers.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Make Your Talk a Class You Can Teach

In Chapter 13 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "How Did You Learn to Translate a Keynote Talk into a Class or Workshop?" Goswami shares how he treats his audience as co-learners going on a learning journey together with him. He builds on this by turning a one-way talk into a conversation. Working with Siminars.com, Goswami finds motivating audience members or students to do work and be active, not passive, is the start of translating talk to class or workshop. From there he adds the element of time to plan out a more formal learning journey.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Turn a Presentation into a Conversation

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "How Did You Learn to Give a More Effective South By Southwest Panel and Talk?" Goswami shares how he finds speaking solo or speaking on a panel is about turning that one-way dialogue into a two-way conversation with an audience. At South By Southwest, he gravitates toward more social meetups and core conversation structures. For him it is all about identifying audience backgrounds and interests and tailoring a presentation to meet their needs.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Receive Feedback by Communicating Better

In Chapter 15 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "What Type of Feedback Do You Respond to Best?" Goswami finds he can receive feedback best when others clearly understand what he is trying to do. This requires him to put a greater emphasis on communicating clearly and effectively to be understood so the feedback can be relevant and targeted.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Bijoy Goswami on How to Turn Constraints Into Opportunities

In Chapter 16 of 17 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, community leader Bijoy Goswami answers "How Are You Learning to Do More With Less?" Goswami shares how it is not about doing more with less but recognizing that doing more with more is a better way achieved by taking a different point of view on the situation. He references the bootstrap metaphor from the Baron Munchausen story where Munchausen pulls himself up by magical bootstraps to have himself and his horse from drowning in a swamp.

Bijoy Goswami is a writer, teacher, and community leader based in Austin, Texas. He develops learning models to help individuals, organizations and communities live more meaningfully. Previously, he co-founded Aviri Software after working at Trilogy Software. Goswami graduated from Stanford University. 

Audrey French on Why to Have Advocates and Sponsors in Your Life

In Chapter 13 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, new mother Audrey Parker French answers "What Role Have Advocate and Sponsor Relationships Played in Your Development?" French shares how sposors and advocates - people who not only give advice but provide support to help put that advice to work - have been instrumental in both her personal and professional growth. Professionally, CLEAResult president Glenn Garland, who advocates for her as she learns through failure. Personally, French's best friend advocates for French as she becomes a new wife and a mother.

Audrey Parker French is a new mother living with her husband and son in Austin, Texas. Before leaving work to focus on family, French co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She graduated from Wake Forest University. 

Audrey French on How to Receive Feedback and Put It to Good Use

In Chapter 16 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, new mother Audrey Parker French answers "What Type of Feedback Do You Respond to Best?" French finds she responds to constructive, positive feedback best. When feedback is angled toward making her feel bad or worse or else make her feel like she is wrong, French finds she closes down. When feedback is build on how to make something better and feels like it is coming from a sincere place of trying to help, French responds much better.

Audrey Parker French is a new mother living with her husband and son in Austin, Texas. Before leaving work to focus on family, French co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She graduated from Wake Forest University. 

Audrey French on Why Not to Fear Confrontation

In Chapter 18 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, new mother Audrey Parker French answers "What Has Experience Taught You About How to Better Manage Confrontation?" French shares how she has overcome a fear of confrontation by not taking emotional outbursts from others, especially anger, personally.

Audrey Parker French is a new mother living with her husband and son in Austin, Texas. Before leaving work to focus on family, French co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She graduated from Wake Forest University. 

Audrey French on How to Get More Comfortable With Negotiation

In Chapter 19 of 21 in her 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, new mother Audrey Parker French answers "How Are You Using Negotiation Skills in Your Life?" French shares how she has a lot in common with many other women in that she has not been comfortable with the win-lose concept of negotiation. As she negotiates more by selling a condo, buying a house, selling a car and setting a consulting pay rate, she finds seeking win-win negotiation scenarios mae her feel better about negotiating.

Audrey Parker French is a new mother living with her husband and son in Austin, Texas. Before leaving work to focus on family, French co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm she helped grow to #144 on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies and then sell to General Catalyst Partners. She graduated from Wake Forest University.