From Shy to Davos (World Economic Forum)
Plus: Do you have the "Founder Itch?" How to know if the startup plunge is right for you
Hello, it’s Ethan & Jason. Welcome to Level Up: Your source for executive insights, high performance habits, and specific career growth actions.
4 upcoming events:
(June 11) Top 3 Product Insights from Stripe, Amazon, & Airbnb. Ethan & Rohan (Product at Airbnb; ex-Stripe) breakdown each. RSVP here.
(June 19) Who executives promote and why. We will answer questions first using EthanGPT and then Ethan will add more insight. RSVP here.
(July 9) How to build Executive Presence. We will answer questions first using EthanGPT and then Ethan will add more insight. RSVP here.
(July 10) How to ask for what you need & what to do if you get a 'no'. Ethan & Chaitali (CTO; x-Google Director) share what you need to know. RSVP here.
Start-up Journey, Coaching Executives, & An Inside Guide to Getting into High Profile Events with Ethan Evans & Alisa Cohn
Watch on YouTube.
Should I join a startup or should I found my own business?
Given that so many people dream of a startup journey, listen to my talk with Alisa Cohn (Global CEO Coach) where we discuss how to know if or when to take this plunge yourself. Alisa has coached multiple startup CEOs, including Venmo, Etsy, and DraftKings. She has a great podcast that I was on, called From Start-Up to Grown-Up, about how to grow in your leadership as your company grows.
Alisa also lived on of my own dreams, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She has a theory and a process on how to get the most out of major events.
I've had the privilege of being invited to attend multiple TED Conferences and there is an art to not only getting into these types of high profile events, but how to maximize your time there, and how follow-up with people you've met afterwards. We cover Alisa’s advice as a seasoned event veteran (e.g. Davos, TED, Renaissance Weekend, Summit, her own mastermind groups, and more).
Follow Alisa on LinkedIn and checkout her newsletter.
Key Lessons
FEAR is the number one reason holding people back from starting their own business or joining a startup — take these 3 actions to overcome it . The first step this is to articulate and identify what your fears are (common reasons below). The second step is to understand what you are getting yourself into (e.g. a startup has more chaos, autonomy, bigger impact, little to no support). The third step is to “Operationalize Being a Learner” by finding multiple mentors to help you think through your career and expand your network, and put yourself in situations where you are forced to learn on the job or in volunteer work (e.g. create a budget, lead without formal authority, learn a technical skill).
“I won’t get the job.”
“It won’t work out and people will laugh at me.” (ego risk)
“It will work out for me BUT I will now have to actually face this thing I’ve been dreaming about.” (the dream has become a reality and it’s scary)
“I will get the job, take a pay cut, then the startup will go under, and now I am unemployed in a tough market.” (financial risk — know your expenses, burn rate, and your plan B is something bad happens)
Top career benefits of working at a startup that people overlook. Rapid progress and big impact directly attributed to you, working with a group of intensely passionate and interesting people, and fast leadership advancement while learning many different domains.
Be a “Heads Up Player.” Pay attention to who is getting ahead in your company and why. What skills do they have. What traits do they exhibit. Especially if you think the other person is a “nincompoop” realize that someone does not think so, thus, get out of your head and find out what makes them valuable.
Entrepreneurs are born. Alisa had Gary Vaynerchuk on her podcast and he said “I was entrepreneurial out of the womb” (at 6 years old, he did not start a lemonade stand…he started a lemonade franchise hiring the neighborhood kids and his sister). People who found companies have this “itch” — they cannot work for other people, have a high risk tolerance, and cannot stop (e.g. many of Alisa’s Founder/CEO clients are on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th successful startup).
The main differences between being the Founder vs early team: only the founder is the one who took the real risk, raised the money, and dealing with all the inevitable startup problems.
Believe it or not…but Alisa used to be VERY SHY — here’s how she overcome it and became a connector powerhouse. While a young Chief of Staff to a University Provost, Alisa had to co-host faculty mixers (10x a year), she did a deal with herself “I will just go, shake hands with people, meet 2 people to have a conversation, and then I will leave.” After 20x events, Alisa became good at mixing with people (aka she built the muscle by putting in the reps) by letting herself be embarrassed and giving herself little assignments.
Five (5) tactical steps to maximize your time at events.
Before you go, remind yourself who you are, who you are at your best, and get into the mindset of the moments where you shine.
Realize and be comfortable knowing that not every conversation will be great and some will be awkward.
Have a set of back pocket questions. Get Alisa’s PDF on questions to spark a conversation here.
Have a clear mission in mind. For example, walk up to 10 people, introduce yourself, talk to them, and find out a great story about them that they’re not telling everybody else.
The way to walk away from someone is to say “It’s been so great talking to you, I’m going to mingle a little bit.” (it’s not a problem because everyone is there to mingle, just like you!)
“I’m going to coach Bill Clinton.” Early in her coaching career, this was Alisa’s goal. Step one was meet Bill Clinton. Alisa found out that he attended Renaissance Weekend, so she called her most connected friend, got nominated, and 6 weeks later she got in (PS — Bill was not there but Alisa met him years later). The key point is Alisa had a goal and took big and small actions everyday to get closer to the goal, and while on that path, she uncovered life-changing side journeys.
You must build a BROAD and DEEP network. Majority of your opportunities will come from broad “loose ties” relationships, for example, oftentimes Alisa will meet someone for the first time, they learn she is a coach, and then say “I know someone who needs a coach!” Remember, the thing that you need, may be really easy for someone else to help with.
If you are new to events, get started with one event a year. Then move up to two, then three. Pick events that are relevant to you in terms of goals and people you want to meet. Ask your friends / network “I’m trying to attend more events this year, what are the most interesting event’s you’ve been a part of?”
Put out interesting conversation threads in the world because you never know how it ties with people. For example, I (Jason) mentioned to Alisa that I live in Honolulu and it so happened she was stopping by in a few weeks.
We met in-person (for the first time) and had a wonderful conversation ranging from:
How Alisa came to be good friends with Marshall Goldsmith.
Hobbies from flying, surfing, and travel.
The small world of Cincinnati and how it ties to our significant others.
LOL personal stories.
Career milestone reflections.
Alisa is a force of power — positive sum energy, thoughtful and fun conversationalist, and someone who intentionally seeks (and invites) grand ADVENTURE.
Connect with her on LinkedIn, subscribe to her newsletter, and if you see her at an event, go strike up a conversation!
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Connect With Ethan & Jason
Follow Ethan on LinkedIn.
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Learn more about Ethan’s live online courses and on-demand courses.
Contact us for corporate training, keynote speaking, guest writing, and more.
More lessons on how to be a high-value networker, watch/read Jason’s talk with Andrew Yeung (Founder & Investor; ex-Google; ex-Meta).
More advice from rocketship founders, watch/read Jason’s talk with Dee Murthy (Co-Founder, Ghost) on what he looks for in his executive team and Jason’s talk with Brian Distelburger (Cofounder of Windmill & Yext) on lessons from startup to IPO.