TLP035: Leadership and Selling - The Product is You

Co-hosts Jan Rutherford and Jim Vaselopulos interview Greg Adams and Blake Miles. Greg was a Special Forces officer, and is now the Co-founder and CEO of Stabilitas, a real-time threat intelligence and communication platform for security professionals working at global organizations. Blake was a Special Forces soldier, and currently is working as the Director of Support for Stabilitas. Greg and his team help safeguard companies and secures travelers with location specific safety information and a lifeline to help, all through their smartphones. Listen in to learn more about how these former Special Forces operators bring military-strength intelligence to corporate security. Key Takeaways [4:24] The Stabilitas team mission is to keep stakeholders safe, communicating risks arising from world conditions. [13:32] Greg had had a learning experience in Afghanistan, where his fundamental assumptions were challenged. Greg said you have to be curious, informed, and confident in your decisions, and always open to new information. [19:27] Greg's top value is to surround himself with quality people, like Blake. It's a combination of taking care of the customer, and building a team of people that care about each other. [21:53] Greg deployed to Afghanistan during the financial crisis. The war wasn't resonating with people who were losing their homes. This event made him want to study the big picture, through empirical economics, which helped him to find data to test big assumptions. Applying this to Stabilitas, they use machine learning to process open source risk data, map it, and dynamically deliver intelligence to a smartphone. [23:39] In the commercial security space, they're at a confluence of markets between intelligence and geopolitical risk, and communicating that intelligence to security staff, giving them civilian equivalents of military tools. [27:30] Stabilitas is exploring social media. The goal is to demonstrate they're doing something new, and social media is a new approach to reach security firms. [33:56] Bringing people with different backgrounds onto the team, means Greg had to find similar and trustworthy people with great autonomy and specialized skills. [38:59] Blake recommends Jan's Crucible cross-pollination of military and executive styles. Bios Greg Adams is passionate about geopolitical risks, empirical research, data analytics, technology, building a team, and getting out in the Pacific Northwest. When he's not building a great product with the Stabilitas team, or running around in the mountains, you can find him at Stabilitas.io. Greg has an undergraduate degree in physics from West Point, and studied economics and business at Harvard. Website: Stabilitas.io Email: Greg@Stabilitas.io LinkedIn: Greg Adams Twitter: @Greg_ii After serving in Special Forces, Blake Miles spent time as a recruiter for the Army National Guard before separating from the military in 2011. While working toward his bachelor's degree, he began his role as Director of Communications for the Green Beret Foundation, and also began writing for the website, SOFREP. Blake earned his bachelor's degree from Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. Twitter: @BMiles84 Facebook: BMiles84 LinkedIn: Blake Miles