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Pfeffer on Power

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Jan 31, 2023 • 21min

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

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: JeffreyPfeffer.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
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6 snips
Jan 17, 2023 • 21min

Ep 12 – Lucinda Stewart, Partner, Spencer Stuart

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: JeffreyPfeffer.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  
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10 snips
Jan 3, 2023 • 20min

Ep 11 – Vivas Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, Mitra Chem

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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
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Dec 20, 2022 • 22min

Ep 10 – Laura Chau, General Partner, Canaan

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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  
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Dec 6, 2022 • 27min

Ep 9 – Daryn Dodson, Managing Partner, Illumen Capital

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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
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Nov 22, 2022 • 20min

Ep 8 – Valerie Shen, Partner/COO, G2 Venture Partners

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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
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Nov 8, 2022 • 21min

Ep 7 – Sadiq Gillani, Senior Advisor, Attestor Capital

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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  
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Oct 25, 2022 • 23min

Ep 6 – Rukaiyah Adams, Chief Investment Officer

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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  
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5 snips
Oct 11, 2022 • 31min

Ep 5 – Jason Calacanis, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Author

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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
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Sep 27, 2022 • 19min

Ep 4 – Dr. Sarah Buchner, Serial Entrepreneur

Learn more about Jeffrey Pfeffer and where you can buy or listen to his books: https://JeffreyPfeffer.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

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