Podcasts about artsicle

What does it look like to create a work environment where employees can succeed and thrive? Are there steps you can take as a leader to encourage and support your team members in a meaningful way? Here to help us understand what makes Asana a, “Top 5 Best Place to Work” is my guest, Scott Carleton. Scott is currently the Site Lead of Asana’s NYC office, dedicated to enabling all teams to collaborate effortlessly. Previously, Scott was the VP of Technology at Andela, empowering engineering talent across Africa. Scott co-founded Artsicle as CTO, building a global community of visual artists now featuring over 6000 creators in 100 countries. His work on Artsicle's discovery engine, which was able to create a personalized experience for passive users, earned NYER's "Best Use of Technology" award in 2013. Scott also built the first internal engineering team at Teachers Pay Teachers from 0 to 12, while integrating a high functioning remote team. In our conversation, Scott talks about his journey to management, lessons he has learned along the way, the value of transparency, why an empowering work environment is so important and much more. You’ll need pen and paper for this one - Scott has a ton of helpful insights to share. Outline of This Episode [0:40] I welcome my guest, Scott Carleton. [2:00] Scott talks about his background. [4:30] How did Scott get started on the management track? [6:25] Scott reflects on early mistakes he made as a manager. [9:00] The value of transparency. [10:40] Tips for new managers. [13:30] What does Scott’s day-to-day role look like as a Site Lead for Asana? [17:30] Navigating company culture in a distributed environment. [22:30] What makes Asana a Top 5 Best Place to Work? [27:00] Empowering employees and providing growth opportunities. [31:00] What does it take to be a top-notch engineering manager? [34:00] Using Slack the most effective way possible. [37:00] How to set your team up for success in your absence. [40:45] Book recommendations from Scott. The value of transparency Throughout your career, are there any values or principles that stand out to you as “Must-haves” to create an empowering work environment? Maybe for you, it’s integrity or competency. For Scott Carleton and the folks at Asana, one of the top values is transparency. Transparency is crucial, especially for a distributed company like Asana. Scott says that the value of transparency is constantly top-of-mind for him as he engages with his team and works to build consistency and collaboration at Asana. Hand-in-hand with transparency is Scott’s goal to make as much of their processes and systems as clear and understandable as possible. While this is no easy task, Scott is proud of the ground they’ve been able to cover thus far. How to empower your team members Any good manager worth their salt focuses not only on their team members’ productivity but also looks for ways to encourage and empower them as individuals. Can you think of a manager who has empowered you at critical moments in your career? What did they do that made their efforts stand out? From his time at Andela, Scott learned the value of providing his team members with applicable growth opportunities - not just any growth opportunity but - applicable ones. The difference here is key - while it might be a good experience for someone on your team to level up on JavaScript - if it doesn’t apply to the work they are currently engaged in it’s not really that helpful. How do you empower your team members? What growth opportunities do you provide them? Creating a healthy work environment At some point in their career - just about everyone encounters a dysfunctional and unhealthy work environment. How can leaders like you ensure that the environment you are building is a healthy and empowering one? One of the primary reasons Scott joined Asana is their relentless commitment to organizational health. They’ve created clear and concise pathways that encourage their managers and team members to reflect on and learn from projects that were successful and unsuccessful. It is of paramount importance to Asana as an organization that everyone understands how their tasks directly contribute to the overall mission of the company. To hear more about how this plays out at Asana - from Scott’s perspective - make sure to listen to this episode of Simple Leadership. What it takes to be an effective manager Let’s face it; life as a manager is not for the faint of heart. Yes, you get a lot of great opportunities to influence your team and make great strides for your organization, but there is also a fair share of challenges and obstacles that come with the territory. How do you navigate those challenges and serve as an effective manager? According to Scott Carleton, if you want to succeed as a manager, you’ve got to be willing to give your people honest feedback that helps them improve. We’ve all been in those one-on-one’s where the feedback you received was not helpful or constructive - don’t make that same mistake! Scott also points to the value of knowing your limitations and a willingness to be vulnerable as key aspects of an effective manager. Ask for help and be open about the challenges you are facing - what do you have to lose? Remember - this is only a snapshot of my conversation with Scott - make sure to listen to this episode of Simple Leadership to get the FULL conversation. Resources & People Mentioned BOOK: The Advantage BOOK: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team BOOK: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People BOOK: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership Andela Asana Connect with Scott Carleton Scott on LinkedIn Scott on Twitter Scotter[at]asana.com Connect With Christian McCarrick and SimpleLeadership http://simpleleadership.io/ Christian on LinkedIn Christian on Twitter: @CMcCarrick Subscribe to SIMPLELEADERHIP onApple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Player FM, TuneIn, iHeart Radio

066 | Alexis Tryon Shares Her $400K Personal MBA Program Alexis Tryon is VP of Strategic Initiatives at The Muse, where she’s a professional generalist - and she likes it that way. Her startup roots run deep - Alexis was previously the co-founder and CEO of Artsicle, a site called "The Gallerists to the People" by The NY Times, and she loves advising new businesses in her free time. She is a NYC Venture Fellow and has been named a "Female Founder to Know" by Mashable. Alexis is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's communications studies program at the Annenberg School, with a focus on children in media and marketing research. Have you ever thought about shutting down your business? It might not be a pleasant thought, but as entrepreneurs, it’s a potential reality we all may face. This week’s guest, Alexis Tryon, has some advice for you! Alexis has successfully created a profitable business. However, Artsicle got to the point where it just was not growing. Instead of just jumping the gun and immediately closing the doors, Alexis took the time to step back and examine whether there were things she and her team could do to scale the business. Alexis shares her journey from profitable success to knowing when it was time to close. She gets real and authentic, which actually led to a huge a-ha moment for The Pitch Queen (you’ll have to listen to hear it). ;-) In this episode, Alexis shares how you really can close a business, and still come out on top! Don’t be afraid to take the time step back and look at your business from an aerial view, you might just find areas that you can improve, which could help keep your business afloat. If you’ve ever given any thought to shutting down your business, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Alexis Tryon for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. When Was The Last Time You Took A Risk Your Business? Maybe you’ve been bogged down in “what ifs.” Maybe you believe risks have to be outrageous to pay off at all. But neither idea will help you get to the next level in business OR life. What will? Being smart, being brave, and taking risks. In my FREE checklist, I show you how! Click here for The Calculated Risk Checklist: 3 Ways To Take Business Risks With CONFIDENCE. Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Alexis Tryon. Alexis shares who she is, what she currently does and a bit about her previous business. The very first job Alexis had was in a retail backpacking store, selling shoes on commission. Alexis knows that there will always be more NO’s, you just need to push through to receive the YES’s you desire. When someone would tell Alexis NO, she would want to know why they were saying NO. This helped her to determine if she could push a little harder for a YES, or if she should move on. Alexis shares a story of being in a conference room with a buyer, and realizing there was no way she’d be able to convince him to buy. When Alexis is pitching investors, who essentially become partners in your business, she looks for three things. She shares those things in this episode! In the beginning of Artsicle, Alexis was trying to get accepted into a tech program with Techstars. She ended up being passed over. Alexis shares why this is her most devastating NO. The whole process of trying out for Techstars was grueling, and when Artisicle wasn’t accepted, Alexis had to figure out how to get her self-confidence back. She took a very interesting and effective approach! Listen to this episode to hear the whole story! One of Artsicle’s first investors came from a referral from a current customer. Alexis tried for over a year to sell her business, Artsicle, but ultimately she decided to close. The staff at Artsicle were loyal until the end, they wanted to stick it out through it all, so Alexis knew she needed to close so that her staff could move on. Alexis’ personal MBA program cost around $400K - listen to this episode to understand what I mean. ;) Before Alexis closed Artsicle, she went through the steps of what it would take to close the business down -- she walked through the “what ifs.” By following this process, she was able to remain open one more year, before determining it was definitely time to close. Alexis shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Alexis Tryon: Alexis’ Website Alexis’ Twitter Alexis’ LinkedIn The Muse The Muse Facebook The Muse Twitter The Muse Instagram P.S. When Was The Last Time You Took A Risk Your Business? Maybe you’ve been bogged down in “what ifs.” Maybe you believe risks have to be outrageous to pay off at all. But neither idea will help you get to the next level in business OR life. What will? Being smart, being brave, and taking risks. In my FREE checklist, I show you how! Click here for The Calculated Risk Checklist: 3 Ways To Take Business Risks With CONFIDENCE. Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

[from the archives] Our guest today is Scott Carleton.Scott has a passion for building communities and empowering self-growth through education. Scott is currently the VP of Technology at Andela, a global engineering organization dedicated to fostering the next generation of elite tech talent across Africa. Previously, Scott co-founded Artsicle as CTO, building a global community of visual artists now featuring over 6000 creators in 100 countries. His work on Artsicle’s discovery engine, which was able to create a personalized experience for passive users, earned NYER’s “Best Use of Technology” award in 2013. This episode is for you if you’re into #learning #hiring or #mentorship.Favorite Quotes You hear a lot that “it's all about the people”, but you don’t really get it until it kicks you in the shins. I think a lot about communication through a company in the context of dynamic systems and controls. You can have an input of information where someone’s unaligned or there’s some dissonance, and you’re not going to feel the full impact of that until it works its way through the organization. In the early days, I felt like I needed the “best” engineers. That came out as needing Stanford Grads. But what I realized very quickly was that they had very different expectations and needs. I couldn't provide for them the right kinds of challenges because we were still hunting for product market fit. I’ve found that in hiring I should look for “potential” and not “pedigree”. We created a culture of really customer focused engineers. The engineers really own their parts of the product. They *really* care about its usability. Friction rises in communication when information doesn't have a place to settle. Chat is a tool. I’m sold on it. A tool is necessary but not sufficient. You need the tool to be able to create the behavior you want, but you need a cultural change or a behavior/belief change to use the tool effectively. Chat allows us an always-on meeting in its worst form. At best, it’s an asynchronous tool to keep everyone in sync. On chat, my top belief is “Get everything into public channels” The health of an engineering team is: How many issues are raised and resolved, and how fast is that iteration? Finding out how to have the right focus for a conversation in a chat channel is important. When I first started doing 1:1s, I totally didn’t want to do it. I’d make up excuses. Every 1:1, there were engineers who would complain and I just wanted to avoid that. But it turns out 1:1s are invaluable because you’ll always discover something important that you don’t know. If you’re having problems in your organization, a 1:1 is like taking a knife to that problem and sinking it a little deeper. When I first joined an organization with an existing engineering team, the first 1:1s were very much “clearing out the backlog” — Figuring out the existing problems. I have a passion for developing peoples potential. How do we measure someone’s learning velocity – how quickly they’re picking up new skills? The killer problem with distributed teams right now is whiteboarding. It’s just *so* hard to do remotely. Distributed teams are about trust. How do you get the information you need? How do you communicate outward & upward so that we have trust at all times? We need to know we’re all pushing in the same direction. What's really incredible about software development is that the people who are building the applications have a lot more information about the problems they're solving than you do. You really want most solutions coming from the bottom up. I focus on how I can expose business problems to the team. I tell them what we’re solving that quarter, and I put retrospectives on the calendar. Zone of Proximal Development is the Goldilocks Zone for Learning — It isn’t too easy, it’s not too hard. In learning science, you’re trying to “observations”. If you know a skill, you can observe whether an engineer has certain behaviors and beliefs. Customer relationships and ownership of your work are really important for engineers. The height of collaboration is really direct feedback. The most generous thing you can do is give really good critical feedback.

Our guest today is Scott Carleton.Scott has a passion for building communities and empowering self-growth through education. Scott is currently the VP of Technology at Andela, a global engineering organization dedicated to fostering the next generation of elite tech talent across Africa. Previously, Scott co-founded Artsicle as CTO, building a global community of visual artists now featuring over 6000 creators in 100 countries. His work on Artsicle’s discovery engine, which was able to create a personalized experience for passive users, earned NYER’s “Best Use of Technology” award in 2013. This episode is for you if you’re into #learning #hiring or #mentorship.Favorite Quotes You hear a lot that “it's all about the people”, but you don’t really get it until it kicks you in the shins. I think a lot about communication through a company in the context of dynamic systems and controls. You can have an input of information where someone’s unaligned or there’s some dissonance, and you’re not going to feel the full impact of that until it works it’s way through the organization. In the early days, I felt like I needed the “best” engineers. That came out as needing Stanford Grads. But what I realized very quickly was that they had very different expectations and needs. I couldn't provide for them the right kinds of challenges because we were still hunting for product market fit. I’ve found that in hiring I should look for “potential” and not “pedigree”. We created a culture of really customer focused engineers. The engineers really own their parts of the product. They *really* care about its usability. Friction rises in communication when information doesn't have a place to settle. Chat is a tool. I’m sold on it. A tool is necessary but not sufficient. You need the tool to be able to create the behavior you want, but you need a cultural change or a behavior/belief change to use the tool effectively. Chat allows us an always-on meeting in its worst form. At best, it’s an asynchronous tool to keep everyone in sync. On chat, my top belief is “Get everything into public channels” The health of an engineering team is: How many issues are raised and resolved, and how fast is that iteration? Finding out how to have the right focus for a conversation in a chat channel is important. When I first started doing 1:1s, I totally didn’t want to do it. I’d make up excuses. Every 1:1, there were engineers who would complain and I just wanted to avoid that. But it turns out 1:1s are invaluable because you’ll always discover something important that you don’t know. If you’re having problems in your organization, a 1:1 is like taking a knife to that problem and sinking it a little deeper. When I first joined an organization with an existing engineering team, the first 1:1s were very much “clearing out the backlog” — Figuring out the existing problems. I have a passion for developing peoples potential. How do we measure someone’s learning velocity – how quickly they’re picking up new skills? The killer problem with distributed teams right now is whiteboarding. It’s just *so* hard to do remotely. Distributed teams are about trust. How do you get the information you need? How do you communicate outward & upward so that we have trust at all times? We need to know we’re all pushing in the same direction. What's really incredible about software development is that the people who are building the applications have a lot more information about the problems they're solving than you do. You really want most solutions coming from the bottom up. I focus on how I can expose business problems to the team. I tell them what we’re solving that quarter, and I put retrospectives on the calendar. Zone of Proximal Development is the Goldilocks Zone for Learning — It isn’t too easy, it’s not too hard. In learning science, you’re trying to “observations”. If you know a skill, you can observe whether an engineer has certain behaviors and beliefs. Customer relationships and ownership of your work are really important for engineers. The height of collaboration is really direct feedback. The most generous thing you can do is give really good critical feedback.

The Supreme Court’s finding that violent video games are protected free speech. Then, our Start-Up City series continues with Artsicle. Plus: Privacy vs. cybersecurity, the Freedom Box, and the Moby Awards recognize the best and worst book trailers.