I read a lot, but I have not read many books in the last several years, let alone non-fiction books, so the fact I finished this book is a small miracle and a testament to the authors interesting storytelling! I was introduced to Priya Nalkur by a mutual friend, Elizabeth Davis, this past April, and I was fortunate to join one of her book launches in Austin. As a fellow South Asian woman and entrepreneur who grew up primarily in North America, I felt an instant connection with her and her stories.
Navigating the choppy waters of leadership is never smooth sailing, especially when you’re trying to foster a sense of inclusion in a world that’s anything but perfect. Her book “Stumbling Towards Inclusion – Finding Grace in Imperfect Leadership” captures this tumultuous journey with a blend of wisdom, grace, and a refreshing dose of humanity.
Reading her book felt like catching up with a wise friend over tea, the kind who doesn’t just nod sympathetically but offers insightful nuggets wrapped in relatable anecdotes. Her stories of leadership mishaps and the subsequent learning curves are similar to the stumbles I’ve had while juggling my entrepreneurial ventures and personal life (which, if you’ve read my blog over the last 15 years, you know are sometimes hilariously clumsy).
Priya doesn’t shy away from the imperfections that come with leadership. She weaves in her personal experiences with research, creating a tapestry that’s as educational as it is comforting. It’s a relief to know that even seasoned leaders fumble. Her stories include humor, making the heavy topics she addresses—bias, privilege, and systemic barriers—feel approachable.
Chapter 40, “Lowering the Waterline,” particularly stood out for me. She uses the metaphor of an iceberg to discuss how we often only see the tip of someone’s behavior, while their values, fears, and motivations lie hidden beneath the surface. This chapter was a powerful reminder to look beyond the obvious and understand the deeper currents that drive people. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand why people act the way they do or say the things they say. Playing out those scenarios often helps connect dots and discover reasons that others may not see.
Her actionable tips on fostering an inclusive environment are practical and empathetic. She emphasizes small, consistent efforts over grand gestures. It’s the little changes, like making sure every voice is heard during meetings or actively seeking out diverse perspectives, that build a truly inclusive culture. One of my Top 5 Strengths based on the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment is Includer so many of the suggestions she shared about inclusivity resonated with me.
Priya beautifully ties everything together at the end of her book by highlighting the importance of rapport, equanimity, and courage. She stresses that building genuine connections (rapport), maintaining mental calmness and composure (equanimity), and facing challenges with bravery (courage) are essential components of effective and inclusive leadership.
“Stumbling Towards Inclusion” is a must-read for anyone looking to lead with authenticity and heart. Priya’s insights are a guiding light for those of us striving to create spaces where everyone feels valued, even if we stumble a bit along the way. The book is a testament to the power of perseverance, humility, and, yes, a good sense of humor.
In the end, what she offers is not a roadmap to perfect leadership but a compassionate guide to navigating its imperfections. And isn’t that what we all need? A little grace as we stumble towards our own versions of inclusion.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: austin,
blogging,
book review,
books,
entrepreneurship,
success |
Tags: book review,
courage,
diversity,
equanimity,
equity,
inclusion,
priya nalkur |
Comments Off on Lowering the Waterline as we Stumble Towards Inclusion
It has been a long, very hot minute since I last posted on this blog in September 2018, almost 5 1/2 years ago. Lots of changes and thankfully mostly good ones, but also some very challenging and sad ones. I am a recent empty nester (i.e., my two kid startups/ventures are launched ❤️❤️). I have stepped into and out of a couple other tech startups/turnarounds as well as danced, sang, and traveled a lot! I plan to do more of the latter 3. As for tech startups…
I have been “venturing” back into the Austin entrepreneurial scene, after quitting my my job late last year, and have noticed how much it’s changed over the last ~25 years since I first put my toe in those waters! During my networking adventures, I was fortunate to meet Laura Lorek at a Women Founder’s Forecast event she hosted via her organization Silicon Hills News. She asked if I would be open to being interviewed for a podcast, and I said “Hmmm. Sure, why the heck not!” since I’d never participated in one before. She published it just before SxSW 2024 started here in Austin, and it turned out great: Key Takeaways from the Ideas to Invoices Podcast with Austin Serial Entrepreneur Aruni Gunasegaram. I still cringe a bit when I hear my recorded voice (not a great trait for a singer/songwriter I know), but I am happy with how it turned out.
Please check it out if you have some spare moments and are vaguely interested in hearing about my entrepreneurial endeavors as well as learning more about Silicon Hills News. I am surprised and grateful at the response on Laura’s LinkedIn post about the podcast, especially from folks I haven’t seen in over a decade! It feels like a lifetime ago when I was actively starting/co-founding businesses but have been working for and with other amazing entrepreneurs/founders since then. The fact that people still remember me is kinda cool.
Thank you to those who have remained subscribed to this blog or happen to randomly find yourself here. I hope you are all striving to be the best versions of yourselves and this post finds you happy, healthy, and content. If not, well I hope you are one day closer to being so because we all know how nauseating yet also exhilarating a roller coaster ride this thing called life can be. I continue to do a lot of self work, yoga, breathing, reading, accepting, and healing…so just maybe I will figure out what I want to/should be/must be doing with the rest of my life (when I grow up). ☮️ ❤️ 😅
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: austin,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
networking |
Tags: austin,
ideas to invoices,
laura lorek,
podcast,
silicon hills,
startups |
Comments Off on Reinventing Yet Again – Ideas to Invoices Podcast
Yes, this is my first post of 2018 and it’s almost October! The year has flown by. The children of some of my friends are in college now, my kids started school (last year of middle school and second to last year of high school), and we all just keep getting older and sometimes a little wiser.
I’m still loving my job on the Customer Success team at SailPoint, and very much appreciate that the company has the same philosophy around customer success that I do. Other than the companies I’ve founded or been on the founding team with, SailPoint is the first company I’ve worked for who shares my values around customer plus employee value and engagement. The company values aren’t just words on a wall but, in my experience so far, they are truly manifested in the leaders and colleagues I interact with on a daily basis!
Our CEO, Mark McClain, was interviewed for this recent article in Forbes: How To Transform Your Customers Into Brand Advocates where he states “Every employee is focused on ensuring the ongoing success of our customers, which has contributed to our long-standing, 95%-plus customer retention rate.” He also says “The winning combination is simple: Listen first, build a true partnership and keep customers at the top of your priority list.”
Here are some other good articles:
What Really Matters: A Conversation With Patrick Lencioni – Chief Executive
- “Most of the great CEOs, nobody knows who they are, primarily because they don’t want to be known, that wasn’t their goal. Their goal was to create a great organization to serve their customers and their employees well and change people’s lives.”
- “At the heart of a great organization is a humble leader, somebody who’s doing it because they feel a great weight and responsibility in being the leader.”
- “I just love to go places where you’re surprised by the level of humility and reality that exists.“
UT Professor Explains How Language Shapes Our Thoughts – The Alcalde
- “So, it appears that Shakespeare was mostly right. Perhaps it would have been better to say that a rose by almost any other name would smell as sweet. If only that scanned in iambic pentameter.”
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin On Leadership In Turbulent Times – Chief Executive
- “I think he [Lincoln] would not have used Twitter except when he had something positive to say because he knew enough to hold back those kind of emotions, you know?
How Diversity Happens – Fred Wilson at AVC
- “A few years at our annual CEO summit, Scott Heiferman, founder and CEO of Meetup, told a room full of startup CEOs that you have to build diversity into your company from day one because if you don’t, it becomes so much harder later on. He explained that nobody wants to join a company where nobody looks like them. That really hit home and woke quite a few people up.“
Hopefully another almost 9 months doesn’t go by until I find the time and motivation to write another post. Thanks to those of you who keep on reading or stumble upon this post accidentally. 🙂 Here’s to a great 4Q for you, your families, and your companies!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: client services,
entrepreneurship,
success |
Tags: brand advocate,
ceo,
chief executive,
customer success,
doris kearns,
fred wilson,
leadership,
mark mcclain,
meeetup,
patrick lencioni,
sailpoint,
scott heiferman,
shakespeare |
Comments Off on The World Turns and It’s All About Great Customers!
It certainly has been an interesting year politically, economically, medically, and professionally for many. Living in Austin has proven to be a good vantage point to see and read about the big changes throughout the world in 2017.
I still haven’t figured out how to use this blog to add consistent value on the topics of business, parenthood, or music in the already noisy Internet of information. Not that all of my prior posts have added tremendous value, but many were inspired by events, people, and situations (muses of sorts) in my life at the time. The words used to flow fairly effortlessly and some would likely argue without too much needed editing. 😀
So as we say goodbye to 2017 and hello to all of our continued life stories in 2018, I thought I’d share below some shows and recent blog posts that you may find interesting.
Some good and mostly family friendly shows we’ve watched this year (most are on Netflix) that kept me easily distracted from writing and singing:
- Stranger Things
- The Flash
- Super Girl
- The Arrow
- Agents of Shield
- Legends of Tomorrow
- Series of Unfortunate Events
- Once Upon A Time
- The Crown
- Big Bang Theory
- Modern Family
- black-ish
Some good reads:
What Happened in 2017 – Fred Wilson discusses changes in the business of technology: Crypto, The Beginning of the End of White Male Dominance, and The Tech Backlash.
Kindness Scales – Seth Godin
Smartphones Are the New Cigarettes – Mark Manson
Wishing those of you, who for some reason still read my blog, as well as those who happen upon it during a random Internet search, a very HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, and HEALTHY 2018!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: diversity,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
networking |
Tags: fred wilson,
happy new year,
mark manson,
netflix,
seth godin |
Comments Off on Goodbye 2017 – Welcome 2018 – Happy New Year!
It’s an unconventional title: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life(amazon link), but it’s an insightful, irreverent, and hilarious book that’s not too trite, sappy, or “duh, who doesn’t already know that!” kind of read. It seems to be about how so many of us get hung up on the wrong things and make ourselves and potentially others in our social solar system miserable. He helps the reader figure out what they really should give a f*ck about instead of wasting time and energy measuring their success or failures using other peoples metrics instead of their own.
He suggests if we go through life being uncertain about everything, including our adamant beliefs about ourselves and others, as well as accept our idiosyncrasies and human flaws, we will be much happier. I suck at directions, and that’s OK!
Those who are absolutely certain about things tend never to achieve lasting happiness because really, as most of us know, nothing is certain and disappointment is inevitable. As a person who practices yoga, self-learning, appreciates the teachings of the Buddha, was raised Episcopal/Southern Baptist, and performs much less mental self-flagellation than I used to, the concepts Manson discusses resonate with me.
It’s a much more upbeat read than the must read book Man’s Search for Meaning(amazon link) by Viktor Frankel, a psychiatrist who writes about concentration camp survivors. Those who made it through the experience (if they weren’t randomly killed) had something they really gave a f*ck about. Those who didn’t were more likely to be measuring success by using metrics that didn’t fit the situation in which they found themselves (i.e., the drastically unfortunate cards they were dealt). I think the lessons in Frankel’s and Manson’s books are similar, but Manson uses many more F-Bombs and has modernized it to address our current more whiny “first world problems,” because, fortunately, almost none of us Gen X’ers and Millennials had to survive a horrific concentration camp!
Other posts I’ve written on self-exploration that may be useful to new/future readers are:
- Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me (Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts – amazon link)
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- How People Believe in God (Musings about the movie Life of Pi and Deepak Chopra)
- Strengths and Weaknesses – How They Impact Our Worlds
- The Narcissistic Family – Entrepreneurs, Bosses and Employees
- A Transformation in Process (Landmark Forum)
- Who I Was Being Was Not Exactly Who I Am (Landmark Forum)
- Shifting Agreements
- The Happiness Hypothesis
- What’s Love Got To Do With It – Live Life Like You Mean It (Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want – amazon link)
- Failure, Rejection, and the Art of Being Average (I reference one of Manson’s blog posts In defense of being average.)
- Eat, Pray, Love, and Vacation
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
Wow, I didn’t realize how much I wrote about this sappy, self-help, existential crisis stuff! But I think all that writing and creating of songs I did was better than doing the 100+ less emotionally, physically, spiritually, medically healthy things I could have done while processing all that painful personal growth, trying to stay a mostly sane mother, and not turning into a raging HULK. Haha! Thanks to my readers who actually read my ramblings and still remained readers! 😛
Based on who you ask and when you ask them, I am much happier, tolerant, understanding, and calmer (unless provoked/poked while I’m under duress!) than I used to be even 3 to 5 years ago, which likely explains why I post much less frequently. I’ve learned to tame some of those demons (who never fully disappear), set better boundaries (which Manson mentions in his book), be OK with my human failings by relying on GPS, and try to make better choices largely thanks to the kindness, support, and understanding of my numerous truly amazing friends and certain great family members. Just like Manson and most of us, I am constantly learning what to give a f*ck about based on where I am in life. I’ve gotten better at letting the rest of it flow on by just like the river in Siddhartha(amazon link) by Herman Hesse.
I’ll be interested to see how Manson’s views change if/after he has kids. Those new humans can cause you to question your entire life in a mostly sleep deprived state as well as pummel your a$$ affirming how little we really know/understand about ourselves or tiny humans! He also discusses the “fear of death” in his book. Ironically, I fear pain more than I fear death. I fear dying before my kids are on their own, and I can’t even think about anything bad happening to them because then I might as well be dead.
I highly suggest you read this book because I care enough about all of you (even if I don’t know you) that I don’t want you to embody this quote: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” – Henry David Thoreau from Walden.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: book review,
books,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
parenting |
Tags: herman hesse,
kate chopin,
landmark,
landmark education,
landmark forum,
landmark seminar series,
mark manson,
siddhartha,
subtle art of not giving a f*ck |
2 Comments »
Those of you who subscribe to my blog by email may have noticed that an email was sent with the five most recent blog posts I wrote. It was apparently a byproduct from migrating my blog from one host (GoDaddy) to another (WP Engine). I recently joined WP Engine so I have the opportunity to take advantage of hosting my WordPress blog on a hugely better platform for WordPress sites!
We have a really easy-to-use migration tool/plugin, so moving my now over eight (yes, 8!) year old blog over to the WP Engine hosting platform was simple. Maybe now I will finally be able to write more often about business, parenting, life, and music (hopeful emoji). I may even change the name of my blog to one that is easier to pronounce once I think of a better alternative. 😀 Suggestions are welcome!
I’m excited to be working at WP Engine. The company is well beyond the start-up phase but still very entrepreneurial at heart. So far it seems to have a wonderfully collaborative, energetic, hard working, caring, and get-things-done culture…which is my kind of vibe!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: blogging,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
product review,
wordpress |
Tags: Go Daddy,
hosting plans,
wordpress hosting,
wp engine |
Comments Off on WP Engine is Now Hosting entrepreMusings – My Blog :-)
I was recently given the opportunity to write my story about the founding of The Magellan International School for Latino Magazine. Here’s the link to the article on our school site: How and Why a School was Born. It’s been an amazing experience to be involved in the ground floor of starting such a phenomenal school!
I have not been involved in the day to day activities or in many of the big achievements since it’s founding because I chose to take more of a behind the scenes role. I gave birth (and have the illustrative scars) to the kids who inspired it’s creation, so I think that counts for something. 😀
I decided to take care of myself and our kids while my ex husband and others did much of the heavy lifting to get us where we are today. The kids seem reasonably well adjusted despite the chaos, and they have benefited greatly from being able to attend MIS! I guess we will know if they turned out alright if they are sane in their 30’s.
It has been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy having a lot of fun as well as re-learning lessons that I should have learned the first time! Lesson learning is tricky because each time the situation seems to have slightly different variables and different people involved so you unwittingly let your guard down thinking you should give the people and the new scenario the benefit of the doubt. But then boom, you get a little blindsided. In hindsight it is much easier to spot the red herring. [insert red herring emoji] However, the recovery time is faster, you see the signs earlier which means you don’t put your guard down as much, your good friends become greater friends, the experience makes you stronger, there’s a lot of red wine involved, and hopefully someone gets just a wee bit wiser.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
parent stories,
parenting,
success story |
Tags: avanzando,
latino magazine,
magellan international school,
magellan school,
red herring |
2 Comments »
Happy New Year! I thought I’d get a new post out before the 15th of January, but here we are half way through the first month of 2015!
My boss shared this link: The 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs (Tenacity, Passion, Tolerance of Ambiguity, Vision, Self-belief, Flexibility, and Rule-breaking) with our team a while back. I was surprised that they said most entrepreneurs weren’t neurotic. I’ve met more than a few neurotic entrepreneurs and have felt like one myself at times…maybe they define it differently than I have seen others exhibit it.
There are so many moving parts to a new business that I think it helps to be able to multitask, but sometimes it hurts a business too. A friend sent me the article below about the Supertasker test that helps you figure out if you are one of the 2% of the people in the world who can actually multitask vs. ineffectively task switch. It made me wonder who those supertaskers were and if they could do the same thing they were able to do with two kids in the back seat asking you every 5 minutes to look at something, change the radio station, or telling their sibling to quit making some noise or the other. 🙂 Check out these articles:
Only 2% of People Can Multitask Successfully [INFOGRAPHIC] – Mashable
Take The ‘Supertasker’ Test To See If You’re A Genius – lifehacker
Is Your Brain Multitasking – Psychology Today
How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking – Harvard Business Review
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
FYI,
holiday,
working mom,
working mother |
Tags: happy new year,
harvard business review,
lifehacker,
mashable,
multitasking,
psychology today,
supertasker |
Comments Off on Entrepreneurial Traits and Multi-tasking
Entrepreneurs can be a little conflicted at times. Some of us are very analytical and logical. Some are very creative (artistic, musical, etc.) and conceptual. Some are both. For those of us who cross the corpus callosum often, it can cause some interesting right brain/left brain integration challenges and short circuits. I know this from personal existential experiences…we can sometimes be misunderstood. We know how to use a spreadsheet, but all of our ideas and feelings can’t always be confined to a logical process of deduction. Maybe it’s like wearing bi- or tri-focals when the switch happens…seconds or sometimes hours or days of disorientation?
Back in March 2014, I put two Songs In The Wild and although I’m light years away from being rich off of them, the experience and the journey of creation were huge learning experiences for me. I think creating music is an entrepreneurial endeavor fraught with danger, risk, fear of rejection, as well as a low chance of a big or any payback.
My kids created iMovie videos of my two songs in the wild: Save Me From Myself (YouTube) and Soul Escape (YouTube) a month or so ago and I’m finally finding the time to blog about them. They did a great job under a lot of pressure, with very little direction from me on a very low budget. I gave them an extension on their mini-contract because we wanted to use photos from our recent trip to Sri Lanka. We had some breakdowns in negotiations and delayed deliverables (mostly due to my lack of proper oversight of the process), and I had to tell them that whining, crying, and feigning ignorance doesn’t help when you are trying to finalize a deal. 🙂 A good life lesson!
The videos will hopefully make you smile and laugh at the sometimes random, funny images they chose for the songs. I love them and I love that they and their friends have told me (they could have been lying to protect mom’s fragile ego) they liked the songs. A couple of my son’s friends even purchased them on iTunes! Please watch the videos and let me know what you think. They are embedded below and are on YouTube. Thank you in advance for taking the time to watch and listen to them! Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MetaphorMania
Co-written by Aruni S. Gunasegaram (lyrics & singing) and Brett Jason Wintermeyer (musical arrangement). Produced, arranged, & recorded by Ron Wikso. Chris Tondre (Guitars and Bass), Derek Morris (Keyboards), Chad and Natasha Hudson (Background Vocals), Ron Wikso (Drums). Album cover designs by Marla Shane .
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
FYI,
Just For Fun,
music |
Tags: corpus callosum,
save me from myself,
soul escape,
youtube |
4 Comments »
I wonder why we don’t celebrate Boxing Day (aka St. Stephen’s Day) here in the US? It seems like a mighty fine holiday to me! The weeks leading up to the holidays seemed extra busy this year, so I had to take “holiday card” off the list of things to do this year.
In lieu of a festive blog post, here are some interesting reads:
Women at Work: A Guide for Men – The Wall Street Journal – This is a very good article about women in business!
Time’s Up for ‘Timeout’ – The Atlantic
A progressive group of neurology researchers wants to redefine “discipline.” Decisions about parenting affect not only children’s minds, but those of adults as well.
The meritocracy trap – Seth Godin
A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying – The Wall Street Journal
Finding the Right Metaphor for Your Presentation – Harvard Business Review
A Mark of a Loving Person Is Courtesy – The 5 Love Languages Blog
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
holiday |
Tags: business writing,
harvard business review,
seth godin,
Women at Work |
1 Comment »
Below are some really great, entertaining, and thought provoking posts & articles. Please check them out and let me know what you think.
Good at math (Seth Godin) – This post arrived in my in box after my 9 year old daughter told me she wasn’t good at math. I told her she was too young to make that decision. I told her that only after she has taken Calculus that she could she tell me she didn’t like math or it wasn’t her best subject. She then asked me what Calculus was and she, her brother and I laughed out loud at that silliness. 🙂
Reconceptualizing Your Career and Rethinking Career Management (Scott Uhrig) – Who hasn’t wondered what the heck is going on with their career?
People don’t resist change. They resist being changed. (gapingvoid) – A perfect cartoon to describe how people react to change.
Get Lucky (Fred Wilson) – Fred appears to be one of the luckiest people I know. A famous VC and blogger, great family, good health, etc. He links to an article Richard Wiseman wrote on lucky and unlucky people. He said the money quote was “My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.”
“How do I get rid of the fear?” (Seth Godin) – No, the right question is, “How do I dance with the fear?”
The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People (Cloe Madanes) – An entertaining read about honing your misery skills.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
Just For Fun |
Tags: career management,
cloe madanes,
fred wilson,
gapingvoid,
good at math,
scott uhrig,
seth godin |
Comments Off on Read ‘Em, Weep, and Laugh
I was fortunate enough to be invited to be one of the coaches at this year’s InnoTech Women in Tech Summit event. InnoTech Austin, presented by Presidio, returns to the Austin Convention Center on October 15, 2014. The 11th annual event will include all new topics and speakers for a fresh and exciting conference.
I have not had the opportunity to attend InnoTech in the past. I’m looking forward to the experience and to networking with a bunch of new and interesting people. For those of you in Austin, I look forward to seeing you there!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
networking,
working mom,
working mother |
Tags: austin convention center,
InnoTech Austin,
networking,
Women in Tech Summit |
Comments Off on InnoTech Women in Tech Summit – October 15, 2015
Last night I attended a Women@Austin event where they gave the first Elevate award to someone who has had a great impact on women entrepreneurs. It went to my long time mentor and adviser, Jimmy Treybig, founder of Tandem Computers.
Jimmy is one of the few people to take a company from $0 to $2.3 billion. I feel so lucky to have had him as a mentor, friend, and adviser over the last 15 years. Check out page 26 for an article I co-wrote on him for the Rice Alumni magazine called Successful Companies Require Successful Teams! He gave a great speech last night on the importance of women in the entrepreneurial community and how the fundraising process works for both women and men.
I was asked to contribute a quote about Jimmy for the award. Janice Ryan, co-founder of Women@Austin, read an excerpt of my quote as well as quotes from others before he was given his award. Here’s my full quote:
“Jimmy is one of my favorite people to talk with about business and life. He’s always made himself available to discuss my ideas, encourage me, and offer me different ways of looking at things. He’s been a wonderful cheerleader for me during great times and challenging times. He tends to look at the whole person and evaluates them through a lens of whether they are smart, kind, have the ability to create great opportunities in their chosen market, and can lead/motivate a team of talented people…regardless of their gender, ethnicity, kid situation, or even if they have blue hair or tattoos! Plus, he always buys me nice lunches”
I look forward to the next Women@Austin event. There were some very accomplished and powerful women in the room last night. The energy was palpable!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
fundraising,
success story |
Tags: jimmy treybig,
tandem computers,
women at austin,
women@austin |
Comments Off on Women@Austin Elevate Award – Jimmy Treybig
Do you care? It seems like a simple question, and the answer obviously differs based on what you are talking about. For instance, do you care about your customers? Do you care about your kids? Do you care about the random person walking down the street? Do you care about lizards?
There are many case studies of companies who have done well because they truly care about their customers and their employees. There are writers who write about the critical importance of caring about customers and their readers. They go so far as to say they “love” their customers.
So why is it that so many companies don’t understand how important love, care, & empathy are to the creation of meaningful success and often goes hand in hand with financial success? Maybe caring is hard to scale? Apple cares in one way. Does Microsoft care in another?
The photo in this blog post is from our recent trip to Sri Lanka. It is picture of flowers floating in a bowl of water in the area outside of a jewelry store we visited. Many hotels and other places had similar bowls with flowers in them in the entrance area. One hotel where we stayed had each arriving guest place a flower in the bowl to show how many people had checked in that day. It seemed a simple gesture to demonstrate that the people in that hotel cared about each of us (unique, beautiful flowers) and wanted our experience to be the best it could be, and it was!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: client services,
entrepreneurship,
travel |
Tags: client service,
customer service,
customers,
flowers,
sri lanka |
Comments Off on Do You Care?
The cutting edge education technology company (Querium), where I run client services and operations, has submitted a a Future 15 session idea for our CEO, Kent Fuka. Here’s an overview:
Ask any math instructor and they’ll tell you that while it’s nice to see a student’s answers to homework and test questions, what they really want to see is how the student got that answer. In this session we will demonstrate expert system technology that provides step-by-step tutoring assistance in a virtual, one-to-one experience. The system has students “show their work” by supporting handwritten work on tablets and reports on that work to instructors to provide insight into student thinking.
For a summary video of this the concept behind the session, check this out: http://vimeo.com/99060342
To VOTE, go here: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/38969 (Thank you!!)
You will learn about:
- The future of online math problem solving to help you, your kids, your students, and/or your teachers increase success in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects! Will multiple choice questions in math related topics be a thing of the past?!
- Cutting edge, A.I.-based software that evaluates student problem solving step by step.
- Translation of student problem-solving data into actionable insight for instructors.
Thanks in advance for your vote and for sharing the link. We look forward to seeing you there!
Here’s an overview of Querium:
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
FYI |
Tags: education,
Future 15,
kent fuka,
online homework,
sxsw edu |
2 Comments »
Recent Comments