In an era when many companies are seeking to address the #MeToo movement and tackle the challenge of true diversity and inclusion, we face the notion that we are juxtaposing those efforts in a political climate that suggests these issues are the exact opposite of what a portion of this country cares about. It appears that the more progress we make to strive for a more diverse and inclusive workplace, just as many roadblocks are popping up suggesting some of the country doesn’t support or care. Regardless of one’s politics, there is one thing we can all (hopefully) fundamentally agree on: Everyone should feel like they have the same opportunities to thrive.  

We are at an incredibly exciting time in history where some people are loud and proud about putting themselves out there in the workplace to fight for their rights to be treated equally.  At the same moment, we are witnessing these same people facing some pretty dramatic attacks against who they are and what they stand for. Without question, it’s a complicated time. And yet, here’s the thing -  we’ve got one life. It is our obligation as human beings to max out that life, and live it to the best of our ability. That manifests in very different ways for people, but living our lives to reflect our authentic self is something I believe everyone should strive for.  

I write quite a lot about taking risks and putting yourself out there. I never suggested that was a smooth journey, but I certainly believe it is a worthwhile one. If we spend most of our time worrying about being liked and fitting in, we risk tossing away our opportunity to share your uniqueness. Seems like kind of a waste, right? And yet, consider how we are socialized.

We learn in childhood that we are not rewarded for “standing out.”  When we were loud, we were asked to be quiet. When we questioned ideas in a classroom, we were often branded as disruptive or rebellious. To support kids with uniqueness requires some extra work.  Our parents do that delicate balance of trying to help us fit in in some areas like behaviors, but stand out in other places, such as sports or activities. It’s a confusing thing for kids to navigate. As we get a little older, we as adolescents walk that fine line of trying to fit in, while attempting to express our individuality. It’s a harsh realization to gain an understanding that often we “belong” if we are just like everyone else.  And yet, when we operate that way, we know something isn’t quite right.

It’s happened to all of us in our careers at some point. Perhaps you feared to share a different point of view in a meeting, for fear you couldn’t articulate it enough to push the conversation to a new place. Or maybe you had an idea that you were dying to share with your manager, but were nervous about not having it fully baked and looking stupid. Why do these things happen, and typically when it is usually around topics we care about? If you are one of those people who feels like you are missing out on your opportunity to stand out, find three mindsets below to get out of your way and perhaps fuel the innovation and creativity of your company along the way.

REALIZE YOU WILL NEVER PLEASE EVERYONE

Each of us has skills, aspirations, and gifts in some form. Some might be mainstream, and some may be completely out there. When we nurture those non-traditional ones, we risk potentially rubbing someone the wrong way. And yet, we all know there is no way we can please everyone. When we take the risk to display what makes us unique or standout, we take a stand about what’s important to us. Maybe, just maybe, we have something important to say or share, and the world might benefit from it. That opportunity remains non-existent if we hold it in. Push yourself out of your comfort zone, and get ready to share your true self.  You might inspire someone. If people don’t embrace your efforts to stand out, realize they are holding you back. Perhaps you are pushing them to consider how they are living their lives, which can be uncomfortable. How much does that matter to you? Real friends and supportive colleagues will encourage you. And you’ll be admired and respected for putting yourself out there.  You just might have come up with a highly impactful solution.

REALIZE IT’S OK TO SWIM AGAINST THE CURRENT

Maybe you don’t believe every idea your colleagues are rallying around.  If you have a different opinion, share it. If you feel your team is heading down a bad path, raise it. If you have feelings about something and elect not to share, you will likely beat yourself up.  When we are bold and share our ideas, we understand we potentially risk alienating someone. Consider how important that is to you. If you are compromising your genuine self, you aren’t making the right choices.  Perhaps you’ll feel like an outsider for a bit, but you know intellectually that you’ll never be loved by everyone,  but they just might admire that you shared your point of view.  Your success and progress cannot be reliant on always making the “popular” choice. Real respect comes with authenticity.

REALIZE YOU WILL FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE...AND EMBRACE IT

It can be downright uncomfortable to put yourself out there. Perhaps you stumble and expose yourself to potential embarrassment. And yet, no one dies from that. Putting yourself out there - whether it goes exactly the way you want it to or not - can be downright liberating.  And you’ll likely realize most people won’t be phased by what you believe is such a huge deal in your head. Is anyone good at karaoke? Not too many. And yet, when you have the courage to get out there and belt out your favorite power ballad, people cheer you on regardless of your skill level.

In today’s world with its complex dynamics, we all need to continue to encourage people to bring their authenticity to the office. Of course, there are rules, norms, and values every company asks people to embrace - but after that, understanding that “you doing you” might be a competitive advantage for both you and your company.

What does the career path and a day-in-the-life look like for a Senior Solutions Architect at Bullhorn? We interviewed Garrett Rapp to find out.

Visit Bullhorn's BIZZpage for their latest job opportunities!

Where did you grow up?  What did your parents do for work?  

I grew up in a town called Harvard, Illinois near the Wisconsin border. My mom was a teacher of all different types (she also has a law degree). Although we lived pretty far into the country, my dad worked as an attorney in downtown Chicago. As a kid, I spent a lot of time roaming around the woods surrounding our property and both reading and emulating Calvin and Hobbes comics. Pretty much the rest of my time was spent playing piano.

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I attended Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) in Bloomington, Illinois after a tough decision against pursuing piano performance. Instead, I enrolled at IWU as a biology major. By sophomore year, I switched to a religion major while I worked at the campus newspaper and the campus radio station. By junior year, I added an English and writing double major, and going into senior year, I was editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper. I still credit my time behind the wheel of The Argus as one of the most eye-opening and best educational experiences of my college and early career.

After school, I had a brief stint at the University of Chicago in a religion graduate program, from which I ended up withdrawing. At the same time, I was working the phones in an hourly job for TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson (a F250 transportation and 3PL company). I also did contract work in search engine optimization and content development for a company called L2T Media.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

For better or worse, if I’d continued in the graduate program I was in, I wouldn’t be here now. That’s not to say I regret it at all though: I got some real exposure to handling debt, grappling with sunk costs (and their associated fallacies), and weighing my pride and the idea of quitting against the likely outcomes and my personal happiness. I made the right choice, and I believe that you can learn a lot from agonizing over hard choices.

There may be a way in which that decision caused me to double down at the job I was working. I really dedicated myself to my career, and over the next several years at TMC in Chicago, I worked my way through several promotions into a key role in their internal Operational Excellence group. This role stoked my interest in consulting as a general career path and in technology (especially automation) as a focus.

What made the most difference at that early stage of my career was an obsession with efficiency, including typing speed, automation, templates, and organization, which freed up time to self-teach. There was no problem that I wouldn’t try to figure out myself first before I asked someone else. If you can afford to spend some time digging around and trying things yourself, you can learn all you need. If you don’t have time to do that, you have to make time for it first.

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as Senior Solutions Architect at Bullhorn?

Solutions Architect is a broad term, which can mean varying degrees of pre-sale business engagement and technical delivery engagement depending on the business. At Bullhorn, the role truly encompasses both, but a descriptor that really resonates with me is “Solution Owner.”

If we’re implementing our software for a client, we have a project manager who is the delivery owner, but we, as Solution Architects, are responsible for helping to ensure that the holistic solution works for the client. This goes beyond ensuring that our software does what it’s intended to do as outlined in the statement of work. We also need to know what systems the client depends on for their day-to-day operations beyond our software and how our data needs to interact with theirs.

Any tips for someone considering a career in Client Services?

A genuine interest in positive interactions with other people, even those you know little or nothing about, is the single most important piece. Dedication to your customer’s success is table stakes; to excel, you have to put yourself and the urge to blame aside, and refocus on the problem you have in front of you.

If you can find a way to build a rapport with your clients, you’ll enjoy making them successful. Face-to-face interactions make this easier, so I’d recommend opportunities to connect in-person with your clients. Bullhorn hosts an annual conference series called Engage that creates an opportunity for everyone in our company to meet our customers, and it’s consistently a highlight for me.

Beyond this, building your personal toolset is a key ongoing project. Whatever your specialty, try to broaden your horizons. For me in the technology and software space, this means looking at methods of conflict resolution and negotiation (I love the book “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury), trying to understand profit and loss and balance sheets, and brushing up on consulting skills. Some classic consulting case interview preparation and practice is invaluable for anyone who aims to grow their career.

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Lots of coffee! Not too picky about it - I’ll trade quantity for quality here.

What time do you get into the office?

About 7 a.m. I get a lot of mileage out of the first 1.5 hours of office time before my email, phone, and Slack messages start increasing. If I’m onsite with a client, the goal is arriving a minimum of 15 minutes before any meetings with them start, but ideally 20-25 minutes so I’m ready for a productive conversation.

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

• I care deeply about my team and my department. I’ll go a long way to help other people in my organization because I like seeing them succeed.

• Getting to be a problem-solver. In most jobs, when you get handed a problem, you actually have a plethora of resources, tools, and some time allocated to solving it. Real-life problems aren’t always that accommodating!

• Getting to meet, understand, and make a difference for customers directly. I love working with end users of our software (especially in-person, like during user acceptance testing cycles) and helping them learn new things about the tool.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

This varies throughout the year based on what project I’m working on, but it can involve:

• Participating in client calls (design and requirements, demos, handoffs, and defect reviews)
• Participating in internal calls with our sales department
• Creating statements of work for services engagements
• Creating functional specifications for custom apps and automations
• Troubleshooting or testing our software and custom automations
• Deploying our software

What time do you head out of the office?

Anywhere from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., depending on what’s going on that day. All bets are off when I’m on-site with a client though - spending from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with a client in their “War Room” builds camaraderie!

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?  

I often will log back in at night, if only to file away emails that I don’t have to respond to, or hit off quick answers. I don’t find it stressful to keep up on things after hours - it’s worth it to me to have less noise waiting when I kick off in the morning. It’s relatively rare that I need to get on the phone with my project teams or clients for urgent matters. That said, as a project and implementation consultant, there will be occasional evenings or weekends for working on big deployments and go-lives.

Any productivity hacks?

• I couldn’t live without organized folders in my inbox, my desktop, my Google Drive, etc.

• Know when to block yourself off and “hide.” If I have a deep, detailed technical specification to write, I’ll minimize email and Slack, silence my phone, and work in an obscure conference room to avoid interruptions.

• I think it’s pretty common to freeze up or procrastinate when faced with tough problems. The key thing is to start on them anyway: start simple and don’t aim for perfection, but just start producing something. You can always improve it later, but you haven’t wasted time avoiding your main problem or displacing it with lower priority issues and requests.

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

• Slack isn’t “the email killer.” Email has a very clear purpose and utility, but I do think that Slack is the ultimate office chat tool, and its iPhone app is excellent.

• For traveling, ExpenseIt lets me photograph receipts and automatically puts their costs, comments, and allocations into my open expense reports. It’s a great way to not lose track of the money I spend while traveling for business.

• I use the basic call, calendar, and mail apps a lot, but the other key apps in rotation would be podcasts and Spotify, especially for when I’m traveling.

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

Working my way into a technical and software specialist role over the years, given my lack of a technical and software degree, is my proudest accomplishment. The challenge now is staying up to speed!

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

If I call someone for professional advice, it’s likely to be a parent or sibling (who are all pretty accomplished). In terms of admiration, it would be one of my first managers - Adam Gerdel. He ran the Operational Excellence team at my first job, and he became a big role model for how to develop teams that want to work together, how to deliver results while also making time to think outside of the box, and how to support employees both personally and professionally - all while staying ruthlessly focused on efficiency and innovation. He’s a one-in-a-million team leader, and I’m grateful for all that I learned from him.

Keith Cline is the Founder of VentureFizz.  Follow him on Twitter: @kcline6.

Top photo courtesy of Maximillian Tortoriello Photography, other photos were provided by Bullhorn.

For the 51st episode of our podcast, I interviewed Nilanjana Bhowmik, General Partner at Converge, an early stage venture firm based in Cambridge that she co-founded with her partner Maia Heymann.

Nilanjana has 23 years of experience as a venture capitalist, investment banker, and an operating executive. Prior to starting Converge, Nilanjana was a General Partner at Longworth Venture Partners where she led the firm’s investments in enterprise tech.

In addition to her current role as a venture capitalist, she is also the President of TiE-Boston, an organization that fosters the entrepreneurial scene in the Greater Boston area.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

• Her passion for distance running and how it related to her role as an investor, where helping entrepreneurs build a business is ultimately a marathon and not a sprint.
• Her background growing up in India, plus how she came to the US where she ultimately played a key role in helping Object Design, a company that launched the first object-oriented database, grow to the point of going public. 
• The “breakthrough potential” she looks for when making an investment.
• What led her to take on the role of President at TiE-Boston.
• The potential “50-plus year” industry trend that she’s currently keeping her eye on.
• Plus, a lot more!

To make sure you receive future episodes, please subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, or Soundcloud. If you enjoyed our show, please consider writing us a 5-star review—it will definitely help us get the word out there!

The University of Vermont (UVM) is Vermont's largest public college and has had alumni who have gone onto politics, music, and professional hockey. Even Ben Affleck attended UVM for a small stretch of time, but didn't graduate there.

However, it may come as a surprise as to how many alumni have chosen the entrepreneurial path. We put together a slideshow of alumni who have made an impact to the Boston tech scene by either being a founder, investor, or community organizer. 

Please keep in mind that this is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but just a sampling.

Going through the pictures, there's bound to be at least one person that will make you go, "I didn't realize they went to UVM?"

I learn much from observing my teenage daughters navigate adolescence.  While the times have certainly evolved since I was in high school (Why send a note in class when you can send a Snap?) there are elements which remain decidedly intact. There continues to be an “in-crowd” and an “out crowd.”

We all remember the in-crowd being that group of “cool” kids who seemed to glide through high school with ease. They made friends easily and always had a group to share the lunch table with. Perhaps they played sports, were enviably fashionable, and seemingly avoided the obvious perils of adolescence like acne and awkwardness. Even if these kids were really nice, they seemed to ignore the fact there was anyone existing outside of their crowd. Let’s be honest...though it might be painful to admit, many people felt like Bella Swan in high school, hoping that the good-looking Cullens would invite us to their lunch table. (Don’t pretend you are too cool to have seen Twilight. We all have.)

It stings to feel excluded. We learn from an early age that when we fail to conform, we might receive disapproval from our teachers and peers. We are often motivated and praised to act like everyone else. Should you fail to blend in, you may start to believe something is wrong with you, and often insecurities build. And while this is a completely normal part of growing up, if you begin to believe this negative thinking, it can follow you straight into adulthood. That’s not productive.

For those who continue to struggle with feelings of self-doubt, I challenge you to shift your thinking: being an outsider is the new cool.

At work, it’s important to contribute meaningful, impactful work. It’s also important to understand the norms and values of the company and embrace them as your own. After that, however, it’s just as important to showcase your individuality. Being an “outsider” provides you with a perspective others don’t have.  It allows you to challenge the status quo, and identify new opportunities. If we consider people of vision, like Van Gogh, Oprah, or Steve Jobs, they are described as having played by their own rules, without regard for others supporting their ideas.

Colin Wilson, a British writer, presented a hypothesis in his 1956 book The Outsider that suggested that social rejection may both be the result of, as well as that which fuels our creativity.  “Outsiders” find inspiration in playing and succeeding against the odds. And while the need for belonging is still high on humanity’s list of necessary needs, so is the need for uniqueness and individuality. Stated in another way, as we age, we move from truly caring about fitting in, and begin embracing what makes us different.  For those with more creative minds, however, they may find a greater need to share their uniqueness. They embrace their non-conformity.

Of course, no one benefits from being rejected. And whether you were in the inside or outside crowd in high school, any rejection can take a toll on your psyche and self-esteem.  When we experience it, each person finds their own method of coping and means to find their own sense of belonging. However, for those who are capable of embracing their uniqueness and truly don’t pay much credence to how others perceive them, they buffer themselves from that rejection. This can fuel their creativity. Want to fire Steve Jobs from the company he started? Just look how he responded.  

Feeling as though you are an outsider can come with some baggage significant baggage; especially when we carry that with us from our formative years.  However, it can also be seen as a tremendous gift. When an individual has the ability to think differently than the norm and marries that with a healthy dose of passion, that independent mind can offer more autonomy, creativity and space to flourish in the work world, as well as life. These outsiders have become some of our most celebrated and successful entrepreneurs, thinkers and innovators.

There is a fine line separating “outsider” from just plain crazy, but simply stated, those people who believe they are crazy enough to change the world are usually the ones who do.

For the 50th episode of The VentureFizz Podcast, I interviewed Ben Nye, CEO at Turbonomic, which is an anchor company in the Boston tech scene that has raised over $100M in funding.

Ben has been successful in the tech industry from both sides of the equation. As an executive, he helped take Precise Software public, which was later acquired by VERITAS Software.

As an investor at Bain Capital Ventures, he’s been recognized multiple times by Forbes’ Midas List as one of the top VC investors in the US. His investments have included many companies that you’ve likely heard of like LinkedIn, Rapid7, DocuSign, Solarwinds, Stackdriver, and many others.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

• Ben’s background, from the early days when he started out as a salmon fishing guide to how he got into the tech industry.
• His experience as one of the top VC’s in the country building out the Infrastructure Software Practice at Bain Capital.
• All the details in terms of the evolution of Turbonomic and their platform that delivers workload automation for hybrid cloud environments.
• His thoughts on sales and figuring out which model is right for your company.
• Why references are the most important part of the interview process.
• Plus, a lot more!

Turbonomic is hiring! They are especially looking for developers who have experience building software that runs in public cloud.  To learn more about all their openings, check out their BIZZpage at venturefizz.com/turbonomic.

To make sure you receive future episodes, please subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, or Soundcloud. If you enjoyed our show, please consider writing us a 5-star review—it will definitely help us get the word out there!

In working with a large number of up-and-coming leaders in my company, I have come to realize that one of the biggest leaps one can make in their career is transitioning from a manager to a director. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, right?  Both involve the leading of people with a little more scope woven in. Unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. One of the interesting trends I’ve seen in reviewing the leadership 360s of many of these promotional candidates is the sometimes debilitating trait of perfection.

As a manager, it’s their job to ensure everybody gets everything done and done well. Oftentimes, that includes the fear of giving up some control, because allowing those who work for you to take on more responsibility might put your project work in jeopardy. In other words, if you manage it, you own its success or failure.  

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that by holding it yourself that it will be executed flawlessly. You also risk demotivating your team members who are hungry to pick up more for their learning and development needs.

I was reminded of this recently when I grabbed my well-worn paperback, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. Someone had given me a copy when I started writing several years back, and I found it to be both incredibly insightful and instructive. And while the title refers to a story about taking things one step at a time*, the notion emphasizes that there is no room for perfection.

To borrow a quote from one of the most brilliant minds of our generation, Stephen Hawking, “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist. Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.” That’s a massive picture lens on perfection and the universe, but translated to our everyday lives, it suggests the quest for perfection is our enemy. It keeps us restricted and on the edge of crazy.  

It’s also the biggest obstacle between you and a sh*tty first draft.

We all want to deliver great results and impact, regardless of what our role is.  However, it’s an incredibly lofty perspective and often prevents us from digging deep within ourselves to deliver our best possible work. Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”  For whatever reason, the older we get, the less messy so many of us become. Messy is necessary.  Hence the need for “sh*tty first drafts.”

We have to take that step forward just to get started. It might be a total disaster as a starting place, but you’ve taken that first step forward. By embracing the mess, you’ve chipped away at the overwhelming feeling that comes with not knowing where to begin. Moreover, you now have a place to build from.

Feeling overwhelmed by a big project in front of you?  Take a crack at a first draft. Expect it to be sh*tty.  Put it aside, and go back to it later. You’re very likely to have new ideas and perspective to make it stronger.  And then edit it again. Collaborate with others to enhance it. You will get to a successful end but in a far less intimidating way.  And you will have broken free from the need to find perfection in your work...and you might enjoy the journey to get there too.

Christina Luconi is Chief People Officer for Rapid7. Follow her on Twitter: @peopleinnovator

* The Story of Bird by Bird.  Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”