[Music]
as I walked around during this break I
couldn’t help but overhear a couple
conversations in each of these
conversations there was a question that
was asked people kept asking what do you
do and it ties in so well with this talk
I had to bring it up you’ll find out why
later so let’s move on
put that away somewhere and follow me
into one of my memories it was about a
year after I graduated from University
and I was working at a big tech company
things were going well I’ve been doing
pretty good and work and part of that I
was rewarded with the ability to go to
lunch with one of our CTOs I don’t know
one to five I don’t know how many levels
were between us but there was a lot it
was one of the people you kind of get
out of the way as they walked by as a as
a new employee so I was nervous but I
was really excited so I prepared I
thought about all the things I had done
at work over that last year I thought
about the sequel query I wrote I thought
about you know the client that I had
sold and I got prepared for this lunch I
walked in and tried to find norm I
looked I didn’t see anybody sitting by
himself so I looked again aha there he
was in the back corner with someone else
so I know pulled my pants up I said okay
I’m just gonna go do it I walked up I
introduced myself said hi I’m Andrew you
must be normal you know I’m sit up shook
my hand and said hi Andrew so happy you
could join us for this interview yeah
yeah yeah happy to join this this
interview yeah great and who’s this Oh
Oh Steve you’re also interviewing cool
yeah trying not to show it on my face
and so we sat down at this
table and I’m thinking great I’m
prepared I talk I know I’ve got all
these stories about work I’m ready and
sure enough the first conversation that
came up was travel they had both just
gone on vacation in Asia and I was in my
first year of work I don’t think I’d
taken a single vacation day yet so I
really couldn’t relate with their
vacation nor the Emirates every line
they took to get there because I was
still traveling on Southwest which is
commonly known as the bus of the skies
so when the conversation turned I was
really happy and they started talking
about 10 K’s I wasn’t running 10 K’s I
was only reading them before bed and
throughout this conversation I sink back
a little bit more each time and by the
end of the conversation I knew I didn’t
get this job that I didn’t know I was
going for but I did think Steve did
because he was able to connect with this
travel with this running and that was
what really helped him to be able to
achieve this that was right norm and I
still aren’t LinkedIn friends and Steven
him soon went on to work for a project
that had visibility all the way up to
the CXO level of this company I was
bummed so I took time to reflect on why
I got to thyself into this situation we
were at this table eating lunch and the
only reason we were there together was
because we worked together but the
conversation didn’t center around work
it’s centered around all of the other
things that we did with our life if you
think of cores are I think as the core
is our work it was all the things on the
periphery the peripheral the things
around that make us us travel running
etc and this is when I started to think
about the idea of a per if
a peripheral as you might know it is
something on the outside I was working
for a large tech company I have a
background as an engineer so when I
thought a peripheral I thought of this
something you plug into a computer to
make it do useful things
I started thinking of myself as a
computer and I realized that I was
working so hard on work I wasn’t working
on my peripherals and so I started to
look around and see what others were
doing the people I looked up to you
those who were successful I really like
the story of ah gee not got to sue a
Japanese engineer working on the bullet
train well this is the bullet train we
know now the original looked a little
different and it had a problem when the
bullet train would enter into a tunnel
the air in front of it would compress
and it would compress and compress and
compress and as that came out of the
tunnel that compressed air would explode
into a incredibly loud noise that could
be heard almost a kilometer away it was
disrupting the local wildlife the local
babies and pretty much everybody else so
aji said I’m gonna fix this so like
every good engineer he rolled up his
sleeves he got right to work after
looking at this problem for a while he
didn’t really have a way to solve it but
he had a secret weapon because when he
liked to relax
he would go bird-watching it was one of
his peripherals and so I can picture the
day this happened I don’t know if this
is exactly how it happened but I like it
this way he and his son go out to their
cabin on the weekend they’re holding
hands they go to the dock the Sun drops
a fishing pole in the water maybe Hajis
sits on the side Dingles his feet in the
water and starts to watch the birds and
then he sees one of his favorite birds
the Kingfisher it comes in dives into
the water and he sees this but there’s
something missing from this photo I
don’t know if you guys can figure it out
but there’s no splash it’s already
entered the water but it’s not displaced
it I can’t do this but the Kingfisher
can and so ah she had a aha moment I
like to think he scrambled maybe fell in
the water I don’t know but he figured it
out so Monday morning came he woke up no
alarm directly into work
he made models of the different types of
noses that he could use for the bullet
train based on the kingfishers and it
worked the serrations and elongations
solved the problem he was able to make a
train that not only went faster use
electricity but also didn’t make a giant
noise when I came out of the tunnel when
I heard about this story I knew it I
needed to go back my peripherals because
I’d been focusing so much on work that I
let everything fall to the hay side so
for example I got back on the bike so to
say and I went for a little ride growing
up I was a huge snowboarder so I got
back to that spent some time
snowboarding I even did run a 10k I
actually ran three of them between Napa
Valley and San Francisco but it wasn’t
all adventure I started just looking at
normal day things that I would do with
the different I this is a photo of me
going around New York City trying to
figure out where the best pizza was
still unconvinced of any specific one
being best but I learned a lot I even
was able to get the high score at my
last work Christmas party why is this
important do you say I was pretty good
at Dig Dug
it’s one of my peripherals Here I am on
the stage talking to you about video
games you never know when a peripheral
will come in handy it was around this
time I started to think maybe I maybe
I’d like to do something different I was
working at a large tech company and I
wanted to try to work at a start-up so I
started to apply look around see if
anybody else was interested and I didn’t
have a whole lot of luck either the
relationship didn’t work
the startup wasn’t what I wanted you
don’t think just happened as I mentioned
I’m a pretty big snowboarder so I was
training to snowboard in the Andes
Mountains cuz I really wanted to do that
but one of the upsides or downsides
depending on how you look at it is that
snowboarding you kind of have to be in
pretty good shape to catch those first
turns so I was on this small island in
Brazil called florianópolis and I was
spending a lot of time in the gym
unfortunately at the time I didn’t have
the Portuguese peripheral so I wasn’t
able to talk to a lot of people there
only the ones who also spoke English as
we became closer and closer friends and
I learned more about him he told me that
he had some problems with his business
he had a really large emailing list but
he had no way to monetize it and so he
asked Andrew what would you do with
these 20,000 people I have signed up to
this email list about this workout style
and I thought and I came up with an idea
and after searching flow along to join a
startup I realized this is it this is my
spot I can make this startup and so
working together we did we imported
goods from China put them into a box
ship those boxes across Brazil boom
within three months we had Brazil’s
first workout in a box solution but it
wasn’t until I let go and followed some
of my peripherals that I was able to
find the thing that was going to take me
to the next level this was also the same
with og who would have thought bird
watching inspires a bullet train I
wouldn’t have but he was able to take
what he was doing at work marry it with
the peripheral and create a giant
innovation my innovation wasn’t as big
but I think it had big implications for
me I’ve been able now to get involved
with entrepreneurship communities I’ve
even been able to talk to and land a job
at UH one of Europe’s fastest growing
startups
all because now I speak the same
language I have a story the relationship
that I can build with others and so I
think this is really important as I look
around and I look at those who are
really successful
I see typically they may not be the
smartest person in the room but they’re
usually the one with the most
peripherals so you usually have many
ways to connect innovate and tie in
different things together I don’t
believe it’s enough to actually just
have these peripherals you have to do
something with it
such a strong question what do you do so
many people answer this I am an analyst
at this Bank I’m a consultant that flies
around and those are great things if
that’s what truly defines you but I
don’t think it is I think that people
are truly defined by these peripherals
these things around the outside and
that’s how you make a lasting connection
so if there’s one action that you change
I want it to be this question when
someone asks you what do you do think
about at answering with the peripheral
something that sparks a deeper
relationship and exposes a little bit
about who you are
I’m Andrew thanks a lot [Applause]
as I walked around during this break I
couldn’t help but overhear a couple
conversations in each of these
conversations there was a question that
was asked people kept asking what do you
do and it ties in so well with this talk
I had to bring it up you’ll find out why
later so let’s move on
put that away somewhere and follow me
into one of my memories it was about a
year after I graduated from University
and I was working at a big tech company
things were going well I’ve been doing
pretty good and work and part of that I
was rewarded with the ability to go to
lunch with one of our CTOs I don’t know
one to five I don’t know how many levels
were between us but there was a lot it
was one of the people you kind of get
out of the way as they walked by as a as
a new employee so I was nervous but I
was really excited so I prepared I
thought about all the things I had done
at work over that last year I thought
about the sequel query I wrote I thought
about you know the client that I had
sold and I got prepared for this lunch I
walked in and tried to find norm I
looked I didn’t see anybody sitting by
himself so I looked again aha there he
was in the back corner with someone else
so I know pulled my pants up I said okay
I’m just gonna go do it I walked up I
introduced myself said hi I’m Andrew you
must be normal you know I’m sit up shook
my hand and said hi Andrew so happy you
could join us for this interview yeah
yeah yeah happy to join this this
interview yeah great and who’s this Oh
Oh Steve you’re also interviewing cool
yeah trying not to show it on my face
and so we sat down at this
table and I’m thinking great I’m
prepared I talk I know I’ve got all
these stories about work I’m ready and
sure enough the first conversation that
came up was travel they had both just
gone on vacation in Asia and I was in my
first year of work I don’t think I’d
taken a single vacation day yet so I
really couldn’t relate with their
vacation nor the Emirates every line
they took to get there because I was
still traveling on Southwest which is
commonly known as the bus of the skies
so when the conversation turned I was
really happy and they started talking
about 10 K’s I wasn’t running 10 K’s I
was only reading them before bed and
throughout this conversation I sink back
a little bit more each time and by the
end of the conversation I knew I didn’t
get this job that I didn’t know I was
going for but I did think Steve did
because he was able to connect with this
travel with this running and that was
what really helped him to be able to
achieve this that was right norm and I
still aren’t LinkedIn friends and Steven
him soon went on to work for a project
that had visibility all the way up to
the CXO level of this company I was
bummed so I took time to reflect on why
I got to thyself into this situation we
were at this table eating lunch and the
only reason we were there together was
because we worked together but the
conversation didn’t center around work
it’s centered around all of the other
things that we did with our life if you
think of cores are I think as the core
is our work it was all the things on the
periphery the peripheral the things
around that make us us travel running
etc and this is when I started to think
about the idea of a per if
a peripheral as you might know it is
something on the outside I was working
for a large tech company I have a
background as an engineer so when I
thought a peripheral I thought of this
something you plug into a computer to
make it do useful things
I started thinking of myself as a
computer and I realized that I was
working so hard on work I wasn’t working
on my peripherals and so I started to
look around and see what others were
doing the people I looked up to you
those who were successful I really like
the story of ah gee not got to sue a
Japanese engineer working on the bullet
train well this is the bullet train we
know now the original looked a little
different and it had a problem when the
bullet train would enter into a tunnel
the air in front of it would compress
and it would compress and compress and
compress and as that came out of the
tunnel that compressed air would explode
into a incredibly loud noise that could
be heard almost a kilometer away it was
disrupting the local wildlife the local
babies and pretty much everybody else so
aji said I’m gonna fix this so like
every good engineer he rolled up his
sleeves he got right to work after
looking at this problem for a while he
didn’t really have a way to solve it but
he had a secret weapon because when he
liked to relax
he would go bird-watching it was one of
his peripherals and so I can picture the
day this happened I don’t know if this
is exactly how it happened but I like it
this way he and his son go out to their
cabin on the weekend they’re holding
hands they go to the dock the Sun drops
a fishing pole in the water maybe Hajis
sits on the side Dingles his feet in the
water and starts to watch the birds and
then he sees one of his favorite birds
the Kingfisher it comes in dives into
the water and he sees this but there’s
something missing from this photo I
don’t know if you guys can figure it out
but there’s no splash it’s already
entered the water but it’s not displaced
it I can’t do this but the Kingfisher
can and so ah she had a aha moment I
like to think he scrambled maybe fell in
the water I don’t know but he figured it
out so Monday morning came he woke up no
alarm directly into work
he made models of the different types of
noses that he could use for the bullet
train based on the kingfishers and it
worked the serrations and elongations
solved the problem he was able to make a
train that not only went faster use
electricity but also didn’t make a giant
noise when I came out of the tunnel when
I heard about this story I knew it I
needed to go back my peripherals because
I’d been focusing so much on work that I
let everything fall to the hay side so
for example I got back on the bike so to
say and I went for a little ride growing
up I was a huge snowboarder so I got
back to that spent some time
snowboarding I even did run a 10k I
actually ran three of them between Napa
Valley and San Francisco but it wasn’t
all adventure I started just looking at
normal day things that I would do with
the different I this is a photo of me
going around New York City trying to
figure out where the best pizza was
still unconvinced of any specific one
being best but I learned a lot I even
was able to get the high score at my
last work Christmas party why is this
important do you say I was pretty good
at Dig Dug
it’s one of my peripherals Here I am on
the stage talking to you about video
games you never know when a peripheral
will come in handy it was around this
time I started to think maybe I maybe
I’d like to do something different I was
working at a large tech company and I
wanted to try to work at a start-up so I
started to apply look around see if
anybody else was interested and I didn’t
have a whole lot of luck either the
relationship didn’t work
the startup wasn’t what I wanted you
don’t think just happened as I mentioned
I’m a pretty big snowboarder so I was
training to snowboard in the Andes
Mountains cuz I really wanted to do that
but one of the upsides or downsides
depending on how you look at it is that
snowboarding you kind of have to be in
pretty good shape to catch those first
turns so I was on this small island in
Brazil called florianópolis and I was
spending a lot of time in the gym
unfortunately at the time I didn’t have
the Portuguese peripheral so I wasn’t
able to talk to a lot of people there
only the ones who also spoke English as
we became closer and closer friends and
I learned more about him he told me that
he had some problems with his business
he had a really large emailing list but
he had no way to monetize it and so he
asked Andrew what would you do with
these 20,000 people I have signed up to
this email list about this workout style
and I thought and I came up with an idea
and after searching flow along to join a
startup I realized this is it this is my
spot I can make this startup and so
working together we did we imported
goods from China put them into a box
ship those boxes across Brazil boom
within three months we had Brazil’s
first workout in a box solution but it
wasn’t until I let go and followed some
of my peripherals that I was able to
find the thing that was going to take me
to the next level this was also the same
with og who would have thought bird
watching inspires a bullet train I
wouldn’t have but he was able to take
what he was doing at work marry it with
the peripheral and create a giant
innovation my innovation wasn’t as big
but I think it had big implications for
me I’ve been able now to get involved
with entrepreneurship communities I’ve
even been able to talk to and land a job
at UH one of Europe’s fastest growing
startups
all because now I speak the same
language I have a story the relationship
that I can build with others and so I
think this is really important as I look
around and I look at those who are
really successful
I see typically they may not be the
smartest person in the room but they’re
usually the one with the most
peripherals so you usually have many
ways to connect innovate and tie in
different things together I don’t
believe it’s enough to actually just
have these peripherals you have to do
something with it
such a strong question what do you do so
many people answer this I am an analyst
at this Bank I’m a consultant that flies
around and those are great things if
that’s what truly defines you but I
don’t think it is I think that people
are truly defined by these peripherals
these things around the outside and
that’s how you make a lasting connection
so if there’s one action that you change
I want it to be this question when
someone asks you what do you do think
about at answering with the peripheral
something that sparks a deeper
relationship and exposes a little bit
about who you are
I’m Andrew thanks a lot [Applause]
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