Originally presented for the Ogilvy and American Express professional women's network on July 16, 2015. This presentation highlights some of the concepts, action items, and questions that you should keep in mind as you are advancing your career and / or building a company. I put it together from my own experience and what I admire in others.

1. ACTION
@LeslieBradshaw ||#InspirationIntoAction || @madebymany
turning inspiration into
(i.e., your professional “StepTwo”)

3. STEP ONE:
collect underpants

4. STEPTWO:

5. STEPTHREE:
and/or
career advancement
starting your own company

6. STEPTHREE:
and/or
career advancement
starting your own company
(with a commensurate
financial upside)

7. Career Advancement’s
“Step Two”

8. take stock
what have you accomplished?
how effective are you?
do people genuinely enjoy working with you?
do you have advocates at the senior level?
do you have the skills, network & social capital needed?

9. stock up
do great work, drive great outcomes
work smart
be a genuine joy to work with
seek advocates and be an advocate
skill up and give more than you take

10. specifics:
the ingredients

11. kindness
strong
reputation
effective
collaborator talent network
domain
expertise
reciprocal
advisory network
- role models
- sponsors
- mentors
discernment
vision internally
networked
excellence
externally
networked
consistency
social capital
timing
respect
opportunity
dependability follow-through great attitude
decisiveness

12. detailed further still:
breaking down
the recipe

13. excellence consistency
dependability follow-through
your
work product
work ethicsocial capital

14. kindness
discernment
vision
decisiveness
great attitude
effective
collaborator
your
mindset
approach

15. talent network
reciprocal
advisory network
- role models
- sponsors
- mentors
internally
networked
externally
networked
your
squad
Rolodex

16. strong
reputation
respect
opinion of youtheir

17. timing
opportunity
factorsexternal

18. Starting Your Own Company’s
“Step Two”

20. plus…

21. honest
feedback
EMPATHY
unique solution
to a mission
critical problem
press contacts
deep
understanding of
technology +
market forces
perseverance
B2B > B2C
resilience
your
health
your
family
access to capital VISION fiercely accountable
a strong #2

22. Customer Research
Identify
Opportunities
Test Propositions
(cycle n times)
Supplementary
Research
Get out in the field.Ask
open-ended questions.
OBSERVE real behaviors.
Distill your findings. Extract
out the opportunities. Let
the data speak for itself.
Start with sketches +
validate before moving on.
Don’t bias with friends.
Augment your learnings
with market data, too.
Day Job Killer #2 Advisors Day Job
Unless you’re funded, keep
this going. Reduces $ stress
+ keeps you learning.
Don’t labor over a
cofounder or senior staff.
Get great executors.
Committed, diverse,
connected. Give clear
remits. 2 yr vest / .25 points.
Unless you’re funded, keep
this going. Reduces $ stress
+ keeps you learning.
Legals Operations Beta
KPIs that Matter
(to fund, scale)
Incorporate. Establish
master docs (employment,
MSA, SOW, NDA, etc.)
Get a PEO. Benefits, payroll,
etc. Best: Justworks*
(disclosure - client).
Plan for initial release,
capturing / interpreting
feedback (quant + qual).
Commit to the metrics that
matter:
http://bit.ly/StartupKPIs
PLAN THE WORK, WORK THE PLAN
VALIDATEBUILDBUILD

23. continuous
innovation
fail fastmitigate risk
in-market
is everything

24. evidence > opinion

25. 5 final thoughts

26. Plan the work, work the plan.
Your reputation matters more than your resume.
Anything of lasting value and impact takes time.
Master a domain before starting your own thing.
Neglect neither your health nor your family.

27. Plan the work, work the plan.
Anything of lasting value and impact takes time.
Your reputation matters more than your resume.
Master a domain before starting your own thing.
Neglect neither your health nor your family.

28. Plan the work, work the plan.
Anything of lasting value and impact takes time.
Your reputation matters more than your resume.
Master a domain before starting your own thing.
Neglect neither your health nor your family.

29. Plan the work, work the plan.
Anything of lasting value and impact takes time.
Your reputation matters more than your resume.
Master a domain before starting your own thing.
Neglect neither your health nor your family.

30. Plan the work, work the plan.
Anything of lasting value and impact takes time.
Your reputation matters more than your resume.
Master a domain before starting your own thing.
Neglect neither your health nor your family.

31. @lesliebradshaw
tinyletter.com/lesliebradshaw
Stay Professionally Excellent:
Stay In Touch:
leslie@madebymany.com
linkedin.com/in/lesliebradshaw
slideshare.net/lesliebradshaw