“Leadership isn’t a single thing. It’s a bunch of things together,” says Mark Herschberg, the co-founder and one of the principal developers of MIT’s famed Career Accelerator Program. The program teaches future tech leaders the soft skills like communication, networking and negotiating that they don’t teach in school but are crucial to success. Here Mark discusses the origins of the program as well as the most important aspects of communication and how those aspects all build on each other.
Mark discusses the importance of career planning, and dismantles the myth of the 20-something founder. A major part of Mark’s 20s was spent as a champion ballroom dancer, and he gives a peak into that world here.
He discusses his app Brain Bump and how it relates to the evolving way that we utilize books. He discusses what sectors on the horizon make no sense to him and which he finds terrifying.
Quotes:
“I recognized I was missing those skills. I had heard of them, but I was never formally taught. I didn’t think I was very good at them. So I set out to train myself. And as I did so, I realized these are not just skills for entrepreneurs, for founders, for executives, these are skills for everyone down to even your summer interns.” ([15:24]-[15:42] | Mark)
“The most popular article I’ve written was one called ‘Leadership Is Not Atomic.” Because what does it mean to be a good leader? What you’re probably going to be good at is communication skills. As a leader, you’re going to have to bring together coalitions. That’s negotiation skills. You probably need to be able to connect with other people, networking skills. Leadership isn’t a single thing. Leadership is a bunch of things together.” ([18:06]-[18:34] | Mark)
“You can learn leadership, networking, negotiating, it’s all the skills that we think some people are just born with. Well, people are also born natural athletes or natural musicians. But just because they’re natural at it doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t learn it, if we put the time in.” ([52:12]-[52:27] | Mark)
Connect with Brendan Dell:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandell/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendanDell
Instagram: @thebrendandell
TikTok: @brendandell39
Buy a copy of Brendan’s Book, The 12 Immutable Laws of High-Impact Messaging: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578210926
Connect with Mark Herschberg:
Thecareertoolkitbook.com
cognoscomedia.com
Check out Mark Herschberg recommended books:
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780321934116
The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabone
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781469033075
Survival of the Savvy: High Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success by Rick Brandon and Marty Selman
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780743262545
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About the Author
Brendan Dell
Brendan Dell is an author and the founder of The Daily Creative. As a freelancer he's worked with clients like Expedia, Cvent, Panasonic, Brother, Windstream and 100+ more to build unignorable tech brands. At The Daily Creative, he shares advice and lessons to help freelancers level up.
