How Success Happens

Becoming an entrepreneur often means forging your own career path. Career Contessa's Lauren McGoodwin evolved from education major to recruiter to founder. Now, her site advises women on how to take control of their careers -- including which skills are most important for getting to where you want to go, whether you're an employee or an entrepreneur.

In this special episode, we listen in to the hilarious interview Kumail Nanjiani did for the May 2017 issue of Entrepreneur magazine. Learn about how he got his start in tech, how he got the courage to make the leap into comedy and how he and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, figured out how to work together without driving each other nuts.

Heidi Zak founded ThirdLove in 2013 to change how women buy bras. The company pioneered half-sizes and developed an app that’s helped it aggregate more than 150 million data points from real women to ensure a better fitting bra. She’ll explain a surprising key to moving quickly and building her business that can help any leader: asking better questions.

Serial founders get good at knowing how to mobilize, when a big change is coming and how to push through. And if they’re lucky, they also know themselves a lot better. That’s certainly the case with Adam Braun. With his first venture, Pencils of Promise, Braun, who was in his 20s at the time it started, was able to completely focus of his nonprofit’s mission: to build schools and create educational programs for those living in developing countries. He built 450 schools across the globe. He also suffered from major burnout -- a state he’d rather not reach again. Today, Braun is a more experienced founder with a new project: MissionU, a college alternative with no upfront tuition. To learn more about how Braun prevents burnout, the principles behind MissionU and his take on being an entrepreneur, listen to the latest edition of How Success Happens.

Chris Soukup understands the frustrations the deaf community faces. He’s seen deaf children put in schools that isolate them and deaf adults struggling to get work. A third-generation member of the deaf community, he knows the unexpected roadblocks that can emerge during any task -- from placing a phone call to even applying for a loan. But Soukup also understands what’s possible -- and he’s working to make a global impact with his nonprofit Communication Service for the Deaf, an organization dedicated to supporting people with hearing loss.

Mark Stevenson is a futurologist and historian who's book We Do Things Differently took him across the globe to find people looking for unexpected solutions for the big problems we’re facing across the globe. In this podcast, he talks about what that research taught him about how laughter and tenacity power innovation -- and what anyone can learn.

Antonia Dunbar has built a career developing new products to make women's lives better. She's been called a "feminist genius" for her part in designing THINX underwear, a revolutionary self-absorbing undergarment which eliminates the need for tampons or pads. Now Antonia Dunbar is stepping into the shoe industry with Antonia Saint New York, a line of high-tech heels and flats that feel like sneakers on the inside. How Success Happens host Linda Lacina spoke with the serial disrupter about her drive to provide innovative solutions for women, and how sacrifice, commitment and practice have fueled her success.

Each year, thousands descend upon Austin, Texas for SXSW, a celebration of tech, movies, education and politics. They come, in part, for the more than 2,000 panels and presentations packed with thought leaders, actors, authors, astronauts and a range of buzzy personalities. Attendees have Hugh Forrest, the event’s chief programming officer, to thank for the lineup. In this podcast he’ll talk about how he’s learned to maximize the 10-12 month planning cycle that makes the festival come to life. He’ll also share the routines he puts in place not just to make that event possible, but to keep his team connected and engaged and moving projects forward.

Martha Stewart launched her brand more than 25 years ago and it continues to serve as a model for what’s really possible for when it comes to building a personal empire. This brand -- a third career after modeling and stockbrokering -- has expanded from books and magazines to a range of collaborations including a cooking show with rapper Snoop Dogg, and partnerships with retailers like Home Depot, Staples, Macy’s and most recently, the QVC. She’ll talk to us today about what she’s learned -- and the role of curiosity and optimism in building something that evolves and lasts.

Daina is one of the co-founders of Health-Ade, a kombucha company, that you might have seen at Whole Foods or on the shelves of one the more than 10,000 stores it’s available at in all 50 states. But five years ago, before its first or its second plant, before the $25 million in funding, it was just a side hustle started in her apartment with some friends and $600. Today, Daina will talk about those hard early days, about quitting a corporate job and an orderly life, about getting evicted and taking conference calls in her car. She’ll talk about how she found a light to follow when the path wasn’t clear -- and what she’d like every new founder going through just these struggles to understand.

Michael Hyatt is a bestselling author whose latest book "Your Best Year Ever: A 5 Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals" uses the latest research to help us take control of our time and our dreams to build the lives we want. He’ll talk to us about the 25,000 people who helped inspire this book as well as the simple ways we all get off track and what we need to do instead.

You might know Cards Against Humanity as profane, dark and politically tinged party game. You might also know it for its pranks, like the Super Bowl ad that featured only a potato with the word “advertisement” written on it. But you might not know the company funds a scholarship for women pursuing STEM careers and has raised millions for causes like internet privacy and government transparency. It might also surprise you that CAH for many years was run by 8 friends-turned-founders who kept their day jobs while running the card game as a sidehustle. Today we’ll talk to two of its founders, Ben Hantoot and Max Temkin, on their unique approach to running a company.

Nathan Kontny, the CEO of Highrise, is a tech leader whose career has followed a somewhat unconventional path. He was trained as a nuclear chemist and discovered a love for software programming when a broken ankle kept him from working in the lab during a summer internship. He’d would go on to found not one, or two but three companies, including a ‘Zynga for advertisers’ and Draft, the writing software he always wished he had. Through all these experiences, he'd learn that tapping into passion, be it for software and even writing, has made opportunities appear that he never imagined. In this week's podcast, he'll talk about what he's learned about passion, how writing shapes how he leads and why he hosts job interviews over chat.

Melinda Richter of JLABs never imagined she’d run a health sciences incubator. But a near-death experience inspired her to tap into a new purpose -- helping entrepreneurs in the health sciences. The shift would require her to rebuild her life and tap into every experience she'd been exposed to, from her tech background to her humble upbringing growing up with 8 brothers and sisters in rural Canada.

Is there a shortcut to feeling good, handling difficult people and situations, and, in short, having a good day? Maybe. Caroline Webb, the founder of Sevenshift, studies how behavioral science can boost effectiveness and productivity. She has packed many of these strategies into her book, How To Have a Good Day, a sort of Manual for your Head packed with science-based shortcuts that work across cultures, ages and backgrounds. She’ll chat about how better understanding our brains can help us manage our reactions and our days -- and the shortcuts she puts into practice every day.

What lies at the heart of humanity's ability to create? That's just what composer Anthony Brandt and neuroscientist David Eagleman set out to understand with their new book The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World. Brandt joins us to chat about how innovation really happens -- and how it's been used to remake business and our lives. He'll discuss -- and what we should all understand.

As the founder of Uplevel Security, a first-of-its kind cybersecurity platform, Liz Maida knows risk. She’ll talk to us about why we should consider a sharing economy for cybersecurity and what’s standing in its way. She’ll also explain why the conversation needs to change about everything from security hacks to more everyday failures -- and risk management’s role in making that happen.

Jim Davies knows creativity. A cognitive scientist, he’s the director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory at Carleton University, in Ottawa Ontario. He’s been called the next Malcolm Gladwell and he’s used scientific findings to explain everything from how we portray aliens on TV to why religion makes us feel one with the universe. He’s also a professional artist, swing dancer, calligraphist and published author who is usually working on 5 books at once. He’ll help us understand the systems that make creativity possible. He’ll also share the personal strategies he puts in place to ensure no idea ever goes to waste.

Witold Rybczynski an architect, professor and writer whose books often study the everyday things we sometimes take for granted, from the humble screwdriver to the ubiquitous plastic patio chair. He’ll talk to us about what we learn when we take time to study the things we might otherwise overlook -- and how an outsider’s perspective can give anyone an advantage.

Several years ago, kayaker and small apartment dweller Anton Willis became obsessed with origami. He had tapped the ancient art of paper folding to solve a unique problem -- designing a collapsible boat that could be stored in a closet. This obsession eventually became a business, and this architect became the founder of Oru Kayak. In this podcast he’ll talk about the long nights he spent tinkering in his living room and how it took 25 prototypes to perfect the design over several years. He’ll also talk about the importance of making room for obsessions -- and they’ve taught him.

Ever work hard for something only to realize you don't want it anymore? Robin Arzon, a former corporate litigator, knew she needed a change and transformed herself into an ultra marathoner, cycler, best-selling author and one-woman fitness brand. She'll explain how she made the change -- and other crucial decisions -- by being her own mentor and with the help of some simple but powerful inner mantras.

Matt Jozwiak is a chef by trade who knows the high quality ingredients left at the end of a restaurant dinner service often go to waste. It’s part of the reason he launched Rethink Food, a non-profit that transforms food that would otherwise be thrown away into delicious meals for hungry people. He'll tell us about why this simple solution required long chats with lawyers and the FDA and how his solution could even be a boon to low-margin food businesses. He'll also explain how he's been able to innovate quickly -- and the important role that humility and listening to others played in making that innovation happen.