Arcbound Update #7

A LETTER FROM THE FOUNDERS

What Parenting Experts Can Teach Us About Leadership

Lately, we’ve been looking for inspiration in an unlikely place: Instagram’s parenting experts. 

How to get your toddler to listen the first time? 

How to stop your toddler from hitting…

Game-Changing Ideas for Setting Boundaries

You can take a break! 

Neither one of us is expecting a kid anytime soon, but we’ve found that the advice that helps people tap into their toddlers’ needs is pretty applicable to managing a team and supporting our clients. 

Not because they act like babies, of course not. But because when we strip away all the business jargon and metrics, we all want and need the same things. Seeing the world through the eyes of kids—and the people who have spent their professional lives supporting them—enables us to be more self-aware and better serve those in our charge.  

Parenting and leadership have many parallels. Both are tremendous responsibilities. And if we don’t work to address our own experiences and behaviors—past and present—it’s easy to react impulsively or give those around us less than our best. But when we acknowledge what we’ve been through and how we want to lead, we can show up better for those around us in work and beyond.

One of our recent podcast guests, Maureen Pelton, shared with Bryan, “Just to begin with, I didn’t even want kids until I was about 30, and then I realized that I wanted to have a child because I had something to give to the child. I had done so much of my own work that I could create a space to raise a healthy member of our tribe and parent in a very different way. 

“How I raised my daughter was in this way: I loved her unconditionally, I gave her the tools and resources I could to [help her] reach her highest potential, and then I got out of the way. Every day was an unfolding with my daughter. Who are you? What do you want? How do you want to be in the world?”

We suggest that you start by asking those questions of yourself, so that you can help others do the same.

The One Away Show

Colleen O'Brien: One Meeting Away From Making Work Fun

Colleen O’Brien is an accomplished marketing executive with over a decade of experience leading strategic internal and external communications for companies of all sizes—from Fortune 500 corporations to early-stage startups. Currently, she is the chief communications officer for high-end clothing rental startup Armoire.

Previously, Colleen led brand marketing, content creation, and communications strategy for Microsoft's venture fund M12, which invests globally in early-stage enterprise software companies.  Prior to joining M12, Colleen held several marketing and communications roles across Microsoft, and led product marketing initiatives for Windows and Office, driving growth, engagement, and partnerships globally. Colleen produced and hosted Microsoft's Women in Business and Technology podcast and served as a spokesperson on the weekly YouTube series Microsoft Unboxed.

PERSONAL BRANDING

Founders Don't Just Want Your Money. Trust Us.

Psst! Investors, we want to talk. 

You’ve probably noticed that founders want more than just money these days (who would have guessed this 20 years ago?!). Finding the right fit is different than ever, and the best founders out there are demanding more. Specifically… more meaningful relationships. 

Yes, money matters. It is the foundation of your business, after all, but it’s not everything. Founders want investors who are connected to and aligned with their unique vision, and who are ready to support and take an active role in their growing company. (And we’re willing to bet you want founders who you’ll enjoy mentoring—and whose mission actually resonates with you—too.) 

It’s about more than the money. It’s about relationships. 

Arcbound Spotlight

Welcoming Content Writer & Developer: Melissa Boles!

Melissa Boles is a Content Writer and Developer with Arcbound who believes that storytelling is humanity’s most incredible miracle, and uses her marketing and social media experience to help clients tell their very best stories.

Prior to joining Arcbound, Melissa was the Marketing Manager at BookClub, and spent time as a content writer and marketer for several authors, tech companies, and communications firms. Melissa earned her BA in Social Sciences with focuses in English, Anthropology, and Political Science from Washington State University-Vancouver, and holds an M.Ed. in College Student Personnel from Western Carolina University.

Outside of Arcbound, Melissa writes poetry, fiction, and stage plays. Her chapbook, We Love in Small Moments, was published in 2021, and two of her one-act plays were produced in the 2021 Oregon One-Act Festival. She loves tattoos that tell a good story (and the ones that don’t!), music that is heavy on the piano, and trying out new places to live. Melissa resides in Salt Lake City, UT (for now!).

ARCBOUND HAPPENINGS

Picking Presidents by Gautam Mukunda

In Picking Presidents, Gautam Mukunda sets his sights on presidential candidates, proposing an objective and tested method to assess whether they will succeed or fail if they win the White House. Combining political science, psychology, organizational behavior, and economics, Picking Presidents will enable every American to cast an informed vote. 

In his 2012 book Indispensable, which all but predicted the Trump presidency, Mukunda explained how both the very best and very worst leaders are "unfiltered"—outsiders who take power without the understanding or support of traditional elites. Picking Presidents provides deep analysis of filtered and unfiltered presidents alike, from failed haberdasher and skillful president Harry Truman, to the exceptionally well-qualified—and ultimately reviled—James Buchanan; from Andrew Johnson, who set civil rights back by a century, to Theodore Roosevelt, who evaded party opposition to transform American society. Picking Presidents lays out a clear framework that anyone can use to judge a candidate and answer the all-important question: are they up to the job?

Leading Great Teams with Bob Gower

The Unspoken Rules by Gorick Ng

You've landed a job. Now what?

No one tells you how to navigate your first day in a new role. No one tells you how to take ownership, manage expectations, or handle workplace politics. No one tells you how to get promoted.

Until now.

In this practical guide, Gorick Ng, a first-generation college student and Harvard career adviser, demystifies the unspoken rules of work. Ng distills the wisdom he has gathered from over five hundred interviews with professionals across industries and job types about the biggest mistakes people make at work. Loaded with frameworks, checklists, and talking points, the book provides concrete strategies you can apply immediately to your own situation and will help you navigate inevitable questions.

Thanks for letting us play a role in launching your arc.