Day 2 Belfast - I wish I had the words

My original expectations of Belfast for this trip was focused on the Titanic museum and the history surrounding it, it turns out I never made it to the Titanic museum even though it came highly recommended by Jim Lyons. However, today was one of those days that really blew my expectations. The day started off a little later and a little slower than normal which was alright as unsurprisingly I had a good time enjoying the local libations with a few other classmates!

We started with a "touristy" bus tour of the city center, some old monuments, some old churches, a castle and then we moved on to "The Troubles". I was so impressed with the details of the troubles that I took a black cab tour for some more details. This is hands down a must do activity in Belfast. 

I thought I was starting to gain a better understanding of Ireland's recent violent history but I had no idea the true meaning of the word recent and the poor choice of the word history. I knew the Protestants and Catholics kept a wide breath on each other and when they didn't there would be small flare ups from time to time but I truly thought everything was "normal" now in Belfast.

It turns out that's not the case... These gates which are part of the peace wall system close like you'd expect at a military barracks, a war zone check point or some other major conflict zone, not some where that the locals say is peaceful and normal.

Gate 1 in Belfast Closed (6p-6a)

This unfortunately reminds me of the longer but tamer Mexican border fence line... Think about that for a minute how is it that one of the largest cities in a well developed countries in the world has to segregate their residents every night to keep the peace. The cab driver said they left the gates open at night a few years ago for a few weeks and it wasn't long before the first issues came up again.

 "a study was released in 2012 indicating that 69% of residents believe that the peace walls are still necessary because of potential violence and only 38% can envisage a time when there will be no peace walls"

Belfast 'peace' wall

Mexican border

We saw some pallet piles being created too which is used to celebrate the Protestant victory of the Battle of the Boyne. This is a whole story in itself but is definitely worth mentioning as it adds to the cult like feel of the area.

There are hundreds of murals in the area as well, celebrating, commemorating, remembering, decorating for one reason or another. Right across the street from most of these is housing structure with families and kids living in them. I find it very fascinating and almost scary that these people are so dedicated and passionate about their cause that they are willing to raise their families in this type of environment. 

This guy called "top gun" is celebrated on a wall as he himself was a victim of the troubles but he murdered around 20 people... Its really a strange thing to see this kind of thing being plastered on walls as something to be proud of. I wish I had the words to describe it.

-The Curious Bob

To the North! - Belfast

Started the day with a nice coach bus tour up to Belfast followed by a walk around the Titanic docks, I could have spent hours there as I can't help but thinking about all the "things used to make the things" used to make the Titanic at this point in history.

Today was a great day up in Belfast we had a number of great speakers that really focused on the details and intricacies of start-ups. On multiple occasions, we were given essentially a road map for tips on launching a successful startup. It's pretty great to be able to learn from other's mistakes like this.

There were several good slides today, one I recall from memory quite well from OMIINO about Perceived wisdom "we violated":

• Money raising should be a beauty contest, prepare for disappointment.
• Finances are not the full story when it comes to valuation.
• Strive for incremental R&D spend before revenue stream starts.

These guys today also stressed the importance of not being the smartest person in the room but be sure to surround yourself with the smartest ones. This is a sign of both humility and knowing thyself - both critical leadership skills. 

Again these guys are on the opposite side of the country and there is still a resounding message that one of the keys to leadership is listening to others... This has become a focal point for me as I too often am not an active listener and don't hear the unheard nearly as well as I should.

Generosity was another key takeaway we saw first hand today. Brian Keegan graciously presented an award to one Colim, the former CEO of one of his investment companies for being courageous. Colim overcame adversity in his personal life and in the business world, sticking it out when times were tough. We were very lucky to get to be a part of this small and intimate exchange between these two men. 

-The Curious Bob

Day 2 at Startup Ireland

We had another good day today as we spent the day working at Startup Ireland again at Docklands Innovation Park. Today's focus was understanding the Start-up Chile model and determine the best course if action for Eoin if he try's to pitch a similar idea here in London. We also made a connection with an incubator in Israel, we have a Skype meeting set-up for Tuesday morning.

Most of these are start-ups

During lunch we had the opportunity to speak with another startup entrepreneur focusing on embedded technology and bridging the gap between software and hardware similar to http://getdrop.co/ which is an interactive cooking technology coaching you through the recipe using a sale as the primary feedback tool.

He had some interesting perspectives on both the Irish diaspora and American connections as he spent 10 years with Intel prior to starting his own company about 2 years ago.

When compared to Greece, the Irish have many more options for emigration due to being an English speaking country. This isn't really something most Americans give much thought too. The Europeans move around countries like we do from state to state. They can head to any number of countries and with a decent skill set, easily be able to find a job.

He also mentioned how easy it was to get into the US with a visa as an Irish in the tech industry. Apperntly Ireland is one of the few places to travel from where you can clear US customs before you leave the country. 

One final point he noted was that the tertiary school (college) is all publicly funded and is free leading to the higher than average education level in Ireland.

-The Curious Bob

Punching the clock with Startup Ireland

We spent the day at the DIT hothouse incubator near the "Silicon Docks". We received some marching orders prior to today from the founder of Startup Ireland - Eoin Costello which turned out to be a good thing because we didn't actually get a chance to meet up with him until around 3:00 as he had a last minute speaking engagement with Google come up.

Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjGSGhDnw1E

The basic premise of the project has two main objectives

1) Research successful incubators around the globe, spcifically in Tel Aviv, Israel and develop a framework of what makes them successful. This framework may be applied in Dublin in the next few years as Startup Ireland looks to become the number one accelerator in Europe fed by these incubators.

2) Research the premise, success and outcomes of global startup events specifically Startup Chile. These events are used to draw in top talent from around the globe. In this case, this talent would likely end up in the incubators and then into the accelerators.

I am definitely looking forward to learning more first hand about how these tech companies are helped along the process to profitability. Most of my experience is with what some would call "real products", primarily in the manufacturing world where it takes a lot more time and capital to go from an idea to market.

Per Jan's recommendation, I am also going to be especially keen to what I myself can learn from this experience. This is the balance between selfless and selfish...


Also in case anyone is interested, here are the URL's to all the blogs the class is working on while here in Ireland.

http://broncosace.blogspot.com

http://bevancox.blogspot.com

https://annakatferreira.wordpress.com

http://prezi.com/ey5ht1k7mhfa/ireland-maymester-2014-cu-denver/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

http://rahulsukkalaposts.tumblr.com

http://kbundy84.tumblr.com

http://perceptionandbeyond.wordpress.com

http://katygoingabroad.blogspot.com

http://navyskier.blogspot.com

http://pdhutchinson.tumblr.com

http://seekellytravel.blogspot.com

http://www.alliericks.com

http://brettjbennett4.tumblr.com

http://thecuriousbob.blogspot.com

http://ucdenverireland2014.blogspot.ie/2014/05/day-four-day-out-of-dublin.html?m=1

Hello, you're welcome

We were fortunate enough to have spent the morning at the Iveagh House in Dublin speaking with one of the key diplomats for foreign affairs, Cyril Brennan. His full title is Deputy Director US Affairs, North America, Australia and New Zealand Unit, Anglo-Irish Division  We also received our first Irish welcome,when Cyril entered the room he said "You're welcome" this is a nice change from what you might get in the states.

The Iveagh House building itself was amazing, the exterior facade looks like any other place in Dublin but once you enter in past the modest security (compared to the US) the real beauty of the building can be seen. Gifted to the state by the Guinness family years ago, access to the house is limited to basically invitation only. Since they considered us business students as future leaders and decision makers from the US, our credentials were enough to get us some time with the diplomat and a  tour!

It was interesting to see all the connections back to the speakers we had on Monday. We discussed food trace-ability as a public sector initiative today while yesterday we heard from the Co-CEO of IdentiGEN, a company specializing in protein tracking. We also heard about some past initiatives from Andrew Parish on marine energy which was also a key topic for the affairs office.

Iveagh House

After the Iveagh house we got a tour of the main Irish government building called the Dáil. There were quite a few similarities between the way the Dáil and the way the US capital building is set up. It was surprising to see how proud of their American Presidential visits and how strong the US influence is on what should be the most patriotic and Irish place on the island! One of the biggest pieces of art is actually a US civil war flag celebrating the Irish who fought from New York, this was apparently presented to them by John F. Kennedy just a few months before he was assassinated. 

Day 1 (ish) - Leadership lectures

Our first day of lectures is officially in the books!  We relocated from downtown Dublin to the UCD campus via bus which was a bit interesting with 16 students carrying 2 weeks of luggage all boarding the bus at once!

Meeting on the campus of University College of Dublin, we had a great group of speakers come in and share their version of leadership trials and tribulations. We had a pretty decent mix of backgrounds between the speakers. 

There were two that really resonated with me, the first was start-up entrepreneur and former CEO, Andrew Parish. he had some pretty good takeaways that I found interesting.

• Start-up tips:
• Know your business partner - When getting into business with someone really understand them as much as the business and make sure its the right fit.
• Know your own end game- Know ahead of time what you hope to achieve.
• Raise more money than you think you need when you can raise it and spend it like it was yours.
• The transition from an "A" to a "The" can be daunting - A Manager to The CEO. 
• The right attitude is more important than a good educations
• "You have two ears and one mouth" use them in that ratio - I have heard this one before but its always helpful to be reminded the importance of active listening. 
• And the final takeaway I had from Andrew was that it's critical to think about not what your message is that you are saying or communicating to your team that matters it's the way that message is heard. 

The last bullet point from Andrew was one of the points I connected with in my own situation. All too often I will tell my team exactly what I think they need to hear but I cannot honestly say I have ever given much thought to what it would be like to be in their shoes hearing that same message. 

Andrew Parish

The second speaker that really resonated with me was Paul Byrne, the current CEO at Trintech. Being a local  from Dublin, Paul has his hands full as he runs the business from both the Dublin office and in the States. 

Paul had some great examples from his work at Trintech and while I still have some time before I get to a C-level position like his, it was good to know that even at the top of the company the hard parts about work doesn't usually involve real work at all. It's managing and leading your team through the ups, downs and unknowns that is challenging. 

• Some hey takeaways Paul had were:
• Fail fast and learn from it.
• Ask questions
• Convince others to follow you, what will they do for you? 1 person with 4 dedicated and loyal direct reports get's 4 times more work done than the leader with no followers.
• Flip the org chart - the employees closest to the customers on the front line should be at the top.

Paul Byrne

Our instructor Jan also had some time to speak to us today and combined with the insight from the other speakers we had a great discussion. 

Some topics discussed that stuck with me

• Hear the unheard 
• “To hear the unheard,” remarked Pan Ku, “is a necessary discipline to be a good ruler. For only when a ruler has learned to listen closely to the people’s hearts, hearing their feelings uncommunicated, pains unexpressed, and complaints not spoken of, can he hope to inspire confidence in his people, understand when something is wrong, and meet the true needs of his citizens. The demise of states comes when leaders listen only to superficial words and not penetrate deeply into the souls of the people to hear their true opinions, feelings and desires.”
• Questions are the most powerful tool anyone has in a leadership position
• Setting agendas, you have to own and manage your agenda

And the last one point (it was a question of course!) that I am really hoping to find some direction on is - 

"What do you want to do?" Jan's common phrase in his book  is "For who's good do you serve?" I'm still trying to wrap my own situation around these two key questions. Obviously the answers to these are moving targets but nevertheless they are still targets. Why then, is it so tough to know what they are...?

-The Curious Bob

Walking with Purpose

Summary of lectures and reflection from 5/26 to follow

International friendly

Spent the evening with a 7 other members of the team at the local Aviva stadium for an international friendly against Turkey. The Irish lost 2-1 but it was still a neat match to watch. We actually went early on and saw a portion of the junior final then went back to the hotel for a break. I went on a nice little jog around Dublin followed up shortly with a 20 minute recharge nap before heading back down to the main game.

The excessive 'proactive' crowd management was interesting at the stadium, something you don't notice much back home. Changing the way individuals move through a facility apparently has something to do with how they react after a bad match. The sheer number of guards surrounding the Turkish fans was impressive, I don't think any were more than an arms length away from one another. On the way out we were funneled through a well thought out maze of gates, doors and guards to get to the DART.

Turkish fans with flares (Photo: http://navyskier.blogspot.ie/)

First Dublin weekend comes to a close

Highlights from the first 2.5 days:

-Having a pint in a real Irish pub, live music and all

-Being told I look too Irish by some locals

-Being told I was a natural when it came to pouring Guinness.

-Seeing my first international soccer match. 

-Being asked for directions while out jogging around town.

iPhone post

Found the mobil app for posting!

Spent the morning in Howth with a good portion of team. We walked around the marina and around town. Had lunch at the open air Sunday market, it was neat to see all the local artisans and food vendors. 

Map of the peninsula.

Outer harbor. 

You can call me anything just don't call me late to Dinner

Today we visited the Kilimanjaro jail, which was a very humbling experience. Paired with what I learned yesterday, I have a much better idea of the history here in Ireland that's not to say that 3 hours or tours can cover 100 years of history, but I do feel more knowledgeable about the "world" I'm in.

So that's the reflection part.... After the jail we went to the Guinness Store house. Being the beer nerd I am, I realized I was more inclined to tour at my own pace. After pouring my own pint and being called a "natural" I thought my trip to Ireland was complete. Turns out I still have some more things to learn! 

Since I was so slow in the tour I was separated from the group this was not a problem and in all honesty was almost to plan. After the storehouse, I had some time to kill so I went to Ireland's oldest pub - The Brazen Head, this was a very cool and authentic place where I was able to find my own place at the bar. After a half of pint or so I asked the local; " So are you from Dublin" and sure enough I had two friends for the next 3 hours. We talked US and Ireland travel, football, driving and politics for what seemed like hours, I was ready to ditch my dinner plans and see what else I could learn from these locals over a few pints! It wasn't until I told them I had to go after this last pint that things got funny. First off one guy took a call outside and didn't return back to the bar for his newly poured Guinness. While the other local and I made small talk he looked down at a new text on his phone and the with the next big swig of Guinness, both of them were gone. I thought it was just a case of when nature calls but 10-15 minutes later the bartenders were pretty adamant that "my friends" weren't coming back! I had to convince the waitstaff I had no real ties to these guys and they were just new acquaintances but nevertheless, I felt terrible for the waitstaff. I waited around some more time hoping they would return and cover their tab but I soon realized I was already late for my 6:00 dinner appointment so I cashed out with a generous tip and ran across town to the Boxy in Temple Bar to salvage the night having a great dinner with the Leadership group and some undergrad students from CO as well!

Long story short - the locals had some great knowledge and stories to share but you can never be too sure of who you are dealing with until sometime it is too late..

Finally made it!

Today was my first day in Dublin, it was quite the experience to look out the window and see fields of green separated by stone walls as we made our approach. After landing I couldn't help but grin when the flight attendant welcomed everyone in English and Gaelic! The way the Irish speak really intrigues me whether its Gaelic or English I can't help but find myself entranced by the sound of speech. It really helps slow things don for me as I become so interested in not what they are saying but how they are saying it. This is completely opposite to my normal train of thought.

Today I went on a walking tour of the 1916 Easter Rising Rebellion, it was a great way to learn a bit about what makes Ireland Ireland as well as learn the layour of the city a bit. The guide was very detailed and did a great job explaining. I can't wait to learn more about this pivotal time in Irish history in the coming days. Another classmate and I also sampled some of the Irish water - Guinness which I must say was a delicious as one might hope. We ended the night sampling some product at Dublin's only on premises micro brewery, they still have a ways to go to get to Colorado standards but they definitely get an A for effort in my book!

Sláinte!
-Bob

The guy who knew the guy - Jim Lyons

Last week I had a rare opportunity to hear from a very interesting leader. His name is Jim Lyons (wiki) and up until a few weeks ago, he would have been just another name to me but as it turns out he has had quite the impact on the world we live in (especially if you live in Ireland).

Jim Lyons

Jim worked in the Clinton administration and was responsible for a lot of the groundwork for the peace talks between Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. While his credentials are quite impressive what was neat to me was that outside of the military he was one of the few leaders I have ever met that lead and acted for the greater good. Sure he had his own pride at stake but his lasting legacy isn't the iPhone or the next best product, it's peace. Think about that for a minute, what's your lasting legacy? What are you working towards? I can't help but think what this means to me. My wife always asks me that when I'm frustrated with my job - "What do you want in life?" to this day the best answer I have is "The pursuit of success with an ever changing definition of success."

One last thing that struck me as interesting, Jim said his biggest take away from all of his years working with leaders was that all great leaders have one thing in common - Patience. 

Welcome to the Curious Bob

Welcome to my online journal - This is where I will be posting updates on Ireland, leadership, entrepreneurship, and most importantly things that make me ask "why?" for the next few weeks and who knows maybe even longer! 

"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection."
Thomas Paine