We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephen Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is such a dynamic word and concept. Ask 10 people for their definition of success and it would not be surprising to receive 10 very different answers. For me, being successful is not a destination that one reaches. It is not a threshold that one crosses. Success is a lifestyle of commitment to one’s objectives, the accomplishment of those objectives, and the evolution of those objectives over time. To be successful requires a mindset that embraces the path toward success – no matter where it may take you. It may take grit, determination, resilience, and faith – but it can equally take the simplicity of saying yes to opportunities, being present, and fully expressing your natural gifts and talents. This is something that I believe many people confuse. We create a narrative of how success should look based upon the success we’ve seen or heard about in others instead of defining it for ourselves. On some days success is being able to smile in spite of the many reasons not too. On other days it is standing up for your principles and refusing to be silenced. Each day is a gift. I start my day with the mindset that I am already a success simply because I am alive to experience the events of the day – everything else is the icing on the cake.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an advisor, consultant, and investor. Most of my work is in educational technology but I also work with startup companies and entrepreneurs outside of education as well. My superpower is definitely my ability to see the connection between the psychology of the founder and the challenges they face in their commercial enterprise. As an advisor, I work with entrepreneurs to recognize the source of these challenges and simultaneously grow as leaders while also improving their business prospects. As a consultant, I get to really work side-by-side with business leaders to build systems and processes that capture the transition these companies seek to take in fulfilling their mission. As an investor, I enjoy working with pre-seed companies that are looking for a strategic partner to help accelerate their early success. Each facet of my professional life is geared toward making a contribution to society that can benefit the lives of others at scale.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My advice for any managing team is to let go of dogma when it comes to how to best accomplish your company’s vision. A truly creative organization that is experimenting with how to best serve its customers will constantly fail. While failure is not the objective – it is a signal that you are on the path to differentiation and value creation.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients is satisfied current and past clients. As a service provider – I place much more emphasis on over-delivering for those who have already put their trust in my ability than I put in marketing to new clients in an effort to convince them to trust me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenajohnson1/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenajohnson1