#04 Johann Romefort – Being kind and give first

Uploaded: 10.11.2019
Duration: 36:59

In this episode, I am interviewing Johann Remefort. He is the Managing Director at Techstars for the BSH Future Home Accelerator in Munich.

We talk about:

Johann’s first leadership experience: during university he was leading a customer support team for people having difficulties connecting to the internet.
How he discovered as a techie his strengths in the interaction with people
Johann’s company as a founder, Seesmic, where he was leading 60 people around the world in Romania, Singapore, France and the US.
Johann’s suggestions for leading virtual teams such as travelling there often to get face-to-face time and uncovering potential misalignments over a glass of beer
Intercultural lessons: how Johann was perceived as rude due in the US his direct way of pointing out things that were not right and how packaging negative feedback around positive one made people feel less stressed.
The non-transactional concept of “pay forward” or “give first” and how he truly believes in it
How his superpower skill of networking thanks to a few years in California helped him at the start of building communities as tech evangelist in Munich
How showing vulnerability is not a sign of weakness, rather courage and strength. How sharing your failures can create a deeper connection and empathy. Start by sharing your own stories!
The importance of saying no as first-time founder and also being kind to yourself.