TechTitans Podcast: Interview with Calvin Carter

Bottle Rocket is known for being innovative, thanks to the collaborative leadership of Founder & CEO Calvin Carter. The organization has been recognized locally for their leadership by Tech Titans in 2018 with its Emerging Company Innovation award and in 2019 with the Emerging Company CEO award for Calvin himself.

During this podcast, Calvin talks about allowing employees to work from wherever, on top of their self-managed vacation plan. Calvin talks about connecting employees to a purpose, how an entrepreneur/leader needs empathy, and how coronavirus accelerated adoption of trends by 3-5 years.

You can watch a video version on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjczjQmSjAg&feature=youtu.be

Or on your favorite audio podcast app:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/273592/4184024

Some highlighted quotes are below.

• “We are seeing the percentage of revenue for our clients that is being conducted through apps and websites doubling and tripling during this time. Due to COVID, what would have taken at least 5 years to take place, took only 15 days.”
• Bottle Rocket has designed and developed over 450 distinct digital products over the course of its history.
• “At Bottle Rocket, we believe in the power of going first (meaning being first in the marketplace).”
• “When you free yourself from the fear of failure, embarrassment, or shame, and you go out of your way to find things you don’t know how to do or haven’t been invented yet, you slowly work down your fear of failure. You’ll always have a little bit, but you acclimate to the point that you build up a bit of a resistance to it. Be open to new things. You might miss something that could have been better.”
• Bottle Rocket is all about the work and collaboration.
• “It’s important that the vision we’re casting make sense for many, many years, not just the year 2020.”
• (Advice he gives to his twin 11-year-old daughters) “Your ability to get things done comes from you. Think about what you want to achieve and where you want to go in life and realize it’s in you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t do it.”
• “I think a good entrepreneur is a highly empathetic person. I think great leaders are people who can connect with other people, through sensing and understanding what it’s like to be that person. It’s more work to be empathetic.”
• On the company’s vacation policy: Bottle Rocket has a self-managed vacation plan, which allows each Rocketeer to determine the amount of time to take and when to take it in. Do what works for you and your team.
• “Leaders need to start treating people like they do matter.”
• On the Connected Employee—”The best business strategy in the world can’t succeed if there’s a toxic culture at the heart of the organization.”

This was published on TechTitans.org