The Low Down

For this episode, we spoke to some of Columbia's up-and-coming entrepreneurs, all of whom were winners in the 2015 Columbia Venture Competition. 

These entrepreneurs competed for a top prize of $250,000 at the #StartupColumbia Festival. The objective? To give the judges compelling evidence of market acceptance for their value propositions. Nearly a year later, we asked each of these companies what they're doing, how placing in the competition has affected their business, and what it means to them to be Columbia entrepreneurs.

Catch up on the latest news from your Columbia alumni community this week.

In honor of year's Pulitzer Prize announcements on April 18 at Columbia Journalism School, we looked back at some Columbians who have won the coveted prize throughout the years.

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Alex Finley* '94CC, '97JRN joined the CIA in 2003, where she spent close to six years as an officer of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, serving in West Africa and Europe. Before she joined the agency, she was no stranger to Washington DC or politics. As she puts it, "she chased puffy white men around Washington DC as a member of the wild dog pack better known as the Washington media elite."

After leaving the CIA in 2009, she returned to writing and soon found that her voice lent itself well to humor. In addition to her work for Slate, Reductress, and Funny or Die, she is also about to publish a book: Victor in the Rubble: A Satire of the CIA and the War on Terror, which goes on sale April 15. The book, which was inspired by her time at the CIA and some of the bureaucratic frustrations that she had, comes out next week. In a recent interview, Alex spoke about the book, her work with the agency, and what the future of the CIA might look like. 

By Melody J. Wilding '11SW of the Columbia Career Coaches Network

Originally published on melodywilding.com

Why does it seem like some people can effortlessly “follow their passions,” while others can’t? What’s the secret of successful entrepreneurs and creatives who live out their dreams of dedicating their careers to inspiring, meaningful work? Why do the rest of us feel stuck in an unfulfilling funk?

Not everyone can follow their passion and make money from it. Not everyone can work on a personal project or business that lights you up and makes every day feel like retirement. Or can you?

The exciting truth is that there are small changes you can make every day to dig yourself out of burnout and inch yourself closer to creating a life and career that invigorates you, instead of draining you. The key is attuning yourself to your capacity for creativity.

Unfortunately, the systems we find ourselves in—whether that be family, schools, or—condition out of us the courage to risk. Playing it safe suits the naysayers who are scared of the sacrifice and upheaval big ideas entail, but staying small is unfulfilling. This is why, if you truly want to be exceptional, you have to nurture this skill again. You have to nurture your creative genius. Luckily, you can do that through developing habits and deliberate practice working the creative “muscles” in your brain.

Creativity is part art, and part science. In the decades since the science of creativity began to be uncovered, there have been many books written on the topic, which will help you build those muscles and achieve that illusive creativity.

These are 5 of my favorite:

Catch up on the latest news from your Columbia alumni community this week.

Think you know about Columbia University? Like movies and pop culture references? Is your NCAA bracket busted but you still want to take part in March competition? 

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you're in the right place.

We've got our own bracket-style knockout tournament underway where we start with eight of the most iconic movies set in or featuring characters related to Columbia University (our "Elite 8," if you will) and look to narrow that list down until we crown a sole champion.

...But we need your help!

Here's how to participate:

Beginning Monday, March 28 at 10 a.m. EST, take part in the #ColumbiaMovieMadness elimination tournament on the Columbia Alumni Association Twitter account (and directly on this page) by voting daily for your picks to advance in each round. We'll tally up the votes before the start of each daily match up and declare winners to proceed on as we look to crown the most popular movie with references to Columbia University.

Up for the challenge? Here are the contenders:

...And a huge shout-out to Columbia Men's Basketball for wrapping up a historic postseason run and winning the Collegeinsider.com Tournament (CIT) - their first-ever postseason championship! The Lions' 25 wins this season represents the highest total in program history. Relive the championship game moments and keep the celebration going and join the team at the annual Men's Basketball Banquet on April 18. 

Posted on behalf of Chester Lee '70SEAS, '74BUS

Ahead of the Asian Columbia Alumni Association's (ACAA) 20th Anniversary Gala on April 30, one of the founders looks back at the group's history.

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This June, Columbia Business School and Barnard College are teaming up to create an Executive Education program aimed at women: "Women in Leadership: Expanding Influence and Leading Change." According to the website, the program is designed to "help elevate the impact of women leaders—enabling them to navigate the business landscape, develop and leverage their talents, and step into roles of greater influence."

This program builds on a conversation that was already prevalent, but has reached a new level of exposure over the past 6 years or so. It could (and has been) argued that this increase in attention is due, in large part, to Sheryl Sandberg. As the COO of Facebook, Sandberg was well positioned to publicly pose a question that no one seemed to be asking: "why do we have so few women leaders?" This question became the basis for her TED talk in 2010, her Barnard commencement speech in 2011, and her bestselling book, Lean In, in 2013. The question sparked a national conversation about women and their roles in the workplace. 

To discuss this question (and many others) we sat down with the women running this new Executive Education program: Rochelle Cooper ('84BC, '88TC, '89TC), Rita McGrath ('81BC, '82SIPA), and Elana Weinstein (Barnard Athena Center for Leadership).

Catch up on the latest news from your Columbia alumni community this week.