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On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Abraham Kamarck about leadership lessons from the sky, being a Naval Aviator, transitioning from the Navy and how a dislike to ketchup led to creating True Made Foods. We also dive into air speed is life and altitude is life insurance, learning to say no, understanding the cultural environment you work in, and placing family at the core of the story.
Abraham Kamarck – Leadership Lessons From The Sky
Abraham Kamarck is a design thinking professional who makes cool products, starts movements and changes behaviour. He is a former Seahawk Helicopter pilot on counter-narcotics missions, business mentor and judge of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region. With a zest for launching multiple businesses in challenging environments, Abraham has lived and been an entrepreneur in more than ten countries including Bulgaria, Ghana, Jordan, Egypt and currently the USA.
Abraham has studied a BA East Asian Studies from Vanderbilt University and an MBA in Business Administration and General Management at the London Business School. His career commenced as a US Navy Naval Aviator and Division Chief for the US European Command, before moving out of Defence Forces to become an independent consultant, CEO of Viomel Limited, Director of Innovation Coexist Foundation, Principal of Maendeleo Ventures LLC and is currently the CEO and Founder of True Master Foods.
Abraham talks about:
- Growing up in Washington DC and Brooklyn, with diverse cultures, people and food.
- “Moderation in all things including moderation”
- Being a fox and not a hedgehog.
- Remain calm, composed and focused during very complex and high-pressure situations.
- How to process a lot of information very quickly and get to the most important things first.
- Aviate, navigate, communicate.
- Prioritising information as a senior executive or an entrepreneur
- You have got to realise what is going to kill you, and focus on it first.
- The importance of having a “tool program”.
- Not being prepared for transitioning out of the Navy.
- The core for doing well in business as a start up is saying no!
- Starting True Made Foods at 38 years old with four kids.
- Being an entrepreneur and working with the culture in Qatar.
- No one is really disrupting ketchup yet.
- Will it pass the five year old test?
- Why Amazon and e-commerce are valuable for start-ups.
- The pro’s and con’s of having co-founders.
- How to figure out that work life balance and get it right?
Active CEO Performance Tip
CEO Flow – It’s the psychological state that we need to get ourselves into where we have an out of body experience, because everything happens so effortlessly. If you’ve planned, prepared and you put yourself in a state where you feel like you are living what you are about to say, then you are more likely to get into that flow state. When you are in flow, everyone engages and connects with you.
Tweets
“The more people working for equity and not salary the better your company is going to do.” The importance of co-founders, with Abraham Kamarck, on the active CEO Podcast.
“A lot of my aviation training works well as an entrepreneur. In both cases you are basically trying not to die the whole time. You basically use the same strategies. How to process a lot of information very quickly and get to the most important things first? When you are falling out of the sky you don’t have time to spend time figuring out what is happening with the aircraft. You have to identify the problems immediately and fix or save yourself. ” Focusing on what will kill you first, with Abraham Kamarck, on the active CEO Podcast.
Resources Mentioned in this show:
Abraham Kamarck LinkedIn
Abraham Kamarck Facebook
Abraham Kamarck Instagram
True Made Foods www.truemadefoods.com
True Made Foods Facebook
True Made Foods Instagram
NRG2Perform www.nrg2perform.com
Craig Johns craig@nrg2perform.com
Craig Johns LinkedIn
