Curveball Ventures Christina Kish

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Austin, TX
Curveball Ventures Christina Kish

Speaker. Facilitator. Mentor. Starting Pitcher. Entrepreneur and NetFlix Co-Founder

10/28/2024

Shout out to my Cal Poly connections! I'll be speaking via Zoom at the Cal Poly Entrepreneurs Club!! Check them out for more details.

04/26/2024

I had the distinct pleasure to be interviewed on one of the first podcasts that "Two Teens Talk Tech" produced. These are two amazing high schoolers that are making their way in the podcast world. Thank you Julia Koontz and Evie Gatz. I love the questions they asked and how professional they both were during the process. Go girls!!

NOTE: I just listened to it back and realized that I didn't name our Angel (my bad!)...of course it was Reed Hastings!! Also, a very big thanks (always) to Marc Randolph for always supporting my telling of our story

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6I0kupIqsokvEIFdFATH67?si=Ei1WNZd8RQasmzqUCXym6A.

02/20/2024

I am excited to speak with Students at my alma mater, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo this Thursday via Zoom. My story is the epitome of Cal Poly's motto: Learn by Doing! I can't wait to share with them.

02/06/2024

When a swing and a miss is the best lesson....

I remember when I was around 11 years old playing in my first All Star game. I was one of the youngest on the team. I was a pitcher so it was valuable to always have a back up pitcher in the game. They put me in left field for a few innings then rotated to others which was a good thing given my ability to run! It was a close game and on one play the other team had a runner on third, no outs and the batter hit a pop fly to left field. I ran my hardest towards the ball hoping for the catch to show everyone they made a good decision to select me for the team. I wasn't really paying attention to the foul line, just to the ball in the air. I missed the catch. I felt horrible. I thought it was going to be the play of the day. When I came into the dugout at the end of the inning, no one spoke to me and I was feeling like a loser. After the game, the coach gave his team talk. One of "smart" plays he noted in the game was the pop fly I'd missed. I looked up a bit startled. He then explained that the runner would have tagged and scored even though it was a foul ball. We all became better players that day because the coach showed us that what we thought was a missed opportunity was actually a lesson on how to play the game. The sting of the failed attempt to catch the pop up was short lived.

All of the "what ifs" in life and career...what if things don't work out? You don't get a job, there is a typo in a marketing campaign, the product fails, the boss who hired you leaves the company, you are looked over for a promotion.... etc. I've had them all happen to me. Sometimes, you learn the silver lining right away and sometimes, you have to wait. And, wait.

I was reminded of this while talking to my friend about her son. He was turned down for a job opportunity and was disheartened. We both rattled off a bunch of examples of "when one door closes another door opens" in our own careers. It is SO HARD to remember all those times when you are going through it and it is particularly hard to reassure someone who doesn't have the experience of hind sight.

Y'all already know where I'm headed with all of this ... take the swing, fall down, rub some dirt on it and get ready for the next play. Unfortunately, it is that simple.

I love talking about missed opportunities when I talk about Curveballs to large and small audiences!!

12/11/2023

My last 36 months can best be described as coming up to bat everyday facing a new pitcher and having no idea which pitch is coming. Needless to say, there were a lot of curveballs.

Part of me wonders how the heck I weathered it all and the other part contemplates how to describe how I did it. Since I am a self appointed speaker on professional and life curveballs, I feel the need to put the last 36 months into some perspective in order to share some pertinent learning . Or, at least share some funny antidotes on how I played the game!!

I wanted to be a player who didn't need things like helmets, batting gloves, pitchers' cleats, coaches, designated hitters. Be tough. Stand on my own. Be tested. It works up to a point and then you need protection, knowledgeable resources and reinforcements. Asking for help and sharing vulnerabilities is not my first choice. I've begrudgingly learned that when you are standing in the box being pelted with curveballs, you best ask for help. I am thankful that I did and more than grateful to those who stepped up and joined my team.

I did a speech many years ago called "God's Curveballs Bring You Home". The continuing theme in my Faith story was: "God fills you stadium seats". With vulnerability and humility, I remembered my own words and reached out to the folks in the seats.

Someone asked me last week what have I learned the most. My response was that "walking my talk" is challenging, not because I don't believe in my own word or integrity, but because there are other players on the field that may not understand it. And, I learned that I can be proud of keeping my word, helping my team and not asking for free agency to get me out of tough times.

In life and in business, we have campaigns that don't go as planned and we wish for a do over. Just like plays in a baseball game. I can name hundreds of those moments from the past 36 months. I also know that you need to do your best with the pitches that are thrown at you.

I'm not sure about my clarity in perspective or any of my fun antidotes. Instead, I'll leave you with a twist on an old cliché: I'm taking it one pitch at a time. And with that, I'm going to take the win. ;)

* I chose this picture for two reasons....1)Used dirt means you played the game and 2)choose to have role models that also "walk their talk"

08/21/2023

Take your turn at bat!! I can't tell you how many times I've had someone ask me if they should apply for a role, join a group or test out an idea when they aren't sure if they "meet all the requirements", "have enough experience" or "aren't sure it's a good idea". Managing curveballs is all about being ready to step up to the plate. How do you get ready? You step into the cage and take as many swings as you can. It's called practice. It's why "spring training" still exists (well, that and for the fans to "pre-season practice" too! lol!). "Practice" is about doing a lot of interviews, asking questions (ask someone doing that role or group for coffee!!), and testing your elevator pitch with people (try it on an actual elevator, it's fun!).

I love talking to people about how they can take practice swings! Get creative about it. Have fun with it. Step up to the plate and take some swings. I talk about this when public speaking and with my mentees!

08/02/2023

Anyone else have curveballs coming at them left and right? Keep smiling and consider eye rolls a great workout! I have a fun post on LinkedIn about problem solving! Check it out under Christina Kish. And yes, that is me!!!

07/28/2023

Web Site update includes links to books by Marc Randolph and Gina Keating along with the documentary by Shawn Cauthen ! Take a look!
Www.curveballventures.com

Christina Kish

07/18/2023

My biggest "advice" in managing your career is to take great notes! (these photos are a little bit of NetFlix history for y'all). Everyone that I've helped to negotiate offers, performance raises, promotions, as well as managing up, conflict resolution and most importantly, the "should I stay or should I go" decision all benefited from keeping notes along the way. Pages in your notebook (I like paper still!, but to each their own ... lol) can benefit from ongoing lists with headings like accomplished, learned, resolved, stepped up for others, unresolved, disappointments, great dialog, not great dialog...etc. When something of big or little significance occurs, we all believe that we have the most stellar of memories. We might, but let's not take the chance. And, the big picture serves you better than individual instances. Keeping notes allows you to pull back and look at the entire picture to help spark ideas, questions, paths, actions... etc. I'm also a big fan of a white board (or a big piece of butcher paper.... or truth be told, part of NetFlix was built using crayons and a big art paper book). It's no coincidence that the most powerful person during a white board brainstorm session is the person with the marker in their hand. Be that person for yourself. In two recent instances, I asked the person that I was helping do some negotiations internal and external to their organization if they had kept notes. Could they "present" themselves with detailed back up? They both said yes, and were able to sell the heck out of themselves. You never know when a curveball is coming or when you might want to throw one *wink*.
Keep good notes to help level up your game! I love talking about note taking with people I mentor and in public speaking opportunities.

06/30/2023

Read the writing on the wall. Part of great career management is to anticipate the curveballs. Like in baseball, if you know the signs, you'll know when a curveball is coming. Whether you need to read a client's upcoming curveball or those in your own company, it just takes being aware. The top areas to have your fingers on the pulse are financials and labor force. You can do this no matter your role or level, small or large company or internal or external to your company. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for trends or pivots. For example in financials, are budgets growing or shrinking, is the overall market having issues, is the company in the news positively or negative (and what about their competitors?), are clients/customers being added or being lost, is your compensation on the track set out for you? There are tons of these kinds of things that are easy to hear, see or ask about.

For labor force, are you reporting to the person who hired you, who is getting promoted, who is leaving, are there hiring freezes, can you see productivity/results? You get the idea...

Seems simple, however, most people get myopic. It can be hard to be highly functional and take the time to keep an eye out. My suggestion is to set aside a percent of your time to lift up your head and look around. As I love to say, the writing on the wall is never written in invisible ink. Comment if you have thoughts or questions on this topic! I love talking about this and incorporate it in mentoring and speeches!

06/22/2023

Finding what you love is about kissing a lot of frogs. A few years ago when I was going through a tough transition of work, life, identity, well, you name it, I asked someone, whom I valued as a deep thinker, how you decide to make bold change. How do you decide what you want? How to you decide what to change and what to keep? He said, "Figure out what you hate". I was taken aback. Actually, appalled! I am more of a positive thinker and don't spend time on the negative. Years later as this came up for me more times than I'd like to admit, I have learned that it was a valuable piece of advice. As kids, we are taught how to solve problems using the process of elimination. As we gain what we believe to be higher problem/cognitive skills, we look to solve everything with our brains rather than experiment or eliminate. I admit that I hated this lesson. LOL. Now I combine this skill along with the "how do I want to feel" as ways to help in my decision making. Both have proven very valuable and much more appealing than truly kissing frogs. I speak about using these tools for decision making in my public speaking opportunities and when I mentor.

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Austin, TX

Website

http://www.curveballventures.com/

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