Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Sukhinder Singh Cassidy , the founder and chairman of Joyus, a video shopping site, and a founder oftheBoardlist.com, which aims to put more women on boards. To read the complete interview, check out other articles, and obtain subscription information, please click here.
Photo credit: Earl Wilson/The New York Times
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What were your early years like?
I was hyper-intense, hyper-academic and a pretty uptight kid.
I remember hating going to Brownies, and I always felt slightly out of sorts there, so I quit. But then I locked myself in the bathroom at home and cried. And my mom asked, “Why are you so upset?” It was from feeling guilty that I quit. Ultimately I went back and finished Brownies and did a year of Girl Guides, and then I quit.
Why did you go back if you didn’t like it?
It was conscientiousness and guilt from not having followed through on something. It was feeling that if I’m going to quit, I can’t quit this way. I still think of myself as a conscientious person.
Tell me about your parents.
They’re both doctors, and my father loved running his medical practice as a business.
Early on, he taught us all how to do his ledgers and his income taxes. I was doing his income taxes when I was about 10 or 11, and then as a teenager I built a system to do his ledgers on the computer.
He always would say to me when I was young, “You should work for yourself.” By the time I was about 25, I wanted to start a business.
It seems you were driven from an early age.
I’m just wired that way. If anything, I wish there were days I could dial down my intensity. I’ve always wanted to do more.
And my parents were always highly conscientious. Their work ethic was incredible. They immigrated to Canada when they were older and had to restart their medical careers.
What were your college years like?
Interestingly, college was my revolt period after growing up in a highly conservative household. So when I went away to college, I was going to have a good time. My grades were good, but I was mostly enjoying the freedom to make my own choices.
Your first job was on Wall Street. Was your compass always pointed there?
My compass was not pointed anywhere. Interestingly, for somebody who was so intense, I actually didn’t know what I wanted to do. I went through a recruiting cycle after graduating but didn’t get a job. So I went from feeling great about myself as a high school student to wondering what’s wrong with me. I felt pretty demoralized. It really made me question myself. Then I interviewed at Merrill Lynch, and the hiring process went really fast.
So now I tell college grads, you’re going to end up where you’re supposed to be. In hindsight, why did Merrill work? In some ways, it’s very clear. I’m aggressive; Merrill is aggressive. I’m intense; Merrill is intense. I don’t come wrapped up in this nice neat bow, and so why was I surprised that the more conservative places didn’t hire me?
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To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.
Adam Bryant, deputy national editor of The New York Times, oversees coverage of education issues, military affairs, law, and works with reporters in many of the Times’ domestic bureaus. He also conducts interviews with CEOs and other leaders for Corner Office, a weekly feature in the SundayBusiness section and on nytimes.com that he started in March 2009. In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews of hundreds of business leaders. To read an excerpt, please click here. To contact him, please click here.