The Monday Moment: Olivia Kantyka
All of us have ideas, all of us want something.
“ I wanted to be an advocate exuding strength, compassion, and (brutal) honesty.” -Olivia Kantyka
Mission accomplished, partner. I’m going to level with all of you, right here at the beginning: This is a Monday Moment I’ve been looking forward to a very long time. When the subject of your segment is someone who you not only know very well, but who has legitimately helped you and several hundred other people known to you…let’s just say the urge to do something creative, constructive and credible with that is a compelling, burning ambition even.
Kantyka, Olivia Kantyka At Your Service
Once you meet her, and you will — the woman is everywhere, you’ll soon discover that all that talk about Female Founders being just as capable, just as adaptable, and just as damned worthy as “us bros” is every bit as factual as the posts about it on Linkedin are frequent. Once those constantly curious, deeply analytical eyes gaze upon you — you’ll know that you’re dealing with someone thoughtful. That thoughtfulness is as sophisticated as the woman who wears it as gracefully as she does her tasteful jewelry — and it can, and has, been used, to maximum effect in a diversity of different operational situations.
Olivia’s is a strength that is deep but subtle, and her processes are as nuanced as they are very effective. One day she turned to me and said: “Steve, do you know what I think?” and I, smiling, answered: “I have no idea O, why don’t you tell me?” and she responded: “Too many people think that Design Thinking is about making art, ugh, this couldn’t be further than the truth! Design is a Creative Process, and it simply doesn’t get treated with the respect it deserves.”. This won’t be the first time you’ll read me say: She’s right.
Another time, Olivia and I were on assignment at a networking event. I was standing with my back to the wall, arms crossed, reading the room and trying to figure things out. Olivia was, by contrast, freely moving about — but those eyes, like a camera lens shooting at high speed, were identifying values and variables at a rapid pace. Stepping back toward me she cheerfully announced: “Plenty of connections. Minimum of nonsense. Opportunities? Hm…several.”.
Be Honest, Be Clear & Transparent & You’ll Find Those Pearls
You can only be yourself. Do you know why it’s so hard to attempt to fill another person’s shoes? Well…it just so happens that you’re not supposed to. Clumsy disguises, childish masquerades, cheap gimmicks and pointless charades. None of these tactics ever work in the field and, very often, they lead to connectors being compromised and having their reputations ripped to shreds.
“Steve…” I heard one afternoon at our former HQ on 200 Portland St here in Boston. “What’s up, O?” and she, very frankly, said: “You need to know your why. Otherwise…heh…you’re just spinning your wheels. The more those wheels spin, the sooner they’ll pop.” She’s right (told you didn’t I?). If only I’d known how right she was…but that brings me to my next point in this Monday Moment.
Olivia’s always been honest, clear, and transparent. Her mission is solutions, her brilliance is manifold but it finds frequent expression in Branding, Strategy, Social intelligence, Communications and Startup Advisory. Olivia does not fortune tell, she doesn’t claim to non-existent skills and if I asked her: “Hey, do you hustle or grind?” I have to wonder whether or not she’d kick my ass right then or wait for a more opportune time to strike.
People are like pearls. You, that’s right, you. You’re a pearl. People used to deep sea dive and hunt for pearls, and in the world where Olivia and I live, work and play a similar hunt is already in progress —
The Hunt For Human Engagement
Some utilize more complicated technology than a Rube Goldberg machine, others try to entice pearls like you with words like Unicorn, 10X, Big Data, Data-Driven, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and, that old favourite…that Classic Coke of buzzwords…”Innovation”.
Olivia is allergic to buzzwords, but she’s also allergic to bullshit. She doesn’t bullshit in her business practices, and her bullshit meter when it comes to dealing with others is scary effective. “But Steve…if Olivia doesn’t deal in nay of those things, how does she operate?” My answer, surprisingly short, is also the name of the next section.
She Breaks It Down & She Builds It Up
Another day at 200 Portland St. Emily Zaccardi and I were interviewing a founder who was working on a medtech solution. Interview went well enough and, while debriefing each other, Emily got that look on her face. Not the “oh we’re going down a rabbit hole” face or the “ok but wait how about” face…but the “we need Olivia’s eyes on this” face.
Sure enough, Emily’s next words were: “If — C is going to make it, — C needs to speak with Olivia. Olivia can make it all make sense.”. Now take this example and multiply it by about a billion or two. I connect the dots, Olivia closes the loops. I connect the dots, Olivia creates the matrix.
In essence: This individual has my back and, if you can establish trust after catching her interest, you may just gain access to this same incomparable value-add.
Let’s Get Granular, Her Values Are Baked Into Her Brand
I was not long out of hospital when Olivia and I reunited and, speaking frankly as always, she asked: “So…my friend…have you found your Why yet?” and, thinking of my other partner , I nodded and then went on to explain it all, opened up, and she looked like she was about to give me a round of applause.
“That’s it or, rather, she is it! You know what you’re supposed to do now too, and you know there’s precious little time to waste. So all of that which you’ve mentioned, lean into that, and for the love of all that’s good and decent don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”. Then we started exchanging findings and that, as all our peers know, can sometimes take several hours but only ends up feeling like five minutes because we love it so damn much.
Olivia cares. She doesn’t care in that artificially warm and fuzzy-wuzzy which I swear puts one at risk for being pre-diabetic, but always (and only) authentically. She is brutally honest, but there’s nothing brutal about the intention. Seeing her at work, and we often work as a team, is like witnessing a free agent of the most agile and resourceful sort locating, learning, linking up with and then executing on goal each and every time.
You’ve Got A Friend In Olivia
Brand Story. Do you think I came up with that? No…I was the guy who, in the situation room, nearly had his jaw drop old-time cartoon-style while Olivia was describing it, in detail after glorious detail.
Only Olivia can literally integrate so many awesome things together into a single, unified, “holy crap that’s awesome” result. Workshop, Costume Party, she was rather industrious about it and everyone ended up having a really good time.
We share everything: field intelligence, interesting events, research materials, bad jokes (me) and recipes (her). At least once a week we do an accountability check regarding work-life balance. I ask her about “the hubs” and she asks me about my Co.
They say you can’t work with a friend, well at least. Ever the contrarian (learned that from O), I redefine and refine that narrative to state the following:
You can be friends with your peers, and your colleagues can actually serve as some of the strongest trestles in your support system. Yet this is all predicated on two things: 1.) The quality of the individuals in question and 2.) Your quality as a human being.
In closing, there’s a phrase I’ve come to rely on these days which I’m also planning on turning into a very popular hashtag. It should sum up this Monday Moment as only the coolest of hashtags can…
#AlwaysInvestInOlivia
