Nicole Glaros | It's About the How, Not the What “It's so much more powerful to be a 'we' than an 'I.' You get so much further when it's ours, not mine."  — Nicole Glaros   This week's guest is Nicole Glaros, partner and chief investment strategy officer at Techstars, a venture capital firm in Boulder, Colorado. Nicole joined Techstars in 2008, bringing her experience as a three-time startup founder and her work with an early business incubator. Since joining Techstars, she's helped build it exponentially from a small firm to a global powerhouse and serves on the board of a variety of companies.    Nicole is in transition, having decided to step away from her role at Techstars. She  describes her current position as being at the top of the mountain and looking around. You spend so much time just climbing up there, you don't have little time to rest or look around, she explains. Nicole is now figuring out her next steps on her journey, stopping to ask what she wants rather than reacting to whatever comes her way.   Nicole values people helping and supporting others. When she first came to Colorado, there was little going on for entrepreneurs and startups. It was through the active engagement and openness to giving advice and collaborating that it has become a flourishing, vital scene for startups. Unfortunately, COVID did some damage to this culture, and Nicole acknowledges that the next generation needs to step up and start doing the work previous generations did of helping others. Nicole explains that this kind of thinking stems back to the question of, "If not us, then who?"    Similarly, Nicole believes that peer groups can play an important role for entrepreneurs in supporting and encouraging growth. She doesn't believe people learn by reading or passively taking in information. Instead, we learn by doing, and CEOs need to model the types of behaviors and habits they want the people who work for them to follow.    As a board member and startup advisor, Nicole also understands the challenge of making hard decisions and concludes that it's more about the how than the what. She explains in an example how one company was told they had to cut expenses by laying off half the workforce. Instead, the CEO explored other solutions, and with the support of employees, found alternative ways to cut expenses.    In this episode of Leading with Genuine Care, you’ll also learn: Nicole's thoughts about "conscious" entrepreneurship, and what term she likes better The one thing she did that made a huge impact on her productivity while at Techstars How and why peer groups can help entrepreneurs  How your thoughts and beliefs can impact your life  How to shift your mindset through awareness  The question CEOs could ask that might mean a huge shift in work culture What she gets out of participating in challenging sports like mountain climbing and boxing    Connect With Nicole Glaros     Websites Nearly Nicole Techstars   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nglaros/   Twitter @nglaros   The 2022 Leading with Genuine Care Retreat is at full capacity.*  *If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please click here and fill out the form. If a current attendee is not able to attend, we will contact you right away. The Leading with Genuine Care Leadership Retreat is a mindfulness meditation retreat specifically designed for business leaders and entrepreneurs. Suitable for meditators at all levels, the retreat will enable you to cultivate a deeper, leadership-based mindfulness practice while in a peaceful and rejuvenating mountain location. Previous attendees have reported experiencing increased productivity, increased focus, and new perspective – among other benefits – as a result of what they learned.      Get Rob’s Weekly Newsletter Never miss an inspiring conversation about compassionate, positive leadership on the Leading with Genuine Care podcast plus oth