MY STORY: BECOMING A CERTIFIED EXECUTIVE COACH
Finding Meaningful Connections Between Humans Advancing the World’s Technology
Vladimir Baranov
Founder and Certified Executive Coach, Human Interfaces
I have always been fascinated with mechanisms and human relationships. How do they work? What makes them tick? What makes them fail? That curiosity took me to the depths of technological innovation and to the highest levels of human collaboration.
New Country, New Culture, New Opportunities
My journey began the moment I immigrated to the United States. Fresh off the boat and having spent only three days in the country, I was thrown into a social experience I had only seen in movies: the American High School. Everything was new and different. Every daily routine had new cultural norms. My old habits had to adjust for me to stay afloat. Driven by curiosity, I immersed myself in everything the environment had to offer.
I met new and different types of people, played sports and joined activities and clubs. As part of the Science Olympiad, I built a self-propelling scooter and a Rube Goldberg machine, competed, and won a prize. Despite the sense of accomplishment, I still felt a bit lonely, as most of the technical work was done alone and I wanted more interaction with others. I needed to align my technical interests with a human desire to connect with others. I wrote programs for Ti-83 calculators and sold them to my classmates. While I made a little money, the human connection didn’t last long after the sale. I tried something new and sold candies. While that was a much better business, it brought little joy.
I continued the theme of tinkering with both ends of my tech/human spectrum at a deeper level in college. I ran larger projects, organized hundreds of people with common interests, built walking robots, and created a textbook exchange website with over 6,000 books. I threw parties with the money I earned from business activities. I learned what it was like to organize and work with large groups of people. Yet I still did not feel that I was able to truly connect to others; it all felt a bit transactional.
A World of Possibilities
This understanding began to shift as I moved to New York for work; here I got exposed to many new ways of thinking while doing things that I often could not keep up with. I tried acting, yoga, improv, museums, small groups meditations, biking, and so many more things that I don’t even remember. These experiences showed me the glimpses of what is possible, that you can find your “tribe”, your spirit animals, your friends - people who will understand and appreciate you for who you are and how you don’t have to always poke at their “sweet” side to get attention and understanding.
While doing self-exploration in New York City, my professional and technology career also progressed. I moved from the bellows of the Wall Street computing jungle to the front office of stock trading. I built systems and debugged the hardest algorithms. Longing to strike out on my own, I started organizing concerts on the side which led to producing a nationwide tour for a punk band. We covered the whole country in just 12 days and performed for thousands of people. Along the way, I learned how to influence people, make them feel satisfied with the show, and deliver a great musical experience.
In a pivotal turning point for my career, I went back to business school to better understand the connective tissue that unites tech, people, and business. This missing link helped me meet others like myself who had dreams, aspirations, and pursuits at various stages of progress. It helped me compare and contrast new ways of leveraging my own experiences.
Launching Start-Ups and Shooting for the Stars
Post MBA, I left my corporate job in pursuits of start-up glory. With a few false starts, I eventually landed in a company that I and other founders took on a growth trajectory that resulted in a lucrative sale to Franklin Templeton. It was a tremendous experience. I managed and scaled teams, overcame crises and chaos, built new products, and solved hard personnel and technical problems. Everything felt like it was coming into place. However, at this moment I also discovered another layer of complexity that was not visible to me before. It became important for me to do the work, but only if I truly believed that it was meaningful and purposeful. For me, the financial industry was not the place where I felt the most joy, so I went on another adventure.
I wanted to be part of something big that is on the cutting edge of human and technical understanding – the Aerospace Industry. This time I was well-equipped with many tools needed to co-found a space start-up – networking, pitching, managing, negotiating, and leading. We wrote code for the first satellite ever specifically designed to take pictures of other satellites for research, maintenance, and repair initiatives. With mission success, I felt on top of the world — literally and figuratively – a triumphant culmination of my previous tech and human experiences.
A New Era: Human Interfaces Executive Coaching
Over time I have also realized that others could benefit from the lessons I’ve learned and the strategies I’ve developed along the way. Sharing, counseling, and mentoring multiplies the effects of those lessons for everyone. Therefore, I went back to school to become a certified executive coach at UC Berkeley one more time to give structure to my methods. My goal is to teach others how to carve their own steps in the mountains they seek to climb.
By working together, we can make meaning from chaos, improve your human engagements in all aspects of business, and best leverage your technical expertise to grow thriving and sustainable businesses.
