Trusting Your Leadership in Challenging Times with David Corcoran

Being successful is not only determined by hard work. It also involves being in the right place at the right time, having the right resources, and cultivating curiosity about what comes next. But the battle isn’t over once success is achieved. There’s also an inevitable learning curve that comes with being a leader.

In this episode, Tommy speaks to David Corcoran, Entrepreneur in Residence at Purdue DIAL Ventures. David describes himself as a builder of various things. His stint as a web developer at Purdue in college led to pivotal roles at Apple, Schlumberger, and the Department of Homeland Security. Dave honed his leadership skills by founding two cybersecurity organizations, TrustBearer Labs and Censys. 

David talks to Tommy about the challenges experienced by first-time founders and how important it is for leaders to trust their own judgment.

Key Takeaways

• [02:15] - How David fell in love with computers.
• [06:19] - The campus job that impacted David’s life trajectory.
• [08:14] - David’s role in building smart cards at Schlumberger.
• [11:37] - David’s first cybersecurity business, TrustBearer Labs.
• [13:36] - Why David shifted away from corporate life to focus on family.
• [15:11] - David’s next entrepreneurial endeavor at Censys.
• [18:02] - The challenges of being a CEO and the Wheel of Misfortune.
• [21:55] - Why the best leaders can be disappointing. 
• [27:00] - The inspiration behind David’s pandemic road trip.
• [28:32] - Why knowledge sharing and divergent perspectives are important.
• [36:20] - How and why first-time founders should get in touch with David.

Quotes

[18:17]- “A lot of people think that being a CEO is this amazing, glamorous job and it’s so great to own your own company. And it is, but there’s a reason why CEOs get paid a lot of money. There are a lot of hardships that they have to deal with.” ~ David Corcoran

[21:21] - “The moral of the story is ‘know what you don’t know’. As a first-time founder, know what you don’t know and surround yourself with the people that fill those knowledge gaps.” ~ David Corcoran

[23:29] - “One of the challenges that I’ve faced in being CEO is the questioning of decisions. Sometimes I would find myself worrying about that too much, and losing sleep. You’ve got to be really good at breaking yourself out of that. Not everyone is going to like your decision and you’ve got to make hard decisions and move on.” ~ David Corcoran

Links 

• David Corcoran on LinkedIn
• Purdue University
• Schlumberger
• Censys
• VeriSign 
• Pear Deck

Connect with our hosts

• Mammoth
• Tommy on LinkedIn

Subscribe and stay in touch

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