![\"Boombox\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.csun.edu\/nazarianbus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2019\/02\/0-4-300x197.png\")
By: Lewis Dvorkin, Entrepreneur in Residence<\/h6>\nBy: Lewis Dvorkin, Entrepreneur in Residence<\/h6>\nEvery summer,\u00a0a\u00a0bunch\u00a0of wide-eyed interns rolled into Forbes. As chief product officer, I would cross paths with many of\u00a0them. The real fun\u00a0for me came as their stint was ending. That’s when I\u00a0met with the entire group — perhaps 30 from across the company — to explain how the media business really worked<\/em>, or how the sausage is made.\u00a0My HR\u00a0colleague jokingly said she lived\u00a0in fear of how candid I might be. She\u00a0had\u00a0good reason. I will never forget what one Ivy League student told me as we\u00a0left the conference room: “That was the most terrifying and exhilarating\u00a0hour of my education.<\/p>\n I think about that comment often now that I’m Entrepreneur in Residence at CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics<\/a>. It’s one thing to be brutally honest in the corporate workplace when there is a business to run. Or to be tough with colleagues if your startup is shaky. It’s quite another to be\u00a0hard-nosed with\u00a0students still exploring their interests and passions. Yet, it\u2019s clear that a generation weaned on the fracas that is social media today doesn’t mind cutting to the chase.<\/p>\n As\u00a0I\u00a0step into my mentor-like role, one CSUN student is giving it to me straight. As Warren Buffett would say, his parents didn\u2019t win \u201cthe ovarian lottery\u201d<\/a> \u2014 that is, they didn\u2019t benefit from \u201caccidental\u201d birth in America and all it has to offer. In his quiet way, he\u00a0startles me to attention with life experiences (selling flowers on a street corner with his mother “to survive”), or leaves me marble-mouthed (\u201cTell me,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhat are your greatest fears?\u201d). And, if I ask the right question, it’s like, wow, you did what? Or as I tell him, “You keep dropping bombs on me. How many more do you have?”<\/p>\n And that’s when I gave him a bit of advice: you have a great story — and somehow you need to tell it with your\u00a0quiet confidence. I’ve interviewed many job applicants in my time, many who came\u00a0via the human resources department.\u00a0When it happens that way, I don’t\u00a0review the candidate’s resume until after we meet. I want the person to\u00a0tell\u00a0me\u00a0who they are, what they’ve experienced, how they think. I don’t want a recitation of bullet points from a resume. That means they must engage. So often it is like pulling teeth to get an applicant to engage, even those\u00a0who I later learned had sterling credentials from the best of schools.<\/p>\n Life is about your story \u2014 and your story is your individual brand. I remember when\u00a0the boombox \u2014 a humongous double-cassette, non-Bluetooth Jambox \u2014 hit\u00a0the\u00a0streets and subways in New York in the 1980s. The music blaring from\u00a0the shoulders of urban youth told you a bit about them. The volume was often obnoxious, but effective in sharing who they were. Today’s tiny white earbuds, ubiquitous on campuses, do little except announce you’re trapped in Apple’s product universe.<\/p>\n So,\u00a0the\u00a0trick is to develop a strategy to convey who you are — your brand — in an authentic way. And, it must be\u00a0done with far more subtlety than a boombox but resonate as deeply. The young man I’ve been guiding is\u00a0part of CSUN’s National\u00a0Science Foundation I-Corps<\/a> program. He will soon travel across the country, expenses covered, to meet with people in professions of interest to him and do street-corner research on a project of his choice.<\/p>\n My message:\u00a0think in\u00a0terms\u00a0of I\/O, computer lingo\u00a0for Input\/Output, basically the transfer of data between devices. Research each person\u00a0you will meet. Determine what you want\/need to share about yourself (the input) to get the results you hope for (the output). Depending on the person you are meeting and their role, each I\/O will be a little different.<\/p>\n I feel for students looking to their future. Given our global economy, competition is intense. So, you need to find the input that separates you from the pack. I give that advice all the time to my 25-year-old daughter, Ally. At 19, she spent six months in India and six months in Nepal working with children who had little if anything. Her sole creature comfort: a bucket shower. When she tells that story, I watch people lean in. They want more.<\/p>\n