An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Commit to being a good person and working on your personal growth as you build your company. The better you are at making people feel valued, the better you will be at growing your organization.
We are starting a new interview series about the world of entrepreneurship beyond the classroom — a realm where theory meets grit, and education meets real-world challenges. We want to hear about critical business wisdom that often goes unspoken in academic settings. I had the honor of interviewing Surayya Walters.
Surayya Walters is a social entrepreneur, motivational speaker, life coach, writer, and advocate from New Rochelle, NY. She is the founder of iDEIntity, a nonprofit centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and Purposeful Professional Media, a media initiative dedicated to helping people launch purposeful careers and lives. She enjoys listening to music, cooking, dancing, podcasting, and embracing all that life has to offer.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. Can you share who was your biggest influence when you were young and provide specific examples of what you learned from them that helped shape who you’ve become and how you live your life today?
Growing up, my parents were my biggest influences. My mother and father have opposite yet complementary personalities. By learning from both of them, I was able to appreciate the diversity inherent in our personalities and upbringings. Both of my parents share a common desire to empower others and to champion social progress, albeit in different ways. My father always says that you are “⅓ your mother, ⅓ your father, and ⅓ your own unique traits.” Looking critically at my own life, upbringing, and personality, I’d have to agree with his empirical interpretation.
My father is a man of logic and reason. Growing up, he had a theory for everything. He sought to understand the world and to make sense of the many phenomena we witnessed. Whether involving history, art, culture, media, or sports — my father had a perspective on it. I have early memories sitting at the kitchen counter and debating him, questioning his viewpoint and opening the floor for discussion. I enjoyed picking his brain and learning from him, and every conversation we had expanded my mind. When I think of my father, I think of his ability to seemingly pull a thesis out of thin air. He excels at putting the pieces together, analyzing each individual part to create a whole. Debating with — and something arguing with — my father taught me how to “speak truth to power.” His influence on my life shaped me into a woman who is intellectually brave, one who is unafraid to kindly challenge a prevailing perspective or even present a conflicting argument to broaden one’s understanding of the topic.
My mother is a woman of compassion and determination. My mother operates from a selflessness that is second to none. Her career as a nurse embodies her ability to serve, care for, and empower others on their path to healing. Today, she is an educator for aspiring nurses. Throughout her career shifts and maneuvers, she has maintained her purpose to empower, heal, and uplift. My mother exemplified the importance of keeping a positive attitude through trials, developing a close relationship with God, and being relationship and family oriented in your pursuits. Growing up, dinner conversations were exciting and animated. We’d quickly move from small talk into current events — covering topics such as masculinity and femininity, faith and politics, even critically analyzing or deriving lessons from popular culture. Nothing was off limits — everything was explored. I always say that I have the right “parents for my purpose.” My upbringing and parents have sown the seeds which emerged as the woman I am today.
Staying on the topic of influence, who has been your biggest catalyst more recently and what can you share that you’ve learned from them that led you to making changes in your life?
Most recently, my greatest catalysts have been my podcast guests, through my intersectional career media and coaching company, Purposeful Professional Media. They are a diverse bunch of passionate, driven, and impactful people. Every time I conduct an interview, I learn more about myself and the importance of navigating your career with a thoughtful and intentional mindset. My guests are marketing and branding gurus, entrepreneurs, climate activists, environmentalists, and UN delegates. They are outstanding people that I seek to learn from and have the honor of connecting with and learning their backgrounds and stories. Everytime I conduct a podcast interview, I leave feeling more inspired to continue on my unique path. The mission of the media initiative is to discuss our career paths through the lens of who we are as people (personality, interests, values), our cultural identities and its influences, and the type of societal impact / legacy we hope to have. These conversations are enriching, fulfilling, and also intellectually challenging for me. I love to engage in conversations around identity, vision, aspirations, and legacy. We talk about all these things and more on the podcast, so I am perpetually in a state of inspiration and awe.
In this interview series, we aim to reveal what seasoned entrepreneurs wish they had known when they were starting out and capture what the textbooks and college professors left out. Mistakes are invaluable. Can you name one specific mistake that you made early on, and learned the most from, but wish you’d been forewarned about?
One major mistake I made early on is not knowing how to filter out advice and feedback to focus on the most relevant knowledge for my situation. As an entrepreneur and founder, you are inundated with advice. There are incubators, accelerators, mentors, and countless other individuals giving you feedback and providing you with ideas and insight. Furthermore, there are plenty of entrepreneur-influencers who create books, courses, and content centered around helping others to do entrepreneurship “successfully.” While it’s great to have a multitude of teachers and lessons that you can turn to when you are lost or unsure of which moves to make, it’s important to recognize that being an entrepreneur is very different from being a student in the traditional sense. Whenever you are creating anything new, there will be plenty of “experts” and individuals who will tell you what to do. Being an excellent entrepreneur is about learning how to filter the information and being able to hold multiple perspectives without necessarily agreeing on all of them. Hence, it’s about learning how to agree to disagree. You can acknowledge that both of you might be right, but the context matters. Every company is different, and every entrepreneurial journey is different. It’s so important to have that balance between trusting your instincts and relying on the knowledge and wisdom of others.
When I first started my entrepreneurial journey; I had to learn that there is a time to solicit feedback and ideas with a group, and that there is a time to drown out the noise and focus on making key decisions. Entrepreneurship can be lonely; and one of the major reasons is because there are some decisions that you will have to make alone (if you are a solo founder) or with a co-founder. While the “wisdom of crowds” is a valid concept; it is also completely valid to recognize that no one knows your company or your journey more than you. I had to make the leap from being a good “student,” which often involves working to tailor your work to the expectations of professors and faculty; to being a good “entrepreneur,” which requires you to break with convention and challenge existing knowledge in pursuit of something new. Making that mindset shift is a challenge, but critical for those who want to produce breakthrough innovations.
Is there a leadership myth you believed early on that you’ve since debunked through your real-world experience?
One myth I’ve learned to debunk through my experience is that an entrepreneur must be solely focused on their business to succeed. When I first started my business, I was a bit insecure about my myriad of interests. What would people think about my love for writing and learning new things? How would they react to my desire to become a certified life coach alongside my entrepreneurial endeavors? Instead of spending my time burrowed in my vision and execution; I struggled to silence the noise of those who felt my explorative nature was counterintuitive to what they believed an entrepreneur should be. In business school, we read case studies with entrepreneurs who dedicated their entire selves to their businesses. In sum, their businesses became their lives. While I can relate to their doggedness and zeal, this unilateral approach to making your business the center of your life is something I didn’t intuitively align with.
In my life, I’ve always had a brain that thrived on novelty and trying new things. I had to recognize that while some founders and entrepreneurs succeed through deep focus; others succeed through exploration and experimentation. I am the latter. I always say that I became an entrepreneur to live a full life. Entrepreneurship gives me the freedom to visit new places, to try new things, to even engage in creative hobbies in my spare time. All of these things help me to approach my work with the passion and dedication that I have. For me, dedication is found in exploration. My rainforest mind loves to try new things; and keeping myself passionate and in a state of constant growth and stimulation is what helps me to be a founder who navigates the marathon of entrepreneurship with resilience and optimism. Overall, I’ve learned to embrace my multipotentiality as a leader and see it as a strength instead of a sign of distraction and a lack of focus.
What’s the key operational insight you’ve gained since running your business that was never mentioned in any classroom?
One operational insight I’ve gained is that it is important to balance vision and execution to master both the short and long term. In college, I learned that some founders are visionaries and that others are executors. However, entrepreneurship has taught me that to succeed operationally, you need both visionary and execution leanings. In fact, founders should commit to strengthening the aspect of them that is weaker (whether vision or execution) in order to be successful at building and growing a company. For example, I naturally lean towards being a visionary. I’m an ideas person at my core, and a big dreamer. However, entrepreneurship challenged me to grow in the area of execution. I found myself taking courses in digital marketing, business law, finance, etc. to fill in the missing gaps of my own skill set. Entrepreneurship required me to step up to the plate and embrace the aspects of operations that made me uncomfortable.
By telling founders that they are either a “visionary or an executor,” or that they should merely partner with someone who balances their approach to leadership; we are setting them up for a disappointing ride. As humans, our brains are living, breathing, organs that give us the power to grow and evolve. This is the essence of the growth mindset. Entrepreneurship is about growth. You’ve taken this journey because you want to grow. Facing your weaknesses is critical to being on that growth path. I always say that “as you grow, so does your business.” Maybe the key to mastering operations is to master ourselves first. To analyze our weaknesses, identify our skill gaps, and set goals in areas where we need improvement. These are things that weren’t mentioned in the classroom but knowledge I’ve gained through my own entrepreneurial journey.
Did college prepare you for scaling a business? What specifically was missing?
Like most of us, college didn’t prepare me to scale a business. There are some things college can’t prepare you for. In terms of scaling a business, college can introduce us to the tactics for scaling a business; but it can’t teach us what method of scaling is right for our particular business, market, or other context. In many of these cases, I think what is often missing from business education is the critical thinking skills that provide people with the ability to make their own decisions and learn from them. True learning comes from making mistakes, missteps, and failures. In fact, a renowned CEO once said that “success is a terrible teacher.” I happen to agree wholeheartedly with that statement. As a founder, you are able to learn in real-time, and develop an almost “intuition” for what moves might be most effective. There is an environment and ecosystem with each business consisting of customers, competitors, etc. No two firms will have the same context, so it’s important that any method of scalability you employ fits your firm. College can’t prepare us to make those sorts of decisions, only the ability to take calculated risks and learn from our results in real time.
Any unexpected challenges in team dynamics that your academic experience didn’t prepare you for? How did you handle it?
I’m early on in my entrepreneurial journey; but I think colleges underscore the importance of being a genuinely kind person when it comes to building a team. While I am not at the point where I can hire full-time staff, I’ve worked with countless interns from schools across the country. In this experience, I’ve realized that what people want the most is to work for an employer where they are valued and where they’re allowed to be their full selves. People crave things beyond money; such as recognition, appreciation, camaraderie, even genuine care. If you are a kind person and someone who provides others with intangible value; people will love working for you. They will want to work with you because of how you treat them. The entrepreneur who is a tyrant might run a successful company, but will struggle to retain key talent due to the toxic workplace culture their attitude promotes. Yes, it is true that people want to join winning companies — however, more than ever; individuals want to work for bosses whom they admire as humans and feel are authentic and genuine towards them. That is the secret to building teams in the early stage of your business, be a good person and you will attract good help.
Have you had to unlearn any widely-accepted business ‘wisdom’ in your journey? What was it and how did it affect your strategy?
I’m in the social enterprise space, so one of the things I had to unlearn is that you need to place the mission above financial considerations to be an effective social impact leader. In mission-driven spaces; we are indoctrinated with the image of the “do-gooder” CEO who never discusses money or puts the ideals of the mission above everything else. I get it, I always say I’m the “voice in the wilderness” and I am an impassioned advocate for my cause. However, social enterprises must also be profit-driven. Leaders of social enterprises must unapologetically talk about money. Those of us building these types of ventures tend to be altruistic people who are compassionate and love helping others. We have great intentions to change the world and make it a better place. If so, why do we prioritize profit less? Why should we make less than the CEOs whose companies are not committed to a net positive for the people, society, and planet? I had to unlearn and unpack that mindset to truly develop the abundance needed to make money. If what I’m providing is of value, then I deserve to make money — irrespective of whether I wear the title “social entrepreneur,” or not. In fact, when a social enterprise does well, it models a conscious capitalism for entrepreneurs — one where profit doesn’t come at the expense of a positive impact. This should be our fuel to ensure our ventures succeed financially, instead of us keeping locked in the idealism of putting the mission first at the expense of financial sustainability.
What’s your advice for new entrepreneurs? What are your “5 Things You Won’t Learn in College But Must Know to Succeed in Business”?
- Filter advice and feedback to determine what is truly relevant to your business venture, ignore or disregard the advice that doesn’t fit your specific context or resonate with your business (even if well-intentioned).
- Continue to embrace and nurture the curiosity and adventurous spirit that drove you to start your business, it will help you to remain passionate and agile through the ups and downs.
- Balance both vision and execution and commit to becoming well-rounded through continuous growth and learning. As you grow, so will your business.
- Commit to being a good person and working on your personal growth as you build your company. The better you are at making people feel valued, the better you will be at growing your organization.
- If you are a social entrepreneur, become fluent in the language of finance to give your ventures a fighting chance at sustainability and an outsized impact. Do not neglect finance for impact; like water and air — both are vital to the success of an organization.
How do you ensure your team not just understands but embodies your business principles? Any techniques you wish you’d known earlier?
Having critical discussions on things like mission, goals, values is so important. Also, as a leader, you must embody the principles of your business. Especially in the early stage, your team will associate the organization’s values and principles with who you are as a person. People don’t believe what you say but what you show them. By modeling your business’ principles, team members can gain a frame of reference for what types of behavior, conduct, or even activity is expected within the team context. For example, if one of your business principles is customer integrity; you have to model great customer service. Your team should see you going above and beyond to serve the customers and ensure they have a good experience. Treating customers rudely goes against that principle, and the team will likely begin to undervalue customers as a result. As an entrepreneur, your team will follow your lead. It is critical to make sure you lead them toward proper principles and not away from them.
If we were sitting together two years from now, looking back at the past 24 months, what specifically has to happen for you personally and professionally, for you to be happy with your results?
Two years from now, I will love to have established an effective media and coaching company for purposeful professionals and people through Purposeful Professional Media. I would also love to see my other ventures gain sustainable traction and success. Professionally, I’d like to continue to expand by pursuing further education and exploring new industries and new business ventures. Personally, I’d love to become my best self. I want to continue on the path of self-improvement and pursue personal growth in terms of my physical, mental, and spiritual health. In order for me to be pleased with my results I’ll have to pursue a well-rounded approach to health. I am not merely satisfied with just having a thriving business or career. I want to feel good, to have hobbies and creative projects I enjoy, be able to practice philanthropy and give back to those in need, and continue to work on myself. I’ve learned to fall in love with the process of becoming — and I want to continue to become and strive to be all that God wants me to be.
Looking back over the last two years, what key accomplishments make you satisfied with your progress?
I am proud of myself for chasing my dream of becoming an entrepreneur, and for hanging in there when things looked gloomy. I jumped straight from college into being an entrepreneur, and it was tough. Finding the right business model, figuring out how to fund my ideas, even forming partnerships — all of this was foreign to me. However, I am happy to celebrate my courage. I didn’t wait for anyone to give me permission to become an entrepreneur — I knew what type of life I wanted, and I went after it. In less than two years, I’ve started a tech-enabled nonprofit called iDEIntity, a media and coaching company called Purposeful Professional Media, a membership collective called Innovanoire; and even failed at launching a startup called Beliefires. There was a lot of experimentation and a lot of taking chances and opportunities where I could find them. However, I am grateful to God for His undying love for me and willingness to see me through these challenges as I continue to build. For me, taking the chance to exercise my innovative instincts and drive to create something new and lasting has been the greatest accomplishment.
As someone with significant influence, what’s the one change you’d like to inspire that would benefit the most people?
I want people to pursue careers that set their souls on fire. We only have one life, why waste it clamoring away at a job that you hate? Why would you spend time continuing to live a life that is inauthentic to who you are? My bravery and courage always puzzled me. How did I find it so easy to take risks and put myself out there when many individuals struggle to live authentically and openly? Then it dawned on me that my life’s purpose was to inspire people to take those risks. To follow their dreams. To show that it is possible for them to wake up in the morning and be excited. Do not have to dread Mondays; and live with the expectation that you should be happy to arrive at work and beam with passion when you talk about your professional pursuits. In my work at Purposeful Professional Media; I aim to share my boldness with others. I am working towards a world where people gain true fulfillment from their work, and that they see their careers as a true extension of their life’s purpose. This requires me to be bold, brave, and authentic. To embody the very courage that I want to see. Through my life and the work I pursue at Purposeful Professional Media; if I can inspire one person to be a little bolder and braver, to quit that job and not turn back or to shamelessly embark on a career path that makes them feel alive, I’ve done my part.
How can our readers keep up with your work?
Readers can keep up with my work by visiting my website, www.surayyawalters.com; with links to my ventures and engagements. They can also follow me on LinkedIn here.
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Surayya Walters Of Purposeful Professional Media On 5 Things They Forgot To Mention In College was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.