What's Your Secret Sauce?

1) I think five ways in which I have human capital that is truly unique are:

• Empathy: I think I am a very empathetic person, and this empathy makes it easy to connect with other people and understand their needs and where those needs come from, something that is very useful in a field such as entrepreneurship.
• Ability to interact with strangers: I have extensive experience interacting with complete strangers from numerous political campaigns I have worked on, and I think this is a quality that is not only useful but also rare. As social media has grown more prevalent, it has also made our circles of relationships more insular and less direct: the ability to hold a conversation with a complete stranger and try to sell them on something face-to-face is a skill that has suffered from this.
• Trustworthiness: I feel that I am a very trustworthy person, and others see this as well. Because of this trustworthiness, I am often the person that my friends come to for advice on all manner of issues, such as relationships or academics. This trustworthiness also translates quite well into entrepreneurship, when you think about it trying to sell something to somebody is really just giving them incredibly biased advice.
• Work ethic: I think I have a strong work ethic, especially when it comes to my job and academics. One of the most frequent complements I have received at work is how much of a hard worker I am, and I think this translates into many other areas of my life as well. Although I may put off the work I need to do until the last possible day, once I get on it I work hard and turn out an excellent product.
• Functioning under pressure and stress: I think above all I am excellent at functioning in high-pressure and high-stress situations. This most frequently comes out when I am working on a deadline for a class assignment, in which case I become laser-focused and remain calm and composed despite the impending deadline. This quality also makes me quite good at thinking on my feet as well, I am very adaptable when it comes to work in those kinda of situations.

2) The following interviews with my three best friends, my girlfriend, and my mom tell what they think are the qualities and skills that set me apart, the human capital that makes me different:

• Interview with my friend Jack: https://soundcloud.com/elery-ostertag/jackentinterview?in=elery-ostertag/sets/ent-interviews

Jack primarily focused on my well-thought out approach to things, and the methodical manner in which I research topics that interest me. He also pointed out that I keep very well updated on issues and events that are important to me and the world.

• Interview with my friend Alex: https://soundcloud.com/elery-ostertag/alexentinterview?in=elery-ostertag/sets/ent-interviews

Alex emphasized my emotional intelligence. He said I have a way of making people feel special and welcome through a combination of my sense of humor and my attention to the individual.

• Interview with my friend Kyleigh: https://soundcloud.com/elery-ostertag/kyleighentinterview?in=elery-ostertag/sets/ent-interviews

Kyleigh pointed out my research abilities and the knowledge and well-researched approach I bring to things. She also noted my emotional intelligence and comfort around people as well.

• Interview with my mom: https://soundcloud.com/elery-ostertag/momentinterview?in=elery-ostertag/sets/ent-interviews

My mom pointed out my empathy and emotional intelligence as well. She also pointed out my logical approach to many things and my analytical abilities, especially regarding politics and the like.

• Interview with my grandmother: https://soundcloud.com/elery-ostertag/oohmamaentinterview?in=elery-ostertag/sets/ent-interviews

My grandmother emphasized my compassion and the like, something that others have also pointed out. She noted that this makes me quite adept at interacting with others in a meaningful way. She also pointed out that I am unwavering in my morals.

3) I generally tend to see myself as an industrious person who, despite some issues with procrastination, can be relied upon to put quality effort into any project and turn out a good end product. I think these attributes of mine are also bolstered by my abilities in interacting with other people, particularly with strangers. From the above five interviews, I found that, while the interviewees pointed to these qualities as well on occasion, their focus was on other qualities. My five interviewees were all quite consistent in bringing up my curiosity and thirst for knowledge, as well as the breadth of my acquired knowledge and how I bring it into conversation and work. The other main aspect of myself that the interviewees focused on was my emotional intelligence, the friends and family whom I interviewed were consistent in their opinion that I am not only good at talking to people, but good at making them feel at ease, important, and comfortable, with my sense of humor playing a large part in this. The primary difference in how I view myself versus how my friends and family view me comes primarily in the different aspects of my qualities that they pick up on. When looking at my list and their interviews, both suggest I am charismatic and easy to talk to, as well as having an innate drive to accomplish things. What these qualities are used for is the difference however, with my drive often fueling my research into topics that interest me and my ease of talking to people being expressed as emotional intelligence. I think these differences come primarily from the fact that I am viewing my own qualities from the viewpoint of the "giver", so to speak, whereas my family and friends are on the receiving end of these qualities. I know I am good at talking to people, but the aspects of what make me good at that come out more to the people who I talk to, with the same going for my work ethic and curiosity about the world and my interests. I definitely think that my interviewees are correct in their assessments of me, perhaps even more than I was in my assessments of myself. I think the aspects of my personality and traits that they picked out are more specific and accurate than some of those I put for myself, which is what leads me to think they were more right than I am. I think I also have a tendency to understate my own qualities when describing myself, but in their interviews they did not feel the need to hold back in their praise. If I were going to change my list I would definitely be more specific in reference to my various qualities. Instead of just talking about my work ethic and my skill at talking to people, particularly strangers, I would point out the areas in which I put my work ethic to use, such as research, which is definitely a boon in any sort of entrepreneurship situation, and in talking about my people-skills I would specifically focus on my emotional intelligence and the advice and deep conversations I have with people, which could also serve me well in entrepreneurship situations.