Integral Character Traits | Christina Kohler Skyhook
Building in Public
There's a growing number of founders and companies in the start-up sphere that tote how they are 'building themselves in public'. The idea is that doing this will give founders not only an infinite supply of things to talk about, but also help them build trust with their customers, users and audience. The reason that this idea comes to mind is because constantly inside the AVN, we see Christina Hudson Kohler building her self in public.
She does this by sharing her far out goals in addition to progress as she moves towards them. From her small wins to bigger struggles, these tid-bits she shares in passing serve to make us more invested in her hero's journey. I for one, can't wait to attend a New York State Fair in which Christina Hudson Kohler is the head organizer.
Iterating > Marinating
Christina is an iterator. Over the last few months, she has consistently show up, put herself up for feedback on her ideas and speeches, and repeated. It is one thing to receive and marinate a piece of feedback or even an idea, but its another leap forward entirely to show back up and implement the change. At every opportunity, Christina takes that leap.
Mirroring Enthusiasm
We have a developing pattern language in the network of 'Do you see what I see?' and what we mean when we say this is roughly, 'here we are, 2 or more primates observing something, and we want to find common understanding in what we are seeing.'
More than words, Christina speaks this pattern language through her enthusiasm. There's an idea in public speaking that you need to roughly multiply your energy to match that of the audience in a given room. I once received this as feedback years ago, and I'm not sure I understood how to properly implement it until I met Christina. Almost like a poker tell, Christina's 'I see it' is spoken in nuance through how she mirrors the enthusiasm of the room in her interactions with the room. This makes Christina a standout character in a more populated setting because of how she communicates seeing what others see.
Whether it's her egg family farm in Syracuse, New York or her role as the New York Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher Chair, Christina Hudson Kohler is an integral member of every system that it's she is a part of. While we haven't had the opportunity to see Christina in action directly in either of these roles, we are immeasurably grateful to have the pleasure of colliding with Christina inside of The Articulate Ventures Network on a daily basis.
Christina was among the first to join us in our little experiment we called the AVN. What started off as a beta pool of 10 users building the bedrock of our culture is now a growing community with members throughout the English speaking world. Christina has carried more weight than she knows in this initial effort, and we want to take the opportunity to skyhook her because we suspect that is the case in many of the places she plays a role. There are a handful of characteristics that Christina embodies that make this the case, here we've highlight just a few.