Founder Series: Navigating Uncertainty & Disruption

w/ Kari Clark, Founder & CEO, Breakout

Buzzwords like “grit” and “resilience” often complicate how we talk about the psychological and emotional pressures of business building. As it turns out, you can possess both and still have days where you—and your leadership choices—look and feel like a dumpster fire.

I’m always inspired by how our founders navigate uncertainty and disruption. Even more uplifting is how they are redefining what it means to build resilience and show grit... while also caring for themselves and for others.

It's a pleasure to showcase a few of their stories, in their own words. Enjoy!

Kari Clark, Founder and CEO, Breakout

1) Knowing what you know about how quickly and significantly circumstances change, how do you think about long term planning? How do you balance the upsides of long term planning with the need to be dynamic, in real time?

We like to think about having a ‘fuzzy roadmap,’ meaning that the next few months are very clear, but the further you get out, the more general the projects are and the less granular their timeline. For example, we’ll track over weeks for the next couple, months for the next quarter and then quarters for the next year and 6 month blocks after that. That way you aren’t spending too much time planning details 1 year out that will definitely change, but you still have a good idea of where you want to go.

2) What’s your take on transparency with your team? How do you decide what to share and what to hold back?

I try to be transparent about why and how I’m making decisions. I do a weekly update that is shared with them that notes our challenges and wins outside of any HR-sensitive items. I want them to be involved in helping solve any challenges.

3) How do you help your team navigate uncertainty? In what ways, if any, does uncertainty guide how you set and measure performance goals and other KPIs?

During our 1:1 prep each week, people actually rate how certain they feel in their role, so we can talk through what they are feeling. Honestly, though, we’re still struggling on adjusting our quarterly goals based on changing circumstances.

4) Do you use any techniques / approaches for managing stress and prioritizing mental health (yours or your team’s) that you are willing to share?

CEOs are superspreaders of stress, so the most important thing I can do for my team is to not be stressed. I take the mornings to myself, doing a combo of working out, meditating and going in the sauna. I also have done a lot of work recently in feeling with my feelings. If I feel stressed, I ideally grab time to just with that feeling for a few minutes until it dissipates. This practice is life changing.

When it comes to the mental health of my employees, it’s my job to ensure their work is well balanced and that they are fulfilled in their roles. This involves structured 1:1 meetings and clear company-wide planning to name a few.

5) There’s been a lot of conversation about the importance of “resilience” in business building. What does that word mean to you, if anything at all?

For me, resilience means the ability to bounce back from setbacks and challenges.

6) Startup culture has long celebrated “grit” as a pre-requisite for success, but often done so in a machismo way. If you could write your own definition for the word grit, how would it read?

Grit is about having the optimism, perseverance and resilience to achieve your goals even though you are hit bumps in the road. I once heard a quote that said that being a founder was like getting punched in the face 99 times and still expecting a hug on time number 100. For me, it’s trying to see the positive in each of those hits – what did I learn and how did we get better? So, we're better set up to seize the opportunity in the future.

7) What’s your favorite way to blow off steam or recharge after a tough day?

I often go to a Korean spa to sit in the saunas and cold plunges. The heat forces my body to relax, and switching from the cold to the hot, trains my nervous system to handle stress better later. I feel totally new afterwards.

8) If you could give one piece of advice to a new founder starting out today about how to survive the uncertainty of building a company, what would it be?

Surround yourself with a village of founders. Founding a startup is going to be the hardest thing that you’ve ever done. You need people you can call when shit hits the fan that fully gets it. They will provide you the perspective that you need to move on. In some of my hardest times, having advisors who told me ‘that sounds about right’ really helped me know that even the bad was normal and expected.

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Breakout is creating a global platform for distributed company culture. Inspired by the rapid change in how and where people work, Breakout offers team building experiences and activity kits for a broad segment of enterprise customers. Breakout offers their customers 30+ productized virtual team building events, some complemented by a physical box that is shipped to event participants in advance. Break out provides everything that an event organizer needs, even a facilitator if budget allows it. And unlike competitors, marketplaces where beleaguered managers and program leaders must sift through a tsunami of "stuff" to find what they need, Breakout offers a suite of in-house created offerings that can be customized to a buyers unique needs and goals.

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