Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yannell Selman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Yannell , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I began understanding my purpose after observing myself in both my toughest and most joyful moments. My purpose comes down to building communities. I noticed that my happiest days always involved intentionally bringing people together around a shared passion or interest, either professionally or personally. I also noticed that my darkest moments were the ones where I felt isolated and disconnected from my community. I’ve had many careers – as a teacher, political organizer, founder, and tech product manager. In each one, the pattern persists: the more I lean into building a connected community, the more engaged I feel, and the more confident I am in the contributions I’m making. At Cultiveit, this looks like building a community of supporters around intentional work recovery and our concept of High Quality Time-Off. We’re bringing together those people who want to invest in a good life through intentional moments of disconnection.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve burnt out a dozen times in my career. The worst was as a founder. I spent months pushing past my boundaries until one day, I just fell asleep at 1 AM while still working and forgot to set my alarm. I was awoken at 6 AM by a client call, asking where I was. I felt like a failure. I was exhausted, cynical, and soon – hopeless. I kept going despite all that until I literally couldn’t work any more. One of my mentors told me to take 2 weeks completely off. But by then it was too late. I took those two weeks but it wasn’t enough to bring me back. I had to transition out of a company I had built from scratch, and that was unimaginably painful.
I began researching solutions because I knew it wasn’t just me; I had seen other founders, direct reports, and many leaders I admired going through the same thing. While in graduate school at UC Berkeley, I started researching solutions and was surprised by what I found: very clear guidance on how to prevent burnout at work and outside of work. I founded Cultiveit with the intention of serving as a bridge between the academic research on burnout prevention and the busy, working people who needed these research-based insights. To date, we’ve helped hundreds of employees go beyond burnout and start to take control of their ability to thrive.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
There are three competencies that I am constantly focusing on in leveling up my leadership: 1. people management, 2. self awareness, and 3. constant learning.
- People Management: It’s impossible to have any impact at scale without being able to unite a team around a vision. Finding great people, treating them well, and enabling them to do their best work is, to me, the definition of leadership. Without being able to manage, nurture, and grow a team, your work will always be limited and small. Whether or not you have a management position, I’d recommend becoming a student of management. This means observing great leaders, including your personal manager or company leaders that you admire and noting what works about their approach. Read management books – they aren’t as boring as they sound! Some of my favorites are American Icon (Hoffman), Radical Candor (Scott), Lean In (Sandberg), The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Horowitz), Setting the Table (Meyer), and Shoedog (Knight).
- Self-Awareness: Early on in my career, a mentor told me: “you should know 100% of the time how you are impacting the people around you.” It was very good advice. Since then, I have made it a practice to constantly reflect on my internal and external world – what do I like and not like? How did my reactions impact someone else? What was my role in a certain situation or outcome? This practice has led me to asking for constant feedback from everyone around me, and being able to see critical feedback as a gift. I don’t always get it right, but noticing how my decisions, preferences, and behaviors impact others has helped me build trust with all types of people, and helped me avoid repeating mistakes. Some of my favorite books on the subject include: Upside of Stress (McGonigal), 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do (Morin), Let Your Life Speak (Palmer), Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman), What I Know for Sure (Winfrey), and Designing Your Life (Burnett).
- Constant Learning: Everyone has a level of curiosity. It’s a basic element of the human experience. Nurturing this curiosity will help you in all aspects of growth. Whether it’s learning a new skill or building a new relationship, curiosity will help you find value in every single human experience. Did you fail? Ask why. Dig deep. Get curious about the root causes, and make that failure a learning experience. Do you have a hobby? Get intense. Learn the ins and outs. Diving into one thing will help you dive deep into everything. Do you have to work with someone you dislike? Get curious about them. Ask them genuine questions about their life, interests, and motivations. Not only will this help you develop empathy, but it will also likely help surface some areas of commonality. At the very least, they will appreciate you more for getting to know them, often producing a better dynamic. The book Curious (Leslie) is a great one on this topic.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
At Cultiveit, we are building a community of people who are seeking an upward spiral. We are people who see taking time-off as a critical investment in being able to thrive. By this, we mean leaders who get deep satisfaction from work, but who also understand the importance of disconnecting and having a life outside of work. We want to have a great career, but also run marathons, make art, study the Classics, climb mountains, and otherwise be engaged in all areas of life. If this is you, we’d love to connect! Follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram, and join our newsletter at cultiveit.io. We’re also releasing an exciting new resource soon – follow us for early access!
Image Credits
Photos courtesy of Cultiveit, Inc.
