Ji Mi Choi, Associate Vice President, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Arizona State University: The Power of Mutual Reciprocity
Ji Mi Choi is the Associate Vice President leading entrepreneurship and innovation at Arizona State University.
She uses her 20+ years of expertise in higher education at the intersection of entrepreneurial and public-private partnerships. Prior to ASU, she served in various fast-paced and evolving roles in New York University and she has also served at the world-renowned Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Ji Mi has served in a leadership role for the United Nations Development Programme and in various capacities for numerous start-up organizations, both not-for-profit and for-profit, helping take a company public in the early days of the dot-com boom, and has been involved in political campaigns.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [01:08] Stephanie introduces her guest, Ji Mi Choi
- [02:48] Speed round with Ji Mi
- [05:35] How Ji Mi joined Arizona State University (ASU)
- [08:41] Ji Mi talks about her first ask from ASU
- [11:12] How to make your ask more collaborative and in favor of mutual reciprocity
- [14:09] Ji Mi explains how you can ask for a specific help while making the ask itself still collaborative
- [16:45] How to transition from asking for collaboration from investors to making them an offer
- [19:20] Stephanie and Ji Mi discuss how being open to other opportunities and financing options can allow for inputs and ideas that can help make your vision into reality
- [24:07] The value of research before making your ask to get you into the right mindset in presenting your proposal
- [27:32] Stephanie and Ji Mi talk about the importance of determining if there is synergistic energy between you and a potential investor
- [32:26] How self-awareness can be used to help establish the best way to respond and to contribute to a situation
- [34:18] Ji Mi shares how she decides which asks she says yes to
- [38:04] Ji Mi’s challenge: Be open to the idea that you’re coming in for an ask for yourself, but you end up asking, “What can I do for you?”
In this episode…
As entrepreneurs, we often find ourselves in situations where we have to ask for something - whether that is capital, partnership, or anything of interest - to move our businesses to the next level. And it always comes down to one question: how do we present our ask to get what we want without feeling like we are begging for a favor? For Ji Mi Choi it’s about understanding and leveraging mutual reciprocity.
On this episode of What’s Your Ask, you’ll hear from Ji Mi Choi, the Associate Vice President leading entrepreneurship and innovation at Arizona State University (ASU). She talks to Stephanie about the other aspects of asking that people think about: the aspect of turning your ask into an offer of help or added value for the other person.
Tune in on their conversation about making asks collaborative, the value of research before presenting your proposal, and how open-mindedness and self-awareness can play key roles in establishing good rapport not just with the person you’re talking to but in making the situation you are in or want to be in more fruitful. Stay tuned.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
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