Margot Machol Bisnow
Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC.
She is the author of Raising an Entrepreneur: 10 Rules for Nurturing Risk Takers, Problem Solvers and Change Makers. She spent twenty years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and eight years writing a popular daily online social newsletter.
Her son Austin has written successful pop songs and started the popular band Magic Giant.
Her son Elliott founded Summit Series, a noted international conference series for millennial entrepreneurs, and led the purchase and development of Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah as a permanent home for their community.
Her husband, Mark Bisnow, founded a national newsletter company, Bisnow Media, which was acquired in 2016.
Their dog is the only one in the family who gets enough sleep.
155: Margot Machol Bisnow, part 1: Raising an Entrepreneur
A few months ago I attended the Summit. It was expensive, so I wasn’t sure I’d get the value out of it that I paid.
As it came together for me, I met the founder, Elliott Bisnow, and then happened to meet his mother, Margot, this episode’s guest. She was a big part of making the event great for me. As you’ll hear in the conversation, she was like a force of nature, connecting people, doing what leaders do despite no formal role, as many leaders work.
To give you some background on her formal leadership, she was an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Today we more talk about her book: Raising an Entrepreneur: 10 Rules for Nurturing Risk Takers, Problem Solvers, and Change Makers, which applies more to leadership and non-parent relationships than I bet she expected.
I wish you could see her at work. She would say she wasn’t working, but I think effective leadership, like any active, social, emotional, expressive, performance-based art, when mastered, feels and looks effortless like the person is just being him or herself.
One of Summit’s main goals is to create an environment where people can connect. Among that crowd, Margot connected people more than most. She may have felt and looked like she was enjoying herself and she probably was, but I’ve spent years developing skills, experiences, and beliefs to do that and I bet she did too.
I wanted to share a bit of someone who appears a natural leader.
Read the transcript.