Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:06 — 91.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

Mike Teng, following in his father’s footsteps, became a software engineer and worked in the area of education where he noticed a big problem- there wasn’t a good way to find and schedule substitute teachers, and practically every school experienced the same challenge. With two college friends, he built Swing Education, raised $23 Million from Venture Capitals in Silicon Valley and is now filling over 10,000 teacher absence days per month, across 1,000 schools. Before his entrepreneurial journey, however, Mike experienced the hardship of infertility. For three years, he and his wife tried tirelessly to conceive and through that process, a lightbulb went off in Mike’s head. For the first time, he understood the power of empathy in seeing his wife’s struggle despite being emotionally impacted himself. Through empathy, he was able to connect with her in ways that he didn’t before and it brought them closer. He took that lesson as he led his company which resulted in unbelievable effectiveness- and his stat’s prove it. Swing Education has less than a 7 percent turnover rate annually, while the average is 17.8 percent, and he was able to grow the company’s revenues to $20 Million in 3 years. In this episode, he shares what events shaped who he is today and how he approaches leadership.