In this 6‑questions‑in‑7‑minutes interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Shawn (Sean) Flynn, an AI‑focused professional at Global Incubator who also hosts a Silicon Valley tech podcast. Flynn shares that the best part of his industry is learning from people who are smarter than him, and he recommends a business “chapter” that reminds companies that no one has all the answers, emphasizing continuous learning. He offers unconventional leadership advice: prioritize sleep, short breaks, and meditation to boost productivity and problem‑solving. Flynn suggests three past podcast guests—Brett Chernow, Connor Riley, and Shmuel Silverman—as ideal future guests for Alexander’s show. He recounts his first jobs, from stocking shelves in his father’s pharmacy at age seven (where he observed the disconnect between wealth and health) to selling women’s shoes at Macy’s, highlighting lessons in customer service and sales. The episode ends with Flynn’s contact information (website, LinkedIn, Twitter) and a reminder to find the Winning at Business and Life podcast on major platforms.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hi, my name is Sean Flynn. My 9 to 5 is with Global Incubator, focused on artificial intelligence, helping companies set up operations overseas. But I also do a lot of other things, such as I have a podcast where I interview some of the biggest tech leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to try to spread their information to the world.
Sean, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Honestly, I think the best thing is everyone's smarter than me. So every day— I'm not, I'm not over— I'm not joking about this. Every day I'm learning stuff. I mean, the ideas that people come to me with, I just sit there and go, oh my God, how'd you come up with that? And I'm just amazed because I'm learning, learning, learning.
Oh, I love that. Being around smarter people, it's always great for all of us, isn't it?
Oh yeah.
Question 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Oh gosh, I love that book cover. I want to say the chapter that says, "No one has all the answers." And what I mean by that is everyone thinks there's that one guy that, you know, has the experience, all the solutions, he's got to know. But I think in reality they just have— they may have more of an idea, but no one really knows everything. And don't let that stop you from going forward. If that makes sense. Just the whole idea of really we're all learning every day on our path.
I love that. That makes total sense. Thank you. Question number 4. Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude and care for the customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Okay, this is probably going to be the first time you've heard this, but I'm going to say sleep more. And I read this book, Why We Sleep. And after I changed my sleeping habits from 5 or 6 hours a night to now I'm trying to get 7 or a nap, I realize I'm way more productive. My, my ideas and my thought patterns and my problem solving has gotten so much better. I can't get all those hours of sleep in. I try to meditate, take little 15-minute breaks and meditate, and the solutions just seem to come to me a lot more clearly. And the fact is, is I'm just more productive. I mean, before, I, I would say around 2 o'clock in the day, I would just kind of peter out and the rest of the time would just be maybe email, stuff like that. But when I'm rested and I get a full day, you know, 9 to 5, 9 to 6, or even, you know, if I need to push it late into the night, you know, 9, 10 or whatever, I can pull that off if I have that good reservoir of sleep going into it. So my advice for people is sometimes just breathe, take a break, take that nap and let those solutions come to you for the problems that you're, that you were thinking of before going to bed.
It's such a simple yet powerful recommendation. And you're right, no one has recommended that, but I wholeheartedly agree with you. Sleep is just such an important aspect to helping us get— be much more effective. So thank you for sharing that.
Oh, thank you.
Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I have so many, and I'm gonna say they're all past guests on my podcast, and that's why I think they'd be such a good fit for you. Uh, one individual, Brett Chernow, he talks about financial modeling. He's helped companies raise over $650 million, helped with $7 billion in exits. A gentleman, uh, Connor Riley, who's a former investment— well, he still is an investment banker, but he's the interim CEO for a makeup brush company. And just that story right there is is absolutely amazing. Shmuel Silverman, he was the inventor of 3G technology and his knowledge of 5G and, uh, just smart homes and cities and that is astounding. Um, basically any of my past guests for the most part, I would say would be perfect for your show and their insights and information. I think your audience would love.
Oh, I love that. And I appreciate those first 3. So I'll reach out to them. Thank you. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
So I, as bad as it sounds, I kind of want to say two jobs I had. The first one is really kind of my first job ever. My dad had a pharmacy, so when I was 7 years old, I was in there stocking shelves, the medicine and that. And that's when I actually learned that there's prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs, because sometimes I'd put the prescription out front and then I'd get a lesson of, you know, why these drugs, you need a prescription. But I learned a lot in that, such as I mean, I still remember this day. This one person pulled up to the front of the store, had a nice BMW, you know, nice suit, nice watch, everything. My dad just turned to me, he goes, "Oh, that guy's got 6 months to live." I was like, "What?" And he's like, "Because of his prescription, I know how much, how long he has to live. He's got less than 6 months." And it was just one of those moments where I went, "Oh my God, he's got this car, this suit, everything, and he looks like a young guy." But you money and time and that don't necessarily correlate. So at that job, I learned so many lessons about, you know, health, money, family. I mean, it just goes on and on, you know, with people's prescriptions and how you get to know a lot about someone in a short amount of time. And when I'm 7 or 8, just listening to these conversations, I learned so much there. And then I guess my first real, real job when I wasn't, you know, the son of the owner, the reason I got it, was I sold women's shoes at Macy's, and that just taught me about customer service, taught me about sales, taught me— I can't even tell you the number of lessons I learned there. And I recommend that everyone have some type of, you know, retail sales job sometime early on in your career because there's just so many benefits that you can get from it. So those are the two stories, two jobs I want, but I've pretty much always had some type of job, whether it's basketball referee or this or that. I was always doing something.
Well, boy, both of them are great stories, really powerful. The one of your dad and telling you about the guy with the fancy car and suit only living for another 6 months. That's just really heart-wrenching. And then I agree with you with the retail. It's a wonderful job to have to really learn about customer service. You had Macy's, I had Radio Shack, and Radio Shack just And who knows how long Macy's is going to exist. So Sean, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
My website is thesiliconvalleypodcast.com or just, you know, search for my podcast or my personal website, seanflynnsv.com. That's S-H-A-W-N-F-L-Y-N-N-S-V dot com. But, you know, connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or any of those. I would love to to talk with anyone and, and help anyone I can. And, you know, or reach out to Professor Pete Alexander, you could, you could make the connection. But thank you for letting me be on your show today. This is, this is a lot of fun.
Well, thank you so much. And this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
