Leadership Skills as a Brain Algorithm

Leading with empathy. Honing in on people skills—the meld of EQ and IQ. Supporting individuals on their own paths to fulfillment.

These are just a few of the traits that Certificate Program in Leadership and Management graduate Almog Goldstein self-professes as his leadership style. It all comes down to seeing the individual self and creating opportunities for each to become a better version.

Almog infuses his leadership modus operandi into every role he dives into. And it starts with identifying how he can help others.

“The day Steve Jobs died,” Almog recalls, “I remember coming to school and everyone talked about him in a way that the world lost a visionary. I love technology, but I wasn’t fully aware of the scale of his contribution. I remember coming home and reading so many articles about him, and one of the things that he said on a video is that you need to realize that everything around you was created by people who are no more smarter than you and you can have an impact on the world. This moment had such a remarkable impact on me and I’ve always wanted to be in a leadership position so that I can help others.”

That moment put him on a path of helping others, which included working as a VP of product at Keepers Child Safety, an app that helps children stay safe against cyber-bullying by scanning for offensive messages on social media platforms. Each time the platform detected an offensive message, it would send it to the parents so they were aware of what was happening.

Since then, you’ve been continually investing in your leadership development through education. What drew you to our certificate?

I have always dreamt about learning and studying at UC Berkeley.

When COVID started, I Googled “online leadership courses UC Berkeley,” found your certificate and immediately enrolled in the first class. I'm located in Israel, so a 6:30 pm Pacific Time class starts at 4:30 am here!

It was important for me to be able to complete all of the courses and the certificate fully online. I ended up taking three courses during one semester to make sure that I could finish it—and I had a full-time job! But I really liked it because I remember the alarm going off at 4 am and being excited about getting ready for class. More importantly, I felt more connected to another world, a new social circle, during COVID—the online environment helped me to interact with other people and learn from them. I think it kept me sane!

I took the Effective Leadership and Management course right after I got promoted to my VP of product role where I was managing seven team members. I was able to use so many things from that class with my team, as well as with my manager and colleagues. It just made me a better person and I'm very grateful for that.

Any examples?

It all goes to communication, style, listening and developing others. It's not just managing tasks; it's developing people. I clearly remember the Business Negotiation class, which helped me  look at the subject in such a different way—there's always a path to “winning” for both parties.

I see it as that I downloaded a lot of algorithms to my brain from taking these courses and now it's just part of my subconsciousness and has made me a better person.

I took the Effective Leadership and Management course right after I got promoted to my VP of product role where I was managing seven team members. I was able to use so many things from that class with my team, as well as with my manager and colleagues.

How would you describe your leadership style?

Listening is the best thing that I can do as a leader because it helps me to learn more about the person, to understand their goals and ambitions.

It all comes down to empathy and listening and helping them to achieve their goals. The best I can do is to support them.

What does earning the leadership certificate mean to you?

On a personal level, I've met incredible people. The discussions kept me sane during COVID, so I really appreciate that! Waking up at 4:30 am doesn't sound very compelling, but it was pure fun for me. I met people from different backgrounds, different jobs, different life paths—that was really incredible.

On a professional level, completing the certificate made me a better person. It helped me to download these “leadership” algorithms into my brain, which will always stay with me. I'm happy for the courses that I took, the instructors that I've met and the wisdom that I gained. It’s made me a better person and I'm very grateful for that.

It all comes down to empathy and listening and helping them to achieve their goals. The best I can do is to support them.

That’s amazing! After you completed the certificate, you co-founded and became the CEO of a Beaches app. Tell me about how this came about?

When I was in high school, I worked on a side project to help people find the best beaches in Israel. My parents met at the beach, and my name means coral in Hebrew. So it's been a theme in my life.

When I went to the U.S. to do a road trip, I was looking for the best beaches and all I could find were blog posts and different apps—one for weather, one for amenities, one for events. It wasn’t a full experience and I found that this was an opportunity. So when I came back to Israel, I resigned from that VP of product role.

We incorporated a company in the U.S., launched Beaches App and reached out to the state governments and at the federal level to get a lot of beach-specific information. Our app helps people find the best beaches for any kind of activity that they’re interested in and was featured by the U.S. federal government.

We include many information points. For example, people with disabilities who are looking for the best access can use the app filter and we’ll show them everything that they need to know. Or if the beach is closed due to bad water quality, we have that information from the government.

You're on a journey to improve yourself, so come to the classes with the mindset of becoming a better leader, a better person.

And it looks like you’re also keeping your ties to Berkeley!

After I completed your certificate, I stayed with Berkeley and did the Executive Leadership, Product and Business Program.

When I came to Haas three years ago, I was invited by the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation to be a mentor on an innovation challenge. I found this as an incredible opportunity to help students gain practical experience, so I offered to turn this program into an innovation unit and to scale it, which became the Open Innovation Squad. And this past May, we had 40 students who worked on seven projects and even presented at NASA.

The Open Innovation Squad is affiliated with the Institute for Business Innovation and receives training from the “Father of Open Innovation,” Dr. Henry Chesbrough. We focus on providing students, executives and organizations with Open Innovation training and solutions.

You’re a Berkeley student, through and through. What advice would you give to someone who's just starting the certificate?

I would highly recommend to not only just focus on the material, but also on the people—find time to connect with fellow students on LinkedIn and have those side conversations and invest time in getting to know them; there is so much to learn from the people and their stories.

You're on a journey to improve yourself, so come to the classes with the mindset of becoming a better leader, a better person.