NEAL GOLDMAN'S ORGANISING WISDOM CAPSTONE

“After thirty years of climbing the ladder without the arrival of happiness, I realised I was climbing the wrong ladder. There’s no target that you can actually reach that’s going to make you feel good enough.”

“I saw there was a wealth of wisdom out in the world but quite a bit of friction to find the right information for personal development. I wanted something where everyone can learn skills to heal and grow, yet no one had organised the world’s wisdom.”

Neal Goldman

Writing his regular feature for Mayfair Times Wingman Founder Simon Pavitt, pioneer in helping remarkable individuals with their ‘Capstones’, talks to those in Mayfair about how they are finding meaning and fulfilment beyond their main career. Simon spoke with Neal Goldman, founder and CEO about his Capstone: FindCenter The interview took place in Mayfair in October 2021.

INTRODUCTION

A year before his fiftieth birthday, Neal committed to building a tech platform in the service of others. He had always built and sold companies that creatively organised information into systems for shareholder returns. It had left Neal burnt out and struggling to feel joy. Embarking on his own healing journey, he realised no one had organised the world’s wisdom. It was to be Neal’s Capstone project: FindCenter, a platform for personal development where everyone can help themselves by learning skills to heal and grow. A ‘Wikipedia for wisdom’ but where everyone can contribute and feel welcome.

Neal is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Life Member at the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Young Presidents Organization, and has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School.

SP: It’s great to see you in Mayfair, what brings you back to the capital?

NG: Great to be talking in-person again. I came in from South of Spain for back-to-back meetings with my network and potential financial backers. I am currently looking further down the road at fundraising for my new platform FindCenter hence talking to all those that I believe might be interested in this project, many of which are in Mayfair, the heart of smart capital and top VCs in London.

SP: Before we get to the year before your fiftieth birthday and FindCenter, let’s start with your Cornerstone Phase of a career. It’s the defining moments of growing up… Tell us more about your formative years?

NG: Being frank, I had a difficult childhood, one that was full of chaos and pain. By 13 I was full of self-doubt and overwhelmed by my situation. I made a deal with myself to cut off my emotions and focus on business success as a way out. I thought this would bring me happiness and this way of thinking would define the next 30 years of my life.

Whilst at University of Pennsylvania I was ready to drop out as I found things were too formulaic. I was hungry to be an entrepreneur. I stayed on though and then got an MBA from Columbia Business School. I have not been great at waiting for things, I have preferred to go and grab them myself rather than let things come to me.  I was always running, running, running.

SP: Naturally next we move onto your Keystone phase. We consider this the time you make a dent in the world. The middle-age, a time you make your mark. You clearly achieved business success…

NG: I certainly achieved what mainstream thinking would consider ‘success’. My keystone phase was characterised by building and selling certain types of companies. I started out with traditional investment banking jobs such as in the M&A Group at Lehman Brothers and in private equity as an investor with Lincolnshire Management. I realised I have a skill for creatively organising information into systems. In 1998, aged 27, I saw an opportunity off the back of a need I had at Lehmans. I launched Capital IQ. The firm provided data and productivity tools to the financial services industry. Within six years we had created a global operation with over 1,000 employees. Ultimately, the company was bought by Standard & Poor’s for $225m.

SP: I noted there was a theme running through the companies you formed in your Keystone phase: finding a problem close to your needs and figuring out a better way to do things by organising information…

NG: Yes, next up was RelSci (short for Relationship Science) which brought science to the art of business relationships. The platform helped corporations, financial institutions and nonprofits gain a deeper understanding of their relationships with influential people. I also had other startups and tech investments. It provided endless distraction from the hard feelings from my childhood that I didn’t want to connect with. 

SP: I saw that RelSci would work out the people you know and find a pathway to the influential people you don’t know through network relationships. Again, solving a problem close to you through organising data and technology. You were providing new category creating IT. So, when was there a turning point in your keystone phase?  

NG: Yes – I think part of my DNA is clearly to organise external things. Internally though I was exhausted being me. I had received investments from my heroes of the investment world. I was the CEO of several companies in NYC. Yet it was still incredibly hard being in my head. The personal side of things in my life weren’t going as I hoped, and I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t feel joy. Thirty years after “climbing the ladder” without the arrival of any semblance of happiness, I realized I had been climbing the wrong ladder. I embarked on a healing journey to understand myself as I had used up all the tactics to stay away and ignore a painful childhood. It took me into lots of different disciplines, topics and teachers. I was very fortunate that I could invest significant time and money into the process. I woke up one day and for the first time really saw the trees and the birds and the sky. I had an overwhelming sense of joy that I had never felt before. I was experiencing the benefits of a more immaterial life.

SP: So, onto the Capstone Phase- a shift towards projects focused on fulfilment and meaning. What did you do next?    

NG: I was 49 and knowing my 50th birthday was next, I decided to put my all into building a tech platform to help people with personal development. I had found a sense of peace and calm I didn’t know existed... I was so grateful I realised I wanted to help others, those stuck in their own complicated story. After RelSci, I had done some CEO coaching, which I really enjoyed, but it felt as if I would only be able to affect a small number of people.  I reflected on my own healing and noted the significant friction I had in getting to information that could be of use to me.  I imagined a web platform that would organize the wealth of wisdom out in the world. I was determined to be of service to others on their own paths. FindCenter was born.

SP: Please do explain FindCenter in more detail. Often it links back to the cornerstone phase of life...

NG: I want to help others that are suffering as I had suffered.  was able to trace my feeling of disconnection back to my childhood. The journey I had been on had made me feel less alone. I wanted to use the skills I had developed to create a site that organised the wealth of wisdom out there to make everyone’s own journey a little easier. Not everyone is comfortable talking about their life or experiences or willing to share, or perhaps they don’t have the resources for extensive therapy and retreats. I wanted to create a free website that could help people grow, heal and connect with purpose. So, I recruited a team with diverse talents and perspectives to build this platform, to gather the finest wisdom about navigating life from a wide spectrum of beliefs, traditions, and teachers. I want a platform that will be easy and welcoming.

SP: I enjoyed receiving the email the day of your 51st birthday launching FindCenter and I’ve enjoyed using the site. But its more than that correct?

NG: All content is hand selected to be ‘nutritive’ and part of a buffet where all life paths are valid. Then, also a key goal for FindCenter is for users to be able to both contribute as well as discover more – crowdsource wisdom that, for example, isn’t found on the internet. Everyone including practitioners can be both a teacher and a student- curating collections, sharing wisdom with one’s community, clients, and the world. FindCenter is the hub for curated lists of articles, videos, poems, quotes, and courses. Feeding into that will also be our own generated content -- for example our ‘Redefined’ podcast with our Chief Awareness Officer, renowned humanitarian and author Zainab Salbi. Though our creators and channels we can explore life’s biggest challenges and our collective search for what matters. 

SP: So any last words of advice for those thinking about their own Capstone?

NG: My capstone only revealed itself to me once I had gotten to thoroughly know myself through the difficult by important journey of self-reflection.  Perhaps FindCenter can be of use to those reading this who want to figure out what their own capstone project is – connecting with purpose is a primary benefit of engaging with the wisdom of the site.  I think when people combine their unique talents with their life experience, they are on their way.  Working on this capstone project has been so much more fulfilling than the keystone mindset of impatiently wanting another business win. I know, Simon, you use crowning achievement as a key part of a Capstone – FindCenter is definitely that for me.

More information can be found at www.findcenter.com

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