Hometown: New York City, NY
Occupation: Creative Director

Jeff, 42, is both owner and creative director of Strychnine Design, a graphic design and consulting firm in New York City. Prior to launching his own business, Jeff worked as a campaign manager, a legislative aide, the economic development officer for the Mission of St. Kitts and Nevis to the United Nations, and an administrator at the American Academy in Rome. He has also been a guest window designer for Tiffany & Co. Jeff frequently performs at The Moth, a non-profit storytelling organization in New York City, and is the winner of the 2003 GrandSLAM Championship for best spoken story. He lives in New York City with his partner Albert.

When will you consider yourself "a success"?
I consider myself a success every time I fall flat on my face. Every time I screw something up or forget to remember something important or underestimate someone I'm working with or overshoot my mark. For me, success is not merely in the winning but in the attempting. To take what I know, learn what I can along the way, work with what I have in front of me, and then evaluate the results, to me is success. Being in the middle of it all, even if it's crashing down around you, beats sitting on the sidelines any day.
Sometimes the results are outstanding, often the results are great, and occasionally the results suck. It is the failures that lead on to the outstanding successes and it is the outstanding successes that give me the courage to go out and risk falling on my ass, again.

How would you describe your leadership style?
As a leader, it's my job to make sure everyone knows what the goal is, knows that they are expected to contribute, and to then take all those contributions (in spite of the drama and disagreements and complications and deadlines and unexpected problems that are present with every project) and synthesize them.
A good leader works from a solid core (honesty, clear thinking, protecting the project, being open-minded and receptive to new, different, or better ideas), is decisive, and worries less about making "the perfect" decision, focusing instead on making the necessary decisions. You have to be able to work with your team (regardless of any shortcomings) and you have to be able to do it in a way that strengthens them, yourself, and the project. If I had to give it a name I'd call it Managerial-Pilates-via-Kick-Boxing.

How do you deal with personal and professional challenges?
I deal with things the same way everyone else does, little by little, one step at a time. It's easy to get overwhelmed by things but I try to just pick something up off my desk, deal with it, and move on to the next thing. Ignoring things doesn't really work for me. It may be an ant's mentality but steady, regular steps forward always seem to take me where I need to go.

What, in your opinion, is the most important quality to have in order to succeed in life and why?
I'm not going to win any awards for originality here but "self-knowledge" has to be high on the list. It's vital to know what you are, where you come from, what strengths and weaknesses you have, what you believe in. No one is perfect; there is always someone smarter, older, more experienced. There is always another (contrasting) point of view. I know I can never compete AGAINST the entire world but I can well compete IN the world if I am most fully myself, warts and all. The things that set me apart from others are the things that set me ahead of them, too. In short, I'd rather stand out in a crowd than blend into it.

Curiosity (emotional, intellectual, and creative) would have to be a close second. It is the motor that propels me though the day and drives me to try things I know nothing about, am frightened of, or am challenged by.

What's more important: College Education or Real World Experience?
Trying to decide which is more important, college education or real world experience, sort of misses the point, I think. What's important is quite simply education itself. Whether you get it in a classroom under the strictest Socratic method or get it in the field by trial and error, mentoring, and exploration, the important thing is to find a way to develop and hone your ability to think critically about matters.

Whatever route someone chooses, the most successful people I know all have four things in common:
1. They have extraordinary focus when it comes to figuring out problems. They never waver or allow themselves to become distracted from gathering information and asking questions that will bring them closer to their goals.
2. They are both intellectually vigorous and intellectually responsible in their thinking. They worry less about assigning blame (to others or to themselves) and worry more about figuring out what the problem is and then figuring out how to solve it.
3. They don't do it alone. The people I admire have voracious appetites for information and they gather this information from other people. My advice is to find some good advisors, gather together some good friends, meet some interesting strangers and then ASK THEM QUESTIONS!
4. And finally, they cultivate interests. They read lots of books, listen to a wide variety of music, view art, and participating in the political process: all four of which cost nearly nothing and pay enormous dividends.

Have any previous Apprentice winners motivated or inspired you?
I have to say Bill Rancic; the first, the sexiest, and by far the best, yet. What I think is most memorable about the other contestants is their personal dramas, their poor inter-personal skills, and their glaring mistakes. What is most memorable about Bill is not the mistakes but how he learned from them (quickly) and moved on to get the job done. And isn't that what an apprentice is, one who learns in exchange for experience?

How do you combine your creativity with your business savvy?
How do you separate creativity and business savvy?! I once applied for a job and after many phone calls and a couple of interviews (and thank you notes and follow up calls) they still didn't hire me. As a last resort I bought a sterling silver spoon at a flea market, put it in a box addressed to the president of the company, and attached a note that said, "I want this job so badly I can taste it!" They hired me two days later.

Faves;
Music: Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C-minor, Richard Strauss's Morgen, Gustav Mahler's Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, Anything by Nina Simone, Dolly Parton, or Dinah Washington. And everything by American Idol's Fantasia
Books: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Most things "McSweeny's", and all manner of musings by the New Yorker's Anthony Lane
TV: Ellen (Love it. Love her. Love the dancing. I'd rather spend five minutes talking to her than anyone else on TV.), 24 (I'm convinced the producers have discovered some newfangled way of delivering a highly-addictive entertainment equivalent of crack cocaine via cathode ray. I cannot stop watching it.), Six Feet Under (though I preferred the earlier seasons when Nate still remembered how to have fun.), The Sopranos (I can't think of another show I would tolerate such an erratic broadcast schedule from. It seems to show up once ever season and a half or two seasons and yet, I'm still here waiting to watch it. It must be love.), The West Wing (It's not what it once was but it's still some of the smartest writing on TV. I never tire of watching Allison Janney.)
Movies: I partial to just about every other Woody Allen film (Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Zelig, Radio Days, Mighty Aphrodite, Sweet and Lowdown) and all things Pixar.