Nissue #1: Michael Ernst, Designer.
Welcome to the very first issue of In Search of Lost Answers, a place where I ask industry leaders and other luminaries a series of Proust-like questions (in italics), along with with a few of my own, about business and life. To start things off, I went with an old pal…
Michael Ernst and I met in 2005 when we worked at Yelp. He was employee 5 and I was 6, although there’s some debate on who walked in the door first. He was the chief designer and creative at Yelp, and the closest I’ve come to having a partner (I’m Hall, he’s Oates). You can see his broad portfolio of work here.
Nish: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Michael: Wandering around in nature, losing all sense of time to the quiet surroundings and feeling it wash all over you. Probably after taking an adult gummy of some sort.
Nish: What was your worst job ever?
Michael: Designing banner ads for a company suckering people into giving up their personal information to for-profit universities.
Nish: What was your first job ever?
Michael: When I was 10 or 11, I worked for my dad pulling weeds and mowing the lawn outside his title insurance office and basically being an errand boy. But, if we don’t count nepotism: I washed dishes at a family restaurant that was in my small hometown, a big tourist destination in the summer.
Nish: What was your best job ever?
Michael: Leading design at Yelp as a young man was quite a formative experience, in so many ways.
Nish: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Michael: I tend to get down on myself whenever I procrastinate or waste time – time that could be spent drawing or reading.
Nish: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Michael: I have a hard time dealing with people who don’t have a basic sense of self-awareness. It doesn’t take that much effort.
Nish: What’s some advice you’d give to yourself at 23?
Michael: Drink far less alcohol, build better daily habits, and work on your craft every single day.
Nish: What is your greatest extravagance?
Michael: These days, the takeout version of fine dining gives my wife and I a sense of normalcy to our lives.
Nish: You have dinner reservations for 4 at Noma, excluding family and close friends, who are the three people (alive, dead or imaginary) you’d invite?
Michael: Carl Sagan, David Bowie and Naomi Klein.
Nish: What is the theme song of your professional life?
Michael: Awake, Tycho. It sticks with me because it was around the time I had become comfortable as a sober person, and I finally felt like my career was getting back on track.
Nish: What is your motto?
Michael: Always question everything, never stop being curious. And don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.”
Nish: What is something you’re really excited about right now?
Michael: Discovering who I am through creative pursuits, and finding green space for my dog, Barley to scritch.
End Interview.
