Galen Powers is a multi-faceted person: a maker and an inventor who has been successful in business. He credits his success to working with people who are passionate about their craft.
In this conversation, Galen talks about growing up in rural California, learning about plastics and engineering graphics in high school and then figuring out how to get a job doing something useful. He talks about his many jobs, and how we came to get patents on the fabrication of eyeglasses.

Joining the conversation is Jeff Johnson, who is with ChatLab in Chattanooga Tennesee and a friend of Galen's. Together, they were part of the founding of LVL1 makerspace in Louisville Kentucky.

Galen talks about finding talent in makerspaces and helping them find jobs -- and he doesn't quite understand why some makers aren't interested in making money. He also has his own way of interviewing job candidates, asking them to bring and talk about a portfolio of their work as well as a hobby that is connected to their career. He's accomplished quite a bit with 57 patents to his name but no college degree. I see Galen as a kind of valuable prototype of a person, which I wish we knew how to create more of.

I enjoyed this conversation with Galen for many reasons, as you'll see.