Kristen Griffin

I would say my parents. Growing up, they were hard workers and always instilled in us that if you make a commitment, you're gonna follow through with it. You're not gonna quit mid-season or mid-anything - you're gonna see out the season. And then, you know, if you want nice things in life, nothing's gonna be handed to you. You have to work for it. That work ethic and commitment to following through has carried me throughout my entire career.

The best career advice I've received is to find the one thing that you absolutely cannot stand doing - the thing that just brings down your day and takes so much time - and make it better. There's always a way to make it better. When you do that, you learn more, you make the process smoother, and it becomes more manageable. It benefits the company and frees up your time to do other things that you enjoy. Honestly, when I find something I don't like and make the process better, I get this sense of accomplishment that makes me want to do more. I got this advice when I first started working, and I still use it to this day. I preach it to my team and even to my daughter - there are things you're not gonna like everywhere you go, but it's what you make of it. The second piece of advice is don't just have problems - make sure you have a solution to go with your problems.

There's always something to learn. If you don't know it or don't understand something, there's always somebody to reach out to, and there are so many different materials that you can use to educate yourself on, especially now with the internet. You should always continue to learn and grow. Beyond that, I'd say you have to have your stern voice and you cannot show emotions and get upset - you just state the facts. Nothing is worth getting emotional over. When there's a problem, you can't just say what the problem is - you have to address the problem and offer up solutions of what you think are the best next steps. You have to stand your ground, and if you're not being heard, sometimes you have to escalate until you are heard. Being a woman in this field, especially in manufacturing where it was a man's world, I've had to learn that the hard way. But I've also learned that most people just want to be heard - they want you to listen to their concerns and know their story.

The biggest challenges I've faced are really about being a woman - pay differences, expectations, and having a voice at the table. That's been hard, though I think it's gotten better over the years. I'm fortunate now to sit on an executive leadership team that's primarily all women, and it's refreshing to be heard and bounce ideas off of other women. The other major challenge is balancing work with life when you're a mother. The burden of childcare really does fall on women for the most part, and it's so hard to be able to move up in organizations because of that. I'm fortunate now that I'm kind of out of that season of life - my children are more grown and independent, so I'm not missing work as much. When they were babies and I had to take them to the doctors and stay home, I had some really good bosses who understood that, but not everybody does. As far as opportunities, there's so much low-hanging fruit in higher education, mainly for processes and streamlining things. People do things because 'that's how it's always been done,' and having fresh eyes to ask 'why can't we do it this way?' is really exciting. Our whole leadership team at Coker welcomes those ideas and is open to trying new things. The cost of colleges and universities these days is so expensive, so we have to really cater to the students and make sure this is still a good return on investment for them. Universities can really move themselves forward in this changing environment.

I think being transparent and having open communication are critical. You have to be able to give the good news right along with the bad. The more upfront you are about things, the more you can make decisions - right, wrong, or indifferent. You just have to be open and transparent. Integrity is so big to me. I mean, do what you say you're gonna do when you say you're gonna do it. That's fundamental to how I operate both at work and in my personal life.