LaSandra Boykin

I attribute my success first and foremost to my parents, Benjamin and Carsandra, who taught me about integrity, hard work, and respect. My dad was the son of a sharecropper who grew up on a dirt road and rose to the top in corporate America before becoming a politician. I watched both my parents work incredibly hard throughout my life, and I watched my mom battle breast cancer. They're fighters, and they instilled in me to never give up, never quit, treat people with respect, always do things with integrity, and if you always do the right thing, you'll never lose. I've also had really good mentors throughout my career. One of my first mentors taught me to be early, not just on time, after I showed up late to something. He told me I should have been there 10 minutes early because you never know what's happening. That same colleague later became my boss at Delta Airlines and took a chance on me when they weren't looking for someone outside the company. I keep a board of directors of people I trust, and I've had really good people work for me who have encouraged me and helped me in my career journey. I believe in leading from the bottom up. I've also built really strong relationships throughout my career. There's probably not a manager or person I've worked with that I couldn't call today, and we would pick up where we left off.

Be early, not on time. And be prepared. The early bird gets the worm, and it's fine to be early, but you have to be prepared. Whenever I go into anything in life, I do a lot of research. Whether I'm interviewing for a job, preparing for a meeting, changing a policy, or meeting with a new community partner, I do my research, get prepared, and I'm always early. I'm joining that Zoom call early, I'm at the meeting early. When you show up late for someone or something, what that says is you don't respect that person, you don't respect their time, and you don't respect yourself. Being prepared does the same thing. I think sometimes we've lost sight of that. Don't get me wrong, I've been late before for whatever reason, but I think it's very important as I continue to progress in my career that I keep these principles and always have integrity.

Find out how you can add value. I'll share a story about when I was at Delta Airlines working in catering operations. I woke up one morning and realized I didn't want to do that anymore. I wanted to do something that aligned with my passion and my purpose. So I started talking to people within the organization, and I wrote a job description for a position in community engagement. I sent it to a senior vice president, Joanne Smith, who later became the executive vice president of HR. She called me and asked what it was, and I told her it was a job description for work where my passion and my purpose intersect. Eight months later, that same job description was posted internally at Delta, and I applied and got the job. Sometimes you just have to go for what you want, but you also have to prove yourself. Joanne took a chance on me because she knew I had worked hard in catering operations. Find people in the industry who are doing that work and learn from them, grow from them. Figure out what projects you can do on the side, attend conferences, get with those folks. Become an expert in the field you're in today, but then think about what's next for you. I also do a lot of speaking, which helps. You never know where people are going to help you, so be a kind person, have integrity, and be respectful.

The world is changing so much. Fifteen years ago, corporate social responsibility was this new thing where people were just setting up programs and foundations for tax write-offs. It was almost a sexy thing to do. Now, I was just at a conference last week with 200 corporate social responsibility leaders, and at an executive dinner with about 25 of us who have been doing this work for more than a decade. We were talking about how we have to do this all together. We can no longer be siloed at companies. We've got to have communications, the C-suite, and all the people working together to do this work in communities and make an impact. Sometimes we get siloed because people think we're just the ones who do the good stuff, but the good stuff has to be everybody in the company. You've got to be present in community. I tell people it's presence versus programs. I'm actually writing a white paper and a book on this. Presence isn't just about showing up and doing something once. It's about always being in that community, always giving back, always thinking about the people your business affects, whether you're B2C or B2B. The biggest challenges are thinking about how we show up in communities and how we internally work together and break down those silos.

Relationships are the most important value to me, both personally and professionally. I also believe in having fun in the things you're doing and loving the work you do. I don't believe there's such a thing as work-life balance. I believe in work-life flexibility. There are weeks when we have to work really hard and put in more than 40 hours, but then you also take that time to spend with family and friends. That's not a balance, that's flexibility. I value family, friends, and relationships more than anything else. I've built really strong relationships throughout my career. My boss at Delta Airlines from 2001, I still talk to today. I've seen his kids grow up. When I lived in Switzerland, my boss there, I still talk to him and he lives in London now. I've built these relationships throughout my career, and there's probably not a manager or people I worked with that I couldn't call today. Relationships are so essential to everything you do, personally and professionally. Whenever you're at a crossroads or need advice, there are so many people I can call who really help me along the way and make me who I am today. My mom tells a story about how when she was transitioning jobs, someone she used to give rides to the train station called her years later with a job opportunity. He remembered how kind she was. You never know where people are going to help you. Be a kind person, have integrity, and be respectful.