Susan Dixon, SPHR

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but God is really important. I've always learned God, family, and then business. If you live your life like that, then it's so truly impactful. Providing, the good Lord is always there in our hearts and everything that we do, but I think also, you're a mom, you want to take care of your family, you want to be there, you want to make sure that they have everything that they can to be successful as well. When I worked for an organization, I worked there for going on 24 years, but I believe in working for a company, you've got to give it 110%. If you can't do it, then that's not the right place for you, and you're never going to be happy, and you're never going to be successful. I believe that you have to love what you do, and workforce development was something that I had always loved to do. I knew that at the end of the day, it was helping people - helping companies, helping employees become financially stable. Not everybody's going to be a doctor, a lawyer, an athlete. You've got to have plumbers, you've got to have electricians, you've got to have the HVAC technicians. My boss Angie shares the same mission, vision, and values as I do, and I think that's what makes us successful in doing what we do. At the end of the day, too, you can't forget where you came from. You gotta be humble. Ethics, morals, and values are important to me, as well as reputation. It's always been faith, religion, family, and then work.

Knowledge is power. Learn, learn, learn. Learn the ways, learn the skill, learn the trades, learn the secret sauce. Read, learn, observe, listen. Anytime that you're going into a new environment, the first thing you need to do is you need to listen. You can learn a lot by closing your mouth and listening and watching, because you observe a lot of different things that are going on at one point in time. I think reading, doing your research, and continuing education is important. It doesn't matter if you're 25 years old or 82 years old, you still learn. Continuing education about anything, especially if you're still in industry and you're looking at continuing to build a career, is essential. What made me successful in anything I've ever done is I've tried to secure myself around the best people, the smartest people. If they were smarter than me, that's perfect, because I'm going to learn a lot from it. I also listened, and I learned, and I asked a lot of questions. Questions are important, because there are no dumb questions. I truly believe that. You have to continue to educate yourself and keep up with technology in whatever industry you're in, whether that's human resources, whether that's oil and gas, energy, whatever the case may be.

Being in this world, it's very hard. You fight challenges every single day when sitting at boardrooms or in meetings, where it's always been influenced by white-collared males. We've been able to hold our own, and I've been very blessed. My boss is very innovative, and we're taking this organization in a different direction that's never been done before in the 20-plus years that it's been here, and kind of trying to put us on the map. We just want to help people. One of the biggest opportunities I see is that Texas is very rich in resources when it comes to training, and employers need to take advantage of that. We just had a huge workforce industry roundtable event last week, and I had to explain to them that $10 million was left on the table in 2025 alone for employers that didn't take advantage of it. It gets repurposed for something else, and it should never be that way. Small, medium companies should take advantage of that and help increase and build their talent pipeline and better their workforce to be more skilled. The hardest thing for most businesses is finding and retaining good employees.

Faith, religion, family, and then work - that's always been my priority order. God is really important, and I've always learned God, family, and then business. If you live your life like that, then it's so truly impactful. The good Lord is always there in our hearts and everything that we do. Family is extremely important. As a mom, you want to take care of your family, you want to be there, you want to make sure that they have everything that they can to be successful as well. In my work, I believe you've got to give it 110%. If you can't do it, then that's not the right place for you, and you're never going to be happy, and you're never going to be successful. You have to love what you do. At the end of the day, you can't forget where you came from. You gotta be humble. Ethics, morals, and values are important to me, as well as reputation. I love what I do because at the end of the day, it's helping people - helping companies, helping employees become financially stable.