Chief Change Officer Podcast Summary: Episode #283 with Katie Curry

Podcast Information:

• Title: Chief Change Officer
• Host: Vince Chan
• Episode: #283 Katie Curry: Risk by Training, Reinvention by Choice
• Release Date: April 8, 2025
• Platforms: LinkedIn, Apple, Spotify, YouTube @chiefchangeofficer

1. Introduction

In Episode #283 of Chief Change Officer, host Vince Chan engages in a profound conversation with Ekatrina (Katie) Curry, a seasoned professional whose career spans risk assessment, leadership in diverse industries, and personal reinvention. Vince sets the stage by highlighting Katie's extensive background, emphasizing her journey from Bulgaria to the United States and her evolution through various high-stakes roles.

2. Katie's Background and Career Journey

Vince Chan introduces Katie as a "dear friend from Yale days," underscoring their shared expertise in risk assessment developed through experiences with banks, fund houses, and insurance companies. Katie narrates her transformative journey:

• Early Life and Education:
  • Grew up in Bulgaria under communism in a small town.
  • Migrated to the United States to pursue higher education.
  • First Role: Started at Citi, where she honed her skills in risk assessment.
  • Business School: Admitted to Yale School of Management, a pivotal decision driven by a campus visit that solidified her desire to attend Yale over NYU.

Katie shares:
"I just felt so drawn to the place and I felt like, hey, this is where I want to be."
[03:52]

3. The Concept of Risk in Life and Career

Katie delves into her enduring relationship with risk, both as a personal philosophy and a professional focus:

• Risk Management: Emphasizes understanding, quantifying, mitigating, and addressing risk.
• Career Progression: Transitioned to S&P Global, undertaking roles from credit analyst to team leader, and later leading operations and creative teams.
• Current Role: Leads at Millennial Specialty Insurance, navigating the challenges of a growth-stage company.

Katie explains:
"Risk is a theme of my career and my journey. It's understanding risk, it's quality, quantifying risk, it's mitigating risk, it's addressing risk, and it's also taking risk and taking opportunities."
[04:41]

4. Managing Change and Reinvention

Vince probes into Katie's approach to managing significant career and personal transformations. Katie frames her changes not as mere transformations but as reinventions, focusing on:

• Self-Understanding: Assessing what she can contribute to new roles and situations.
• Leadership Evolution: Learning from experiences, including the contradictory leadership style of David Kamensky at Merrill Lynch.

Katie reflects:
"The key part of this mental toughness is to make a decision that you're not just going to come out resilient on the other side, you actually going to come out stronger."
[11:34]

5. Mental Toughness and Resilience

The discussion shifts to the importance of resilience and mental toughness in navigating career shifts and personal challenges:

• Embracing Change: Viewing change through a lens of excitement rather than fear.
• Post-Traumatic Growth: Striving to emerge stronger from adversity.
• Role Modeling: Demonstrating resilience to her team and her children.

Katie emphasizes:
"When I'm dealing with failures and stress and change, I think about, okay, how can I come out stronger on the other side?"
[11:34]

6. Defining Success and Failure

Vince and Katie explore nuanced definitions of success and failure, moving beyond conventional metrics:

• Failure as a Learning Tool:
  "I've had many failures in my career and my life, and I think people who have not had failures are playing it too safe."
  [14:43]

• Personal KPIs: Katie measures success through various life dimensions:

  • Health and Relationships: Ensuring she is surrounded by people from whom she can learn and who add value.
  • Impact and Value Delivery: Focusing on the tangible contributions she makes in her roles.
  • Work-Life Balance: Maintaining energy, health, and time for personal hobbies like hiking and salsa dancing.

Katie concludes:
"I am less focused on a conventional definition of success. I'm very focused on the different areas of my life... How can I drive and deliver value and growth?"
[14:43]

7. Leadership Style in Modern Times

Addressing the evolving landscape of leadership, Katie articulates her leadership philosophy centered on resilience, humility, and value-driven action:

• Dual Focus:
  "I would like to be powerful enough to be heard and charismatic enough to be followed."
  [19:22]

• Practical Leadership:

  • Striving to deliver value with simplicity and incremental progress.
  • Recognizing Opportunities: Valuing humility to acknowledge others' contributions and ideas.
  • Work Ethic and Presence: Serving as a role model for her team and family, especially highlighted during COVID-19.

Katie shares:
"During COVID, I was working with the operations team and our volume of work just skyrocketed... I am being a role model."
[19:22]

8. Leading Across Generations: Gen Z and Gen X

As a Gen X leader and mother of two Gen Z children, Katie discusses the dynamics of managing a multigenerational team:

• Perceptions of Gen Z: Challenges stereotypes of Gen Z being entitled or impatient.
• Meritocracy: Advocates for a workplace where merit, rather than hierarchy, drives progression.
• Reverse Mentoring: Engaging in mutual learning with Gen Z employees, fostering reciprocal growth.

Katie notes:
"Gen Z appreciates a true meritocracy rather than a hierarchical culture. I have reverse mentors who are Gen Z and they teach me things that I have not known."
[21:45]

9. Conclusion

Vince wraps up the conversation by reinforcing the podcast's mission to empower listeners to outgrow themselves through wisdom and resilience. He encourages the audience to subscribe and engage with the community, highlighting the transformative journey shared by Katie Curry as a testament to the show's impact.

Notable Quotes:

• "I just felt so drawn to the place and I felt like, hey, this is where I want to be." — Katie Curry [03:52]
• "Risk is a theme of my career and my journey..." — Katie Curry [04:41]
• "The key part of this mental toughness is to make a decision that you're not just going to come out resilient on the other side, you actually going to come out stronger." — Katie Curry [11:34]
• "I've had many failures in my career and my life, and I think people who have not had failures are playing it too safe." — Katie Curry [14:43]
• "I would like to be powerful enough to be heard and charismatic enough to be followed." — Katie Curry [19:22]
• "Gen Z appreciates a true meritocracy rather than a hierarchical culture." — Katie Curry [21:45]

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With over 130,000 followers, Chief Change Officer continues to inspire change-makers worldwide. Follow Vince Chan and the podcast on LinkedIn, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube @chiefchangeofficer.