Embracing Fearless Moments w/ Kristin Johnson

Listen in and learn from Kristin Johnson, Chief Transformation Officer at Edward Jones, as she describes how she leads the organization's change journey. Kristin discusses the importance of talented people in driving success and her dedication to fostering a culture of belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion. In our conversation, she also shares her philosophy on embracing fearless moments, offering insights on the strength needed to bring new ideas to the table and the transformative power of self-confidence.

Guest Links:

• Kristin’s LinkedIn
• Edward Jones

Credits: 
Host: Lisa Nichols
Executive Producer: Jenny Heal
Marketing Support: Landon Burke and Joe Szynkowski
Podcast Engineer: Portside Media

Transcript

Lisa Nichols  00:03
Chromosomes, little strands of nucleic acids and proteins are the fundamental genetic instructions that tell us who we are. At birth, most people are born with 46 chromosomes, but each year in the United States, about 6000 people are born with an extra chromosome, making them a person with Down syndrome. If you've ever encountered someone with Down syndrome, you know that they are some of the kindest, most joyful people you will ever meet. They truly have something extra. 

My name is Lisa Nichols, and I have spent the last 24 years as both the CEO of Technology Partners and as the mother to Ally. Ally has something extra in every sense of the word. I have been blessed to be by her side as she impacts everyone she meets. Through these two important roles as CEO and mother to Ally, I have witnessed countless life lessons that have fundamentally changed the way I look at the world. While you may not have an extra chromosome, every leader has something extra that defines who you are. 

Join me as I explore the something extra in leaders from all walks of life and discover how that difference in each of them has made a difference in their companies, their families, their communities and in themselves. If you liked this episode today, please go to Apple Podcast or wherever you listen and leave us a five-star rating.

I'm thrilled to have Kristin Johnson on the show today. Kristin is the chief transformation officer at Edward Jones. Well, Kristin, welcome to the Something Extra Podcast. I am so excited that we were able to make this happen. You are so busy, and I'm so busy, and we've been trying to do this for at least six months.

Kristin Johnson  01:55
Absolutely. No, it's great to be here. Thanks for the invite, and so glad that we get to catch up.

Lisa Nichols  02:00
Me too. That's what I look at it. It's just a time for you and I to just to catch up and be with each other, right? So, I love to always tell our listeners how I meet my guest. And you and I met back in 2019 at the beginning of 2019 you and our youngest daughter, Ally, participated in Dancing with the St Louis Stars. 

Kristin Johnson  02:22
We did. I can't believe that's been almost five years and before the pandemic. 

Lisa Nichols  02:27
I know. Seems like a lifetime ago. Well, we were kind of talking about this in a sidebar conversation. I mean, I remember Allie dance, the Rumba and the Chacha. And I remember your dress, though you had the coolest dress of anybody. You had this beautiful silver sequin dress, and you just did such a great job. But that was a lot of fun. What did you, what did you dance to?

Kristin Johnson  02:55
So, I danced to a Beyonce song. I was I danced with Antonio Douthit-Boyd, who's one of the directors of dance at COCA here in St Louis, and he was a former Alvin Ailey dancer, and so a true professional, and he was so generous to share his talents with me, but we did a Beyonce song, and it was a lot of fun.

Lisa Nichols  03:16
A lot of fun. That is always, I always say that's one of the most fun fundraisers that there is, right?

Kristin Johnson  03:25
It's amazing, great, great money that the, the event raises.

Lisa Nichols  03:29
Absolutely. And for our listeners, because we have people all over the world that listen, all over the globe, Kristin, and for our listeners that don't know, this is an event that happens every year in St Louis, and it benefits an organization called the Independence Center. And the Independent Center exists to help people with mental illness and mental challenges and support their family. I know I learned a lot. What did you learn about the IC? What did you learn about mental health? What did you, what did you learn about yourself by going through the experience?

Kristin Johnson  04:03
It was great to get to know the organization. I was not as familiar with it up until participating in the event. Penny Pennington, who's our managing partner here at Deborah Jones, she had participated a couple of years before me, and had graciously nominated me to be in the event after she was in it. And so got to go to the independent center in the clubhouse and really see firsthand the life skills that they are teaching and helping individuals with severe mental illness. And I just, I it was just so cool to see the access to that type of, to that type of services, and able to help people then, you know, pursue job opportunities that they might not have been able to pursue hadn't been for the Independence Center.

Lisa Nichols  04:50
That's I, I know for myself, it was just so eye opening, and I think too, that it's it, that event has really elevated the conversation. I feel like Kristin, to tell people, you are not alone. This is something that a lot of people struggle with, and if you are struggling, tell somebody it's okay. There's support there for you and for your family. So, a wonderful, wonderful organization, and I know at one point they were, they were somewhat of a gold standard, like other Independence Centers from other metros would come and view how they did it here, and it's if you're in St Louis and you can go visit sometime, highly encourage you to do that. Well, before we dig into your career, because you've had just a wonderful, wonderful career. And I want to talk a lot about that, but I kind of want to talk about growing up. And I think you grew up in Belleville, right? Illinois? 

Kristin Johnson  05:49
I did. My dad was in the Air Force for 27 years, and so I was born, actually, at Travis Air Force Base out in California, moved two or three times before I was five, and then landed in Belleville, Illinois, outside Scott Air Force Base is outside Belleville. And so, then he got assigned there. And miraculously, as those that have been served in the in the services and the military, was able to stay in Belleville then until he retired from the military, which was really unheard of, and so got to which was so great and really appreciated that my parents and were able to make that work. So, my brother and I weren't moving around a lot as we were growing up through those, those school age years.

Lisa Nichols  06:33
Well, right. And so, you did your brother, older brother, younger brother?

Kristin Johnson  06:37
Younger brother, younger brother, 

Kristin Johnson  06:38
Younger brother, three years younger. 

Lisa Nichols  06:40
Okay. he had two moms, right?

Kristin Johnson  06:43
There are some pictures of me addressing him up in my ballet clothes.

Lisa Nichols  06:48
That's hilarious. Talking about ballet. That's a perfect segue. I want to talk to you about this. Dancing was not new to you. 

Lisa Nichols  06:54
No, no.

Lisa Nichols  06:56
No, you started dancing. I think when you were like three and danced all the way up through high school. Did you have dreams Kristin, of being a prima ballerina?

Kristin Johnson  07:05
I did. I did. I started at three, actually, and we were in stationed in Canada. My mom put me in a tot’s ballet class. And then when I moved to Belleville, got connected with a great ballet school over in Belleville, and then did took some dance classes in St Louis, and that really focused on ballet. And in high school, I would go to different programs in the summer for six-eight weeks. And, you know, try out for American Ballet Theater summer camp, and went down to TCU to its summer camp. And so, I got to be a senior in high school, and was seriously considering going to New York and trying to dance professionally. I really it was passion of mine, and I also was very studious in school. And my military father said, you know, that's going to be a really tough career. You're going to try to go to New York and dance. You're really good at math, Kristin, you need to go to college and become an accountant. So, I followed his advice and went to. You know, it was one brain side of the brain versus the other, and was able to go to University of Illinois and study accounting, which was, was tremendous, and also be on the dance team in Illinois. So, I kind of kind of got the best of both worlds during college experience, as well.

Lisa Nichols  08:20
I think you and I have talked about this, but I also have a degree in accounting. That's where I started. I started at McDonnell Douglas.

Lisa Nichols  08:26
Good foundation. 

Lisa Nichols  08:27
It is, it's such a good foundation. But something we didn't talk about is I also did ballet. So, I started dance when I was tap, ballet, jazz, when I was about four. But I was never good enough to be a prima ballerina. And as you know, my husband's name is Greg, and he tells this story, tells the story to our kids a lot, and everybody laughs, but he's like, it was so scary the first time I saw your mom on toe, on point, because he said she was like coming toward me, and it's just a funny story that he tells our kids, but I loved it, and still, still love dance, still love music, all of that to this to this day. So, I want to ask you this, because I do believe, you know, left side, right side of the brain, but I do believe that the creative arts, and I know you are a huge supporter, you're on many, many boards Kristin, but you're you've been a huge supporter of COCA for a long time and helping our youth get exposed to the arts. What do you believe, though, are some of the things that you learned by, by doing ballet and being involved in arts that have helped you even in your career today, and leadership and the way you live your life today? What do you think some of those lessons are?

Kristin Johnson  09:48
I think arts education is so important for people, for young people growing up, and wanting as many young people to have access to arts education as possible. But I really feel like I, you know, I learned a lot of discipline. I would, you know, go to school, I come home, I didn't do my homework. So, then I could go to dance class for two or three hours a night, and I had a to do list. And I learned that at a very young age, just having discipline and routine, which was, I think habits, that have helped me in my professional life, for sure. I think certainly with dance and the intensive dance that I was in, you know, certainly you're, you're working hard, but you're trying things, and you don't always do the pirouette like you need to, right? You know, like you fall over or, you know, it doesn't work out. And so, you learn also that you have to keep trying things until maybe you actually do the turn to, you know, in the technique that you need to. So that was also, I think, a good learning, and then just the creativity, as you said about it, and different, different ballets that I was, you know, learned to do and the music, and all of that, I think, was, is helped me in terms of the creativity that you need as part of the business world.

Lisa Nichols  11:02
I agree. Because I do think maybe as business people, a lot of times, we're problem solvers, right? And you need create creativity. When you go to solve a problem, there's not just one way to solve a challenge, right? So, we could probably do a whole podcast just on that, right? I mean, certainly, you know, there's probably books out there that talk about it, but I, I'm completely with you on this. You know. So, let's go in and talk about you, you went on to the University of Illinois, majored in accounting. You also have degrees in you have a master's in information management and MBA from WashU. So, you've been a busy, busy lady. But you started, I think, at PwC, which I think is also a great, for anyone who goes into accounting, now, I went the corporate route, but I do think being on the public side, I think probably gives you an exposure right, Kristin, to a lot of different types of businesses and industries and but you did that for a few years right, in Chicago?

Kristin Johnson  12:10
After going to University of Illinois and champagne. A lot of my friends were going to Chicago, and so I followed suit and got a job at Price Waterhouse. It was Price Waterhouse at the time that was big six, back in ‘93. 1993. And it was a tremendous start. You know, you really, I was copying work papers a lot, but that was okay, because I was, you know, learning and you paying your dues, and just such great, great skills and working at different companies, of course, at a very young age that, that I would recommend to really anyone that's thinking about accounting.

Lisa Nichols  12:47
I completely agree with that. Well, that was kind of your segue. And then I think you, after a couple years, you, you went to Jones. And here's what I want to talk about, though, after just two years, I think of being in the Audit Department, the internal audit department, you became the internal audit manager. Kristin, I have to ask you, what did you know about leading teams, when you were that age? 

Kristin Johnson  13:10
Nothing, nothing. And it was the hardest first leadership role, because I was then forced into leadership of my peers, and they were all CPAs, and we were an internal audit team, and my leaders, leader got promoted. And so, my leader got promoted, and that was actually, it was just like a great opportunity. And, but I'm glad I had that experience. You go from, you know, I went from going to lunch every day with my peers, and then not being invited to lunch and being the leader and having to give feedback to those that you work alongside. You know, at the time, you know those things you go through that's really challenging at the time, but then you look back, you're like, oh, that was a, really a growth experience, and I think helped accelerate my development as a leader, as I then went along.

Lisa Nichols  13:38
You just figured it out. Well, and I know I want to talk about this a little bit, and I don't know if there was anybody that helped you. Jones is so intentional, and I do want to spend some time on culture at Jones, but you all are so intentional about everything you do. But mentorship, I know, is really important to you mentoring the next generation. Did you have someone that kind of helped you during that transition, Kristin, to learn more about leading?

Kristin Johnson  14:30
Absolutely. My partner at Jones that actually hired me, Tom Argron at the time. He was a tremendous he was a leader, my leader, but he was also a tremendous mentor and really helped me understand kind of the basics of leadership. And Edward Jones, really one of our, I'll call founding fathers that's helped us with our leadership principles, was Peter Drucker. And, you know, the Drucker book of management, and so he would spend time with me, and we would read Drucker, and we'd learn about, you know, response. Possibility based management, and how do you, how do you set expectations for people and give feedback and motivate and communicate? And so, I learned that he really taught me that, and that really helped me at an early age around management leadership.

Lisa Nichols  15:15
I would, I would recommend anyone that's aspiring to leadership, or a young person that's just getting started, go read Drucker, right? Probably one of the most quoted management consultants out there, you know, in our century, I would think. But do you guys, does Jones tell me about this, does Jones have a formal because I know it's really important to you guys. But is it a formal mentorship type program, or is it, how does that work, Kristin?

Kristin Johnson  15:45
Over the years, I mean, I would say, you know, in my early days, early career, it was more informal mentoring. And then, of course, you know, your leaders as mentor. Over the last I would say, you know, 10 years or so, we've had more formal mentoring programs, and those have continued to grow. I recently, we recently started a reverse mentoring program, and so I just met with my reverse mentor the other day, a younger colleague here at Jones that's more junior in her career, and so that's going to be a great opportunity for me to learn from her and some different perspectives that I haven't really you know that I'm looking to get and learn from. 

Lisa Nichols  16:24
Always learning, right?

Kristin Johnson  16:25
Always learning.

Lisa Nichols  16:26
Always learning, always growing. Well, after about five years at Jones, I know you moved into operations division, and my goodness, Kristin, you held so many leadership positions there, account, trade processing, retirement services, service optimization, talent acquisition. I think when you and I first met, you were either in talent acquisition or you just maybe taken over as the interim CHRO. I think when I just met. And then you're what you're doing today, and I want to spend some time on. You're the chief transformation officer for Edward Jones. But you know, here's the thing, I would say, I'm so blown away when I read all of that. I'm so blown away by your agility. Your agility to come into each of those and like when you came in as a CHRO, you didn't really know much about HR, did you?

Kristin Johnson  17:20
No, I didn't, I didn't. And the roles I had, you know, through operations and service and our branch side of the business, I, you know, because I was moving around quite a bit. I kind of, I learned that when I moved into a new area, I wasn't, I was never the expert. I've never been the expert, because when I moved into new roles, I've had to really learn from the team that's in place. They had more knowledge than I did, and it was about getting enough knowledge that I could help set the strategy or the vision of where we needed to go, but then really leverage and empower the team, you know, to help us get there. But, when I moved into the HR role, and that was that was more intimidating, because there was so much in the in the senior role of that the CHRO and I didn't have HR background, but I had 24 years of Edward Jones background, and so really had to work with the team and trust my instincts quite a bit as I got that.

Lisa Nichols  18:16
And that, that CHRO role, that is such a big role. It is. I don't think people really realize all the different pieces of the organization that HR touches, but I often say it's the heart, really, the heart of the organization and culture flows out of that many, many times. But I don't want to talk about specifics on each of these roles until we get to the CTO role, the chief transformation officer. And I do want to spend some time there. But rather, I'd love to ask you questions about these roles. So, the agility that you had, but did you like, how did these roles come about? Did you raise your hand? Did somebody tap you on the shoulder and say, Kristin, I think we need you over here. Would you be interested? How did those come about? Because I just think about people as they are looking at their career ascent, Kristin, I think it's good for them to hear, yeah, how you've moved through the organization.

Kristin Johnson  19:12
Absolutely. So, going back to that first leader, I mentioned he when I was a junior, you know, an internal audit juniorist colleague, and he said, you know, what, what do you want to do in five years? And I said, oh, I want to be a general partner at Deborah Jones. And he kind of, you know, stood up straight and was like, you can't say that. I'm like, Well, why not? Like, why wouldn't, you know, I was 25 years old? Why wouldn't you want to do that? And he said, no, you know, like, you want to grow your impact on the organization. You want to work hard, you want to perform well, and then opportunities will come to you. And I, as I just repeated that you can tell it's been in my brain for 29 years. And I firmly believe that and Edward Jones is such a great opportunity factory for that as a growing organization. So, as I moved into these roles, I was asked to move into the roles through my career. Of course. I really took the initiative to learn. I wanted to keep moving around the organization so that I could put the pieces together. I felt like I could contribute more to the organization if I knew how the pieces fit together, if I just and so I liked being more of that generalist, and I liked learning about the different parts of our business and what we were doing. 

Kristin Johnson  20:20
So, I did get, I think, because I would seek out the learning opportunities. And then I every opportunity I got, I did the best I could with it. And that turned into the next opportunity that happened, until when Penny Pennington became managing partner in 2019, she did ask me to move over to HR in an interim role initially, and lead, co-lead the division for a period of time, and help her search for a new CHRO. And which was great, and it wasn't expected again, I was, I was always the one that said, you know, people would ask me what I want to do, and I said, whatever you want me to do, whatever you need me to do. And I think a lot of people are like that. And so, I, you know, we're putting together the job profile for those CHRO and she really wanted to elevate human capital at Edward Jones to really be weighed as much, if not more, than financial capital. Prior to her leadership, our HR division would be was responsible to our CFO or our chief administrative officer, and did not have a seat around the executive table, and so I led the search, and I was looking at the job profile one night, and I thought, you know, I want to do this. I want to I like this work like I'm really inspired. And Penny, you know, set this bold vision for us that we're still pursuing. And I just got really excited about the opportunity to really contribute in a different way. 

Kristin Johnson  21:44
So, I'm sure people have had those fearless moments at times. And so, I remember I sent her a note, and I said, hey, I'd like to share something with you. Well, this was on a Thursday, and she was traveling and I was traveling, and so we didn't connect. And then, you know, those fearless moments subside. Well, then Monday, we were at a meeting together, and she said, oh, did you have something you wanted to share with me? Come in my office. And so, I went in and then I was trying, as I'm walking, I remember that feeling of, how do I get that fearless moment back of what I wanted to say and I did and I and she just, she said, thank you. And I felt like that was a moment I'll remember, because I raised my hand and I had more confidence in myself than I think I ever had to really put myself out there. And then I didn't hear anything for a couple months, and then entered the process and was grateful to get the opportunity officially in November of '19 so, but I would just encourage everyone, don't wait 24 years to raise your hand. You know, if there's something that you want to do, it's okay to say what you want to do. I don't know why it took me as long as it did to really voice that, but just something I learned.

Lisa Nichols  22:57
Well, see, here's what I believe. I believe everything you did though, Kristin, was probably preparing you for that moment. You had had a lot of roles, right? That people had tapped you on the shoulder for. And I do believe that maybe the first step is the hardest. What is that old proverb? I can't remember right now, but the first step to, you know, 1000 miles or something. You know that wonderful quote? Now I'm going to, maybe we can put that in the show notes. I'm having a brain freeze on that quote. It's a great, great quote about that first step, and then you, having done all the things that you've done, honestly, probably gave you the confidence that, hey, I had a lot of things that I've had to do that I didn't know about, right? And learning those lessons, everything that you just said is just packed with so much wisdom surrounding yourself. You were not the this, the person that was a subject matter expert, but you knew enough to, to help set vision and leaned on your people, which I think is a really good tenant of leadership well, so we kind of talked about this already. I said, what was your mindset to tackle these new things? And we've talked about that, but you've had support along the way. What do you believe Kristin is your leadership style, and how have you seen it evolved over the years? 

Kristin Johnson  24:20
Well, I do like to learn, as I said, so I like to learn, and I like to know as much as I can. But I've had to over the years as a leader and you grow your responsibility, recognize that you're not going to know everything, and that's okay. And you know, being able to really delegate and empower your team is super important. I mean, I go back to my Drucker principles, I feel like my style is really setting up expectations and the beginning of the year with those that I lead agreeing on aligning on those objectives, and making sure that those I lead have what they need to be successful with those and then tracking progress along the way and celebrating success. 


Kristin Johnson  25:02
It sounds pretty straightforward, but I feel that that RBM, responsibility-based management, really works. I feel like I've I'm very direct and transparent with my communication. I think it's very it's more clear as kind. I think it's more human to give that direct feedback when you need to around performance and coaching. Some of the, the disappointing moments when I was in the HR role was when leaders or associates would come to me and they had been rated down in their performance, and they had never had the feedback that they weren't performing at that level. And I just it, you know, I think it's interesting. Some people think, well, that's they're taking they're going to take it personally. Well, actually, it's harder on the individual if you're not direct with them in terms of where they stand.

Lisa Nichols  25:54
That's so good. Jeremie Kubicek has a book called "Communication Code," and he talks about the five C's, and one of them is critique. But you know, without that feedback, it's, you don't want people to be surprised, right? Kristin, so without the feedback, how can people grow? But there it's the how, it's not just the what, it's the how you deliver that, right? So, well, gosh, I've got a lot more here I want to talk about but we do need to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with Kristin Johnson on the Something Extra Podcast.

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Lisa Nichols  26:57
So, welcome back, everyone. Something Extra Podcast with my friend Kristin Johnson. Well, Kristin, you have already given us so much gold. It has just been wonderful to be with you. And I know that all your wisdom is going to help our listeners. But there's a few other things I want to talk about before we talk about something extra. And this is really a big topic. This is a big, big topic. You know, Jones, for many, many years. I don't even know, 25 years, I think, has been listed as a top Fortune 100 company to work for. In fact, literally, you guys have won so many awards over the years it, it would be difficult to list them all here. But truly, you're one of the most admired firms on the fortune 500 list, and you have 54,000 associates Kristin. So that's a lot of boats to keep rowing in the same direction. It's a lot of boats I you know, and I read something last week. Arbinger Institute put out a study. And somewhere between 13% and 22% of employees say that they would rate their company as excellent. It's at an all-time low, to be honest, you know. And so, I just have to know from you, what do you what do you believe are the strategies that Edward Jones has used for 25 years? What is it that makes you guys one of the most admired firms in the country? 

Kristin Johnson  28:27
It's, it's a special place, for sure. And, you know, we've think about, we are a private partnership. I think that that's a legal entity, but the spirit of partnership, working in partnership, is fundamental to our culture, or very much about the spirit of caring. And that goes back to our founders, Edward D Jones, and Ted Jones' son, who was really the one, the innovator around our business model and taking Wall Street to Main Street and giving access to financial products and financial advice to Middle America and then expanding from there. But he really fueled that partnership and that culture of working together, creating winners without losers, really supporting one another in our success. And so that's been the culture, that's who we are, and we stay true to that today. You know, we are going through change. We could talk about a minute about transformation, but it's so much about respecting the past while we create the future and, you know, leveraging the lessons we've learned from those that have come before us in our history, and then that culture of a spirit of caring and our partnership.

Lisa Nichols  29:39
I mean, it's, it's not easy to do. It really isn't easy. It's not an easy feat. You guys have had to be very, very intentional about it, but you just do it so well, well, I want to dig in specifically to transformation. So, you are the CTO. You are the chief transformation officer. What did the day in the life look like for a chief transformation officer and some of our people, you know, CTO is being a Chief Technology Officer, but this is a chief transformation officer. So, what is the day in the life look like? 

Kristin Johnson  30:11
So, you talked about there is probably no, you know, a day a repeat, a day that repeats. I would say, no, no, average day, but it's evolved since we started the transformation when we first kicked off, back in 2020 I was actually playing dual roles. I was leading transformation and the CHRO, because as we were learning so, much of the success of a transformation is tied to the people in the culture as you just mentioned. And so that made sense, that I was able to leverage the capabilities we had in HR as we started early work around. How do our mindsets and behaviors need to shift? You know, what are their talent processes need to change? We're investing in our technology. We were codifying our purpose and having our people really make sure they were connecting their personal purpose to our firm purpose. And so, you know that that worked for a while, until then, you know, I would say that was kind of under the waterline work, and then we had business strategy work that started to accelerate. And that's when I transitioned to CHRO role, and really doubled down on my role leading transformation. 

Kristin Johnson  31:17
And so, so with that, really trying to look ahead now to 2030 around we have some lofty goals in terms of the growth in the organization, the clients, number of clients we want to serve, and how we want to serve them and help our clients achieve their outcomes. And so then coming back to today and saying, okay, based on where we want to be in 2030 what are the steps we need to be taking over the next several years to get there. And so, my role is very horizontal across the organization. I don't have a large team, is working with and through others and influencing and helping identify for the organization, where might there be issues or risks that we're going to run into that we need to prevent or solve so that we can continue our progress, if not accelerate it.

Lisa Nichols  32:04
It's, it's going to be so fun to see all of the different changes, and you're marching toward this goal for 2030 I mean, how's it going? Do you feel like you're, you're moving a needle? 

Kristin Johnson  32:16
We're at a great point where we're starting to one of the drivers of our transformation was really, we wanted to serve our clients more completely. We recognize that we've been really successful in terms of growing financial advisors and serving our clients in one good way. We wanted to be serving them in many good ways, recognizing that, you know, the world become is continues to become more complex, and our value is really in that relationship between our financial advisors and our client and that our clients are looking for more from us than we've been providing. So, we're just at a point of being able to start offering a new offering for a segment of our clients that will help provide more comprehensive planning and advice. And so that's super exciting and just a key milestone for us, on the journey we've been on. 

Lisa Nichols  33:02
That, that's awesome. Well, there's a lot of wisdom there, because companies you guys have been successful for, for so many years, Kristin, but you cannot rest on your laurels. You gotta continue to look forward and be forward thinking, right? And see how the world around you is evolving and evolve with it. So, I love that about you guys. That's inspiring. I have a little lightning round for you. Okay, I gotta know this about you. In fact, several years ago, we were launching our technology leadership experience, and I think you were, and you guys were one of the first to put your hat in the ring and say, yes, we're in because you guys are about investing in your people. But I think you had just completed a marathon or something. How many marathons have you done now?

Kristin Johnson  33:46
33.

Lisa Nichols  33:48
33. Do you have an upcoming one? 

Kristin Johnson  33:51
I don't. At this point. I had a bit of an injury last, last November, actually was my last one. I ran New York marathon, and I had run that one before, and I had a hip issue, and so I've kind of backed off this year. I'm hoping at some point I'll do another one, but I've had a pretty good run, no pun intended, without injury. So, I'm, I don't want to have a hip replacement yet, and so I'm just trying to say, you know, kind of see how I can navigate through that. But I'm running. I just don't have any marathons on the books. 

Lisa Nichols  34:24
33. That's incredible. I didn't do the math. That's a lot of miles, though. 26.2 I think it is. Is it 26.2?

Kristin Johnson  34:32
26.2 for each. It's been a lot of fun. I would schedule one in the fall and one in the spring, and it's just kind of had a goal out there. Just kept me I'd love to run. It's my morning thing, and it's my more mental sanity, as well. And so, well, if I'm doing it, maybe I should have a goal so I could shoot for something.


Lisa Nichols  34:53
That's awesome. Well, it's going to ask you about your morning routine. So, that's part of your morning routine. Do you have anything else that you do, besides maybe coffee?

Kristin Johnson  35:03
Coffee. You know, some type of workout. And then, you know, I'm usually out reading news, Wall Street Journal, you know, when I, I haven't gotten like books, I drive 45 minutes each way for my commute and so, but I listen to music. I need something kind of mindless in the morning, just to kind of center. But my work out my coffee are the main things I do.

Lisa Nichols  35:28
And you may listen to podcasts and your favorite is Something Extra.

Kristin Johnson  35:31
Well, definitely that. Exactly. 

Lisa Nichols  35:35
Yes, for sure. So, Kristin, you're married, you got two boys. You're so involved in the community. We didn't even talk about that. COCA is just one of the things that Kristin does in the community. You got a big job. How do you balance everything? How do you balance it? You run?

Kristin Johnson  35:52
I run. And I've had to learn just to, well, say no. I've gotten much better saying no, I have accountability partners. My husband's a good one. And my team here has been really helpful to me on that as well. Sometimes my worst enemy, you know, I get excited I want to do all you are, Lisa, like, I know, we're wired the same and that and that way. And so having accountability partners has been helpful. And then just prioritizing and recognizing that it's okay that to not, you know, not do some things as well.

Lisa Nichols  36:24
It's a hard lesson to learn when you when you like to do things, and you, it's a hard lesson. But I've had to really retrain myself too, because when you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else, Kristin, too. And I have found for myself, it really comes down to getting very, very clear about my personal values. And the things that I value most, and am I going to if I do this, then I may sacrifice time with my family. And but it's taken me a long time. It's taken me decades, you know, really, to learn that lesson. Well, let me ask you this, what are you currently working on in your leadership journey? I mean, are you, is there any specific thing that you're working on right now to take yourself to the next level? 

Kristin Johnson  37:11
I've been focused right now, and that it really amplified my external learning so with other organizations that are going through transformation, whether that's direct interaction with a leader of transformation at a company and or through different conferences and roundtables. Certainly, AI generative AI is, as you can appreciate, is, you know, such a technology that's running rampant through the work that we do, and just start trying to stay current with how people are utilizing that for their benefit, whether it's in the growth of our business and or our productivity. So, that external learning. I've grown up here at Edward Jones, 29 years, and so really want to ensure that I'm able to bring that, that external perspective to the change work that we're doing, as well.

Lisa Nichols  37:59
It's so important. Speaking of AI, had a podcast guest, and he was talking about the power of AI, and I think Einstein's IQ was something like 100, close to 150 he said, AI's IQ is like 1000 I mean, it's just got to pay attention to it, right, Kristin? It's not going away. And so, having an AI strategy is really important. Well, let me ask you this, and then we're going to talk about something extra. What is the legacy, Kristin, that you want to leave, both in your personal life as well as your professional life? And you can answer that in two parts, if you want.

Kristin Johnson  38:42
Here professionally, I just, I really want to leave the place better than I found it. I hope that that's what the legacy would be, whether it's the people that I've hired and helped develop over the years, or the work that I've led, that's now, you know, made an impact in terms of what we're doing to improve service to our branches or to our clients. So, definitely leaving the place better than I found it in the people. You know, personally, I would love people to think that I cared. I really am very intentional about listening and being helping ensure people feel valued in the relationships that I have. So that would be my personal legacy, as well as I've continued to grow and get older, we talked about the charitable organization certainly being able to pass on opportunity that I've had to others is a chief priority, and just grateful to have that to now be able to give back to those that gave me so much over, over my, my journey to date. 

Lisa Nichols  39:45
That's beautiful. Well, let me ask you this, what do you believe is something extra every leader needs?

Kristin Johnson  39:51
Vulnerability. Vulnerability, and I feel like every you know it's it, and it's taken me a little bit of time. But I have found that to be a superpower, and especially as you grow and you increase your responsibilities, when you're able to share your vulnerability and what you are working on or what you might be struggling with, it is so helpful to those that you lead and those you know across, across a company and organization, and that we're all like people, and we're all human, and we all are trying to do things, or, you know, we all can make mistakes. And just that vulnerability, I think, is such a superpower and leadership, and just that's something I embrace and encourage others to do the same.

Lisa Nichols  40:39
That's so good. That's so good. Well, Kristin, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much. It's just fun anytime I get to spend with you. But I'm so excited now, because this time now we're going to be able to share with other people, and I know it's going to help them too. So, thank you so much for making the time to be on the show.

Kristin Johnson  40:56
Thank you, Lisa. Really enjoyed it. Appreciate your leadership.

Announcer  41:00
Thank you for listening to today's show Something Extra with Lisa Nichols as a Technology Partners Production Copyright Technology Partners Inc. 2019. For show notes or to reach Lisa, visit tpi.co/podcast. Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen. 

*Please note, the preceding transcription has been automatically generated and should be used for informational purposes only.