What If The Fastest Way To Grow Isn't Moving at All?

What if the fastest way to grow isn’t moving at all? 

In this episode, we sit down with Tulsa International Airport CEO, Alexis Higgins, to unpack how a 26‑year journey in one city became a masterclass in influence, trust, and long‑term impact. From a support role to CEO, Alexis shows why deep roots can beat constant motion when you turn visibility, preparation, and relationships into compound career returns.

Alexis pulls back the curtain on airport life as a “city within a city." She breaks down how airlines choose new routes, why landing new airline routes take patience and precision, and more. 

Inside the organization, we explore culture by design, setting goals where none existed, normalizing debate, and anchoring tough decisions on what’s best for the airport. Alexis shares practical leadership tools, “to be clear is to be kind,” practicing hard conversations, and creating transparent development paths so people are ready for opportunities before they officially exist. We also get candid about the job market, layoffs, and longer searches, offering concrete steps for visibility, high‑value networking, and asking for precise help.

We talk women in aviation, the power of hometown leadership, and more.

Alexis’s takeaways are both grounded and energizing, find work that gives you joy, volunteer to reset your mind, and keep your attention on what you can control when the world feels heavy. If you’re hungry for real talk on career strategy, route development, airport operations, mentorship, and culture change, this conversation delivers clear, actionable insight.

Click here for our guest full bio and show notes. 

Transcript

Why Staying Can Be Strategic

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi, I'm Erica Lucas, and today on the Vestor Podcast, VAS member Beverly Carmichael sits down with Alexis Higgins, CEO of Tulsett International Airport, whose career challenges everything we think we know about growth and mobility. What makes Alexa's story so compelling is this. She spent 26 years at the same organization, in the same city, and worked her way from a support role to chief executive officer. That's almost unheard of in today's world. We're used to thinking growth means moving. New companies, new cities, bigger titles, somewhere else. But Alexa's built her career differently. Choosing death over constant movement. She invested in relationships, stayed visible, and grew her influence over time. Alexa's Journey is a real life example of what happens when you build trust and credibility inside one ecosystem, and then you let that compound. In this conversation, you'll learn about what actually goes into running an airport, and you'll also hear about leading through uncertainty, navigating change, and having difficult conversations with clarity and kindness. Alexis also talks about mentorship, both giving it and receiving it. She also shares about being one of the few women leading a major airport and about what it means to stay prepared for opportunities long before they officially exist. If you ever wonder whether staying can be strategic or if you're trying to build influence where you are, this episode is for you. Here's Beverly Carmichael in conversation with Alexis Higgins. For their full bio and show notes, go to www.besther.co forward slash podcast. And if you enjoy the episode, share with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review.

What Running An Airport Really Takes

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Give us a little education on airport operations and what all goes on. I mean, I most of us think of an airport as just a place where airplanes land and take off, but it's more than that. And I've learned so much about it, a lot of it from Alexis. So I'd like for her to give us a little education on airport operations, if you could, Alexis.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, happy to do that. Thank you, Beverly, for the invitation to be here and everybody for logging in. You know, the airport's a very dynamic environment and it's exciting, I think, because every day is a new, a new challenge. Um, a lot of people just think about planes landing and taking off. And I always tell my team, like, that's the baseline. We have to make sure planes can land and take off at both of our airports every single day. And as long as that's happening, okay, we can deal with any challenge and go forward. But there's so much more to it than that. Um, so we are managing infrastructure with miles and miles of pavement, of electrical equipment, um, everything that you think about for a half million square foot terminal building. Um, we are a landlord to 220 tenants. Uh, we have we are responsible for developing over 4,900 acres of property here at TUO. And uh all of the financial background that goes into supporting that operation and funding, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvement, all of that is important to us. Um, and then we also are a little city within a city. So we have our own fire department here, we have our own police department, we um take public safety extremely seriously, of course, with TSA and all of our federal regulators. We have the DOD work with the Army Air Guard and then the um Air National Guard with the F-16s. There's just um a whole plethora of different types of operators on our property that we get to work with day in and day out to support their critical missions. And so it's a fun place to be. I think that's why I've been here for 26 years, is because it, you know, every day goes by in the blink of an eye.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna get to that 26 years because that's something that really wanna talk about. One thing that I think people are always uh are always curious about, Alexis, and that is airlines decide where they fly. I know uh places I've lived, I've always had a city. I thought, gosh, I wish there was a nonstop uh service to this city or that city. Talk to us how does that work? I know it in this in 25, we uh announced a new service with the even a new airline, but how does all that work and how what's your involvement in that?

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Well, we are our community's biggest cheerleader when it comes to air service development. And so our role is to make the business case to the airline that their next best investment for air service is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And oftentimes that starts with looking at the community and telling the community story. So we're talking about, you know, population growth, growth of the business sector, the growth in um in disposable income. And all of these different facets come together to make the case to an airline that Tulsa is that city. But there's more to it than even that. We look at the airline's network strategy and have to figure out how do we align with their growth strategy. And then we target our pitches to airlines based on where we get alignment with their growth. Um, and then we look at do they have aircraft on order? What does that look like in terms of right sizing aircraft to demand for a market? Our goal is to go out and make the case to bring an airline to Tulsa so that it'll be sustainable. So we don't want to go recruit an airline that's gonna have, you know, 747 aircraft because that's not gonna be the right size aircraft for Tulsa. But um just finding those matches where we can. And we have had a lot of success recently. We had four cities um announced late last year in October. So we have Seattle, San Diego coming on board with Alaska Airlines. That was so exciting to get Alaska Airlines to Tulsa. And then we have um Cancun and Minneapolis coming on board with Sun Country, our first international destination, which I was super happy about because we built a customs facility without having a commitment for international service. And uh just to have that before the customs facility is even complete was a win for our community. So um many different things. It can take years to convince an airline to make that investment. And um, that was the case with Alaska Airlines. We started working on that in 2011, and this is the case at airports across the community, across the country. I mean, like airports are out there making these cases, and that's why it's such a big deal when we get a win.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, that that was really exciting. The 2025 was really exciting. I I uh I'm I've of course I've worked at the Southwest Airlines for 10 years, so I've probably, and I'm a uh a very frequent traveler, I've probably been to most airports in the country. Uh, and I have to say I want to brag on Tulsa a little bit because and not just because it's my hometown, but I've always been so impressed with just the operation, um, the people, and and all of the airlines, because I do fly them all. And I would say more most important significantly, the cleanliness of the Tulsa airport. Um, I don't know how many of you all, by the way, um, might have attended the Lionel Ritchie concert. When was that, Alexis? A couple years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh you were there and I was I was there and we didn't know even know each other at that time. You want to tell them what the Lionel Ritchie said about Tulsa?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Guys, okay, so I we never do this, but I took our leadership team to the Lionel Ritchie concert um just because it had been, you know, a heck of a season after the pandemic, and we we've just been focused on capital programming. And I was like, we need a break. So we were at the Lionel Ritchie concert together, and Lionel Ritchie talks about the airport and how great it is. And I was like, oh my gosh, I did not pay him to do that. And so um, it was just a cool moment for my team to be there and get a get that recognition in such a big way. Um, because we all take so much pride in the work that we do, we have high standards, and it's nice to hear that others see it.

A 26-Year Rise To CEO

SPEAKER_02 9:05

So uh yeah, that was really cool. I was I was excited about that. And I literally and I remember in part of what he said, he's like, where do y'all keep y'all's trash? Because I've never seen it trash in Tulsa Airport. So anyway, uh, we are lucky to uh be be in a city and a state where uh the airports are really, really quite extraordinary. So you you uh touched on this a little bit, but you have been at uh working for the airports for 26 years, and that's a long time. Um that's a long time, but it's really a long time for anybody to work in one place. So talk to us about your career. Maybe did you uh, you know, was aviation kind of what you were going for? And we'd love to know, did you go there with aspirations of becoming the CEO?

Women Leading Hometown Airports

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, no, I did not um I uh I worked in high school and college at a law firm, and I interviewed for a job at the airport to be the legal assistant. Um I went to you, my degrees in marketing. Um, I enjoy marketing, and the marketing director sat in on my interview with the attorney, and the marketing director is who hired me. And so I ended up as a marketing entry-level marketing assistant, and um a couple years down the road got a promotion to marketing coordinator, and then had the opportunity to apply for the director of marketing role. And honestly, I mean, public speaking was not my favorite thing at all. So I had to come, you know, get a little bit of courage to get over that hub. And then um did that for 11 years, and I did have a great mentor who told me, I think you'd be a good airport manager and you should start thinking about getting your AAE, which is the equivalent of like our CPA. And um I he was a pilot, so I had never even thought about that. I had never thought I would take that path. But I ended up going through the accreditation process, which was, you know, a challenge and a big win for me personally to get through that and decided, you know, I think I could be an airport director one day. But the challenge about being the airport director, especially of your hometown airport, is that the job doesn't come open very often. But I have waited it out. And um, in 2017, I got the opportunity to apply for the role and I didn't get it the first time. Um, the board picked someone else, and so I enjoyed, you know, learning from that new director who was very different from the one I had worked for. And then when he left, I emailed the board and said, this is my turn. Like I'm ready. And they didn't even do a search, they promoted me to the role, and I have been here ever since. And so, um, you know, in thinking about this podcast and thinking about women in airport leadership roles, um, there's only 15 women in the CEO role of airports for the top 100 airports. And as I was looking at all the names, over half of them are leading their hometown airport. And there's a distinction, I think, between women and men in this area because um as mothers or as caregivers, um, we tend to want to stay close to family, right? We don't want to move all over the country. I mean, some do, like about half of the women in the leadership roles have, but you see, many of the men go from airport to airport, um, and that's how they progress in the organization. And so it's just an interesting observation that I made um, reflecting over the past couple of days and and why that is. And um, and we we take a lot of pride, not that they don't take pride in leading their airports, but certainly a different level of commitment, I think, than what other people feel in their roles.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

So yeah, you know, I I I love that um, you know, you talk about uh just just that you gave us a little stat about women women who lead airports, because uh I didn't I wasn't aware of how many it was. We we had uh at our best session, we had one of your uh colleagues uh as a as a uh guest speaker. And uh I wondered if the two of you were the only only women CEOs. So it's good to know that at least there's 15. We need some more, but 15 is a good start.

Mentors, Networks, And Sponsorship

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, yeah. Christina's such a great role model um for for many of us, and we all want to be like Christina because she's just very powerful and in her convictions, and um, and we have a network. So we have a a um female CEO networking group um that we get together every other month and just talk about hot topics, and then once a year we do a retreat. Actually, I hosted them all in Tulsa last year, and um, it's just a great resource for us to be able to lean on each other and feel comfortable in asking questions that maybe we wouldn't go to a male counterpart and ask, you know. And so um it's a real tight, tight group. And then we also, as part of that network, we invite um what we call number twos or people in the organization who are on that pathway into leadership. Um, we invite them into our group every um other month or every other session so that they can get some insight into the challenges and we can help them identify future opportunities. And I think that that's an important role we have as leaders is to always provide an entree for others into the next level.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Yeah, it is, and it's it's so very important. And and it's important to have it uh in an environment where you feel it's a safe space as well. Yeah. Uh you earlier talked about when you, you know, your rise to uh, you know, in the in the organization and maybe the the role of a mentor, mentors. We've been talking this month particularly about the role of uh, you know, relationships and connections that you make and how that impacts, you know, your career and your life and what have you. Talk about what what uh the role of you know relationships, connections have have have made sort of in in in your success, both in your your probably your life and your career.

Culture Change And High-Performing Teams

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah. I would say number one, um it really meant a lot to me to have people come to me and tell me, I see you doing this, I see you doing great at the director of marketing. Like I had four or five male coworkers come to me and say, you need to go for this. Um, and then even when it was time to to pursue the next opportunity, um, I I cannot say it enough. And I encourage my team, like always encourage people who have the capability, capacity, desire to try something at the next level. Um, because I think for some people it's really difficult to make that leap. They think about all the reasons why they're not ready instead of all the reasons they are a great fit. And um, and so that's been important to me. I think the other thing, uh, I heard a woman speak at a women in aviation event and she said, like, be the one to someone. You don't have to be all to everyone, and you don't even have to be, you know, to a quarter of them, but pick pick someone um and be the mentor to someone. And so I've taken that advice and thought, like, I I want to make sure I am being intentional about mentoring others the way I was mentored. Um, that's really important to me. And then as far as personally, I'm just very grounded by my family. And so I I have my mom who lives very close to me, and my daughter. And um, not that I mean, I also my husband and son are great too, but I just feel like as um women, I can certainly um connect with them and vent to them and um say things that I I I would definitely wouldn't share with my son in the same way. And so um just really we have a very close-knit family, and that's very important to me.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, I I love, I love all of that. You know, the the when I think about my own career, I mean so many things, and I would probably say most things that I ultimately did, I never would have done, but for somebody uh that encouraged me or that said, hey, you could do that. Have you ever thought about this or that? I mean, I I and that's happened, uh that I mean, I would say that started happening for me in high school. Uh I I can think of college professors who did that. And um by the way, Anita Hill was one of those people. But I just uh I love that and I and I love that we give give we pay it forward too. I spend an awful lot of my time uh doing that because I know how valuable it was for me, just like what you said. So that's that's that's terrific. Um you know, I've been so I've been on your board, I guess, a relatively new uh member of the board, which by the way I love, you know, it's uh it is um it is, you know, of course I I love aviation. I spent uh 10 years in the airline industry, but more importantly, it is really an opportunity to one feel connected to my hometowns, you know, which is which is uh important to me. But I've also, whether it it is uh, you know, the airport here or any organization I've been in, I have just been uh um uh amazingly impressed with this organization. Uh-uh and the people, the culture, the employee engagement, the level of expertise that they have. Um I actually ran into the former mayor, not Mayor Nichols, but the former mayor, and he told me that this airport board was the only board that he never had any turnover in his entire eight years. And uh it so I didn't realize it, but I'm just on the the the premier board of of the of the city, but it's it it's be it's because of of the people and the leadership. So talk a little bit about your people, what they do, and all of those things that it appears that are just so uh wonderful, uh, and that it certainly I have observed during my time on the board.

Navigating Layoffs And Job Searches

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Yeah, well, so organization has 143 people, but at the leadership table, there's 11 of us. And I think, you know, when I stepped into the role, um, it was a there was a bit of a shift because I did some things that honestly hadn't been done. Like we started setting goals and creating a business plan. And um, I had an employee who had never written goals before. And so um just coming in and getting the opportunity to level set expectations um through leadership coaching. I mean, I invested uh quite a bit in bringing in a coach to help describe what a high performing team looks like, um, and and then challenge, you know, some of the the thoughts, like um, you know, debate or conflict as a is an important part of any thriving team. And we would sit around the leadership table sometimes and everybody would always be in agreement. And I often think of that movie where they were like, we just need one dissenter, right? Like who's gonna challenge the status quo? And so now when we're in meetings, we all feel free to share our candid thoughts. And I think that that has made our team stronger. Um, knowing that we're all committed to the airport, we have leadership team commitments, and our number one commitment is what's we're we will do what's best for the airport. And many times that Means we don't do what's best for Alexis Higgins. We don't do what's best for sometimes we don't do what's best in the best interests of, let's say, the city of Tulsa. And that is an example of the fire department. When we outsourced our fire service, you know, um, that was a controversial decision, but it saved the airport a million dollars a year. And so just understanding and level setting our key commitments to each other that we hold each other accountable to has been a great shift, I think, in our organization over the past seven years or so. And then um we're never done. And they understand now that there's always something new to do. And at first it was like, oh, well, aren't you gonna take it easy after you know we did X, Y, and Z or whatever? And I was like, no, there's always more work to do. So we're even though we have the largest project in the airport's history with the air traffic control tower underway, we have our customs facility being built. Um, there's always something else to be to be thinking about on the horizon or a challenge we need to be thinking about for the future of our airport. And um, and so just having the highest caliber people around the table who are way smarter than I am when it comes to their um aspects. And so our engineering director is great. Um, our operational team is the best. I mean, we're we're consistently recognized um from a regulatory compliance standpoint as being the first or the best in many different areas. And so we continue to challenge ourselves um to provide a level of expertise that is sets the bar for the rest of the industry. Um, I I I don't know if you guys follow the quick trip um commitments, but you know, they have a desire for excellence and a desire for perfection. Even though it's hard to reach perfection, um, our team has a desire to provide the best experience, no matter what time of day our customers happen to be in the building, um, so that it's consistently meeting that brand expectation. And it's just great to be on a team that's aligned and um has a desire to achieve big things together.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah, you guys are really, really doing it, that's for sure. And you don't have to believe me, believe Lionel Richie, you know. Um you know, you talked a little bit about how kind of the organization has changed over over time, especially under your leadership, but talk about the industry. I know uh I, you know, having gotten now closer to it than when I left the industry in in the in the early 2000s. Talk about what what might what has changed in the um in the you know, aviation and airline and airport, you know, the industry as a whole over time.

Depth Over Width In Relationships

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah, I mean, I mean, certainly the pandemic was just such a challenge for everyone. And for a long time we were measuring success by um pre-pandemic and you know, compared to 2019. And so it's been nice to like get over that hurdle finally and um focus on success year over year and growth year over year. I think for the industry, it's been interesting to see the impact that the regulatory environment has had recently on our operation, um, whether it's the federal shutdown that has caused disruption across the nation in terms of air traffic um demand. We certainly took a hit from the shutdown. Um, or how the airlines are being so regulated when it comes to delays and the impact of those delays on customers. We're seeing airlines be a little more guarded when it comes to flight scheduling. So they're pre-canceling flights instead of getting customers to a destination and having delays in transit. Um, but I think the big surge has been um the shift in the low-cost carrier. And we're seeing more of a divergence between the legacy carriers, the traditional carriers like American and United, and then the low-cost carriers, which are um the ones like Sun Country and Allegiant. Um, and before, you know, Southwest was really considered a low-cost carrier, and they've now kind of taken the path more of a legacy carrier with a different brand commitment than the others. Um, but it's just interesting to watch as the airlines evolve under this new regulatory environment and continue to make the focus, of course, is on profitability. And um, and so uh it's it's it's good though. I think we're moving in a good direction. I would I would certainly like to see more carriers in the marketplace um because more competition, I think, is better for everyone.

Focus Under Uncertainty

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Absolutely, it is. Um, by the way, I'm supposed to be monitoring the chat and I just looked at it. So if you all have questions, uh feel free to drop them in there and we will uh we'll try to cover them uh because we we want to make sure that we answer whatever questions are on your mind uh minds. So one thing that is sort of from a macro standpoint, Alexis, um, you know, every day I learn, I learn about somebody who's lost their job, uh layoffs, and you hear about hundreds and you know, sometimes thousands of layoffs. Um and uh and in in in a couple of cases, I know people who have been laid off, and it's taken longer and longer to get a new job. Um, this environment is uh it's it's it's different. And I think about it affecting perhaps women even more so. I know that the federal government layoffs really did, women took a hit on that quite a bit. But talk about kind of how, you know, if you I mean you don't have to be an expert on this, nobody is, but you know, it's affecting a lot of people. What thoughts do you have or how people can kind of navigate their way through this sort of uh unusual uh time um job loss?

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah. Well, I've seen it, you know, within my network. Um, I've had friends, especially in the tech field, that have found themselves recently um unemployed. And and what I appreciate that I've seen them do is number one, they share that. Um, you know, I think there's no shame in the fact that there are um layoffs or downsizing. Um, but you to let people know that you're looking for your next opportunity is one of the best things that you can do. And then I think just focus on the action that you can take related to, you know, finding your next fit. And um it the destination, you'll get there, but like taking it day by day and saying, what action can I take today that helps get me there? And networking, I think, and and networking by that I mean like reaching out to people that you trust and saying, can we have coffee or can we get on a on a Zoom call and just catch up? And um, I can share with you kind of what I'm thinking and get your input. Like, do you think I'm going in the right direction? Or can do you do you know anybody in this space who you could introduce me to? I think would be helpful. Um, I I enjoy making those connections, you know. I think I can get you the introduction, and then it's you know, from there you can forge that relationship going forward. Um, but unless people know that you're needing assistance or wanting assistance, they may be hesitant to just offer it. Um, and so in my mind, the the most important thing you can do is just let people know.

Find Joy And Design Your Path

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah, I think that's so important. And I do think that that's something that I hate to stereotype, but I think women are less less willing to do that. You know, um we are such nurturers and we're such we're we're almost always the person doing the helping that we uh are reluctant to ask ask for help ourselves. And that's really uh something. I think the other thing, I don't know how you feel about this, but the other thing is when you do reach out to someone, I know that you know it's um one thing to re you know, it's it's it's hard enough to say, okay, uh reach out to somebody, I I'm looking for another job, I'm looking for this or that. But I think it's important to tell the person what you think they can do. Because what sometimes when you hear it, you're like, I'm happy to help, but what what what do you think that I could do? What would you like for me to do? And I think that um that's helpful rather than to just say um uh let's network, like let's let like tell me what because the other thing is um you might find that, you know, gosh, I'm not really the right person for that, but I do know somebody who could do that. I'll introduce you to that person. So it's so many things I think we've just got to get real comfortable. And I think particularly in this environment, just the old traditional way of getting jobs and getting the next job is just not the way that it's going to be. It probably hasn't been that way anyway, but it's really not that way now. And and you hear we hear people say, you know, it's not it's not who you know, it's who knows you, you know. And so I think that's that's really important. I think we can all really think about that because we all know somebody who's in that situation. And like I've said, it's people are experiencing much more time between jobs now than they probably ever were. And um, that that can be very concerning.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Um maintaining visibility is really important, I think. You know, the any type of um social events or opportunities, industry trade events, anything that you can do to continue to be plugged in is also helpful.

Hard Conversations With Clarity

SPEAKER_02 32:44

So for sure, for for sure. And that's the other thing, back to kind of what we're focusing on this this month is you know, you think about, I mean, I can remember back in the day, you know, when people had business cards and all that, and they particularly when I worked at the law firm, they would say, you know, you go to this event and you get you get their card and and you come home and it's you know, you count how many cards you got. And that was somehow the you know measure of success. And and the same thing with LinkedIn connections and all that, just because you have a lot of connections doesn't mean they're doing anything for you. You know, uh uh, you know, we were talking about, you know, you could you can have it can be uh a mile wide and an inch deep, and it just doesn't doesn't help you at all, you know. So I do try, I you know, as you learn that and try to focus on meaningful connections, deeper connections, and and they probably are going to be fewer connections because the the the truth is you can't focus, give the same focus to all of those uh those connections, and just not enough hours in the day. You know. Um I I um I'm trying to track the uh questions in the in the chat. I think we're I think we're good. So uh I guess staying with the sort of macro environment, you know, just thinking about big big you know, even bigger, just our entire, you know, the uh economic uncertainty, kind of the um there's political unrest, there's uh, you know, just fear and nervousness about what's happening in our country. Uh it's easy to really uh you know get really uh, you know, just that kind of dominating what you do and somehow distracts from your day job and what you have to do. Um again, sort of be be the uh make us feel better about how we're dealing with that that that situation because I think we all see it's all happening around us, but make us feel better about this environment we're living in.

Preparing For The Next Opportunity

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Well, I can only tell you what I do um to navigate that space and I honestly turn it off. Um, I will watch the news in the morning because it tends to be a little more direct and state, you know, the the even the local national news in the morning, but um I I just cannot take in everything that's happening around the country and allow that to weigh on me because I have a mom who needs my assistance, my daughter needs my assistance, she's expecting my first granddaughter. You know, I have a job that's pretty demanding. And so I just um have made the intentional decision to say, look, I um have a lot of feelings about it, but I can't control so much of it. I can focus on what I can control. Um, and then when I do want to, I go to the Wall Street Journal to read about aviation issues. I, you know, I picked where I get my news from so that I can really focus on the the pieces that add the most value to me. And of course the local news is important to me too. But I have certainly seen um it weigh on a lot of people. And my experience is differently than um some others because of you know who I am and my background. But um I have employees today that are on, you know, working here on a um on an I9, I guess is the official term. And so there's there, it's very heavy for them, like getting the approvals to be able to continue to work here and waiting on that. And um, and so my role, in my opinion, is to just continue to let them know that they're valuable to us and that we support them. And you know, we we will do whatever we can to help them through this process. Um, and to know no matter what happens, um, you know, we will do it everything we can to reserve their job for them so that when they do get that um ultimate approval, they'll be able to come back here and continue to contribute to our organization. Um, but it it's it's hard to navigate for everyone. And as a leader, I think it's especially important that you um check in with people, but you also keep people uh mindful of what they can control.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Um yeah, that's that that is so important because, and and then by the way, I that is a strategy that I use sometimes. Sometimes I do have to turn it off. It just um it just can get you down, and then it just keeps you down. And I love, you know, the the reality is is we have so much other things, so many other things that we've got to focus on other than our job. You know, caregiving is something that that you know women mostly women have to, you know, have responsibility for children, uh, parents, uh, ill family members, all of that. And it's just hard to to carry all of that all the time. So uh thank you for that that that advice. Um thinking about um just you know, women and our just leadership and your uh your your experience, but what advice, you know, we we all uh you know are you know women uh leaders in some capacity. Many of us are aren't entrepreneurs, executives, uh what have you. Um but we've got our careers ahead of us. So maybe a a piece of advice that you would say you want everybody to hang on to, um, you know, from Alexis Higgins.

Final Advice: Make The Ask

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I think, you know, one of the things that is so important to me is that you get joy out of the work that you do. So um whether, and of course, I love the work I do at the airport, I I I get energized from it. Um, but I also um have found that I enjoy volunteering um as well. And so I I made the decision to be a reading partner volunteer. Um, this was like seven years ago. And to walk into an elementary school just totally changes your mindset, it changes the the weight that you feel. It kind of is a nice distraction, right? From the commitment that you have in your role. And so finding an opportunity to volunteer for something that you believe in and that um just gives you a that mental break from whatever is weighing on you as your paid gig, so to speak, I think has been extremely helpful. Um, and so uh I often go back to employees who are struggling and I ask them like, do you get joy out of the work you do? Um, because if you're not getting joy, then how can I help you find that in something else? Um, because you know, we you're you work for a long time and there's no reason for you to spend your days doing something that doesn't fill your cup. And um, so that's you know, that's the advice I give to my kids. Um, I think my husband's a blue collar worker, he's a mechanic, and it's a hard job. And so um we have instilled that in our kids. Like you have to do something you love, and otherwise you're not doing it right. And so I just encourage people to find that for them.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

So yeah, I love that, and that is so important. And it is surprising how many people hate their job and hate their profession, and they do it anyway, and it's just such a uh it's that's got to be draining. I I uh when whenever I uh found that I was no longer enjoying my work, I went and found something else. I just life is too short to um spend it not being happy, you know, doing what you do. So I think that's uh that is just that is just so critical.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

Um Jess, and feel free to add context if needed, but um Jess asks, what's an important lesson you've learned related to handling difficult people or complicated or interpersonal dynamics, such as hard conversations, obstructionists dealing with egos, resistance to change, etc.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yes. Um I would I have to tell you, moving into a leadership role, this was the most surprising piece of it to me that I did not have visibility to in my role as marketing director is the fact that you have to have hard conversations. Um, but my commitment is to be clear is to be kind. And so I approach it from that perspective. Like I want to be very clear about expectations. I want to um outline what success looks like. And if you are not willing to meet those expectations, again, then let's talk about an alternative path for you. Um, if if that's the desire. I think um many times uh it's uncomfortable to provide feedback, but you have to get comfortable with that. Um, because many times in order for the person or the situation to be resolved, you just have to be direct. And my um approach, I we have a newer HR director here, and something that I love that she does is she wants to do run-throughs and practice conversations before we have them. And I had never done that before, but I really have found that that's helpful um to sit down with her and go through that. So um practice having tough conversations, find someone that you trust that will give you feedback. Um, and then then take that action because if you don't, the rest of the people around the organization are gonna see that that's an acceptable, you know, um path forward. And that's certainly, you know, creating conflict in in a bad way or creating um tension that's not productive to the organization cannot just left go unchecked.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

So when you can I just kind of dig into one thing you said, you you mentioned that you have to get comfortable being able to have those feedback conversations, which I totally agree with. I'm curious what your approach was to actually getting comfortable with it. You know, like we hear that a lot, and I'm curious about like what did you do to get comfortable with it?

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Um, I think it just comes with Preparation, number one. So really thinking about what you want to say, what actions they are doing that are driving the path in the wrong direction, right? Or, you know, how are they um contributing to negativity in the workplace? How are they basically taking the team off course? Focus on the actions that that other person's doing versus feelings is has been helpful for me. And then having regular like follow-ups, checking in the day after, three days later, five days later, just being intentional about follow-up conversations to make sure that everybody has alignment on what success looks like. To be clear is to be kind is always the way to go. And if people don't know what those expectations are, then they cannot meet them. Um, and so put some thought into what is going to be said before you actually have the conversation is how you get comfortable. And then just honestly, the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more comfortable you get at it.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

Um, first of all, Alexis, I wanted to commend you because the mere fact when you were talking about how to deal with the heaviness of the environment that we're operating in. Um, you know, I love that you said focus on what you can control, um, pick your lane, um, because we can't take care of everything and everyone. Um, but you also acknowledge that other people within your organization may be feeling even more um emotions because their safety is directly threatening, right? Whether it's their immigration status. So I just wanted to commend you because I think that not all leaders or CEOs take that into consideration, right? And so they just continue to operate. Um, and and I don't think that's helpful. And consistently we hear from several best members, and not everybody's having the room to even feel anything at the workplace. So I just wanted to commend you on that. The second thing, and my question leads to one of the reasons most women join Art Network is when they're experiencing a career transition. And you you've talked about how you've chose to stay within the same industry, even within the same institution. Uh, but you also mentioned how you know you've seen male colleagues get promoted faster because they did to take the risk or they did move around. Yes. With the new generation coming when where you're seeing this shift in pattern where they're not really valuing uh loyalty or staying within the same institution or organization, how would you coach women who are going through career transitions and what they need to think about as they're considering whether to stay or move?

SPEAKER_01 46:58

I think um, number one, you always have every situation is different, right? So I would just encourage any employee to think about like what do they want to achieve? What is their goal? And their goal today might not be the same as their goal in five years. And so um our in fact, our goal today, our goals for our employee retention are different than they were when I started in my role seven years ago. Because we have seen a shift. Um, we have, even though we still have many long-tenured employees here, we're seeing the tenure of our employees, which was like 10 years when I first started, and it's down to six years today, because we just see the churn with newer generation employees. And so uh I always tell my team, like, you have to prepare for the next opportunity. So if if no matter what, whether you progressed here at our organization or you progress by going to a different organization, if you don't have the credentials to apply for that role, like let's how can we help you um prepare for that opportunity? And so that's been a focus of ours for me and my directors, and then all the way through the organization, every employee has a development goal tied to their performance evaluation because we want to help our team be prepared because it may be the right time for them to make the move and we support them and we want to support their success, but we also want them to realize if they want to be the airport CEO one day, um, we provide all of our job descriptions so every employee in the organization can look at my job description or any others and see here are the experience and qualifications I would need to have to prepare for that opportunity. And so that's the angle we have taken and that I take. Um, I often say that I'm very lucky to be here, but really luck is that intersection of preparation and opportunity. Because if you if you haven't done the work to be ready, then you might not be able to take advantage of it.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

Yeah, you know, one of the things that that you said also around this sort of the idea that some of your employees might not feel so safe. One of my one of the boards that I serve on, they they also are focused on this. And I agree with Erica, not every organization is, but what they said their employees say is it's actually they would say, it's not me, it's people in my family that are nervous, and people in my family that are scared, and people in my family that don't want to come out of the house. And those people, you know, your employee brings that stress to work as well. So uh it is so important that you know organizations and employers are sensitive to what's happening in the lives and the family in their employees' uh lives and their family in their households. So that's uh that's really astute. I love to be clear is to be kind. I've never heard that. Um I wrote that down because that is so that is so like it is it's it's actually unkind not to be clear.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Yeah, I think I can't take credit for that. I I think Brene Brown might have said that, but I'm not sure. Um, but Paul Myers brought that into our organization and I just love it. So yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

Uh that's those are I don't have any other prepared questions. Um anything that you want to leave us with that you haven't haven't shared with us, Alexis?

SPEAKER_01 50:46

I don't think so. I I appreciate like all of the great questions. Um, I just encourage people to make the ask. Like don't ever feel less than or that you're imposing. But if you ever want to reach out to someone who you think you would just like to establish a connection with, um make that ask. Make that connection. Um, and you I think you would be surprised at how often people are willing to to meet with you or invest some of their time into that discussion. And so I I would encourage everybody to do that. Thanks for the time today. And I look forward to um learning more about the VEST group. It's pretty exciting, I think.

unknown 51:33

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

Oh, it it it it is. Uh yeah, thank you so much for sharing your time with the VEST members. Uh I I I have to say that, you know, I've in my 40 years, you're one of the most impressive leaders that I've ever worked with. And I am uh incredibly honored to serve on your board. So it's been wonderful to get to know you and to work with you. And uh I hope to work with you for for many years to come.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

If you enjoyed the episode, share with the friend and don't forget to leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of women eager to help you get there and stay there. Go to www.vesther.co to learn more.