A Conversation with My Mom | Chris Johnson

Some of the most meaningful insights in my life have come from simply sitting across the table from someone and asking a few thoughtful questions.

For the first episode of Court-side Conversations, it felt only right to start with the woman who has had the greatest influence on my life, my mom, Chris Johnson.

In this conversation, we talk about the moments that shape us, the quiet confidence that comes with experience, and the lessons that stay with us long after the moment has passed.

Pull up a chair, grab a drink, and join us Court-side.

About the Podcast

Court-side Conversations is a podcast about leadership, self-trust, and the moments that shape us.

Each episode features a candid conversation with remarkable women about the experiences that helped them trust themselves, navigate challenges, and move forward with confidence and integrity.

Hosted by Courtney Headley, founder of Center Court Collective.

New episodes released every other week. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

The first day that I go to use a bathroom, I walk in, and whoa, on the wall was a huge poster from Hustler, red-headed woman doing kind of one of their poses. There was a thing saying, Welcome to the garage.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hi, and welcome to Courtside Conversations. This episode is for anyone who is stepping into something new and is feeling pretty unsure on where to go next. I hope you enjoy. I am joined by my very first guest of this podcast, and there could be no other guest than the one woman who has single-handedly had the most influence on my life. The OG. Her name is Chris Johnson, also known as my mom. Thanks for joining me, mom. Thank you. Can you tell our listeners in a minute or so just a little bit about yourself and what you're drinking today?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

So I'm a mother of two adult children. I have been retired for several years and live with my, your father, my husband, and a very cute dog. I'm drinking Diet Coke.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

I am drinking LaCroix. Oh, sure you are. Campbell moose. Um, all right, well, let's cheers. Here. Well, we'll get started. So in 60 seconds or so, could you give our listeners the journey of your career? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I started as a teller at Northwestern Bell when I was 17 years old. I worked part-time until I graduated, and then I stayed with that company for 31 years and then retired when I was 48. And then thought, oh, my husband's got a great job. I can just do fun things wrong. Uh, so I had to go into my second career shift. I was a manager of a uh boutique. I worked for a uh dialysis company. I worked in an IT organization. And I stayed until I decided to truly retire at 68.

unknown 2:17

I gave my age.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Okay. Well, I won't ask how long you've been retired for. Thank you very much. Yeah. Okay. So before we dig into our questions, what would someone not see when they look at your career journey?

SPEAKER_02 2:33

The um pitfalls that I encountered. Say more. What what do you mean by that? I think a lot of that was the timing. The jobs available to me in northern Minnesota at that time were working as a service rep for my husband, or I took an outside cable maintenance supervisor job, which I had zilch uh knowledge of. And so put myself through splicing school because they did cable splicing. Yeah. And they worked in manholes. I was considered a non-traditional and in that age, which was meant meant I was the only female supervisor in northern Minnesota. Sure. So I met a quota. Um, I really felt uh dealt with discrimination by the men that reported to me. I was kind of a pat on the head, Labrador, kind of, you know. The story I always tell is uh when your dad he'd walk out in his business suit with his briefcase and get into the company vehicle, which was a sedan, and I'd walk out with jeans and boots and a hard hat and stuff on my waist or radio and get in my pickup truck. So um I drove 60 miles to the work location one way. So I had a 120-mile um road trip job. Um it wasn't easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

It wasn't easy. So I'm curious to learn more, and maybe more of that will come through in some of our questions. But in this podcast, I'm gonna ask five simple questions to learn a little bit more about you and your career journey. Okay, so I'm gonna start with can you tell me about a moment at work when you felt like you truly belonged, or a moment when you realized you didn't?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

I ended up working for a woman that I absolutely loved working for. Um, we worked in a collections environment for several years, and then she went on to a different organization, and then she came back and asked for me to come work for her again as um her recognition program manager. That allowed me to develop something fun, you know, and positive.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Um, and uh that then morphed into helping create a president's club. You went on a destination, you decided how winners are going to be selected. And so that was probably the highlight of my career at the communications company. And why did you feel like you truly belonged there? I got a lot of recognition. I was hand-picked to put in that position, which was very flattering. And so that made me determined to do a really good job. Yeah. And then when I did the job, then the leadership above my boss recognized me. I went to what they call the council of leaders. The top 1% of the top performers in the company went. And so it was it was very um fulfilling from that perspective.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Sure. I mean, to feel valued and seen and appreciated. Right, yeah, right. Makes you want to go above and beyond. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Makes perfect sense to me. Can you tell me what the best or worst career advice you ever received was and how that shaped you.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

When I took the cable maintenance job, my manager said, Take it, you can do anything. The first day on the job, I realized I knew nothing about what the heck these people were going to be doing. Yeah. And I realized there was nobody there that was going to help me. Right. So I went to the boss and I said, I need to go through training to understand what these people are doing. So I was in the training center in Iowa for six weeks with all men. Actually ended up being, in retrospect, probably one of the better things I had to go through because it did make me a much stronger manager and individual.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

So um great learning. Great, great learning.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

In what ways do you feel like it prepared you to be a better manager? Like what give me an example of the learning.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Um, well, I knew going into that job that I was going to get a lot of pushback, both from the team that I was going to be managing as well as the leadership. I was a woman, and I think that was the biggest issue in the early 1980s. Aging myself again. Very traditional setup in that the men expected wives to be at home cooking and pregnant. So to have a woman be in a position of power was like, so the first group of people I had, well, they called them regular terms, which meant they were hired for a set project. Well, little did I know when they gave me this crew of 13 men that they made the decision that they were gonna all be let go. And I'm coming in, and within I'm guessing two months, I was telling 13 people that they were not gonna be retained on a permanent basis. I had one individual, he went berserk. He destroyed the motel room that he was in. Whoa. Um then he proceeded to go out to the parking lot, got into his truck and started throwing every piece of equipment that he'd been using for his job out and destroying it. So it got physical. Yes, it got physical, and I'm pregnant at the time, and I'm watching this guy swear, call me foul names. I was really fearful that he would get physical with me too. Right. So I ended up calling your my husband your dad. And he called the uh union president, and they both came and and settled the guy down and and now I know what I will do in the event something like that happens to me again. Yeah. Fortunately for me, it didn't happen in that regard. There was another instance, and I don't know if you'll wait to tell you about that. Sure, please. They gave me a cable maintenance crew that went into manholes and did their work. And so they did not have a bathroom for a woman because it was all men. So they had to build a bathroom specifically for wall. So they built this separate bathroom, um, got me an office in this garage, and I'm thinking, wow, this is this is good. So the first day that I go to use a bathroom, I walk in, and whoa, on the wall was a huge poster from Hustler, red-headed woman doing kind of one of their poses. There was a thing saying, Welcome to the garage. No, yes, yes. What did you do? I called my boss and I said, Do you want to have someone come out and take look at this? So they had uh the man the manager remove it and they apologized to me and all that. I never expected that kind of pushback truthfully. And so it was a it was a good learning. It did, it did make me really sure that I could do any job. Yeah. I mean, give me any job and I'll take care of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

So you proved that you could. Yeah. And you learn that, you know, no, no one's gonna look out for me. I have to look out for myself. That's absolutely right. Well, tell me about when your inner critic has been loud throughout your career.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

I think that it happened when I was in a job that I really didn't like. I didn't like the role. I didn't like the people I was interfacing with, I doesn't feel good to my values. And so um that voice got louder and louder to the point where I did decide that I had to I had to request um to exit the business. So I self-identified that I wanted to be let go. Yeah. And when I called um the person I reported to and asked for it, they said it's not gonna happen. We're not inclined to let good people go. And so I was sort of disheartened, thinking, oh crap. So I I was walking actually out the hall, just trying to give myself a breather. And I ran into someone that I'd worked with. He was uh two levels above my boss. And he goes, What's up with you? And I said, Hmm, you really want to know? And he goes, Sure, what what? And I said, Well, I've self-identified that I want to exit with the plan that they're offering people, and I've been told that they won't let a good person go. And I really am ready. I'm vested and I'm ready to go. Yeah. And he said, Let me see what I can do. So he came back uh to my office later in the afternoon and said, keep doing the work. Yeah, keep your head down, you're gonna get what you want. Within a couple days, maybe even a day, my boss called and said, I don't know what you did, but you've been identified and you're gonna get a good package.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

So you you asked for what you wanted and I got it. And you continued to ask for what you wanted. And I can't. And you got it. Yes. It sounds like what you were listening to was not your inner critic, but more of like your inner wisdom saying, this does not match my values, therefore I'm gonna raise my hand to leave.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

I think I came around to that because I think initially it started out as the inner critic and then somehow migrated or evolved into being, no, I need to do something about this.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

What was your inner critic saying when it was loud? Like what were you thinking?

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Um you're you're doing something you really don't like. Why are you doing this? Um where I was, you know, really, really saying this is not right, what's happening, and do you want to be part of it? Yeah. No, I don't. Yeah. So yeah, that I was criticizing myself about the role that I was fulfilling.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Okay, so then tell me how how did you move forward in instances when either your inner critic was loud and you moved forward anyway, or when you didn't feel fully confident. Like how were you able to take steps moving forward?

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Just pushed through. Honestly, there was a position that I had, I had no background or understanding of the business that I I had gotten hired on for. And I thought, how are you gonna do this? After about, I'm gonna say three or four months. I was with a group of people that were all hired around the same time. I said, Does anybody else feel like you don't know enough about the work that we're supporting? And I had a couple yeses. It was a dialysis company. I wanted to go into a clinic. I wanted to see how the patients got hooked up because they sat for eight hours getting dialysis. And boy, did I come out thinking, I am so lucky for health. I can't imagine what these people are going through.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah. So how did that help you?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

How did seeing the clinics help? Oh my gosh, the empathy. I mean, now I understood. So when they came in and said their issue is urgent, I was able to ask questions about what specifically, and then I knew the protocol about what to do to escalate. But I could actually see it in my mind and ask the enough questions. So, and that was telling to me that they were remiss in not bringing new employees in that are going to be supporting this type of work, to not take them initially. So I did, I came back and I said, my recommendation is if you're gonna have an orientation for someone to do this support work, get them out to the one of those clinics so they can see what's going on and know what they're supporting and know enough to ask questions.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Right. So and to really appreciate the experience of your customer and what they're going through. And again, had you not asked for it, you wouldn't it wouldn't have happened.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

No. And I think the reason we honestly, the reason that it that that we did get taken was because I had asked other people who felt similarly, do you want to go out? Should we? So there was like three or four of us that went. Yeah. I think it would I mean I could have been a squeaky will and insisted for on myself going, but it was much better to know that they were to bring others in.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's powerful, Mom. Um, okay, my last question for you is what would you approach differently if you were to start again today?

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Um, I think that it was just understand the role you're gonna be you're taking on. If you don't have experience in it, then get some. Ask for training. Um, you need to self-advocate. Yeah. Because if you don't speak up, I'm not sure anybody would have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah. Yeah. So get the experience you need to know the work, but don't let that prevent you from going for roles and maybe new. Right. Because you can gain the experience. You just have to ask for the appropriate support.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

I realized you're always in a learning mode. Yeah. You're still learning, never stop learning. Never stop learning. Yeah. Yeah. Even when you're retired, still try to learn.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. Yeah. Even when you're tired or retired. Re a tired retiree. Got it.

unknown 17:17

Understood.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Um okay. What I'd love to also know, and and I am a big fan of Amy Poehr's podcast, and she always asks her guests what's bringing them joy right now. And I love it because I'm a bit of a joy junkie myself. So I'd love to know what what's bringing you joy these days.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

It's a 12-pound cabochon puppy who uh I am absolutely in love with. And outside of that, I'm actually in a search mode right now, truthfully. Um, I want to build a the network of new friends, right? Yeah. I have a really good friend that I've had for decades. And we see each other occasionally, but that's not enough to sustain a friendship circle. So I'm right now in the midst of, okay, let's learn something about the people around you and just kind of put myself out there.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

And yeah. Yeah. So that's what I'm gonna. Well, if you don't, if you don't go searching for it, you know you won't find it. So I mean you're the yeah, I'm the author of my own book. That's right. Wall. Okay. Well, I I mean, I truly know the power of community and you know, a good strong group of friends. So I appreciate that. And I think um anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend. Thank you. Okay, so are you up for a lightning round? Sure. Okay, so this is really meant to be lightning fast. Okay. So first thing that comes to your mind, don't overthink it. Can I just swear? You can swear. Okay. I I hope you do. I don't know why. You think for better listening? Okay, this is all work related. Okay, okay. Virtual or in person? In person. Standing desk or sitting desk?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Sitting for me.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Least favorite office jargon.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

When businesses have acronyms for everything, God, biggest workplace pet peeve. Nonsense meetings.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

And last, what would your younger self say if she saw you now?

SPEAKER_02 19:31

You made it. I mean, you're retired now. My God. Yep, we'll we'll um she would say you did as as best you could given the circumstances of your own life, you know. But when you can continue to search out those fun times, those different places to go and see.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah. Well, thank you, mom. Um I know for me, one thing I'm definitely taking away from this conversation is you have to be your own self-advocate. And like I tell my kids, if you don't ask, you don't get. That's right. Well, thank you. Um, before we close, can you share with me your favorite toast?

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Rather than having a standard one, I opt what happens is I just say, based on the circumstances that I'm in, I'll say, let's toast to this great day we just had, or let's do this again, or something like that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

So let's toast to this great conversation.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

And let's do this again. All right, I'll drink to that.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

All right, me too. Okay. Listeners, thank you so much for joining us, courtside. If any of what you heard in this conversation resonated and made you feel less alone, please do share this with a woman that you love. And if we're not yet connected on LinkedIn, please come say hi. I am always listening. So, mom, thank you so much. Cheers again. Thanks for joining me, courtside. You're welcome.