“Set boundaries,” Kathy Kline from Mindshare

Meet Kathy Kline, North America Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Mindshare, where she oversees the strategy and Invention+ teams and ensures the agency is equipped to do elevated, strategic work for its clients. Kathy started her career in research, where she discovered her passion for creative, insight-driven solutions. Her 30-year career spans creative, insights, strategy, and media. Kathy frequently lectures at the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, and the University of Missouri. She has also participated in more than 30 awards juries throughout her career, including Cannes Lions, Festival of Media Global, The Effies Awards, and the Jay Chiat Strategy Awards.

Kathy joined Jocelyn Hudak, Senior Director, Content and Digital Marketing for an interview at our Pass the Mic lounge at CES in Las Vegas, created in partnership with The Female Quotient. Get ready to set and respect boundaries, and give the full interview a listen.

Love what you do.

Highlight: “My number one piece of advice is the importance of loving what you do. Or maybe you don't love it, maybe that's idealistic, but at least finding it challenging, finding it in some meaningful way satisfying… If you don't like what you're doing, it's going to be problematic and you also have to work with people that you enjoy working with and that respect you.” – Kathy Kline

Establish your boundaries.

Highlight: “You have to set your own boundaries... I feel like even if you have a great boss, the company and people kind of take whatever you give them and as much as you give them. And so, you have a lot of people who will be frustrated with the lack of work-life balance. I think you have to establish that yourself.” – Kathy Kline

Model good behavior.

Highlight: “Modeling good behavior for the people who work for you, even in small ways. I take my vacation time, and I expect you to. And when you're on vacation, be on vacation. I'm going to respect that, and I'm not going to send you emails… I do a lot of save drafting when I'm doing emails and notes and things on the weekend or after hours, and then shooting it out in the morning so I don’t disrupt someone's evening or weekend.” – Kathy Kline

Customize your approach.

Highlight: “It's really important to recognize the human beings behind the professionals… I always customize my approach to how I work with people to try and give them the environment they need to be successful.” – Kathy Kline

Lead from the front and from behind.

Highlight: “When you think about: What do people need as a manager? Sometimes you need to be that leader who's out front who's setting the vision for the team, who's actively in front of them, tearing down barriers. Sometimes you need to step back, and let them break the barrier down, or let them take the risk.”  – Kathy Kline

Kathy’s ability to respect, support, and inspire her teams is modeling the right kind of behavior for an empowered workforce. Check out more empowering content on our Pass the Mic hub.