Comcast’s Christine Whitaker On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level
An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
…Choose the right partners: We can’t do this alone; it takes a village. Make sure to surround yourself with partners who share your vision and bring a value-ad that helps you along the path…
Digital transformation has become a crucial component for businesses striving to stay competitive and relevant in today’s rapidly evolving landscape. As technology continues to shape industries and redefine business models, companies must adapt and leverage digital tools and strategies to unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. In this interview series, we aim to explore various aspects of digital transformation, including best practices, challenges, success stories, and expert insights. We are talking to thought leaders, industry experts, entrepreneurs, technology innovators, and executives who have firsthand experience in driving digital transformation initiatives within their organizations. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Christine Whitaker.
Christine Whitaker is the President of Comcast’s Central Division, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mission at Comcast to increase Atlanta’s reputation as a booming technological hub, specifically serving at-need communities with more widespread broadband access and providing free internet services to millions of low-income individuals. Whitaker’s pivotal role as a board member on the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce is key to her success, thanks to strong relationships she has built with other influential leaders in Atlanta.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
My career started at KPMG after studying accounting and finance. I worked there for a few years and gravitated towards learning more about the business itself. As part of my job, I had the opportunity to interview high level executives that got me some great face time and experience with leadership. After learning directly from them during my time, I was lucky enough to interview at Comcast and came over as Senior Accountant in their external reporting department. Here, I got a lot of great analysis and business experience, leading me to becoming more passionate about frontline business and where money was being made, which also led me to operations. At the time, it was still very early on in my career and the company was very decentralized. Still, I had a lot of end-to-end responsibility, but my passion was to be as close to the customer and internal team as possible. Producing outcomes gave me great satisfaction.
As the first woman Division President in Comcast’s history, I never thought before that I would be sitting here — I just earned it through great work and dedication. The unique combination of my prior experience coupled with being a strong leader of people earned my way into this position. I also like to think that my intense competitive will and spirit, as well as my humility and eagerness to learn, also paved the way for me.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
I make mistakes every day and I continue to learn from them. However, there was one time early in my career where I had tried to celebrate Halloween at the office and surprise my team with a smoke machine. Safe to say our security systems weren’t exactly in the holiday spirit and it eventually led to a $30 thousand dollar cost to fix it.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
One person who sticks out in particular is Martha Soehren, former Chief Learning and Talent Development Officer. I met her early in my career after I had been invited to participate in high potential programs at Comcast. Martha took a unique interest in me and really acted as my mentor and confidant. She gave me real feedback, good and bad, that helped me make the best decisions and adjustments throughout my career. When I left Comcast, we became peers at COX Warner. If I didn’t have her as a mentor in that role, I would not be as successful as I am today. Martha was instrumental in helping me onboard back to Comcast as an advocate for where my value was throughout the organization. I owe a lot to her for being the Division President today.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
As a proud introvert, I love a book called Quiet — it resonates with me very much. It was recommended to me from Martha and it’s centered around the contributions of introverts in business. Great business leaders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others are highlighted in this book. It’s helped me build confidence around using my introverted nature as a superpower and leveraging that towards achieving multiple business outcomes in different ways. I’ve been told I don’t talk a lot, but when I do people listen closely and I’m seen as thoughtful; I appreciate that. I believe I the fact that you don’t always have to talk to be heard. In that same vein I’m also an extremely competitive person, but never at the expense of others.
Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?
We have some exciting new portfolios in our NOW brand of products, including NOW TV and NOW TV Latino. Innovative products like these are helping solve for connectivity for low-income consumers and those who have struggled in the past with getting access to the internet. For some, that may not sound like the world’s biggest problem. But here at Comcast, access to the internet is like breathing cleaning air. Connectivity is proven to increase positive economic outcomes, grant access to learning and education, at-home healthcare benefits that many patients need and other opportunities. Driving that for people who haven’t had this in the past makes us excited to continue unlocking these doors for consumers. Focusing on solving issues and challenges allows us to connect with new sets of customers for the business that will jump start the low end for us. Over time as circumstances change, we keep them in our family of products.
Of course, we’ve been digging deeper into the streaming game as the industry evolves as well as consumer preferences. Our flagship for us is Xfinity StreamSaver, which lives and breathes enhancing and simplifying the customer experience.
At Comcast, we’ve always been committed to the evolution of our network. Cutting-edge solutions like driving AI into our network for it to be smarter and self-healing changes the connectivity game for everyone.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. Digital transformation can mean many things to many people, from your perspective, how do you define digital transformation in your industry?
Digital transformation can be thought of in many ways. My first thought is how it transforms how customers do business with you through omnichannel business experiences. Having a digital ecosystem of engagement opportunities to meet customers where they are goes further than you can imagine. When it comes to our network itself, it’s making sure that we are leveraging technologies that can continue to grow and adapt as the business does, like network evolution and innovations. Overall, it’s having the ability to grow your business and target customers more thoughtfully. This can include digital innovations like AI-driven customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This helps with acquisition and retention, as well as making the right offers in the right places for the right customers. We are known at Comcast for innovation because we start and end with our technology, whether it enhances the customer experience or our own people.
Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation applies to everyone. It’s the direction the world has been headed for years and was accelerated tenfold during the pandemic. Organizations must be able to engage with brands and consumers on their terms when they want to. The best of those companies that stand out will have better engagement and business results because of it. For me personally, I don’t really utilize things like traditional phone calls anymore. I do everything digital and that is just the sign of the times. If you can’t adapt, you won’t survive.
Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?
It can be a significant challenge if companies and leaders are not willing to try new things or be open to change. We help solve these problems through products, particularly on the consumer side, having leading-edge tech that empowers businesses and cybersecurity. The cybersecurity aspect helps consumer and residential customers have the most reliable and secure experiences. We’re proud of how much time and commitment Comcast gives to cybersecurity and that spans every piece of our business.
It can go from simple internet connectivity to security and all the way up to mobile. We’re not just a service provider, we are a partner. We are there to help those who leverage our network and technologies with challenges and services along the way and this is a key differentiator for us. We’re local — we are where our partners are. It’s the reason we are constantly chosen as the preferred partner.
Based on your experience and success, what are “Five Ways a Company Can Use Digital Transformation To Take It To The Next Level”?
1 . Cybersecurity: First and foremost, every step of the digital transformation journey must be followed by robust cybersecurity measures to ensure the integrity of sensitive data and critical systems.
2 . AI implementation: Utilizing the power of AI helps to revolutionize operations, foster an environment of modernization and empowers next-generation problem-solving capabilities.
3 . Define your path: Identify what you hope to accomplish and set a North Star towards it.
4 . Focus on culture: A strong culture breeds innovation and collaboration. It also helps ensure your leaders and team members are aligned and committed to providing a better product, service and experience.
5 . Choose the right partners: We can’t do this alone; it takes a village. Make sure to surround yourself with partners who share your vision and bring a value-ad that helps you along the path.
In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” in order to create new competitive advantages?
This sentiment dates all the way back to our founders. Empowering everyone to bring their best selves to work every day is a quintessential element of our business. As is having a diverse and inclusive workplace. Sharing ideas freely and being your best self is the intersection of innovation and it’s part of our DNA.
As a leader, I ensure everyone has a voice at the table. More importantly, ensuring they have the means to get to the table. I want my teams to have an opportunity to share their thoughts and the permission to make mistakes. Innovation doesn’t happen the first time — it takes trial and error. Our best example is our AI implementation into our network. This critical differentiator wouldn’t have been possible without first trying new technologies on our network or in our marketing environment. It’s crucial to help us make strong, data-driven decisions that we can act on quickly. Our reputation in here in Atlanta is based on our ability to test new technologies in this market, and the company expects it from us as we’ve set this standard.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Growth and comfort do not coexist. If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing.
How can our readers further follow your work?
You can keep up with all the amazing innovations, surround sound moments and incredible social impact work that comes directly from our Center of Excellence in Atlanta by visiting https://www.South.Comcast.com. Please also follow our social pages on X (Twitter) @ComcastSouth and our Facebook.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.
