Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Kristin Russel of symplr On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male Dominated Industry

An Interview With Ming Zhao

Peace, Order, Government. This is taking things back to my Canadian roots, but for those who are unfamiliar, peace, order, and good government is a popular Commonwealth mantra. In the context of the workplace, regardless of gender, having a peaceful environment and good relationships with your colleagues is critical for success. At the end of the day, you are a team working toward a common goal, and there needs to be synergy and collaboration in order to be successful.

In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kristin Russel.

Kristin Russel is the Chief Marketing Officer at symplr, a healthcare operations company. As Chief Marketing Officer, Russel drives the development and execution of symplr’s comprehensive marketing strategy, overseeing all branding, digital and product marketing, sales enablement, public relations, community outreach programs, channel partnerships, and business development. Named one of Becker’s Top 100 Women in Healthcare, Russel is a tenured leader and visionary in the healthcare technology industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?

I was born in the United States but raised in Canada — first Newfoundland, an island off the East coast of Nova Scotia, and then London Ontario. St. John’s Newfoundland was an incredibly unique place — my world was a mix of artisans, fishermen, academics, and service leaders. Both my parents were professors, so we were part of the university community and were always encouraged to go out and learn and explore. On a professor’s shoestring budget, our family found ways to travel to Europe on discount airlines and roam around France and Italy in a tiny van visiting churches and museums and discovering different places. My childhood was a pot porri of creative thinking, and experiential educational opportunities with an expectation that whatever you did, you needed to leave this world a little better than you found it. Based on this upbringing, I originally thought I wanted to go into politics. While I appreciated the vision of running a country, life as a bureaucrat was not fast paced enough for me and I moved into consulting, strategy, and ultimately marketing, which is what brought me to symplr.

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

My career path has been anything but linear and has led me in many different directions. I have an entrepreneurial background and co-founded a company called Anachron in my late 20s. My co-founders and I wanted to build a solution for online banking and invoicing and grew the business with customers like MasterCard and ING bank. We ultimately exited the company through a strategic sale. Career paths are tricky — at least mine was. I can look back and see all the connecting points but when you’re just starting out its not always that clear. I was recently having a conversation with my 16-year-old daughter. She is at that point in her life where she is starting to think about college, her major, and what courses to take — it can all be a little daunting. Certainly, when I was 16, I wasn’t saying I wanted to be a chief marketing officer. I don’t think I was even saying that in my 30s! My role as a CMO has really emerged over time.

Years ago, back in Canada, I worked at a summer camp, leading people on canoe trips across lakes and down rivers. You never really knew what was going to be around the next bend in the river, whether you would come across smooth waters, a fork or bend in the river, or Class 3 rapids. The best river guides can roll with the punches no matter what they find, and my approach to my career has been similar. If there is a fork that appears in your professional journey, don’t be afraid to be opportunistic and change course, even if it is something you never expected. That has been my approach and has resulted in several interesting opportunities that I would have never originally expected for myself.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Certainly, starting my company Anachron, was an interesting time for me. I was a young female entrepreneur living in the Netherlands, which at the time was a very male-dominated professional environment — particularly in banking software. Attaining a certain gravitas for business meant quickly figuring out partnerships to align myself and our business with. As a company, we knew we wanted to be in the banking world, operating with the likes of Visa, ING Bank, and other large Dutch and European banks. To do this we would need to align with a partner who could open doors for us: Arthur Anderson, a former consulting company, was a critical launch pin. Partnerships were a helpful and important way for us to grow our business.

For much of my time in Amsterdam, I was never in a situation where there were an equal number of men and women in the boardroom. Sometimes there would be one or two women present, but most of the time, whether it was participating in a panel or sitting in a meeting, I would be the only one. Being the single female was unique, and I had to make choices along the way to balance both my career and family. Starting a company was a key moment for me that resulted in a great outcome, but boy did I learn a lot of lessons during the process.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I’m currently reading a book called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. It discusses how as leaders, we look at different types of attributes in individuals that we think are important to determine if they will be successful. For example, the ability to grasp new ideas and quickly come up to speed on a topic are generally considered earmarks of successful leaders. The book talks about “Grit,” the mindset that allows an individual to latch on to a problem or initiative and stay with it for the long haul until it is accomplished. This quality really resonated with me, and I think the components that make up grit — initiative, resilience, and tenacity, are the three traits that have been the most instrumental to my success.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?

It’s interesting operating as a female leader today, we are doing so much better as a society — calling one another out and talking transparently about issues and challenges. So much of what happens at work is based on how and when we were raised. Back in the 80s, girls were called on less frequently to give answers, young men would paraphrase their female colleague’s answers and receive accolades that the female who had the idea did not. This can be subtle, and to be honest, it still happens today — whenever I see this happening, I try and put a stop to it, giving credit where credit is due.

There is a lack of female role models in male-dominated industries, leading to a lack of females to turn to for professional advice. In any male-dominated industry where you don’t have that female figure to look up to, it makes it just a little bit harder and forces you to be a trailblazer and make your own way. Although we are starting to see more female executives in the boardroom, we still have a long way to go.

Balancing my personal life and family life with my career has always been a challenge. We have made a lot of progress in the last five years, especially with COVID-19 and the move to remote work. When I was coming up in my career, it wasn’t common to talk about your family in the workforce. For example, if I had to pick my kids up at 3 p.m., I would say I had a meeting or an event, but never speak to leaving work to take care of my children. This has changed a lot in recent years, which is wonderful, and there is a lot more acknowledgment and acceptance of being both a mother and an executive in the workplace. Just last week, my own boss moved our 1:1 so he could pick up his son from school — modeling this behavior makes it more acceptable for others and is ultimately how we change and improve.

What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?

I think COVID-19 and the move to a remote workforce have been important steps in making traditionally male-dominated organizations more appealing to women because it gives them the ability to better manage work and home life. Organizations that offer flexible schedules and work environments will have the most success. For example, companies expect employees to get their work done but understand it doesn’t necessarily have to take place between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. This flexibility is really impactful for women who are looking to simultaneously manage the demands of family and career.

Being thoughtful and creating a culture that supports diversity and employees from different backgrounds is also essential to creating a more diverse workplace. At symplr, I am the executive sponsor of a women’s network where we are currently discussing this very topic. In fact, we sponsor a team of PGA golfers, and one of our LPGA golfers, Azahar Muñoz, is returning from family leave — she will be sharing her thoughts on what it takes to succeed in a male-dominated environment. Having the freedom to have these conversations at our organization is essential to creating a safe environment and one that ultimately women will want to be a part of. If you want to have a diverse workforce, organizations need to be purposeful when it comes to company culture and how they are presenting themselves to potential candidates and clients. Today, organizations should be appealing to individuals with different perspectives, backgrounds, and life experiences.

Ok thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?”

1. Peace, Order, Government. This is taking things back to my Canadian roots, but for those who are unfamiliar, peace, order, and good government is a popular Commonwealth mantra. In the context of the workplace, regardless of gender, having a peaceful environment and good relationships with your colleagues is critical for success. At the end of the day, you are a team working toward a common goal, and there needs to be synergy and collaboration in order to be successful.
2. Speak Up. Although having a peaceful work environment is important, it is critical to speak up and advocate for yourself and your colleagues if you see a problem. Speaking up can take a variety of different forms, whether it is addressing a problem head-on, inviting a colleague to a conversation one-on-one later, or taking time to educate someone who said something that didn’t feel appropriate.
3. Listen Well. Listen to colleagues who do bring forward concerns and spend the time to ensure that the environment you’re in is inclusive. As a leader, this is something I really try to do — create a workplace culture that everyone feels comfortable in. Without this inclusive culture, it will be significantly harder for the organization to attract and retain a diverse workforce in an industry that is typically male-dominated.
4. Recognize Your Seat at the Table. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to earn a seat at the leadership table. Recognizing your position, and maybe more importantly, doing something with it, is essential to ensure progress and a more equitable workplace. Whether that action is speaking up to voice another perspective or reaching out and pulling some other females forward as well. Using your position for good is critical for bettering the industry for other women.
5. Be a Role Model. When you have a seat at the table as a woman, particularly in male-dominated industries, you are an inspirational figure for more junior employees who have yet to reach that level. Acting as a role model and exhibiting behavior that others can learn from and identify with is critical to empowering other women and bringing them into the fold.

If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?

Honestly, I think whether the field is male or female-dominated is inconsequential. We are breaking down barriers all over the place. As a society, the traditional norms are being challenged across the board — my advice to anyone is to find a career that you can dig your teeth into. I love a good 3,000-piece puzzle, but if the picture is not appealing to me, I just can’t get into it. Your career is no different — you have to find the puzzle that makes you tick.

Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?

Things have changed tremendously in the last ten years, the last five years, and even in the last year alone. We’re constantly thinking about different ways we want to speak to one another and what language we want to use to be more inclusive. I predict that this learning and more open and thoughtful mindset will continue to evolve, resulting in more educated and inclusive companies in the years to come.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Just one!!! Of course, I’m a big fan of female political leaders — Nancy Pelosi, Susan Collins, Kamala Harris, Carly Fiorina — I may not always agree with their politics but they are tenacious bold trailblazers. Growing up my heros were Margaret Thatcher and Oprah Winfrey — they both spoke their minds and captivated audiences around the globe. I’m still a big Oprah Winfrey fan today and absolutely would not turn down a chance to share a coffee together!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.