Katie Curry knows a thing or two about managing change—both the planned kind and the “what just happened?” variety. From Bulgaria to Wall Street, she’s reinvented herself more times than a Broadway actor swapping costumes mid-performance. In this episode, Katie spills the tea on how she keeps thriving while leading, learning, and pivoting. Her secret sauce? It’s a three-part recipe: 1) Build your superpowers (yes, you have one—it’s just in beta), 2) Choose your squad wisely (no toxic vibes allowed), and 3) Embrace change, but don’t treat it like a trend. Katie reminds us that pivots should be thoughtful, not careless leaps into the void. Think strategy, not drama. Katie also dives into her Gen Z experiences—raising two at home and leading them at work. Spoiler alert: they’re not just TikTok pros. Gen Z craves meritocracy, speed, and authenticity. And as a leader, Katie’s all about keeping it real while learning a thing or two from her “reverse mentors.” This episode isn’t just about career moves or navigating a multigenerational workforce—it’s a call to action to build real relationships, develop human skills, and, most importantly, laugh while you’re at it. Because if Katie can salsa dance through change, you can, too. Key Highlights of Our Interview: Raising Gen Z Insights “As a mother of two Gen Z kids, I’ve learned patience, adaptability, and the art of balancing guidance with independence—lessons that translate directly into leading younger teams.” A Shift Toward Meritocracy “Gen Z values meritocracy over hierarchy. Companies that embrace authenticity, clarity, and speed in execution will thrive. Those that cling to old models risk losing their edge.” The Power of Reverse Mentorship “I love working with Gen Z. They’ve taught me more than I could have imagined through reverse mentorship. It’s a two-way street—I share wisdom; they share fresh insights.” Finding Your Superpower “Success starts with understanding your strengths. If you don’t know them yet, that’s fine—it’s a process. Focus on gaining skills and developing your unique superpower.” The Power of Community “Surround yourself with a diverse community—different generations, experiences, and viewpoints. It makes life richer and challenges you to think beyond your natural boundaries.” _________________________ Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Katie Curry ______________________ --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.20 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1% Podcast.Top 5 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>180,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of this episode?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Last time, I was talking to an old friend from Yale, a Katrina Curry, or as many know her as Katie.
Chapter 2: How did Katie Curry reinvent herself?
I grew up in Bulgaria. I grew up in communism and I grew up in a small town. My first big part of my kind of reinvention or transformation was coming to the United States and getting educated. I was traveling on a tour bus in New York City. I was going in downtown in the financial district and I said, you know, I would really love to work here one day.
She did, and many more things she has achieved since she made that move from Bulgaria to United States. Like me and a lot of people with strong finance background, we always talk about risk, the upside risk, downside risk, the risk tolerance, the risk appetite. How can we maximize return, minimize risks?
But when it comes to managing your life, your career, changes, direction, the way forward, while the risk factors are identifiable, a lot of them are not quantifiable. That creates a lot of anxiety, fear, unknown. Hence, some people just stay put, don't change at all.
You have to know yourself and know your risk tolerance. And your risk tolerance evolves over time, right? You may have a high risk tolerance early in your career. Maybe your risk tolerance is a bit lower when you're raising your family. And then you may be ready for another, you know, exciting move or jump later on.
So knowing yourself and, you know, for me, knowing myself and my risk tolerance was very important. The second part is I had spent a lot of years being very focused on outcomes, being very intense and intent about what I'm doing. And I have now moved into a phase of exploration and looking at the various opportunities and being less focused on a precise planned path.
But embracing these opportunities, embracing kind of the fun, the exploration, the curiosity, and even the magic. And that was a major shift for me. I think it happened with experience, with age, where I was able to kind of embrace, like you said, both the hard and logical decision, but also these intuitive, exploratory, pursuing, you know, fun and pursuing, exploring outside of my comfort zone.
In this episode, we are switching gears, moving from her own career life and changes onto the changes we are going to see in the work market, in particular about Gen Z. According to World Economic Forum, by year 2025, about a quarter of our workforce will be Gen Z. So this is a force that we will reckon with. Katie is a mother of two. She got two Gen Z children.
At work, she's managing a workforce, spending across different generations. So what's her take on working with leading and motivating the younger generations at work? She's also going to share a couple of career tips for the younger generation to thrive in this era of change. And later, we'll take a sneak peek into Katie's personal learning habits and her book recommendation.
So stick around, let's get started. Katie, you and I are Gen X. Of this era, is a multi-generational workforce era and you're a mother of two in raising two young children what have you learned from this personal experience and applied to working with and managing a younger workforce that's a good question vince we do know that
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Chapter 3: What insights does Katie share about managing a multigenerational workforce?
There's at least four actually generations now in the workforce and of course more coming. But I think as a leader, first and foremost, I look at people as humans and I try to see what they try to understand what their needs are. How can they be successful in their role? What do they need? Is it learning and upskilling? Is it just support and praise and recognition?
Is it tough love that they need? But my kind of a recipe for this is kind of four things that I always think about. What's my focus? Am I clear about what success looks like for this project, for this role, for this particular problem I'm solving? The next one is simplicity. What's the simplest way that we can actually do this and we can solve this problem?
And then the last one is having humility. As a leader, I cannot tell people what to do because a lot of times I don't have the answer. And sometimes I see leaders are afraid to admit that they don't have the answer.
The job of a leader is to help emerge the answer from the group, whether it's, you know, emerging the answer from the team, from other teams, from the market, from best practices in our function or in our industry. But the role of the leader is to emerge the best solution. How do you like working with Gen Z? In terms of working with different generations, I love working with Gen Z.
There's a lot that has been said about Gen Z being entitled and being impatient. And, you know, there's, of course, certainly some of that. But I think as leaders, we need to pivot and evolve and be much more clear, much more transparent. And we need to pick up the pace. Pick up the pace in execution. Pick up the pace in rewarding Gen Z. Pick up the pace in promoting Gen Z. And...
understanding that we're moving towards a meritocracy. Gen Z appreciates a true meritocracy rather than a, you know, a hierarchical culture. And companies that, especially those long-established companies with hundreds of years of history, if they're not able to pivot and move into this more...
authentic more real more clear and kind of a faster moving way of leading they're going to lose a part of their competitive advantage so i'm watching this it's an area of interest for me Like I said, I enjoy working with Gen Z. They give me energy. They teach me a lot of things.
I have reverse mentors and I've had reverse mentors who are Gen Z and they teach me things that I have not known and I haven't experienced. And of course, I look to make it a relationship of reciprocity where I help them and guide them. And hopefully I have a bit of life experience, which has given me some wisdom and I can help them that way.
Over the years, I've helped Generation X, Y, Z with their different career and life issues. Sometimes, like you said, they're all humans, regardless of age or generation. Each generation, to be honest, has their own challenges and issues. I wouldn't say Gen X, like us, we don't value or appreciate meritocracy versus Gen Z values more or vice versa.
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