Chief Change Officer
#199 From Wall Street to Wonder: Katie Curry’s Playbook for Risk, Resilience & Reinvention — Part Two
Mon, 24 Feb 2025
Katie Curry isn’t just fluent in the language of risk; she’s turned it into an art form.She has made a career out of calculated risks, pivoting from Bulgaria to Wall Street, from finance to creativity, and from spreadsheets to salsa dancing. Whether managing analysts, mentoring future leaders, or convincing her kids that Excel is “basically magic,” she’s proof that resilience is more than just a corporate buzzword—it’s a career cheat code. In Part Two, Katie Curry breaks down the Gen Z effect—at home as a parent and at work as a leader. Turns out, Gen Z isn’t just about memes and dance challenges; they demand meritocracy, speed, and brutal honesty. Katie embraces their no-nonsense approach while picking up a few lessons herself (hint: “reverse mentoring” is real).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.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Who is Katie Curry and what is her journey from Bulgaria to Wall Street?
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 they put don't change at all.
Chapter 2: How do personal risk tolerance and career exploration evolve over time?
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 fun and pursuing, exploring outside of my comfort zone.
In this episode, we are switching gear, 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.
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Chapter 3: What are the unique challenges and opportunities Gen Z brings to the workforce?
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, but 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?
Chapter 4: What insights does Katie Curry share about leading and mentoring Gen Z?
That's a good question, Vince. We do know that 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 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, you know, 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.
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Chapter 5: What advice does Katie Curry give to Gen Z for thriving in their careers?
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 and generations. 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.
Now, since you have a lot of experience at home and at work, working with and growing up with Gen Z, give them a couple of advice.
career-wise, or the flip side of this question, in fact, would be in light of the rise of this generation in the workforce, where the challenges you see hence your advice to them, how can they make the best out of the whole situation and make the impact they want for people around them, for the world, and for themselves?
I certainly see how difficult it is for Gen Z and for the generation coming after them as well. There's so much pressure for early achievement and knowing what you would do in your career and what major you would have in college. So I certainly appreciate how anxious they are and how challenging it is for them. And of course, as the workplace becomes more competitive as well.
But the pieces of advice I would have for them, one is to gain skills and, you know, think about and be very intentional about gaining skills, understanding what are you good at? What is your superpower? Now, when you're starting out in your career, you may say, well, I haven't got any superpowers.
And it's fine because it's a process of actually developing, finding what you're good at and nurturing and growing it and building skills related to that. So that's maybe one piece of advice I would say. Two is surround yourself with a good community.
People from different, with different experiences, different age groups, different generations, different views you would like to have if you're in business. You'd like to have friends that are artistic and they see the world differently from you. And surround yourself with people that will... expand the options and opportunities before you.
I have learned, and it's more recent for me, that I've learned the power of your community and the people that you surround yourself with. It took me a while to really understand, but one, it makes your life a lot more fun and richer and deeper, but it also challenges you to really think way outside of your natural box that you have for yourself.
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