(From left) Shelly Chummar, Brittany Tyner and Chris O'Connor, Cox Enterprises
Exploring strength and innovation within our company
In today’s fast-changing world, resilience is key to our success. As we continue to grow our business, the ability to adapt, innovate and thrive is more important than ever.
To celebrate and explore our collective strength, we asked our people to share and reflect on what resilience means to them and how it has shaped their mindset, approach to leadership and everyday work. Through their experiences, we uncover what makes our organization strong and forward-thinking and hope to discover valuable insights into fostering a resilient mindset within our teams.
Resilience is not only adapting to change but using it to your advantage. I view change as an opportunity for continuous improvement to evolve, grow and lean into the unknown. It’s an unwavering belief that when there is a setback, the comeback will be stronger. One of my favorite quotes is, ‘ When life shuts a door, open it again. It’s a door. That’s how they work.’
Stacie Cauble, director of customer care, Cox Communications Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Resiliency in leadership isn’t about developing the perfect plan to avoid adversity. It’s about how we reset and press forward when we inevitably face obstacles. Setbacks are a given when the stakes and competition are high. How we win is in how we get up and play the next play.
Ed Roche, assistant vice president, legal strategy & operations, Cox Enterprises Atlanta, Georgia
My team recently embodied resilience as we prepared to sell Cox Mobile. We met with all the retail store managers to find out their biggest challenges and how they overcame them. They shared key information so we could build out a plan of action in case we ran into similar situations. We did face challenges, but we stayed positive throughout. Every week we got together to talk through performance and what challenges we were facing and how we overcame them to find success. Within the first 90 days we were the first market to have 100% participation.
Jonathan Rome, director, northeast field sales, Cox Communications Chesapeake, Virginia
Resilience has significantly shaped my leadership and decision-making at work. It has taught me the importance of being flexible and open to new ideas, as well as the value of fostering a supportive and inclusive team environment. By encouraging my team to take risks and learn from their mistakes, we have been able to innovate and improve our processes continuously.
Marissa Strominger, assistant vice president of marketing, Cox Automotive ??, New York
I build resilience in my team by recognizing challenges and regularly communicating our plan to solve them. We have a huddle every day where I ask my team, ‘What’s the most difficult thing you’re going through?’ I make sure everyone knows they have my complete support. We know resilience is going to continue to play a huge role in the future of Cox because there’s so much uncertainty. We don’t know what we’ll need to handle next, but we just need to keep a positive perspective, view challenges as learning opportunities, and keep reminding ourselves to stay focused on the things we can control instead of dwelling on the things we can’t.
Solomon Smith, supervisor, warehouse operations, Cox Communications Tulsa, Oklahoma
Resilience is integral to the outcomes we are committed to delivering for customers at Cox Automotive. As a leader, I believe there is a solution to every problem that attempts to slow or derail us in delivering the solutions clients expect and need. I strive to embody a positive outlook, relentless effort and tenacious collaboration in myself and encourage my team to do the same to achieve those outcomes.
Mary Hannan, senior director, project/program management, Cox Automotive ???, Georgia