Cristen Kogl of Zebra Technologies: “We must accept that people with various strengths may show a different, if not more efficient, path to achieving a goal”
As an executive, I have the responsibility to help make my immediate reports better leaders themselves. I’m adamant about the power of teamwork and inclusion of diverse perspectives in discussions and decision-making. So, my legal leadership team frequently hears me tell them: “Don’t just go through the motions — engage, listen and learn.” I recommend to them — and put into practice myself — delegating work and giving assignments by identifying the goal, rather than the steps to take. In doing so, we as leaders must accept and appreciate that people with various strengths may show a different, if not more efficient, path to achieving the goal.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Cristen Kogl Senior the Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Zebra Technologies.
Cristen Kogl is an executive at Zebra Technologies, a publicly traded 50-year-old enterprise and S&P 500 Index member. She was appointed senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary on September 1, 2018. Ms. Kogl oversees the global legal practice, advising on matters related to securities and governance, mergers and acquisitions, go-to-market strategy, intellectual property (IP), and regulatory and compliance impacting the company’s operations and industries.
Since joining Zebra in 2015, she has held a variety of progressive positions including vice president, corporate counsel; vice president, assistant general counsel; and assistant corporate secretary. Previously, she served in various leadership roles for W.W. Grainger, Inc., The ServiceMaster Company, National Express LLC and Spyglass, Inc.
Ms. Kogl received her juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Lake Forest College.
Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Let me start by saying that the practice of law is exactly where I should be. It may seem surprising that I never had a “Perry Mason” moment; I didn’t grow up believing I was destined to be a lawyer, nor did I need an “a-ha” moment to gravitate toward the profession.
I’m one of five siblings raised in Minnesota. As the result of family dynamics, I fell into the roles of keeper of the peace and negotiator, finder of things and solver of problems. These traits naturally lend themselves well to practicing law. Puzzles interest me, and the law provides a framework for natural curiosity and problem solving.
As a young associate in a law firm, I found that I while I loved the law, I was drawn to the ongoing business of my clients. So, it was only natural that after negotiating against a few different companies (while representing their clients or suppliers), I jumped at the chance to interview for an in-house position.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
When I made the transition from traditional law into corporate roles, I started broadening my experience. As a corporate generalist, I needed to be both an inch deep and a mile wide on all areas of the law, as well as a mile deep and an inch wide in those matters most pressing to my role and the business I supported. As a result, I have had the opportunity to go deep in many different functional areas within the law due to internal or external influencers impacting the companies’ operations and industries.
For example, in the past two years, I have learned a lot about global trade — in fact, a lot more than I ever thought I would need to know. The Section 301 tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese exports in 2018 were impactful to Zebra’s manufacturing operations in China. However, as I dove deeper into this space, I started to connect the various regulations and the unintentional impact of the Section 301 tariffs on U.S. software developers who could not use their U.S.-developed software to change the essential character of the hardware manufactured elsewhere whereas companies’ with software developed outside the U.S. could confer country of origin to that other country and thereby escape the tariffs on imports into the U.S.! In a nutshell, for U.S. companies with U.S.-based software development and offshore hardware manufacturing, the Section 301 tariffs incent moving software development offshore instead of repatriating manufacturing into the U.S. I had the opportunity to make this case in Washington D.C. As a result, we strategized and advised the business on how to ensure Country of Origin trade compliance while continuing our investment in American engineers and innovation as we moved our hardware manufacturing for U.S.-imported goods out of China. It has been an interesting learning experience, to say the least.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
As a young, female lawyer in the nascent Legal technology space in the early 1990s, there was nothing funny about any mistake!
Instead, what I fondly look back on are those moments– and there were lots of them — when close coworkers and I would countless hours to the point of exhaustion and become utterly slap happy. I remember one time when a colleague and I were in marathon work mode and, at some point, needed to figure out a notice date. We literally could not do it; our brains could not count simple days/dates against the specific deal provisions. This turned into counting on our fingers and then writing dates with numbers, resulting in a giggling fit. To an outsider, we would have sounded crazy, but we needed that laughter as a reprieve and a release. I would be a liar if I said moments like this no longer happen!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are many people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, but two in particular come to mind right away. During my freshman year at Lake Forest College, I took an American political science course with then Professor now Dr. Claudio Katz, who eventually became my major advisor and supported my senior thesis. Not only was he an engaging classroom instructor but he always had office hours for his students.
Throughout law school, I held a part-time internship with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and had the good fortune to be assigned to then AAG Jerry Hancock, now Rev. Jerry Hancock He lived the work life balance before it was trendy and had a passion for healthy living. As I had zero expectations around being a lawyer with no family or other role model, Jerry provided me with my first impression on the life of a lawyer. He helped me be a better manager and coach for my junior lawyers and newer team members.
As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?
At work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress, particularly with my team. It is something we have to be intentional about every day and each in our own ways, and I think being honest and having an open dialogue about it is a good start.
Early during the COVID-19 outbreak, I was cognizant of the mental and physical toll work was going to have on my team, particularly within our environmental health and safety department. Our duties had doubled. We had day jobs that needed attention but were required to respond to an exceptional crisis while writing the playbook. Not to mention our global workforce became completely remote for the first time.
My immediate response was to ramp up communications to keep the team connected. We started a weekly video blog series in which I and other team members had conversations over Zoom about topics du jour — and we always made a point to share and encourage ideas for finding balance and calm during that dynamic situation. The videos became a hit. More importantly, we provided a sense of normalcy as well as a space for team members to comment and cheer each other on.
As you know, the United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?
Simply put, diverse teams lead to better decision making, better outcomes and create opportunities for more diversity. We need to create the environment where individuals can feel safe to be seen and heard. Within the Zebra Legal department, we often talk about how “tone at the top” has a huge impact on the overall culture of an organization. It is not enough for companies to say they support inclusion and diversity — they need to walk the talk, and accountability starts with leadership teams. While words matter and we could spend pages discussing these important topics, we are at an action inflection point.
As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.
At Zebra, we understand that we need new ideas and new leaders to bring our company into the future. This starts with supporting unique and varying career trajectories for all of our employees. I try to use my leadership position to support and promote underrepresented employees, mentor rising female leaders, and inspire others by sharing my own experience as a female lawyer, executive and single parent. I am also personally committed to and require diverse hiring slates, project teams and outside counsel.
Something that each of can do, no matter where we are on our career journey, is to have the courage to stand up to inequality, regardless of the source. As a staunch advocate of inclusion and diversity both within Zebra and society as a whole, I encourage my team (and everyone reading this now) to ask themselves:
- What can/should I do to make everyone feel welcome so that all can be heard and seen?
- How can I empower others to bring the version of themselves that they want to bring to work without fear of judgement or mistreatment?
- How can I ensure everyone’s accomplishments are given equal value and mistakes are equally forgiven without bias to a particular gender or minority group?
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?
As an executive, I have the responsibility to help make my immediate reports better leaders themselves. I’m adamant about the power of teamwork and inclusion of diverse perspectives in discussions and decision-making. So, my legal leadership team frequently hears me tell them: “Don’t just go through the motions — engage, listen and learn.” I recommend to them — and put into practice myself — delegating work and giving assignments by identifying the goal, rather than the steps to take. In doing so, we as leaders must accept and appreciate that people with various strengths may show a different, if not more efficient, path to achieving the goal.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being an executive. Can you explain what you mean?
People have asked me what I did to get promoted from within to Zebra’s executive leadership team. Others have been surprised to learn how, at 32 years old, I became General Counsel of Spyglass (which licensed the core browser kernel to Microsoft which became the basis for Internet Explorer), an Internet of Things (IoT) and small footprint browser company that had technology well ahead of its time! Their questions and reactions are sometimes rooted in a misunderstanding of what it takes to become an executive. Though I did put in a lot of hard work and nurtured professional relationships, I did other things as well. I made sure I collaborated with and learned from many people, all with varying backgrounds and strengths. I raised my hand for difficult assignments, and I never felt afraid to share my opinions with others. I also asked a lot of questions in order to be prepared for anything. In all honesty, I made continuous learning one of my top priorities, and I still maintain those habits.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
There’s an assumption that a single mother has limits to her career success, or that she won’t be as dedicated to her job, in comparison to single fathers and professionals without children. The truth is finding work-life balance is particularly challenging for women, which I learned immediately when I became a new mom.
My son was born on a Sunday at midnight. I left the hospital on Tuesday and the next day my employer at the time was served with a lawsuit. On Thursday, from home, I retained outside counsel and sent out a litigation hold notice. The following Monday, I chose to go into the office with my week-old infant in tow. I had previously coordinated daycare to begin after my purported maternity leave. So, for the first few weeks, he went into the office with me daily. Eventually, a friend stepped in to babysit and then he transitioned into my planned daycare. Throughout this time, I didn’t take leave and continued to work full time.
Fast forward 12 years to when my son was in grammar school. I was in a leadership position with a great company — and a round-trip commute that totaled 96 miles (with no option to work-from-home). I arranged for before-school, after-school, and after-hours care for my son, and was gone daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. I told my grammar school aged son that he couldn’t get sick or forget his homework or lunch because we only had Plan A — there was no Plan B. Today, we can laugh about this parent-child “deal” but, at the time, it didn’t feel good. I couldn’t keep the pace up and needed to be more available to my son at this crucial time in his life. I wanted to give 100 percent to everything and, as we know, this is impossible. So, I changed jobs. It may have been seen as a lateral move, or even a step back in my career, but it was the right move at the right time for my family. I would make the same exact decision again today.
Everything worked out as it should. My son is now a senior in college, and I enjoyed growth in my career. The point of my story is that it is not easy to manage the work-life balance. It is a dynamic endeavor and not necessarily something to ‘achieve’ but rather assess and implement however it makes sense for you at any given point in time. I am open about the challenges I faced as a parent so others — women in particular — know they are not alone in their struggle.
What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?
It’s actually not much different than what I expected — but I love it! I’ve worked for multiple public companies and have been in a general counsel capacity, or supported the role, for most of my career. This provided me with the opportunity to see what others do and learn from them, all of which has prepared me well.
Certainly, not everyone is cut out to be an executive. In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?
Traits that pay off early and in the long run include hard work, approaching everything with a curious mind, gaining experience and a commitment to ongoing learning. They may seem like innate personal qualities, but I believe they can be learned habits, too. An openness to new experiences and commitment to accountability will propel you through life — and as high up the corporate ladder as you want to go. If someone is unwilling to take on difficult assignments or uncomfortable about sharing their perspective, the climb will be much harder. The approach I’ve adopted in my career and life can be summed up in the mantras I’ve instilled within my team — Make It Happen, Make It Matter, and We are Better Together.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Here’s my advice for young lawyers and female professionals in general:
1. Think holistically. Approach every decision and action with a comprehensive perspective. Think both about what is present and what is missing, think about the immediate reaction as well as the impact down the line. We often get so focused on the task at hand that we lose sight of what we really are trying to achieve.
2. Pay it forward. I appreciate the value of having a team that understands and supports me no matter my personal quirks, capabilities, or goals. Having a team to lean on, especially one with collectively diverse ways of thinking, is one of the reasons why I have been so successful in my career at Zebra in particular. That’s why I try to go above and beyond to invest in my team, support and promote my team and underrepresented groups. I expect that someday I might need a job from one of my more junior lawyers and hope I show up in a way today that would encourage them to hire me in the future.
3. Do the right thing, no matter what. You must always keep integrity top of mind, even when being agile. While certainly good advice for up-and-coming lawyers, every single person’s ethics and morals will be tested some time in life. Be a model for civility and do your part to ensure everyone has fair and equal access to new experiences and career growth, especially once you rise to a position of leadership.
4. Strive for work-life balance but know there is no single approach for every person. Also know that your personal work-life balance is not a static condition.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I try to take a local approach to making a global impact, from serving as a Merit Badge Counselor for Boy Scouts of America to participating in my church’s efforts to address community hunger and immigration issues. At Zebra, we have a strong spirit of giving back to the communities in which our employees live and work. I make a point to inspire my team to incorporate community service into group work activities. For instance, during a work trip to Asia, I led a team volunteer activity at a soup kitchen and homeless shelter in Seoul, and collectively our team donated 160 hours. There is always more we can do.
Being active in and supporting law and business communities is also important to me, and something I look forward to doing more of in the future.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Law school, back in the day, was a solo sport. Although you may have had a study group or a team for moot court, it was all about individual achievement. However, it requires teamwork and communication to succeed as part of a corporate legal department. We are Better Together is a mantra for Zebra’s Legal department and I fully believe that our success is driven by bringing diverse experiences, perspectives, and skills to bear as we support Zebra’s business.
One thing that would have been good to know early on is to play offense not defense. I’ve learned that playing to win — versus playing not to lose — makes me more effective. If you are too busy protecting what you have, you don’t have the time or the energy to see what opportunities are out on the horizon.
Another thing I wish I was told was that curiosity and openness to experiences can contribute to early and rapid success. Law school taught me how to view the world, but my curiosity and willingness to try new things helped me quickly advance. I entered the field with zero expectations or preconceived notions about the law profession. In what some might call naivete, I found newness and freedom as I had no self-imposed limitations.
The law is taught as a black and white subject, yet the practice — especially for those in-house, is gray. Understanding how to manage within the gray and how to provide business-actionable advice would have been very useful. When I get legal advice from outside counsel or someone on my team, I want actionable advice. We can all read the law, the art is how to apply it to a business objective.
If I had known back then that a job held by a fairly limited number of people was actually within my reach, I possibly wouldn’t have gotten here. Instead of worrying about what I was achieving, I focused on what I was learning and how that could or would impact our business, employees, and customers — a strategy that has so far worked well.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I’m acutely aware of how unconscious biases can influence our behavior as humans. Women can have both children and career success, just as men can have both domestic and professional roles, and we should treat them accordingly. That is why I encourage all people, regardless of generation or background, to assess the unintentional and automatic stereotypes they may hold within — and assume positive intent of others (which can be hard for everyone including a group of cynical lawyers). Becoming more accepting of someone else’s perspective and strengths no matter their gender, sex, race, religion, or other personal identifier will make us collectively better as a team, company and society.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Saying “a lot has happened” in 2020 feels like both a cliché and gross understatement. We are experiencing tectonic-like shifts across all aspects of our lives — economic, health, geopolitical, and social. Operating in a climate of local and global crises is challenging for everyone and reminds me of how interconnected we all are. I have spent a lot of time thinking about and processing these global events while reflecting on my and the Zebra Legal team’s unique position. I keep returning to two quotes attributed to Mother Teresa: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” And “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
These quotes remind me that we are not helpless. If we learn about and engage in topics that mean the most to us, I am confident we can make a difference. But change does not come easily when racial injustice is endemic and systematic. Although I cannot speak from a place of personal experience as I have not been subjected to racism, the truth is we are all impacted, regardless of our individual backgrounds and experiences. And because of this, I believe that every one of us has the opportunity, if not the moral imperative, to create safer and more equal environments for all.
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.
I derive a lot of inspiration from trailblazing women — from those you would expect like Eleanor Roosevelt or Sandra Day O’Connor to those maybe considered way off the beaten path, like Marcia Clark, who rebounded and reinvented herself after losing the O.J. Simpson case.
Lately, and on a local level, I would love to grab a meal with and know what’s on the mind of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Talk about an unconventional powerhouse leading the third largest city in the nation! Personal demographics aside, she’s an anti-establishment candidate operating in a town notorious for party-dominated machine politics. Does that take guts or what? In my opinion, Mayor Lightfoot is courageous, a person with high integrity, and displays a good sense of humor. I want to learn her secret to establishing a platform and finding her voice to lead in accordance with her own morals and beliefs — which might be a heavy topic for lunch, but I’m game if she is.
P.S. There’s always a seat open at my table for the Great One (Wayne Gretzky for those not in know) or Brett Favre, my all-time favorite football player!
Cristen Kogl of Zebra Technologies: “We must accept that people with various strengths may show a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.