Founder's Story - How to Run a Successful Company in a Male Dominated Industry | Ep. 25 with Kristin Mclane President of CIMX Software

Episode Date: June 7, 2020

Kristin is an entrepreneur that found her calling by fate. She didn't dream of being in charge of her own company, but always wanted to and found her calling by fortunate accident. Now, she would never go back. She is the president and owner of CIMX... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ibhshow/supportOur Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Inspired by Her, the podcast that will give you the inspiration, motivation and tips for success from some of the top executives, CEOs and influencers from around the globe. With your host, serial entrepreneur and named one of the most influential Filipina in the world, Kate Hancock. And we are live. Hi, everyone. This is Kate. And today, I have a special guest, Christine McLean. Hi, Kate. How are you? It's great to see you. Yeah, so great seeing you too. And so Christine, can you tell everyone about our company? Yeah, absolutely. So it's a software company. We literally in the midst of this crisis just turned 24 years old, which I would not have thought possible. It's been a very challenging road. It's been a fun road. We work in the manufacturing environment. So we run manufacturing shop floors with their manufacturing operations management teams. And now you're starting the Vivid Inc. Can you tell me more about that? Yeah, so that really is something that I'm very

passionate about. I am definitely a squirrel. I cannot listen quietly without my mind wandering to like 7,000 things I need to do. So I started drawing notes because it was the only way I could actually listen to what people were saying. So during meetings and during conferences and speeches and classes, I would draw notes so that I wouldn't think about the laundry and the post office and the supermarket and that project going out and, you know, what I forgot to do yesterday and, you know, just all sorts of random things invading my day. So I find that I can think and draw and it shuts off all the other stuff. So it takes that energy, I guess so i wish i have that creative

that i can draw because i'm i have a bad add so i everything i have to write it in notes but i'm not very creative like what you're doing i wish i have that talent well i told the kids do you know who Dave Rendell is? I lost you. I lost you. Who was that, Dave? Dave Rendell. He's the freak factor. He does, he's about six foot four, wears bright pink pants. You would know him if you had seen him. His theory says that what makes you weird

makes you wonderful. And if you do what you're really weird at, you'll be very successful in life. And so all these people tell me, oh, I wish I could draw like that. And I have to tell you, I dang near failed every art class I ever was in because I could only draw absolutely exactly what I saw. I can't color it a different color. I can't do it in abstract. I have like zero creativity when it comes to something that is not exactly as it appears. Wow. I guess I took my weird thing. But if you talk to any one of my art teachers when I was a kid, I was a horrible art student, like horrible.

Wow. Is that how you started your company? You mentioned your bio. It was an accident. Can you tell me more about that, Christine? Yeah, I got out of college. I hate to say this because it sounds cliche, but I saw it going so differently. I got out of college and I was just a bit lost. I

thought I could conquer the world. I felt like I'd been prepared for almost anything. I think most college kids come out that way and the environment was not what I thought at all. I think most college kids come out that way. And the environment was not what I thought at all. I ended up working with a group of people that really weren't interested in what they were doing. They didn't love their jobs. They showed up every day and clocked in, clocked out. And I was absolutely miserable. And I remember the day like it was yesterday, I told someone the other day, that was back in the days of Franklin planners. Do you remember Franklin planners? I think I've heard of it. So it was a, like an eight and a half by 11 binder, basically of planner pages. And I remember I was working at a bank and I remember sitting in a meeting

and there were like 12 of us at the table with our planners out trying to find a time that we could meet. And I was about to crawl out of my skin thinking, aren't we all just here right now? Like, can we not just meet right now? And I knew then that I was not going to make it in like corporate America because I just would not have the patience at all. Right. So that's why it was by accident. Wow. Wow. OK, so let me go back. Christine, where did you grow up? I grew up outside of New York City. So my parents both grew up in the city. We grew up about an hour outside. But because of the way it curves around there, I could actually see the Twin Towers from

my childhood home, from the beach down by my childhood home in New Jersey. So we were really, really close to the city and moved to Ohio when I was in middle school, which was like, I hate to say this, but like the armpit of America. I mean, it was like nobody wanted to live in Ohio if you were from New York back then. So I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but that's where I grew up. Wow. And what kind of kid were you in high school? At the time, I would have said I didn't fit in anywhere, right? Like I, uh, wasn't from Ohio. I was from the East coast and yet I wasn't cool enough to be from the East coast. So I,

I literally was sort of like a third wheel for most of my middle school, high school days. I know now that I was completely underwhelmed by any of the, like, I was just bored out of my mind. Sitting still in the classroom was not going to be for me. And it, I lost patience and attention pretty quickly. Yeah. Why is it that you think you're not cool enough to fit in to, you know, to be an East Coast? Tell me. I, I think, you know, especially from the city, I think it was such a, it's such an independent atmosphere. You can be literally anybody you want, right? And I wasn't confident enough in myself to be that. So I never had self-confidence when I was in middle school, high school, all the way through college, and then probably 10 or 15 years out. I think it was really, you know, I credit EO really to giving me, the entrepreneurs organization to giving me a bunch of that

self-confidence and just showing me that, you know, being an entrepreneur is actually a thing and, and, and like you can do that and it's okay. And I think that's really where that came from, but I wasn't that confident when I was in school. Now tell me the day you started your company Simics. What? Yeah. So my father and I started it together with three other guys. We were working, all of us, for another business and bought the rights to roll that software product out of the business and make our own company. It was something that the consulting firm we worked for didn't want to do anymore. And so it was an opportunity for us. I honestly told my dad, yeah, you know, I'll give it three to five years because I have no idea what I want to do. So sure, I'll do that. And like 24 years later, now I'm still

working there. But that's probably what being an entrepreneur is like. You like never escape it. Yeah. So Simics is like, it is like a software for manufacturing companies, right? It's like EOS for. Yeah. EOS is actually. I lost you. Great.

Am I back? Yes, you're back. Yes eos eos is a great example i've never thought of what we do being like eos um it is exactly like that it's a structure and a methodology for a company to manufacture what they built. Yeah. And it's amazing. You started this with your dad 25 years ago, and now we're just learning about EUS,

how to run our company effectively and in detail and have everything in one system, right? Right. exactly. But for us, there were other tools out there that did very similar things, specifically in the manufacturing space that we were getting into. And Christine, how is that working with your dad? Um, we are very yin yang. We come at things very differently. In fact, we're, we're almost black and white on everything. Um's a consensus builder. I don't think anybody's ever accused me

of being a consensus builder. He asks questions. I will make statements. No matter what it is, I will be the opposite side of the house that he is. So there are times, a few times, that that has been a little bit rough. But for the most part, we're really complimentary because everything I'm weak at, he's strong in and vice versa. That's, that's really amazing. And between like your relationship with your dad and yourself running a company and you guys work together, that's really hard to find. And I live 10 doors down from him.

My kids can walk to their house. So I literally see them all the time. Sorry, I lost you there. It's this thing now. Okay, I think you're back. Now, Christine, how do you generate new ideas? You know, I'm an adapter. So if you go through the strengths finder, I'm somebody that can take anything

and make it with the new idea. I'm going to be the person that comes up with the new idea that's based on some other idea. So I'm a constant improver. Not a sense to me, but so for me, new ideas come out of learning, come out of reading. I read a lot of business books. I watch a lot of webcasts for Vivid Inc. I'm doing a lot of that. But I do feel that I learn best from others. I'm not the one that's going to go you know the canned answer is that once you're entrepreneur you can never be hired by anybody because you're totally unhirable but I would say that it gives me it gives me after the things that I want to go after. You know, being a squirrel is kind of cool if you're an entrepreneur, I guess.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I lost you again. I think that's a signal. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Yeah, I've not lost you at all. Okay, I think. Okay, perfect. And now, Christine, how have your dreams and goals changed through your life? you know to say today then it would be most of the year because others changed a lot when i had kids mm-hmm

it's for yourself before you had responsibility to and I very much my dreams and goals are really about making a put hi Christine I'm sorry I'm losing you all the time. Do you want me to move? Yeah. Let me see if I can get to another place. The best signal. Yeah. Let me see if I can go to another place. Sorry, it'll get a little bit dark.

No worries. Okay. There you go. Is that better? Yes. I can hear you clearly. Ah, now we got it. Okay. Now, um, how's that? Yeah, perfect. I could hear you perfectly. Now, how's that? Yeah, perfect. I could hear you perfectly. Now, Christine, what advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur? Oh, that one's easy. I would assume that it's going to take twice as much work and like five times as much time. You know, I remember distinctly, do you know the game game guitar hero? Yes. Yes. Yes. I used to play that. I remember hearing the two entrepreneurs that started that tell their story at one of the events I was at. And it was we call it a night of the living dead. You know, you sit on a, they sat on a couple of stools and any question was game. And so they

started telling the story of how they had created it. And they literally went through, they were students at MIT. They went through like 11 or 12 years of like not even being able to afford food. They had families, you know, I mean, just starving themselves, you know, sort of that, that true rags to riches story. And they end up placing a small display at Best Buy before Christmas. And they're an overnight sensation. And the guy, I remember distinctly the guy saying, you know, everybody said we were an overnight success. And he's like, for 13 years, I ate peanut butter on bread because I couldn't afford anything.

Nobody's an overnight success. And I think it's so easy to tell that story. 24 years, I'm still at it. I mean, the Googles and the guitar heroes of the world don't have, that doesn't happen overnight. It's a lot of luck. It's a lot of hard work, but it's not as easy as it looks. Absolutely. Yeah. What are, um, what is your greatest fear and how do you manage fear? Hmm. I think my greatest fear I've been reflecting on that. I have a, um, I have a group of entrepreneurs that I meet with every morning, Monday to Friday. And our motto for our roundtable group is run towards your fear. And I have often wondered what that is.

And I think that my fear is of not trying. I don't like risk. I'm not a very risky person so I'm not going to throw everything in for a chance right I'm gonna take it very methodically but I think that loses opportunities right you know if you don't take risks you're never going to win big you're not going to lose big so you end up somewhere in the middle and And I've watched any number of competitors of ours go up in flames. So I suppose that's a good thing because I'm still around. But I do worry that I don't grow as fast as I might because I'm not willing to take that

chance. I don't want to throw it all in. That makes sense. Now, what was one of your deepest motivation in life? I think I always wanted to prove myself. I'm not sure that I thought I was capable. I think I come across to others as, I'm not going to be front and center in the room. I'm not going to be the one that is looking for people to applaud me. I'm not going to be the one looking for a standing ovation or awards or recognition. And so I sometimes blend into the background. Now, it's an ironic contrast because I can be very brusque and I'm a very direct person.

I can be very blunt. But so those combinations of things, I think there's this persona that comes across as willing to and able to do so much. And I always worry that someone's going to find me out, right? They called the imposter syndrome, I guess, for many entrepreneurs, but I always worry that, you know, people are going to find out that maybe you're not as, as capable as they thought you were going to be. And there's judgment there.

And I definitely worry about what other people think of me probably too much. That's understand. We all suffer that imposter syndrome and, you know, and it's very difficult to deal with that. And every day what you do is like, am I really doing it good enough? Right. Yeah. And, and then I guess you can, you, you combine that with that risk and you say, am I risking it to prove it to somebody else? Or am I risking it because I think it's the right thing to do? And I think that's what I want to do. And I'm, I'm not sure. Maybe

that's why I don't take so many risks because I'm not exactly sure that I've thought that through as to whether it's for me or somebody else. Wow. Yeah, understandable. Now, Christine, what have been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome? I would say from my industry, I'm a female in a very heavily male-dominated industry in engineering, computer science. I'm not an engineer. I took computer science, but I don't have an engineering degree. So I run a company of engineers, and I'm not one. That's been traumatic at times.

You then go into the manufacturing space in software, and that's not making it any better. Wow. You then go into the manufacturing space and software and that's, I mean, that's not making it any better. So I feel like I've always been like you always have to work twice as hard and be twice as sharp, right, to get half the distance. And that's always been a challenge for me. I think I have a daughter too. And I see that in, you know, that, that double standard. I, I think I see more now than I did before. And I worry about that tremendously for her, like for her and for other girls. Right. Yeah. Can you share me any incident of you, like you feel like you really have to, I know you're talking with engineers, you're in that space, any incident where you really feel like, okay, this is really such a double standard.

Okay, so I can, I can think of one instance where we had, it was probably, oh, it was a while ago, probably 10 or 20 years, 10 or 15 years ago, maybe. And so younger in my career. And we had a salesperson who was leading the charge on a major project that we were doing and pitching. And I knew he was completely unprepared. I mean, I knew going into it, that this was not going to happen. Now here's a male who's easily 20 years older than me, who's got an engineering degree, at least one or two, and walking into a major opportunity. And I remember the team telling me, we've never had somebody who's not an engineer, demo, or product. What makes you think that you can even talk their language? And I'm like, okay, because I've been working here for a dozen years, but okay. And I just remember the doubt that, and I thought to myself, you know, female or engineer, right? Is it in my own company

too, right? Wow. Yeah. Where do you get your strength to overcome that? What do you have? I've never much liked people. I'll say it this way. I've never much like people who thought more of themselves than others. I've never much resonated with people who did FaceTime or said something for the net effect of it rather than really meaning it. And so for me, someone judging me or anybody that way without any evidence or without any really asking any questions, I almost think now, although again, you know, even five, 10 years ago, I wouldn't have thought this way. I almost think now they look a little foolish for it. Now that comes from a place of confidence. If you can imagine back when I was

not very confident, that's really hard because you begin, they're just voicing the doubt because they don't know any better. And yet they've put that thought in your mind. And now all of a sudden you start doubting it. Again, no evidence, just someone's nasty little opinion rooting around in your mind saying, really, are you really that good? You know, and you worry. Yeah, yeah, that's, yeah, absolutely. That's very hard to overcome. Right. Right. And I think for women, especially, I don't know that they're given the benefit of the doubt sometimes.

Yeah, absolutely. I, I, I agree with you in that. Now, Christine, can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? I know I've seen you in the UN. I mean, you're there. I'm so proud of you clapping. I saw that picture. So tell me. I'd have to say two people come to mind, one from the circles of EO and one from without, um, Warren Rustand for sure. I think, um, his messaging, and I think it's really hit home for me recently in that, um, he's always taught the same really core concepts and it's so much easier to hear them now in this time and think, okay, they've stood the test of time. Like these are proven, like, I get it now. Like we need to be doing this stuff, right? Certainty of intent and coming from a place of values-based decision and, you know, just all the things that make such

sense. And you're like, oh, dang it. Right. Yes. So I'd say he has been, the whole concept of servant leadership that he talks about is literally I'm, I'm building my life's purpose around that. I mean, that's, that really resonates with me from my personal life or from my, from my life outside of EO, I would say a gentleman by the name of TD Hughes, who was a local business CEO CEO for a very, very large pizza chain here actually in Cincinnati and mentored me when I was much younger and really sort of gave me, asked me those questions that, you know, the questions that mentors ask you that can't be answered in one sitting and you're like, oh, I have no idea. It's like world peace, you know? But he asked me those questions and he constantly challenged me and we're still

in touch with each other, you know, 25 years later, but he was, he's been really instrumental in making me think twice about some things. Now that's wonderful. It's, it's nice to have that person. Right. That could just quick your mind and then, Oh, I did not think of it like that. Right. Isn't it? He was, I remember going into his office the very first time we were meeting and I remember bringing, I had done a personal SWOT analysis. I knew what I was not good at.

I came in and I'm like, okay, here's what we need to work on. Here's my five weaknesses that I've categorized, like an order of importance and how I need to work on them and some things that I could commit to and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he just stood there like literally laughing, like, okay. And he's like, sit down. And I mean, I remember this, like I was all nervous, like I wanted to be prepared and be ready. And he's like, how old are you? Like you're already the person you're going to be. Like when you get into a tough time, whoever you are right now is who you're going to be. Like we need to hire you some people for all those weaknesses, because if you don't hire

someone to do what you're weak at, like you're never going to get there. And I'm like, oh, like all of the helium out of the balloon, right? But I remember that. And he's right. Years later, he's right. You have to hire for what you're not good at. My experience tells me because I'm never going to be good at those things. Yeah, absolutely. I love how you're going to a session and you already did your SWOT analysis and you came prepared. Right. Here are my 15 personal weakest traits. Which one would you like to start on today? You're really like, this is what I wanted to work on. I love that. Well, Christine,

what scares you the most about this current situation? For me personally or for others? Personally. Ah, that one's okay. So that one I can answer for others. I'm a little bit more unsure of that answer, but for me, um, I felt, I have felt really prepared. Hmm. I felt, I have felt really prepared. Um, I feel like that risk averse portion of me means that we've been very ready for this. We have all the automations that we need. We are

very good about cashflow. We've been very conservative in what we spend, you know, we've been doing, I guess, the right things. So as a result, um, for us, we've not really seen that shoe drop yet. So my concern really is that when everybody else is in recovery mode, that's when it's going to hit me, like it's still coming and I don't see the forest for the trees. So we're not making a strong pivot right now. We're doing some things to adjust, but we're not making a strong pivot because I don't think we really need to. And I worry that that decision, which is not just not doing something, we have decided to stay the course, that that decision in the long term may not be a good thing. Well, it's nice to hear because not everyone has this

reserve for the next six months. You know, it's great to hear that your company's solid. And I know once it's open, you're going to stay strong because you're prepared and that's, it's hard. I mean, that's very rare. Right. It's, you know, I, I can't say that I would have done that on my own. I'm not a planner that way I'm organized, but I'm not a planner that way that has been literally having the right advisors, the right, um, uh, bench of people looking after stuff like that, that knew those tools to use. Um, and I'm And I find myself to be super fortunate right now to have those people. That's wonderful. Part of it, I sort of think is luck. Maybe that's why I worry about it. No, it's not luck. How much of that was luck? Did I do something like really good,

but just by chance? No, it's calculated. Because like you said, your personality, you're not taking risks. Everything is like, it's not luck. I don't think it's calculated because like you said, your personality, you like, you're not taking risks. Everything is like, you know, it's not luck. I don't think it's luck. You really plan it to be prepared at any time. Well, I hope whatever I planned works out well. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Now, Christine, I know you've been so involved with the EO, you're involved with the global, you know, so tell me what is that experience like to you?

You know, that's it's a. It prepares you really well for almost anything I'd say. The leadership positions that I have in my company really are me driving the business in the direction that I think is the right way to go. When you're dealing with trying to make decisions with a table of entrepreneurs who are all really focused on making their own decisions, it's hard to lead leaders. It's really hard to get everybody on the same bandwagon. And that one outlier is going to be the person that's the most vocal about whatever the topic is at the time and trying to corral them in so that you're all of the same mindset is sometimes really challenging. So I think it's, it's caused me to really step back and, and ask questions more. I don't think I rush into things maybe as fast as I used to.

I don't think I drive to a preset determination anymore. You know, I think I've learned to ask questions and maybe consider alternatives. I think it was a time of a lot of change in the organization. We were really, really, really expanding broadly internationally. And I think that's been great for the organization to get out of the U.S. and to go elsewhere. And while they've done that for years and years, I mean, the expansion, the rapid expansion of international on the time that I was on the board was really amazing. And watching that shift from being a U.S.-centric organization to truly a global organization while I was there, it was a really fantastic experience.

Wow. And what did you learn to yourself? How do you listen when someone really not agreeing with you with the direction? That's very hard, right? Like in the beginning, it's hard not to take it personally. What did you do to transform to be more open? Right. And I will tell you that you have the added burden of being a fiduciary of the organization. And so there are certain things that may be certain data that I may not be able to share publicly. Right. So you have somebody that may be challenging you and you have to be really careful about what you tell them because you're like, okay, like we considered all these things you're saying. And for some reasons that maybe I can't share with you yet, you know, we've decided that we can't do that. And, and they don't want to hear that. And, and,

so sometimes that's really challenging. I found that, and people used to laugh because when the tough questions would come, everybody would usually point to me and say, well, Kristen will answer that. You know, I, I think that's because I just wasn't afraid to answer directly. And if, if I'm not able to share a piece of data with you, but I tell you directly, look, like I hear what you're saying. I understand it. We considered that. I can't share with you why we didn't go that direction, but please know that we thought about that. Um, I think people are okay with that. Like they, they want someone to say that even if they can't talk you through the whole decision. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I just could imagine,

I mean, like you said, it's easier to manage a company, but managing a player that everyone thinks they're so great, that takes a lot of, you know, strength and how you navigate that. That's really inspiring. Oh, thank you so much. It's, it was truly my pleasure. I think I grew and I learned so much about myself and about what's possible and about responsibility. I think one of the things that I really hadn't thought of,

you know, I'm running this business in North America, helping North American manufacturers. I had never really considered what that meant someplace else in the world, because if I'm not putting my software in halfway around the world, then how does that affect me? And we're all connected regardless of what you do.

You know, what you do here affects people elsewhere. And I think that opened my eyes to the smallness of the world and how very close we all are to each other. And it was just, it was a great experience for me. I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Wow, that's wonderful. Now, Christine, what you do contributed to your success? I think I've always tried to stay true to myself. And maybe that's going back to those lessons of high school. You know, if you're not real popular, you don't have to make yourself into anything because you're not real popular to begin with. So I think for me, I was always true to who I was as a person, or I learned how to do that. And I think that that would make me the proudest of myself in the end is that, you know, whether I made the right decision or the wrong decision, if I at least stuck by my decision and knew what I did, what I thought was

right, I'll always be okay with that. And think back to a time that you felt transformed and how did you change and why? So I'll use an example I've used before, and I'm sorry if I've shared this story with you, but I remember sitting the very first day. Did you do the entrepreneurial master's program by any chance EMP? No, I did the Harvard, but I've heard a lot of great things about EMP. So EMP, I'll give you, I'll give you an inside skinny, or at least this is what they used to do back in the day. First day of EMP, you show up in the afternoon and you have a really nice evening and everybody introduces themselves and you go around.

It's a very formal introduction. Everybody speaks in the room. So 65 or 70 people are going to do this five or 10 minute introduction. You're there all night long, like 1230 and one o'clock in the morning, and you're still peeling out of there. So you feel super special, like you're the chosen class, you know, and this is going to be fantastic. And you show up the next morning. And the very first thing that we heard was, do you know, entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs, truly entrepreneurs, because they've failed repeatedly. And no matter how many times you got beaten down, you got back up again.

And I'm like, where was that awesome message from last night? Like what, what happened to being like super fabulous? And I sat there and it was truly the first time. Now my company was already a dozen years old, I think when I was there and I sat there and I'm like, oh my God, I'm an entrepreneur because like we've been there, like barely making payroll once, you know, like, like expenses, you know, like cashflow, like maxing out a line of credit, like we've done all that stuff. And I'm like, so that makes me an entrepreneur because I didn't do well. Like that was a real eyeopening experience for me. And I think that gave me the safety net that, yeah, I can totally do this because if I can fail, I can succeed.

And if failing is what it is to be an entrepreneur, I already conquered that. So like really well too. Like, so I should be able to rock this other thing. And I literally came back the next year. I wore clothes that fit me. I talked different. I mean, I literally physically dressed different, acted different. I mean, it was like a light bulb went off in my head and just really seriously transformed me as a person. Wow. Now that really got me excited to join pretty soon then.

It's a great program. I loved every minute of that program. Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that story. Now we're selling the AMP at MIT. Yeah, I wasn't trying to do a pitch, but it's just that idea that you, I guess, maybe it's possible elsewhere where you just submerge yourself in something that causes you to see something you knew as a truth, right, an undeniable truth, totally differently.

And you're like, oh, that's not an undeniable truth. Like I totally got it wrong. And it, it gives you this window that just opens to something else altogether. And I think that's possible for other people. So, but it, but it really worked for me at that program. Yeah. That's amazing. And was that in the very beginning? When did you, when, when did you join? Oh no. So I've been a member since 1996. I'm an old member. But I did get, I did get out for a couple of years. I had a forum that was an aging forum and a bunch of them sold businesses, decided not to rejoin. So, so I was out for a couple of years and then came back. And so that was where I came back in. And I will tell you the, the first time around, I did nothing outside of my chapter. I stayed very local to Cincinnati. And the second time I joined, I was all in both feet, take me

anywhere, like, you know, all in, all in. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite, um, my, my favorite events or classes are attending outside of the chapter like i'm going i went to i i saw you in portugal yeah yeah yeah so those global events are my favorite like i find so much value just meeting people from around the world right it's just it's just my favorite thing just my one of my favorite thing to do and i have have to say, I, I, um, I allowed that to transform me too. There was another member of the board who had taken his kids with him and his wife when he traveled. And I was like, wow, like I should try that. And I started taking my family with me everywhere and they saw the world. I mean, my kids were on four continents in 12 months time. I mean, you know, just unbelievable experiences that I couldn't possibly imagine.

And that that's been really amazing too. Yeah. I have, I have to think, yo, I've been really transformed personally and professionally, and it just opened your mind. Yeah. It's like, I wish I've known this long time ago when I started my business, I could have saved a lot of mistake and money and error, you know what I mean? Or just the way you think it just. Right, right, right. Yeah. I'm still amazed. I don't know about you, but I'm still amazed that, um, no matter where you go in the world, if you know, it's an EO or sitting across from you, like this boundary just goes down. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, how old you are,

how long you've been doing it, you know, what language you speak. It's like this whole barrier comes down and you're just open to everything. And I still do not understand how that magic happens, but it all over, right? Yeah. And it is noticeable even me talking to women of EO. We just, it's, if you just speak the same language and we're, we don't, we're just open and be vulnerable and it doesn't matter because we don't feel being judged. Right. And that is the refreshing part of it. Like you can share your darkest, darkest problem and that's okay. Right.

Yeah. And nobody's going to come back at you for it, right? No. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And yeah, that's one thing that I really love that, again, you can talk to anyone, you share the same value and core values and it's, it's a, it's a magic,

but it's amazing how they were able to achieve that. Right. You can't, you can't say you're going to build that and just make that happen. I don't know how, right? It's like building a culture at a company. You don't just say, this is the culture we have, and we're going to have that culture. Like you have to actively live it. And that's crazy to me how they've been able to do that. Yeah. So, yeah. And so Christine, what do you see as your place or purpose in life? So I've been down a very interesting journey. My purpose right now is selfless service for the world. Difficult to say, but selfless service for the world. I truly get joy out of giving to others, family members, people in the community, other EOers, you know, people in my business, people in my, the various organizations that I serve with. It's, it's

what I was meant to do. There are times that I struggle with that because I think it's easy to get lost in that too, right? If you're doing selfless service, you can lose yourself a little bit. And I have, have gone to the extreme in that from time to time. Um, but it is truly who I am. Like when I say that people are like, Oh yeah, that's totally you. Yeah. So, but it's, it's not, um, I thought that would be one of those things you just pick and it's not, it took me probably four years to come up with that, you know, and many, and many,

many iterations and a couple of very honest conversations with EOers who said, you know, that's a nice catchphrase, but I don't think that really describes you at all. Like, thank you for your honesty. I appreciate it. Now, Christine, how do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered for having tried I've always told my kids that no matter what you do in life if you just tried hard or worked hard at who you were and what you were meant to do you know I don't want to die nor do I want to be remembered for well if only she had done something else right I just want to be remembered

for having really worked hard and trying as hard as I could. Wow. Well, Christine, thank you so much for sharing a lot of wisdom that, oh my God, I'm learning a lot. I have to take notes from this from you. So I appreciate your time. And where can they find you? What's your handle? Yeah, so they can find me. I'm Kristen McLean on LinkedIn, I think. And Kristen McLean three, I think, or Kay McLean three on Facebook. But the company name is The Vivid Inc Company and CIMX Software, C-I-M-X Software.

Well, thank you so much. And I can't wait to see you next time in the next global event, hopefully. Yeah, whenever we're able to do that again, right? Thank you so much. Have a good day. Thank you, Kate. Have a great one.

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