Leadership lessons from Christine Coughlan

Watch the video from the show and read the extended, exclusive transcript of her interview below.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and consistency.

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Christine Coughlan:

My name is Christine Coughlan and I’m the VP of Project Management and Productivity at Arizona Financial Credit Union. 

STN:

We’ll get into some employment history and how you got to Arizona Financial, but just first, where are you from? What was it like growing up? 

CC:

I’m originally from Zimbabwe, in Africa. For those who might not be familiar with that, it is actually in the southern part of Africa, neighboring South Africa. I grew up there for most of my life. Growing up in Zimbabwe was pretty exciting.

I grew up in a family where there were three brothers and one sister, but my sister came when I was 17. So I grew up a tomboy around the three boys, which was pretty exciting. They made me tough. 

My parents were very, very strict but also very loving. Just a loving and kind home, very supportive, very involved, [and] very loving. It was just an amazing experience growing up. My dad was super supportive of education and always pushed us to do our best. So he sacrificed for us to always be authentic and just self-development, [and] continued education. We worked really hard in that aspect, but it also supported us doing things outside of just education. I was really involved at school in a lot of different areas.

I also was involved in sports. I played field hockey, I played basketball as well as soccer, and was the captain for all three of those sports, which was pretty fun. I had a great group of friends and we just really had a good time growing up in just [a] great circle of friends, family and friends, the barbecues, and just family time.

My parents sacrificed for us to go to private schools, so I went to a convent and was taught by nuns my whole junior and senior years. I graduated from there and then went to a co-ed Junior college where I was interestingly around guys for the first time. So that was fun.

I came here to America at the age of 19. I arrived on a Tuesday night in Chicago, [at] 7:00 PM or so. It was snowing, so it was amazing. Someone from Zimbabwe, seeing all that fluffy snow. It was pretty exciting. The next day I hated it. It was all dirty.

But the very next day I started my first job at a private country club, and I stayed with family friends for three weeks before I moved into my first apartment, slept on the floor before I bought a mattress, couch, and so forth.

STN:

Do you still go back to Zimbabwe?

CC:

I do. I actually go back every year. I take about two to three weeks because there are about two and a half days of travel back and forth in the jet lag and everything else. But, my parents also visit me. I’m very fortunate that both my parents are still living, so they do visit us as well, and when they come, they are actually able to stay two or three months or so. My kids love their grandparents. I’m also teaching them to speak my native language, so that’s been pretty fun as well.

But yes, I do get to see my family and go back and I actually appreciate being in Zimbabwe [more] now than I did when I was growing up. When I go back, I always make sure that I always do something super fun that I never appreciated if it’s a safari or anything, adrenaline junkie, things like that. Walking with lions, talking with elephants, bungee jumping and things like that. Things I never really appreciated growing up I get to do now when I go back home. 

STN:

You said your first job in America was working at a Chicago-area country club, so it must be an interesting story about how you ended up at Arizona Financial Credit Union. Can you walk us down that path and explain how you connected with this organization?

CC:

Absolutely, [it was] just a lot of growing and learning and mistakes and bad decisions, good decisions.

I was in Chicago for a good 10 to 15 years. I worked two jobs. I worked at the country club, but I also started working at a credit union at the age of 20. So I [have] been in the banking industry on and off since the age of 20, but [then] I started working for this maintenance repair and operations called HD Supply. I worked there for almost 10 years and they gave me a promotion to manage all our event marketing events, all the big trade shows. The biggest trade show we had was like 65,000 people. 

I ended up getting married while I was in Chicago [but] I had to move to San Diego, California for that promotion.

My husband and I uprooted and moved to San Diego in three weeks, literally had to pack up our house, [and] move to San Diego. We were there for a year until he got a promotion and a job to come to Arizona. That’s how I came here.

When I came here, I knew I wanted to go back into the banking industry. I worked for Bank of America and I then decided to go work for CVS Aetna, which was a great experience in project management. Then I was on LinkedIn and happened to find Arizona Financial, looked it up, heard about the great culture and the great reviews that were there, [and] gave it a shot. By the very next day I had an interview with HR and the rest is history. Best decision of my life. 

STN:

So, those reviews on LinkedIn were true?

CC:

They were true. The culture was something that I was looking for because I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wanted to work for an organization that truly cares for its employees and vice versa. That’s what I was looking for and that’s exactly what I found.

STN:

Paint a picture of what the day-to-day is like in your current role at AZFCU.

CC:

I serve the project management office. There are six project managers on the team. We run and support all the initiatives around the credit union, all our strategic initiatives, including any mergers and acquisitions or any software implementations, any product implementations, anything that each of the different departments might need in terms of implementing.

We work very closely with our research and development team. They do their piece and then when it’s been approved by senior leadership, that project comes to us. We run it end-to-end from initiation, planning, execution, as well as closing.

On top of that, we’re part of the productivity team now. So any cool new stuff that comes [along], we want to make sure we spread it out to the rest of the credit union. We take that, we learn and we make sure that we can be able to provide that support to the rest of the organization in terms of productivity so that we’re [as] efficient as possible. 

STN:

Let’s talk a little bit about social transformation which is one of the principles of AZFCU. What drives you in that regard? What’s the driving force behind change and social transformation?

CC:

I’m a big advocate for it. I believe in self-improvement. Social transformation is something that I’m super supportive of, not just for myself, but within my team and the organization itself. So [that’s] continuing education, supporting people where they are, meeting people where they are, helping them grow, giving them a voice to understand where they want to be, what they’re working on, and things like that. It’s supporting my team in terms of them learning through the experiences, not just at work but in their personal lives.

It is also getting educated and keeping up with market trends. Project management is evolving. So we want to make sure that we’re always up to date with what is most current. With AI coming in and everything else, we want to make sure that we’re up to date. 

I am a big advocate of supporting people and being my most empathetic and energetic self. I’m very energetic. It is something that I take pride in because it is being authentic, and that’s why I love working for Arizona Financial. They really accept you for who you are, and they actually glean and lean into that so that you can continue to grow.

STN:

Being in a position of leadership, what’s your process or philosophy for engaging with the community and driving impact? How do you like to be approached by leaders and other people who want to pitch or collaborate with you? 

CC:

I believe in giving everyone a voice, I don’t care if you’re in an official leadership position or not. I believe that the greatest ideas come from everyone and everywhere.

I get approached in different ways and as a leader. I make sure I take the time to understand what is it that they’re really trying to accomplish. I try to be as supportive as possible. I’m extremely involved in the community within my organization and outside [of it].

Within my organization. I’m actually part of a Black and African-American Employment Engagement Group, which supports just education and transforming yourself to be your best self. We support about 60 members that we’re helping to grow. [We are] having social events, supporting them in education growth, updating their LinkedIns, helping them have self-improvement, and understanding and discovering their why. 

As a leader, I believe it is very important to be authentic and to be able to share those ideas so we can all continue to grow. There’s room for everyone.

On the outside, I’m very involved in my church. I serve in the women’s ministry as well as supporting the greetings. I’m also involved now in what is called the Black Arizona Run. On Sunday mornings, we’re supporting all kinds of community leaders and all kinds of community members to come together, support them in their fitness journey, [by] encouraging [and] inspiring them. We do a 5K strength training.

I like to make sure that I get involved in my community. That’s outside of my very energetic and amazing kids. I have an 8-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. I don’t know where they get the energy from, but they get it from somewhere. They keep me very, very busy.

STN:

We saw on Linkedin that your run had a small number of people for that first 5K run and now it’s like 250.

CC:

[We] actually just started with five people. The next week they had 20, [in] week three 80, and now we’re at almost 250 people. We’re hoping that this week we’ll have 500.

STN:

That’s fantastic. How is it growing that quickly?

CC:

It is just word of mouth, really. The energy, the positivity there, I think is very inspiring.

STN:

You’re a perfect example of social transformation in the community. What advice would you give business leaders, nonprofit leaders, and community leaders? Why is it so important to get involved and support the community that we live in?

CC:

I believe that it’s important to get out there and support the community because you never know who’s hurting. You never know what people are going through. All of us are dealing with something in life. When you know that you’re supported, it just kind of helps you keep going.

We all want to keep going. We want to support each other and help each other grow and be the best version of ourselves. Bringing an authentic version of ourselves is super important in supporting the community [and that] is super important to me. It’s very important for us as leaders to be out there being authentic, because when we are authentic, people can really see us for who we are, and it encourages them to be able to show [us] who they are.

If we can all do our part, then we’re growing together and the world would be a much, much better place if we all put a little bit of energy into making each other better. 

STN:

Outside of this amazing work you are doing at AZFCU and in the community, you have a pretty cool story about meeting a celebrity who became a friend. Are you willing to share it?

CC:

Absolutely. My celebrity friend is Michael Jordan. At the country club that I spoke of, I initially actually started as a receptionist, but the manager came to me and said, I would be [a] really good waitress.

Waitress shifts were always two or more, [except] Sunday mornings were always one person. I happened to be working the Sunday breakfast. I knew Michael Jordan was a member. I had been told that and I knew of Michael Jordan growing up. But when Michael Jordan walked in with his friends, I did not recognize him.

When it was time to pay the check, I walked up to the table to ask who the member was, and everyone started laughing. 

And I thought, okay, I don’t know what’s really funny. But then Jordan said he was the member. So then I’m like, “Okay, sir, I’m sorry. May I get your member number and may I get your last name?”

He said “Jordan” and his three friends were laughing so hard. Then he’s like, “you don’t know who I am?”.

And I said, “I’m so sorry, sir.” I just thought he meant as a member because it was important for a waitress at this private country club to know the members.

So I’m like, “I’m so sorry, sir, I don’t.”

Then he asked if I knew Michael Jordan. I said, “Of course, I know Michael Jordan. Everybody knows Michael Jordan.” That’s when it clicked that it was Michael Jordan. And I became his waitress for several years. 

I ended up getting married there [at the country club], and Michael Jordan was out playing golf with his buddies. He found out that I was getting married and he came and said “hi” to my guests, and I was able to take a photo with him, [and] with my, unfortunately, ex-husband. What’s interesting is from the day we got married, my ex-husband’s profile picture is him and Michael Jordan with me cropped out.

So that’s how I met Michael Jordan. He was super awesome. He was nice to get to know and he was cool. I’m one of those people that was super embarrassed, but they made it pretty funny.