‘Never be afraid to ask’: Lessons from Driven Brands CIO Karen Conrad
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Driven’s Chief Information Officer, Karen Conrad, shares some of the valuable lessons she’s learned throughout her 30-year career.
After graduating from college with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems, Karen Conrad was offered a role in sales at a well-known international technology company. It was the company “everyone wanted to work for.”
They told her that while her technical aptitude test scores were high, her personality aptitude test suggested she would be happier in a sales position.
“Turning down that job was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,” Karen says. “I told them that I appreciated the offer, but I didn’t think I could sell anything that I did not truly understand. I needed to first understand IT from a foundational level.”
Not long after she turned down that job offer, Karen accepted a position that immersed her in a role where she would gain a deeper understanding of IT, business, and how the two work together. This decision put her on a path that spans decades in various IT leadership roles and led her to Driven Brands in 2022.
Today, Karen uses her valuable knowledge and skill set as the Chief Information Officer of Driven Brands.
Throughout her 30-year career, Karen’s learned many valuable lessons that she passes along to the women she works with today.
Be a contributor
Walking into a room, Karen expected to be judged by her outward appearance as a woman in a male-dominated field. As a mentor explained to her, “If you stay silent, those judgments will stay, too.”
She saw speaking up as an opportunity to communicate her value to others in the workplace. It’s a mindset she encourages with her own team today by creating a culture of respect and implementing professional development opportunities such as optional Lunch and Learns. At these events, anyone in the department has the opportunity to attend or present.
“Everybody has a voice,” Karen says. “I tell people that doesn’t mean they have to go in understanding everything or have the best idea in the room. You just have to be a contributor.”
Learn the business
Anytime that Karen has started to work for a new organization or assume a new job role, whether it’s in an IT support role or in a business-side role, the first thing she does is learn the business.
“IT is a support organization,” Karen explains. “Knowing the business is vital to IT’s success.”
Today, she uses her knowledge of Driven Brands’ business to help break down the silos around how IT operates.
“When you start trying to bring brands together, you have to be prepared for them to do things differently. If you don’t work together, the solution doesn’t come together,” Karen explains.
“You need to collaborate for things to work, and collaboration requires knowledge of the business.”
Always ask
When Karen gave birth to her first child, she took the standard six weeks off for maternity leave before returning to the office. Her daughter, who attended daycare, was constantly sick and required Karen to miss a lot of work. Despite loving what she did, she felt like her only option was to quit.
Karen explained her struggle to her boss at the time. Instead of accepting her resignation, her boss, also a woman and mother, told her, “You don’t have to quit. Let’s work together.”
Looking back on the experience, Karen says, “It taught me to never be afraid to ask. I knew I was valuable part-time, and she saw it, too.”
This is an experience she pays forward in her work today: “She taught me how to be a better leader.”
Find your passion
While a student at the University of Texas, Karen joined a women’s business fraternity, an organization with more than 500 members. It encouraged her to explore the various options available to her in the school of business. She found a lot of value as a member and later went on to lead the organization as President.
Eventually, she chose to pursue a career in IT.
“I chose computer science because time would just fly when I was working on it,” she explained. “I knew I had a passion there.”
That passion has only grown over the course of her career. Identifying that passion early on is something she encourages young women to search for when they start their careers.
“Find your wheelhouse and what you’re good at,” she says.