Turning complexity into growth with Courtney Johnson
From psychology to enterprise IT, Courtney Johnson shows how emotional intelligence drives real business growth.
Courtney Johnson’s original plan was to become a psychologist.
A Vanderbilt double-major in psychology research and anthropology, she had the GRE scores, the research internships, and a clear path to a Ph.D. Then, her CEO entrepreneur grandfather delivered a memorable piece of advice: “He told me, ‘You’re going to peak. Don’t be a doctor. Go into business.’”
At the time, Courtney laughed it off but decided to take the GMAT, the admission test for business school programs anyway. When the economic downturn of 2008 hit, Courtney struggled to find a job in psychology research. But the door to the business world had been cracked open, and an IT leader at Build-a-Bear pulled her résumé.
“I had the soft skills and the people skills he was looking for,” Courtney recalled. “He said that he could teach me the technical stuff, so he did.”
That technical skill set combined with her natural ability to listen and think critically would set her on a course of a dynamic and impactful career, eventually leading her to her current role as Senior Director IT Business Partner for Take5, Meineke, Maaco, and ATI at Driven Brands.
From stuffed bears to billion-dollar launches
After joining Build-A-Bear full-time in 2013, the next ten years were filled with massive milestones that she achieved at multiple organizations:
- Launched nearly 100 Build-A-Bear stores as an IT project manager and systems engineer.
- Earned her MBA and MS at Indiana University Kelley School of Business while working full-time/
- Led Whirlpool’s culture-and-workplace transformation and the company-wide Microsoft-to-Google migration.
- Built Kraft Heinz’s co-pack new product procurement capability from zero, hiring the team, writing the playbook, and delivering $1.2 billion in rolling three-year revenue.
- Resurrected Pampered Chef’s declining food line from $6 million to over $35 million in just over two years and launched their first subscription platform.
Through every role and every industry, Courtney remained consistent in her ability to listen intently and simplify problems.
“My job is to take these big complex issues and translate them into an actionable plan to drive business forward,” she said.
Bridging the languages of business and technological
Today, Courtney’s experience in simplifying problems and designing straightforward solutions has led her to Driven Brands. She joined the company in 2022 working in the car wash group as a divisional CIO.
“I basically served as IT Business Relationship manager to launch projects and support growth,” she explained.
As Courtney grew in her career at Driven Brands, she shifted her focus to other brands such as Take5 Oil Change and projects across the company as a whole, working with Driven’s CIO Karen Conrad on implementing Oracle, a cloud-based enterprise finance and supply chain management solution.
Courtney credits her success on these and other projects to two primary factors: the relationships she builds with people and her broad understanding of business. This skill set has allowed her to become an excellent “business translator.”
“I essentially have to speak two languages,” said Courtney. “I’m going back and forth between operators who say ‘We need to drive more cars’ and the technologists who only speak in APIs and data lakes.”
A life built on emotional intelligence
Throughout her career, Courtney led teams of various sizes. But whether it's 2 people or up to 30, she chooses to always lead with empathy.
“I lead from a place of emotional intelligence,” she explained. “Every person is motivated by something different. My job is to figure out what that is, remove barriers, and give praise loudly in public.”
This human-centered approach forces Courtney to prioritize her own well-being so that she can show up for her team, her husband, and their family. She believes in living out the Japanese concept of ikigai.
“It’s basically saying that what you're good at, what you love doing, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for, doesn’t all have to be credited to your day job,” she said. “I have hobbies and interests outside of work that help to fulfill me.”
But at the end of the day, part of what gives Courtney’s life meaning is her work — what she’s done at Driven and over the last decade for various organizations.
She built a career that spans toys, appliances, CPG, direct-to-consumer kitchenware, and now automotive services, all while proving that sometimes the most valuable skill in technology isn’t technical at all.
Instead, it’s the ability to listen, translate, connect, and move the business forward.
And in this way, her grandfather was right: By going this route, she never peaked. In fact, she’s still climbing.