Women in Leadership Series: Jamie Van Dixhorn
Meet Jamie Van Dixhorn. Global Communications Director, wife, mama of 3.
She’s truly one of the BEST leaders I’ve ever encountered.
Jamie travels the world on amazing photo/video shoots, always looks so effortlessly put-together, rubs elbows with some of the most incredible celebrities and normalizes forgetting to sign your kid’s field trip permission slip (#momlife).
She’s powerful and vulnerable. She’s inspirational and authentic. She’s truly phenomenal and I can’t wait for you to soak up her wisdom…
(You’re gonna want to bookmark this one. I know you’ll be coming back to it again and again!)
Enjoy.
Tell us a bit more about you and what you do for a living. Hi, my name is Jamie Van Dixhorn, wife to Dave, Mom of David (13), Anna (11) and Andrew (10), Director of Brand Communications and Executive Sponsor of the PACK (Parent’s & Caregivers) Business Resource Group at Kohler Co.
I started my career in Chicago where I had the great fortune of working at Leo Burnett for 14 years. During that time I got to work on some of the world’s most iconic brands; Disney, Starbucks and Kellogg’s. 3 kids later, (while living in a 2 bedroom West Loop condo) it was time to leave the city and return “home” to Wisconsin.
I was beyond excited to learn that Kohler Co, another iconic brand, had an internal advertising and communications department. I jumped at the opportunity to join the team. Today my job is to partner with Marketing teams in all 3 of Kohler Co.’s business units (Kitchen & Bath, Energy and Hospitality & Real Estate) to deliver communication strategies and campaigns that build the brand and drive revenue for the organization.
How long have you been in a leadership role? I’ve been in a leadership role my whole life! From the oldest of 3 girls, to the President of the Student Council, to entering the workforce where you lead formally and informally every day, I’ve always found myself in leadership roles. But, I think the real answer you might be looking for is about 15 years of formal people leadership in a corporate setting.
Did you always know you wanted a leadership position? Why/why not? Yes. Maybe it’s being the oldest-child, or an enneagram 3, but leadership has always come naturally, especially when there is a lack of leadership. I can’t help but step in.
What do you find most rewarding about being a leader? I love seeing people grow and develop into leaders themselves. For me, there’s nothing more rewarding than delivering a spot bonus, pay increase or promotion to reward someone for the work they put in. Those are the BEST days.
I also love seeing a big project that I helped lead in real life. When I’m at a trade show or event and I see the smile on an attendee’s face, or when my kids see a Kohler ad and yell “Mom, your commercial is on YouTube!”. That’s fun and it makes them proud of what I do, which is an added bonus.
How do you manage being a wife, mom of 3 and a leader in your organization? From the very beginning of my own WOHM-life (working out of home Mom), I learned that to be a successful working parent, you have to LOVE your job and TRUST your childcare. If either one of those things are not true, you will be miserable. Your first priority is to make both true.
Let me also start by saying that every Mom, family and company are different. What works for one family may not work for another. For me, it’s all about rhythm.
I’ve found that establishing healthy and consistent rhythms for how I move through my days and weeks works best for me. And then be flexible when schedules change, there’s a sick kid, or a traveling spouse.
I love waking up early and getting a quick workout or quiet time in before the kids wake up. I walk the dog without anything in my ears. It’s an informal form of meditation that allows my mind to wander and land on whatever needs my attention. I solve A LOT of problems before 7:00 AM. Then it’s a sprint to get the kids off to school or activities before I get to my desk at 8:00 AM and reward myself with my first sip of coffee.
Side note to all the infant/toddler Mom’s out there. The paragraph above may sound dreamy and unattainable. I was there once and I see you. The best advice I have to offer is that “this too shall pass” and someday I promise they will sleep past 5:30 AM, you’ll have your mornings back, and you’ll be pulling them out of bed to get them off to school.
When I’m at work, I bring my full self to work. When I’m at home, I try to be fully present at home. Of course there are times when I need to leave work early to run a kid to a doctor appointment, or I have a late night presentation to write after the kids are in bed. That’s ok and I’ve learned not to be too hard on myself.
A few other quick things I’ve learned over the years:
Outsource as much as you can. I still remember when David was an infant and I thought that being a good Mom meant that I had to wash his baby bottles. Turns out infants don’t care who washes their bottles and it was completely fine to hand that task over to someone else. Whether that’s asking a neighbor to carpool or hiring a nanny that can also do some grocery shopping, one less thing on your plate is one less thing!
Take vacation. You’ll never regret taking time off to get away with your spouse, kids or girl-friends.
Be there for as much as you can but give yourself grace when you can’t. No one told me that as my kids got older that their games, meets, concerts, etc. would all be IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!? I try to block my calendar but sometimes business travel and meetings are unavoidable. That’s ok. I try to make up for it with phone calls, good questions and other quality time opportunities.
What are some of the biggest challenges women in leadership face and what advice do you have to overcome them? For me, the biggest challenge is “mental load.” It’s the hot-phrase meant to cover all the things that women are thinking about in any given moment; did I change the laundry? What are we having for dinner? Did I remember to send a snack, sign up for Parent/Teacher conferences, send in the field trip money, etc, etc? Combined with did I send that email? Submit that expense report? Schedule that meeting? It’s A. LOT. And it’s all happening at once.
Please know, this is NOT a dig on men. My husband is great and we have a healthy division of labor but there are some things that as a Mom, you just can’t shake. And, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! At least for me, I WANT to be in charge of all those things.
The problem, however, is that while I’m choosing to carry the mother-load, some of my peers are taking that energy and putting it into grad school, extended learning, catching up on articles about the latest in AI or the newest social media platform. I often feel like I’m falling behind.
The best advice I can give? Find ways to learn from those that have the time. Ask questions and listen hard.
What would you say to a young female leader who struggles to use her voice and share her thoughts at work? Be the expert. Spend the time actively preparing for the meeting; study the topic, anticipate the questions, rehearse the presentation, have a POV and a solid rationale for whatever it is you’re recommending. Chances are, you know more about the subject matter than the person you’re presenting to…good preparation builds confidence.
What’s one thing you wish you would have known earlier in your career? That leaders don’t have all the answers either. I still remember looking at a peer of mine a few years ago and realizing that no one was going to give us the answer. Rather, everyone was looking to us to solve it. It was a humbling but also empowering moment.
What advice would you offer the next generation of female leaders?
You don’t need to know everything, you just need to determine the next best step. So often we feel like we need to understand the full picture but with how quickly technology, social media, and the world changes, there is no standard operating procedure. All we can do is determine the next best step. Do that. That’s when the next best step reveals itself and you just keep moving forward.
Manage your energy, not your time. Prioritization is a pipe-dream. We will always have more work than time. If you have more time then work you should be asking yourself “why?” Prioritization will solve itself when you start thinking more about where to put your energy by asking yourself:
What’s something only I can or need to do?
What do others need from me to make progress?
What absolutely needs to be done today?
