Meet Gina Judge

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Judge. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.

Gina, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I love this question because resilience is a skill that can by learned and developed by anyone. I know I wasn’t born with it. As I’ve aged, it’s really crystallized for me that facing adversity is simply part of being human. And I’m grateful that my parents, teachers, colleagues and friends have either been examples or reinforced the idea that it’s not the problems we face but how we choose to deal with and learn from them that makes all the difference in what happens next in our lives.

Having a growth mindset is proving to be valuable in every facet of our personal and professional worlds. I attended parents’ night at my son’s school and was so happy to see the teachers focusing on life skills. One referenced how the World Economic Forum identified resilience, flexibility and agility as one of the top job skills today. It’s a great reminder that resilience is a muscle we should build every day.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’ve worked in communications and marketing for more than 20 years. In college, I studied journalism and sociology; my career has really been a fascinating blend of the two. Sociology studies how people behave in society, patterns of social relationships, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. Communications leaders find relevant ways to articulate how an organization provides value to its stakeholders including employees, consumers, policy makers and community leaders.

It’s exciting to witness the evolution of and increasing importance of the communications function. Axios recently reported, “CEOs are relying on communications and corporate affairs teams to help them navigate the complexities of modern business society, politics and culture.” When I started in this field, the approach was more tactical with a focus on press releases, product launches and one-way information pushes. Today, our craft is much more strategic as people better understand how a thoughtful communications plan can help build relationships, increase trust, make people feel connected, solicit new ideas and so much more. We can be the competitive advantage and make the difference between two companies with comparable products by knowing our audiences and involving them in our story.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’d recommend that people who are in early in their journey focus on:

1. Having self-compassion: Be kind to yourself, recognize we’re all imperfect humans, and be mindful of the moment you’re in. We can’t change the past or predict the future, but we can be fully present with ourselves and the people around us today.

2. Listening and making people feel heard: Not only does listening help you develop as a lifelong learner, but making people feel heard can make the difference between making people feel connected vs making them feel alone. Feeling like you belong is a fundamental human need so there’s a lot of magic in sparking that for others.

3. Choosing joy: There are a lot of difficult challenges in the world today, but we can decide to see the good in the world and cultivate our own happiness even when things are hard. This can help us thrive and be more compassionate to others.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

Wow, this is a huge question and there isn’t one answer. My mom is from Vietnam and my dad is from a small town in Minnesota. He was the first in his family to put himself through college, got a job in Chicago, then was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war. That’s how they met, and they’ve now been married for 52 years.

The first example I take from their story is courage. It took a lot for my mother as a young woman to leave her family and country to live in a place she’d never been before. It also took a lot for my father to follow his heart during a time in our country when biracial relationships weren’t always accepted.

Another common thread in my life is how enriching diversity can be. My mom taught me and my sister her language, cooks delicious Vietnamese food for us, and practices Buddhism. My dad is proud to be an American and is a devout Lutheran. I’ll admit I was often embarrassed about how different we were compared to the kids in our neighborhood, and it wasn’t until my college years that I realized how lucky I am to have been exposed to different cultures and ideas. It makes me unique and helped me develop empathy for people who feel like “other.”

Last, they taught me the importance of community – understanding that everyone wants to belong, and we should all foster that. While we had humble beginnings as a young family, my mom was highly active in the Vietnamese community, helping refugees navigate a new life in a foreign place. My dad was an active member of the Jaycees and volunteered for literacy organizations. I learned no matter what your station in life is, there’s always something you can give.

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginajudge/