LeadX series kicks off with curiosity and authenticity from alumna Becky Griffin

Learning life lessons from others’ experiences is an invaluable tool for students preparing to navigate their careers. That was the case for 200 students gathered for Fisher’s inaugural LeadX: Unplugged speaker session on October 9, when they heard from Becky Griffin of JPMorganChase in Columbus, Ohio.

LeadX: Unplugged is a monthly series that brings students together with industry leaders for a dialogue about failures, lessons, challenges and tactics that shaped their success. The meaningful conversations offer insights into how industries evolve and give students a chance to network with the organization’s leaders.

“The main purpose of this series is for our students to learn leadership lessons that can only happen when they listen and interact with these executives,” said Interim Dean Aravind Chandrasekaran, who kicked off the event. “This is one way we can help our students differentiate themselves from other job candidates.”

Marlie Moner, a third-year finance student, and Working Professional MBA student Chantel Fucci, president of the Fisher Graduate Women in Business, led the discussion.

Under the theme of “navigating uncertainty,” Griffin (MBA ’07), head of Servicing and Support Operations for Home Lending at JPMorganChase, reflected on her leadership journey, failures she encountered along the way and the ambiguity present in her career.

“I am interested in a potential career and leadership roles in banking, so it was great to hear her perspective on how to lead large teams and the differences in the operations at a larger institution like JPMorganChase,” said Moner, president of the undergraduate student organization Women in Business.

Griffin started at Bank One in 2003, which was acquired by JPMorganChase in 2004, as part of its operations development program learning the ins and outs of the organization and how to navigate a large corporation. She said she never thought then that she would still be with the bank 22 years later.

Asked to offer her 21-year-old self some advice, she told the students to be confident in what they want to pursue, know they have something of value to add and be in the here and now — good things come to those who wait.

“She showed us that everyone goes through the same things, and her advice encouraged me to keep my head down and keep going when faced with challenges,” said Joey Hall, Jr., a first-year real estate and logistics student. “Her words helped me believe in myself, and when I see what I want, to go and get it.”

When asked about how uncertainty can influence choices, Griffin said to understand what you like to do and don’t like to do, but to be flexible to ride out life’s challenges.

“It’s great to have aspirations, but we all don’t get to be (chairman and CEO of JPMorganChase) Jamie Dimon,” Griffin said. “When you realize you’re ready to do a job at a certain level, then you can choose from a wide variety of jobs.”

Along that line, she told the students that one of her biggest failures was in vying for a job as a managing director several years ago. Recommended for the job, she thought she was a shoo-in for the role. When the committee met, she was not their choice.

“I learned I could react in one of two ways: be mad and decide to work elsewhere or learn from the experience and successfully go through the process again in the future,” she said. “I thought of the quote from the show ‘Ted Lasso’ about being a goldfish and forgetting what happened. I chose to move forward in my work.”

Now, years later in her leadership role at the bank, she said she is relentlessly curious about how to make things better, remains approachable and tries not to take things too seriously.

“As a leader, you need to be able to make decisions that are clear and communicate those decisions to the people it impacts,” Griffin said. “You can hold yourself back by overanalyzing things; it doesn’t matter how much time you spend analyzing a problem, you are still going to get things wrong. You need to make decisions with the information you have on hand.”

When it comes to networking, she said it is not always about shaking hands, but it is about doing a good job. When your work lands on a supervisor’s desk, they can see what you are capable of. It builds name recognition within a company, so that when an opportunity arises, you are top of mind.

“At times, I’ve been really scared to ask questions, but she really encouraged me to become more of a curious person,” said Kennedy Tucker, a fourth-year operations management student. “I appreciated her honesty about living in the now, her perspective on networking while on the job.”

Griffin said she loves working for a company that is a good steward of the community, offering financial education classes and partnering with Ohio State, Columbus State Community College and Nationwide on a variety of endeavors.

She’s also encouraged by the company’s embrace of technology and AI — the bank has installed large language models (LLMs) on all employees’ computers to improve customer service, call center and in-person interactions.

Asked about work-life balance, she advised to be very kind to yourself — not everything is perfect.

“I appreciated her perspective and her stories of how she make’s trade-offs, like when she goes to her kids’ events one day and then works harder the next,” said Jack Buzzard, a fourth-year marketing student. “I hope to have a family someday and she showed me how you can balance both.”

Griffin also had this advice for students: be confident and ask for what you want; be open to stretching yourself; and don’t underestimate yourself.

“At the nexus of everything is authenticity,” she said. "To be authentic, to be human, you need humility.”