Welcome to this electrifying episode of Fearless Females! Today, Lorie Jones chats with Katie Kruger, the trailblazing CEO of KLS Associates, who turned her humble beginnings into a powerhouse career.
Katie reveals her secrets to staying authentic and resilient while overcoming financial hurdles and leadership challenges. Get ready to be inspired as she shares actionable advice on financial literacy, work–life balance, and making a lasting impact.
This conversation is packed with wisdom and motivation for all you growth-oriented professionals looking to crush your goals. Tune in, and let’s fuel your ambition!
Show Highlights:
- Two inspirations from a powerful female CEOs bookcase. [00:03:40]
- Dive into the life-building power of a dutiful childhood. [00:07:25]
- Is it time to rediscover your muchness? [00:14:52]
- Tips to grow professionally by observing achievers. [00:18:09]
- How to climb the career ladder when undervalued. [00:19:54]
- Self-encouragement skills every young woman needs. [00:26:52]
- Learn to reframe money droughts with a future focus. [00:30:44]
- A frank case for health and work–life balance. [00:33:27]
- True networking genius for those who don’t drink or golf. [00:35:02]
- How to positively condition yourself to reach for success. [00:43:09]
To learn more about Katie Kruger, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-kruger-colorado/.
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to http://fearless-females.com/
00:02.89
loriejones7
Good morning, we're here with Katie Kruger, who's the CEO of KLS Associates. And I just appreciate you you joining us today, Katie, and sharing a little bit of your journey. I'm really excited to hear about it.
00:18.48
Katie Kruger
Thanks so much for having me, Lori. It's an absolute pleasure to be here.
00:23.26
loriejones7
So I'm going to start out with a question I always start out with because it's my favorite question. I love reading. I've got now my stack is really high on my bedside table, but tell me what is your favorite book.
00:36.71
Katie Kruger
That's funny that you bring up the stack of books because there's a little bit of a joke at our house where I have been handed so many different books over the years that I stack them in the corner of the office, and they stretch from the floor all the way to the ceiling now. But I'm going to be really honest with you. The books that I like the most and that have shaped me the most are spiritual spiritual books. And there are two of them that I think have done the most good for me. One of them is na is called Awareness, and it's by Anthony Demello. And Anthony Demello, I think he passed away rather recently.
01:12.36
Katie Kruger
But he was a Jesuit priest and he teaches through storytelling and one of his um one of his stories reminds us that we never really change until we hit rock bottom.
01:26.97
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
01:27.19
Katie Kruger
And I remember finding that to be kind of a soothing truth. um I was handed the book by my older sister maybe 30 years ago and I've read it many times. The other book also spiritual is by Baba Ram Das. It's Be Here Now, and it's the importance of being present in the moment. And it's this lovely book also of storytelling. starts out as Richard Alpert. Baburam Das is Richard Alpert, this um prestigious professor in the Ivy League system here in the United States. He goes to meet the Maharaji and ends up staying and studying under the Maharaji. So the beginning of the book is kind of this story about his young life. The middle of the book is all of these crazy illustrations
02:12.31
Katie Kruger
about his time learning with the Maharaji and then the close of the book is called the recipe book and it's how we can apply being present in our own lives. So those two books have been really meaningful to me and I i give away my copies frequently and then buy more and replace them on my bookshelf.
02:27.67
loriejones7
um I love that.
02:28.07
Katie Kruger
They are not in the crack of the room that reaches up to the ceiling.
02:32.37
loriejones7
though That's a great idea. That way you you share your love with someone else. I'm going to do that. I'm going to go get four or five copies of my favorites and hand them out to people. But I love that idea of being present, you know, of really kind of You find that a lot of times your attention is pulled lots of different places. And if you don't constantly strive to turn away from the computer or what you're doing to really concentrate on the people, which are really the most important parts of our life, um that you miss you miss being there during those important things.
03:11.44
loriejones7
I love that. Thank you for sharing.
03:12.41
Katie Kruger
Yes. Like, I agree. He, Baba Ram Dass will say, if it costs you the vibe in the room, it costs too much. You know, I love it.
03:22.70
loriejones7
ah um I actually had a ah situation just recently. My daughter graduated from high school and we were this is my youngest daughter. And so we went on a trip to Florida and I was i had a an employee that was sick and I was working remotely. And I was trying to decide whether or not I needed to to show up at work or go snorkeling um you know with my daughter. and And I did choose to go snorkeling with my daughter. I decided that that that memory wouldn't
03:54.72
loriejones7
No one would remember if I answered the phone four times that morning, but I would always remember that snorkeling trip with Samantha that day. So think I think that's the idea of being present in our own lives.
04:04.20
Katie Kruger
That's a good reminder.
04:08.67
loriejones7
Thank you. Thanks for sharing that. So tell me a little bit about your journey. um How did you get where you're at today? What kind of what do you do? Just tell me a little bit about that.
04:20.29
Katie Kruger
Sure. I like to start way, way back because my young life had such an impact on what I would end up doing with my professional career. I grew up in rural Alaska, and my mom got sick when I was young. And my father worked away from home. And there were five kids in our family. And I always say, we were a kids raising kids environment. And we heated our home back then with a wood burning stove. And so this chopping and hauling of and stacking of wood was the chore of my young life.
04:52.23
Katie Kruger
And there was this one day after school in elementary school and my younger sister and I, we got off the bus and we were, we threw our backpacks in a snowbank and we were getting getting ready to take a load of wood up to the house. And it was during this time of year when there was near 24 hours of darkness. So it was maybe three o'clock in the afternoon, but pitch black out.
05:08.37
loriejones7
Mmhmm.
05:12.05
Katie Kruger
And it was a starry night sky over the mountains and the moonlight was shining on the snow-capped mountains. And I just remember it was quiet and serene, which isn't something a child would really notice, but I've come to understand it was a moment for me. I said out loud to my sister, I think I can do one of those jobs in the office buildings like we've seen in the movies. And she said, cool. And it was a moment for me. I know now that it was me. recognizing that I wanted to think to live. It was me understanding that I wanted to live differently. yeah It was a little bit of disillusionment. No one was going to come help me or us. We were going to have to make our own way and that there was a ladder in front of me and maybe a wrong right in front of me. And it's just the very beginning of understanding that you can climb to a new higher and better place. And I decided to get good grades. My grades were okay-ish back then.
06:11.71
Katie Kruger
And I really put my mind to it and I had this idea I was going to get my report card and take it to a tower in one of the big cities and I would get to work there. It was very simple in the fourth grade.
06:20.31
loriejones7
Thank
06:21.77
Katie Kruger
I did end up getting good grades and good test scores and I ended up getting into some of the U.S.'s great colleges, but because of my family circumstances, I was going to need to climb a few more rungs on the ladder before I'd head out to get educated.
06:26.13
loriejones7
you.
06:35.67
Katie Kruger
And so I ended up, I filled out a paper application, took a drug test and ended up working in Prudhoe Bay and Caparac in the northernmost point of the United States. And I lived and worked in the oil and gas camps there. And it was the hardest work I've ever done. And that's saying something considering how we grew up. And I remember that while I was small, I was one of the only women up there at the time and about 5,000 men. So I had my own room and I would always stay in my room at night just to kind of, this is about work, we're gonna stay out of trouble, we're gonna make the money and we're gonna go to college. And I really had my mindset for that. But in order to be valuable, I would crawl under the turbine modules when something would go wrong. So a turbine is this enormous machine that sits, you know,
07:22.79
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
07:22.84
Katie Kruger
on an 80 foot steel floor grate, you know, and I would crawl under the grate in my hazardous materials gear and find the thing that went wrong or clean something up. Or if we had to go and recon a piece of debris that had blown out on the tundra, you can't drive on it. So I'd go out um with crews or I'd go down into a little crevasse and pull out sheet metal or whatever. And eventually i did I did that in my late teen years, 17, 18, 19. And I pulled together the money I needed to go to college. And I went to Colorado State University in Colorado, here in Colorado, and almost all of my siblings, nearly all of them went to school there. All of them became college educated. And I ended up skipping walking in my college graduation to take a job downtown Denver. And it really just started to change my life.
08:13.55
Katie Kruger
And then you can go onto my LinkedIn and what I say is I didn't skip any runs on the ladder. There were no trampoline jumps. I systematically climbed that ladder up and worked really hard. I worked a little harder than everyone else in those early jobs and just accelerated up to when I was 34 years old, I became a CEO of a $13 billion dollars industry trade association and then later went up into um major leadership for ah Fortune 150 company, a big publicly traded global company. During those years where I really found my stride, I began to recognize that the rungs of the ladder are made up of people. And I decided to start giving back in a very systematic way. And I organized my calendar to give back 130 minute meetings per year to any young person looking to climb. And I would share three of my contacts in those meetings. And to date, I've done 1,200 of those one on one meetings.
09:13.91
Katie Kruger
And I hope to continue to really share what the ladder has meant to me and what the hidden rungs of the ladder are um as we climb up beyond C-suite into the boardroom and on. So it's been a great journey and there's more ahead.
09:26.32
loriejones7
That's an amazing That's great. I love that. I love that. What did you find as you were as you were climbing that ladder as you were, you know, making these steps. Did you find anything that was but Not what you expected, maybe, as you as you stood there as a young child getting off the bus saying I'm I think I'm I'm going to go to college I'm going to get my job I'm going to what was the thing that you found that was not as you expected it to be.
09:54.86
Katie Kruger
um
10:02.04
Katie Kruger
You know, I've talked about a lot of things. I've never shared these two things. These are really something I'd worked so hard as a child. I remember the very first day that I got home from a traditional job and it was 5.20 or 5.30 in the early evening. I could not believe that I was done working and I was in a townhouse, so it wasn't like you could go out on the land and chop wood or do anything. I also remember that it wasn't very many years into college, on college campus, when I got out of bed and my feet didn't hurt really bad when they hit the ground. Those were two really interesting moments in my life as you travel from rural America up into the professional world, I think.
10:51.68
loriejones7
ah
10:52.26
Katie Kruger
Unexpected.
10:52.48
loriejones7
and
10:54.79
loriejones7
Yeah, different. that My um dad grew up on a ranch, and so we've had a lot of, yeah, ranch life.
10:56.36
Katie Kruger
Different.
11:01.44
Katie Kruger
ah Yeah.
11:03.21
loriejones7
So I i really am understanding and resonating with that idea of ours was wood as well, a wood burning stove. So if you didn't chop the wood, you weren't warm. It seems like there was always more wood to be chopped.
11:17.39
Katie Kruger
Yes.
11:22.13
Katie Kruger
Yes, I don't remember even really minding it that much. It was just the way it was, right?
11:27.98
loriejones7
Yeah, just what you live with. So tell me a little bit, Katie, about what is the best investment you made in yourself. If you could go back and you could think, oh, I'm so glad I did that thing. It really made a difference in my life. which you Could you choose something?
11:43.44
Katie Kruger
Yes, I have a great story about one of the best investments I've ever made in myself. It all started with me. I was I had a couple of babies at home. I was starting my family. So it was a little bit late to a big Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce event. And there were 800 people in the ballroom and everybody had settled in for breakfast. And I was sitting down a little bit late. Kelly Bruff, the CEO was on stage and she was revving up the audience to get behind a big ballot initiative around improving transportation in Colorado quite a few years ago. And I remember seeing her and I had already had quite a bit of success as a CEO myself by then and thinking that's what I'm missing. You know, if I'm Alice in Wonderland and the cat in the hat said, you know, she's lacking in muchness. That's something I was feeling at the time. And I saw Kelly and I just knew that that that piece, that policy, that community piece was what I was missing.
12:41.28
Katie Kruger
And so I went back to my own trade association and I went to the funding circles that I had access to in Washington, DC. And I thought, you know, all of my savvy to date will be enough to bring dollars home and really get into the policy fight that's good for commercial real estate and business. Well, I didn't get nothing, but I got close to nothing. I think I got $30,000 for a study. And I and was kind of laughed out of there. I just wasn't really ready. I wasn't prepared. It was probably insulting to a lot of them if they're honest today. I decided in the airport in Washington, DC, before I flew home to Denver, that I was going to study my butt off. And I committed to going to the Starbucks around the corner from our home at 5 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday for one year from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then going home and being with my family.
13:33.78
Katie Kruger
And I set up a Gmail account where I emailed myself, any podcast I found about Tabor, property taxes, Gallagher, anything to do with the elected officials who were making big decisions in Colorado at the time. And I would study, and I studied 416 hours that year. And I went back and we got a million dollars. And then after that, those funders would often call and say, what do you think you're going to be working on this year? And we were a part of four big valid items and um the rest is history.
14:05.59
Katie Kruger
But even today when there are really interesting property tax issues or conundrums going on in Colorado, I still get called to the table and I love it.
14:17.04
loriejones7
Hmm.
14:17.89
Katie Kruger
So best investment ever.
14:18.03
loriejones7
And that was just, yeah, and investing in you. That was, that was like, I love the idea of you didn't just say, Oh, well, I'm not good at this. I'm going to go home. I'm not good at this. This will never happen. You said, I'm going to get good at this.
14:38.23
Katie Kruger
Yes. And show those experts some respect for how good they were. That piece was missing from my original plan.
14:47.92
loriejones7
Did you have help through that process?
14:48.23
Katie Kruger
So I learned a lot.
14:49.97
loriejones7
Was there someone that kind of showed you the ropes or was it just pure grit figuring it out?
14:56.14
Katie Kruger
So I mentioned Kelly Bruff earlier. She didn't know it, but getting to see her in action during those years. She knows it now, but at the time she didn't know it. I've told her several times since then, getting to watch her in the boardroom and then eventually making it into her exclusive legislative policy committee that she ran at the chamber back in those days was life changing. So I'm learning it and applying it, learning it and applying it. And she was just masterful, you know? So just getting to see her every Tuesday morning for such a long time was really shaping for me.
15:36.05
loriejones7
And she didn't give, it wasn't like a formal mentorship sort of experience. It was just, you were watching what she was doing and trying to to emulate that.
15:47.64
Katie Kruger
Right. And then we're talking about investments in ourselves. I think sometimes the investment is you giving your expertise or you giving what you have to someone else so you can be close to them. I found a way to raise money, to have data at my fingertips and knowledge so that I was valuable to the positions and causes that were valuable to her.
16:11.80
loriejones7
Mm-hmm.
16:13.57
Katie Kruger
Yeah.
16:13.62
loriejones7
That's a really good idea.
16:14.29
Katie Kruger
And that group.
16:15.83
loriejones7
Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's something to think about. I think that's something, that's something important to really consider. Like how can I add value to, to someone that I want to emulate or some, ah the place that I want to go, how can I add value there and start looking for those places? I like that. That's great.
16:37.66
Katie Kruger
Yes.
16:38.97
loriejones7
What is the worst advice someone gave you? Can you think of a time when you're like, oh, and did you take the advice or did you not take it?
16:44.36
Katie Kruger
yeah Yeah, I had a boss at one point in my career.
16:47.70
loriejones7
Did you learn from it?
16:54.47
Katie Kruger
in an evaluation say, you know why do you dress like that? Do you think you're going to be the CEO someday? Which is really funny now. And then he used to always say things like, you might be the best speaker in the company, but I just don't know what that's good for. And you know he was so my superior and successful. And so I remember that I didn't say a word about those things during the evaluation, these pieces of advice or these chestnuts. I listened. I thought about these two things deeply at home. I asked myself if I believed in these as part of myself going forward. And then I remember I slept on it and asked myself a second opinion from myself. And what I really decided was that I would move forward unchanged.
17:47.96
Katie Kruger
um I continued to dress really professionally. I think it's an important piece of self-worth, especially for women in the world today. The real difference is this time when I moved forward, I really moved forward with conviction to never just to really never change. These pieces are a part of me. And the analysis from that conversation led me to that realization. What I learned from it also is that that manager was saying, I am afraid.
18:20.64
Katie Kruger
And it told me to look for the early signs that you might be working for somebody who's going to hold you back. So I know you and I've talked before about, you know, sometimes the bad things are the good things. And so I learned so much from it.
18:33.19
loriejones7
Mm-hmm. so how How old were you when he was giving you this advice? Were you still pretty young and early in your career?
18:44.63
Katie Kruger
I was older, but the person in power over me who had not been fully schooled up on who I was yet.
18:53.76
loriejones7
and
18:55.65
Katie Kruger
So that came clear to him later, I think.
18:59.49
loriejones7
Cause it just, it seems like it's really, really hard to have those, to to have that sense of like, nope, this is the right thing to do. Like for me, you know, dressing very professionally, this is right. And, and stay with those convictions. If you're being told by someone who is seasoned or looks more, authority you know, has more authority than you do, it's really hard to stand by those convictions.
19:29.51
Katie Kruger
It is, I think sometimes when I look at the whole trajectory of my life, having to stand up ah in sort of a parental role at a young age and then going to work um on the pipeline and on the northern slope and being one of a kind and just, so I think all of those things stacked up to being, oh, I'll just be different. One more time. That's okay. Different has worked out.
19:58.29
loriejones7
it's So you'd you seen how not being the being the only one in the room or being a little bit different than everyone else around you, um that's worked out in the past. We'll keep doing it, see if it works out in the future.
20:14.95
Katie Kruger
Right, there's some data around it.
20:19.58
loriejones7
I like it. What about regrets?
20:22.44
Katie Kruger
great
20:22.47
loriejones7
And I, I kind of actually hate this question because it it's, it's asked you to look back and have regrets. And I have people that tell me, I don't have regrets. You know, i I don't think about the past. So maybe think about it more as a, if you could go back knowing what you know now and face another situation, would, would you do it differently? Is there a situation you can think of where you like, Oh, I would definitely change what I did there.
20:49.83
Katie Kruger
Yes, there's one. For me, I wasn't getting financial literacy at home. And so, and I was dead set on going to college. For me, it was the right path. In that situation, I should have made my path through college about financial literacy. And I think others who aren't getting financial literacy any other way should invest in it. I had been offered some art scholarships. So when you look back in my education, I was a scholarship art student and it it turned out just fine. But if I could do it again, I would do it differently. And with our children today, I have two small children. We very strongly believe in culture and we have them in music and arts, visual arts classes in addition to school. And we almost think of it as
21:46.88
Katie Kruger
the way you would apply exercise to your whole life.
21:50.11
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
21:50.37
Katie Kruger
You need culture as part of your whole life. These things are important to your entire vitality.
21:54.01
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
21:57.65
Katie Kruger
But maybe not as the core foundation of directing your career and how you're going to support your family and all of those things.
22:05.93
loriejones7
Yeah, but I do think it's important because you can't just can't be a well-rounded person, a thinking person if you don't have that artistic piece. And I can tell you, I can't even draw a stick figure. Like I am the worst at art and and and music and any of those things, but I still feel like you need to be exposed to them and need to to have them in your life.
22:27.93
Katie Kruger
Yes.
22:31.79
Katie Kruger
Yes, I think that while I don't participate in a ton of the visual arts today, the creative piece of my mind and keeping it exercised is a big part of my management style.
22:44.94
loriejones7
Mm hmm. You said something else that, you know, is going to trigger my me right away, which is the financial literacy piece. I think that's so important that we just yeah I have a um a good friend who's on the Economic Literacy Council and working on getting literally economic literacy into the schools and and I just think that we just especially with girls but but overall we just aren't teaching our kids enough about about finance and about about getting what they want out of um out of their life and and making those rules those financial rules and those financial decisions that are going to get them there.
23:08.40
Katie Kruger
Hmm.
23:34.08
Katie Kruger
I agree. I completely agree with you. I see it in my 1200 meetings.
23:42.86
loriejones7
So um what about, if you could go back, and we talked a little bit about this before, so I'm i'm really excited to hear this the answer to this question, but if you could go back and talk to your 20-year-old self just at the beginning of your journey, what would you tell her?
24:01.29
Katie Kruger
I admitted to you that. I've had a question like this presented to me before more than once, but this time I really stopped to think about it and I wrote a little something to myself. And I think of it as I would walk this, the older Katie right now would walk up to my younger Katie self and I would hold me to my chest and I would rock me and I would say, oh, Katie, I see your tired eyes. I know how exhausted you are. I know it seems so uncertain, but I am here in 2024 and you did good. Keep going at what you are building, even when a loved one attempts suicide or you bury mom. Keep getting the grades and thinking and planning. Keep working while you have your babies. Pay for daycare when they are little.
24:58.74
Katie Kruger
The nannies who take them to play and put them down for nap do well as a stand-in. Keep going. When the market cycles and you or your husband lose your jobs, keep trying to find work and take what you can get so you have something while you look for more. And when you are offered a big, big job and you are very pregnant or moving or fighting with your spouse You should take it and keep going and don't stop. One day you will arrive at this beautiful place, a summit of all the climbing, and you will be wise and calm.
25:38.91
Katie Kruger
You will have a career, an experience that no one can take, and you will have a savings account that gives you choices. And the kids will be standing before you with real problems that need your deep guidance. And because you climbed when it was hardest, you will be present when it is most important. You will have given yourself the most valued gift in the world. So keep going, my dear one. It will be worth it.
26:06.61
loriejones7
I love that. I love that thought and the the concern that you have for that younger self where you're like encouraging. If you could tell yourself anything, you tell yourself, keep trying, keep going. You're going to be great. It's going to be worth it.
26:26.07
Katie Kruger
We were speaking a little bit earlier about the data, you know, so far so good or things have turned out well. Well, you don't have that at the beginning. So you don't have the track record saying it works out usually. So you're kind of hoping.
26:44.30
loriejones7
Is there something along your path and along your journey from that 20 year old you to where you are and so successful today? Is there, was there an internal something that kept you going and believing and hoping that it was going to be worth it?
27:08.23
Katie Kruger
I had a good visual for what it would be in the end. I knew where I was going, and it was a powerful visual of a family life like I have today. And I do think that it has helped that I was successful ahead of my years. So even if the career I had along the way had slowed at any point, I was still doing very well. So when you get ahead a little bit, then the pressure's off, you know, and then you can just really go for it.
27:44.08
loriejones7
Mm-hmm.
27:45.95
Katie Kruger
I think those things helped.
27:45.98
loriejones7
You're like, if I if i miss this step or stumble on this rung, I'm still ahead of where I should be, so I have time to catch up. That's uninteresting.
27:56.12
Katie Kruger
And chances are you're going to, you're going to climb it anyway.
27:57.85
loriejones7
Yeah.
28:01.21
Katie Kruger
You'll climb it one way or another.
28:05.77
loriejones7
What about, what scared you the most when you started down your path?
28:13.54
Katie Kruger
So, and I think a lot of young people will relate to this right now. The hardest thing early on was not having enough money to sustain myself. And I think that this went on for 10 years in my early career. And I will say this to all those young listeners out there, I think for 10 years, I thought about money 10 times a day. That's how hard it was and how long it lasted. And there wasn't anyone or anywhere for me to fall back.
28:44.48
Katie Kruger
So I had to really just keep going and push through. I did choose wisely and I married somebody who also wanted to live financially responsible and could get on board with a vision.
28:54.43
loriejones7
and
28:56.92
Katie Kruger
um And we saved and we invested. Our two small children today have little investment accounts and we've taught them to look out in the world and what it means to have a stock and to buy a little tiny piece of a company um And to to make decisions about the health of those accounts based on how they're experiencing the world. So I am not afraid today. I am not scared today. But it took a while.
29:22.89
loriejones7
It does.
29:23.10
Katie Kruger
And it turned out good. So keep going if you're in those 10 years.
29:28.20
loriejones7
I love that you, you're helping your kids to learn about investing in saving. I had a ah similar experience where I just wasn't taught. I just, I didn't have the financial knowledge, um you know, going up through my growing up years. And I was determined that my kids would have a different experience. And, and they've all been just, they've done amazingly well. And, and so, I think yours will too. it It's really helpful to have a parent, a mentor, someone helping you and showing you what that means.
30:09.84
Katie Kruger
It's a lot of fun to, to, you know, have your young son talk to you about the McDonald's franchise back East that's tried to sell an $18 big Mac. And we should, you know, what should we do with this McDonald's stock that I thought was so valuable? It sounds like they're in trouble. Look at this kerfuffle on the internet. You know, they're, it's so fun to see it all through their eyes.
30:35.69
loriejones7
I maintain finance is super fun. I haven't gotten a whole lot of takers on that.
30:41.93
Katie Kruger
I have a taker.
30:42.89
loriejones7
But I maintain that it's a great big party and I love it. I love when someone is, me and my son get together and chat about things like that and it's so much fun.
30:54.28
Katie Kruger
the
30:55.35
loriejones7
So I love it. I love that you're raising another finance geek. and
31:00.12
Katie Kruger
Yes.
31:00.40
loriejones7
look What about, um oh, the answer to this one's gotta be yes, but did you face any unique challenges because you were a woman?
31:10.69
Katie Kruger
I have the the craziest story that will really help any woman out there thinking, oh my goodness, it's so bad. How am I going to do this? I had a two-year-old at home in a newborn at one point and I was a CEO at the time and the company was taking off. It was great at home and it was great at work, but I was exhausted. And I got to work one day after a long stretch of not really getting enough sleep, really not getting enough sleep. And I felt a little funny, a little fuzzy. So I thought, i'll wash out I'll wash my face really good. You know, wake up a little bit, put makeup on again, and I'm heading into this boardroom. Well, I went into the ladies room. And the last thing I remember is I can't reach the light switch. So I had fainted. And I ended up not putting my arms out in front of me when I fainted in the ladies room.
32:08.27
Katie Kruger
and falling on the floor. And I cracked my skull and I broke the front of my chin, and my little chin bone. And i you know I got so tired, I literally fell on my face and I had to take a break. So it was the biggest wake up call of my young professional career. And it had to probably happen that way because I was so headstrong and so driven and it reshaped me. I ended up getting um all kinds of different support help at home to rebalance my workload and to get better rest. and The company and my health really took off after that.
32:42.94
loriejones7
Yeah.
32:43.74
Katie Kruger
The other thing that I want to share is that I've really learned that authenticity wins. I'm you know deeply ingrained in the commercial real estate industry here in Colorado, and it's for you know a century. It's a work hard, play hard industry. However, I don't drink and I don't golf yet. I am the most networked person. And I sometimes think about the book Team of Rivals, Have you ever read that one by Doris Goodwin? I mean, it's it's a Behemoth 900 page book, but so good. And Abraham Lincoln very shrewdly brings Governor Seward who had ran who had run against him in the election to his side to be part of his cabinet. And Governor Seward seward really grew up in a privileged environment. He had ah a vine on the side of his house from Italy and a wine cellar full of wine from Italy. And his parents were alive and he'd been a governor already. and
33:37.24
Katie Kruger
You know, Abraham Lincoln had lost his mom and lost his sister and lost his first love and he'd basically been in servitude in his young life and self-taught attorney, all these things.
33:47.53
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
33:49.65
Katie Kruger
He had really touched life and people would say about Abraham Lincoln, you know, his face was contorted with sadness until you started to talk to him and then it would lighten up, it would brighten up. And so I sort of think of Governor Seward like everyone in the commercial real estate industry, and then I'm a lot more like Abraham Lincoln. However, like him, I build these lifelong relationships that are about the things that none of us can escape. but They're about real life, about the hard things and the good things, but the relationships are authentic and they they are deep relationships. You can create vulnerability.
34:31.21
Katie Kruger
and hanging out and having fun outside the office on the golf course, you can create vulnerability in relationships by showing up for big moments in people's lives. And I built my network that way.
34:38.88
loriejones7
Yeah.
34:40.13
Katie Kruger
And so, you know, my message to women in those kinds of challenged environments is authenticity wins.
34:49.16
loriejones7
Yeah. I really love that because i've kind of yeah I don't look like most of the other people in my industry. i you know there They're mostly men and they're mostly a lot older than I am. and and I do things differently than them. I'm a mom. I've had those nights where I am exhausted. I get i feel it. I got cried for you, bone deep exhaustion to where you fall flat on your face. I get it. I've been there. um and And I love the idea of, and have kind of come to that myself, that I come at this from a different place. I bring me to it. And just because it isn't what what other people bring to it, this is the only way I can do this job is by being who I really am. And I love that there's space for that in these big companies now.
35:45.94
Katie Kruger
yeah Yes, you hang in there. The longer I spend time with you on this podcast, the more I want my daughter to hang out with you.
35:56.26
loriejones7
well Well, that's good. I'll introduce my two to you is he as well and well we'll get these women going.
36:00.44
Katie Kruger
Perfect.
36:02.83
loriejones7
did you um do you How do you help with you know those 1,200 interviews that you've done? How do you help women to understand that maybe at a younger age that they can be authentic and they can be real and they they can not golf and still do okay?
36:22.22
Katie Kruger
you know At this point, I think that when I started to get into the hundreds of one-on-one meetings, I think I was showing, not telling, I was showing them that I was different.
36:31.69
loriejones7
Um
36:35.12
Katie Kruger
you know At the big annual holiday party for commercial real estate, 600 people at Union Station, I would stand out in front of the front door and shake hands with every single person. you know or
36:50.01
loriejones7
hmm.
36:52.76
Katie Kruger
the way I show up to different social events with information and gifts and the dressing up.
37:01.88
loriejones7
Mm
37:02.00
Katie Kruger
ah you you know A lot of times when I mentor young people, I say, effort looks good on you. So just having a whole persona that's about quality and confidence and just a different message coming out of you all the time. When I'm in the oneon one-on-one meetings, one of the things that I showcase is service to others. And it's through, we sit down for a one-on-one meeting, one of the hundred that I do in front of the fireplace at the Four Seasons every year.
37:26.54
loriejones7
hmm.
37:34.00
Katie Kruger
And I ask, what's going good, what's going bad? And we get into whatever it is. And then it allows me to narrow in on what that person needs. And I give them three of my contacts and I teach
37:43.86
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
37:48.16
Katie Kruger
a lot of young women to ask about, you know, ask Gloria about her personal journey, ask her about her professional journey and do not leave her side until you conclude with who else do you think I should meet. And so I can't see the same hundred people year after year, but I can populate their calendar and completely change their lives by perpetually building out their network through who else do you think I should meet. So I think whatever your thing is, I'm very, My gritty little thing, the thing that I believe passionately about ah in terms of humble incremental incrementalism is these meetings.
38:29.12
Katie Kruger
But if you can do some kind good thing over and over and over, that's who you are.
38:29.34
loriejones7
you
38:38.71
loriejones7
I like that and that that idea of consistency kind of is is important to me because you can do these meetings You know, like once, once a year, once ah once a quarter, and then you kind of get busy with life and things get hard. And then you forget the idea of year after year after year, making it your life's work. That's that's important. That shows who you are.
39:05.98
Katie Kruger
Yes, I think so.
39:10.52
loriejones7
What are you most proud of, Katie?
39:16.44
Katie Kruger
I think that I'm most proud of sort of simultaneously being an example that you really can come from anywhere and become anything. And that incrementalism, not the flashy stage time can really change the world. And I think I've proven that out with the 1200 meetings. I recently had the opportunity to speak at Oxford and do an Oxford talk and I asserted, you know, we, the people can become what America needs right now. And if you think about it in terms of data, if each working American gave back one 30 minute meeting per month to helping someone climb.
40:01.37
Katie Kruger
Nearly half the country would experience immediate improved mental health benefits and over 130 million young people would experience improved economic connectivity. And so we are this incredible collective phenomenon. And I think being an example of that is my, that's what I'm most proud of.
40:32.56
loriejones7
I love that you mentioned that you know sometimes it can feel overwhelming that there's there's this whole big wide world out there and what am I really doing? um But one person consistently making a difference in somebody's life makes real change. In the big wide world, you're making real change.
40:58.57
Katie Kruger
Yes. The rungs of the ladder are made up of people. People who can show us pieces of the world that we cannot see.
41:12.41
loriejones7
Any advice if you could go back and talk to, well, you do actually go back and talk to several young ladies that are starting down their path to help them be successful. What do you tell them?
41:26.66
Katie Kruger
Well, this is just a little bit of perspective that I hope is soothing.
41:32.37
Katie Kruger
Over the last 25 years, I've worked for five different companies. Three of them have been amazing supervisors or bosses and two of them have been not so good. But sometimes I get unstuck by making a list of what it's not or what I am not. And
41:56.83
Katie Kruger
I think that for all of us, there's a rung right in front of us, this ladder, there's a rung, just one rung, the next step. And you probably know what it is. You probably know what your next rung is. And maybe you need to do something big. Maybe you need to move. You need to leave a boyfriend. You need to take a class or get a mentor to learn the thing that's going to really propel you. And my message is to do it right now. Even if you're going through something really hard with aging parents, even if you're planning your wedding or you're pregnant or whatever, you should do it now.
42:34.78
loriejones7
If you know what that step is, take it.
42:37.56
Katie Kruger
you
42:38.53
loriejones7
That is fearless and scary as heck.
42:44.04
Katie Kruger
It's the good life.
42:46.44
loriejones7
What if you're not quite sure?
42:53.06
loriejones7
How do you get sure so you can take that step?
42:53.58
Katie Kruger
you know
42:58.03
Katie Kruger
The people who have climbed the most rungs, I have a few that are my inner circle are comfortable. They're satisfied being dissatisfied. They're comfortable with unsure. And I, I don't think that we were born this way. I think we have been conditioned because we've climbed enough rungs. So that's another reason why you should do it now.
43:21.54
loriejones7
I love it. So if you try it, um you learn something for it, or it works, and then you you get more and more comfortable being in that in-between space where you're not totally positive, but do it now. Do it anyway.
43:38.94
Katie Kruger
Yes. And for me, one thing that I'm sure of, and I think this will speak to a lot of people, not doing it feels bad. Do it so you don't have to feel bad about not doing it. You have to carry around that I didn't do it.
43:55.12
loriejones7
and
43:57.59
Katie Kruger
That's just, that's hard.
44:00.28
loriejones7
ah I am.
44:01.32
Katie Kruger
That's much harder than failing climbing up.
44:04.41
loriejones7
I think so too. I have to admit, I'm more of an introvert than anything. And the idea, I'm very passionate about helping young women and helping them grow and helping them have mentors and examples. Um, but I am not nearly so passionate about being on camera and being on a podcast and putting myself out there like that. And, and I, it's, it's not a comfortable place for me, but I was so, I felt so strongly that was the right thing to do, but you do it scared, do it, do it when you're not sure.
44:42.54
Katie Kruger
Yes. How many years have you been doing the podcast now?
44:46.93
loriejones7
It's only been a year or so.
44:48.96
Katie Kruger
Oh, wow. But that's amazing. If you hadn't done it.
44:52.26
loriejones7
I've, yeah, yeah I, I'm technologically not savvy and, um, and fairly introverted, like I said, so, so it's a, it's a step out of my comfort zone, but that's, I kind of think that's what you're talking about is just like, you're, you're, if you're not a little scared, if you're not a little bit unsure, um, um you're not doing it right, I don't think.
45:21.21
Katie Kruger
And if you're getting excited about your next wrong and you need me to help get you to reach up there and grab or sign up for one of my, my 100 meetings a year, I have a lot of things that I do even at this level to fight imposter syndrome, to tackle intimidating rooms. I have a lot of tricks I use even today.
45:46.35
loriejones7
I love it. how do um How do my listeners get in touch with you if they want to sign up for your one of your 100 meetings or or just ask for some advice?
45:58.96
Katie Kruger
You can email me at katieacrugeratgmail.com.
46:04.75
loriejones7
Perfect. Well, Katie, thank you so much for spending this time with me today and with our listeners. I just really appreciate your insight and your journey, and and I've really gained a lot from what you've said, so thank you.
46:20.80
Katie Kruger
It's so nice to meet you better, Lori, and I hope we keep in touch.