52. Talent Development and the “One Life We Have” with Kristy Jones, Organizational Development Leader at Meijer

Kristy Jones, the Manager of Leadership Development Programs at Meijer, has worked in some capacity in talent development for almost 25 years. Her trajectory was unconventional, but her story explains so much of the insight she possesses. She’s been at Meijer now for a decade, and she joins host Nave Svoboda on this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! to dive deep into organizational development.

💬 Get in touch with Kristy at: 

- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyjones1/ 

💬 Get in touch with Meijer at: 

- Website https://www.meijer.com/ 

- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/meijer/ 

- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/meijer/

- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/meijerstores/

What to listen for: 

• Kristy has been a teacher, entrepreneur, consultant, and corporate trainer. Over more than 20 years, she’s led a trajectory defined by hard work. That work, however, was never funneled into a life of what she “should do,” but one of passion. Listen to the interview to get her fascinating story.

• Her story comes to an interesting intersection when she was a student teaching in a seventh-grade classroom. She paints the picture of her experience and how, in surprising ways, it prepared her for training in leadership.

• It turns out Kristy was also building a client base while she student-taught. When she moved and started her own business focused on operational development, she started with a base of small, local firms at the precipice of growth. Her own business grew as she worked with 280 firms over six years. She describes how she learned through “skinning my knee…a lot. And getting back up…a lot.”

• After Kristy sold that company, she took one year off to consult independently. Then she got a call from a contact asking her to join Meijer. Listen to the episode to get the full story of how the offer happened.