WOMEN AT
24
THE TOP
Jo Kirchner
President and CEO, Primrose Schools
ance of both that inspires a continual
love of learning in children. These
“balanced approaches” to continual
learning are also deeply embedded
in the Primrose culture and business
philosophy as well.
How has your life experience
made you the leader you are today? My parents instilled faith, values,
confidence, and a strong work ethic
in me. They inspired me to believe I
could achieve anything I was willing
to work hard enough to accomplish.
Advice for young female CEO
aspirants: Read, network, and read.
Role models? Today, I am inspired
by successful business leaders who are
also passionately committed to giving
back to others, like Warren Buffet and
Melinda and Bill Gates.
The Internet provides knowledge about
anything and everything at your fingertips. There are magnificent books
with rich knowledge about leadership
and strategy to grow successful businesses. Second, network with leaders
you aspire to be like. Listen to them,
observe them, and learn from them.
Management gurus or books that
have deeply affected you: Lincoln
on Leadership by Donald Phillips, Good
to Great and Built to Last by Jim Collins, and Execution by Larry Bossidy
and Ram Charan.
Leadership style: My leadership
Has mentorship made a difference in your professional and
personal life? Yes. I’ve had several
strong mentors. One was a smallbusiness consultant I met through
the national Chamber of Commerce
who helped me establish and grow
my marketing company, Creative Logistics. Another was a retired senior
vice president from Delta Airlines. He
worked with me for almost 10 years,
beyond growing my company to joining Primrose, and then encouraging
me to assume the CEO role there. He
always encouraged me to think big,
to think of Primrose one day being a
brand like Delta, Coca-Cola, or Disney. He reminded me that all of these
companies were, at one time, a beginning brand like Primrose. He inspired
me to think long term and make the
right decisions, keeping in mind both
short- and long-term vision. Last, Paul
Erwin, co-founder of Primrose, has
also served as a mentor, teaching me
the importance of a strategic systems
approach, of process discipline, and
passionate attention to the details to
achieve consistent service excellence
across multiple locations.
SYSTEM REVENUE: $450 million
NO. OF UNITS: 273
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE: Private
GROWTH PLANS: Double in size in 6–7
years
FOUNDED: 1982
BEGAN FRANCHISING: 1988
YEARS WITH COMPANY: 24
YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 24
INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS: 0
Female leaders you admire: Marcy
Erwin, Primrose’s other co-founder,
encouraged me to lead from the heart
with a focus on the children. She also
inspired creating balance in all that we
do. In fact, that’s how we established
the name of our curriculum, Balanced
Learning. Marcy believed in focused,
teacher-guided learning, but she was
also extremely creative and inspired
innovation and exploration within the
curriculum. We believe it is the bal-
style is transformational balanced with
a commitment to servant leadership.
I set big visions and then work hard
to inspire others, engage them with a
focused plan, and then push with relentless determination to help them
achieve the goals. I am driven to value
the joy in making a difference for the
greater good, to deliver best-in-class
service excellence, and to achieve
preeminent leadership and financial
success for everyone affiliated with
Primrose.
Was becoming CEO of an organization part of your professional
plan? No. I wanted to own my own
business, and my business passion
was marketing and public relations.
Primrose was an account my company
served. I decided to sell my company
and join Primrose to help launch the
franchise business because I was so
inspired by the educational child care
service they provided, the culture and
the values of the organization, and the
belief that there were so many working women who, like me, would want
this quality early childhood experience
and care for their children. Nine years
later, when the founders decided to
retire, they encouraged me to take
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