Lessons Learned on the Leadership Path
Learning moments in a career can be successes and failures. It’s what a leader does after that really matters. Knowledge Is Power goes one-on-one with leaders in different industries to uncover these experiences. Host Brandon Pfluger spoke with Jessica Pantages, Chief Communication Officer at NSF International, developer of public health standards and certification programs that help protect the world’s food, water, and environment.
Pantages has spent over two decades building a career in PR and communications. She shared her journey and key insights, starting with what makes her a good leader. “The experiences I’ve had made who I am. I’ve also had a career in several broad industries, which allowed me to be well-rounded. I’ve also never been scared to take chances in my career,” she said.
Pantages began a career in PR after diverting from journalism. She was working toward that goal in college when a chance to shadow a broadcast journalist. The story involved being at the scene of a shooting where she watched the journalist go up to a grieving mother and ask her how she felt. “It bothered me, and I wasn’t sure it was me. It had me rethinking my career,” she explained.
She then found PR, starting before the age of digital everything, creating clip books for companies. She continued to grow and learn, leading to leadership positions in several companies. “There have been learning moments good and bad, and I’ve had hard decisions to make, especially letting someone go. I have great empathy toward that person because I’ve been in that position,” Pantages added.
She counts a great peer group of other CCOs as an excellent sounding board. The other most important voices are those of her team, wanting to know what motivates them and where they want to go with their career.
Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale
Latest Episodes
Physical Retail’s Next Infrastructure Layer: Item-Level Intelligence with Radar
Physical retail is under pressure to become as measurable and responsive as e-commerce. While retailers have spent years optimizing digital channels with real-time data, store teams have often had to make decisions with incomplete inventory visibility and delayed operational signals. That gap matters because stores still account for 80% of U.S. retail sales, making…
From Institutional Excellence to Population-Level Access: How Pakistan Can Bridge Its Healthcare Divide
Healthcare systems are under pressure almost everywhere, but the strain is especially visible in lower-resource settings where demand is rising faster than infrastructure. In Pakistan, that pressure is playing out across a system that has to serve more than 250 million people with limited public investment. Public health spending remains below 1% of GDP,…
Scaling Experiential Learning in the Curriculum: How Iron Range Engineering Transformed Engineering Education
Engineering has transformed nearly every part of modern life, from the phones in our pockets to the systems powering global industry. But the way engineers are educated has often moved far more slowly than the profession itself. Employers are asking for graduates who can navigate ambiguity, communicate across teams, and contribute meaningfully from the…
Latest
Physical Retail’s Next Infrastructure Layer: Item-Level Intelligence with Radar
Physical retail is under pressure to become as measurable and responsive as e-commerce. While retailers have spent years optimizing digital channels with real-time data, store teams have often had to make decisions with incomplete inventory visibility and delayed operational signals. That gap matters because stores still account for 80% of U.S. retail sales, making…
From Institutional Excellence to Population-Level Access: How Pakistan Can Bridge Its Healthcare Divide
Healthcare systems are under pressure almost everywhere, but the strain is especially visible in lower-resource settings where demand is rising faster than infrastructure. In Pakistan, that pressure is playing out across a system that has to serve more than 250 million people with limited public investment. Public health spending remains below 1% of GDP,…
Scaling Experiential Learning in the Curriculum: How Iron Range Engineering Transformed Engineering Education
Engineering has transformed nearly every part of modern life, from the phones in our pockets to the systems powering global industry. But the way engineers are educated has often moved far more slowly than the profession itself. Employers are asking for graduates who can navigate ambiguity, communicate across teams, and contribute meaningfully from the…
When Geography Meets Purpose: How One Move Reshaped a Vascular Surgeon’s Career
Medicine isn’t what it used to be—not for the people practicing it. Independent physicians are becoming the exception, not the norm, as more doctors move into hospital systems, corporate groups, and academic networks. At the same time, the pipeline of specialists isn’t keeping pace with growing patient needs, particularly in complex fields like vascular…