Name: Mary Ellen Kramer

Title: CEO

Organisation: NightRide Thermal Inc.

Mary Ellen Kramer is the CEO of NightRide Thermal and brings 35 years of senior management experience in high tech, finance, and telecommunication sectors. She has raised over $40 million in financing for ventures she has led.

Mary Ellen's focus at NightRide Thermal is fundraising, investor relations and developing the market and market partnerships for NightRide. Prior to NightRide, Mary Ellen co-founded Maritime Broadband, a company that created universal online connectivity in the commercial maritime sector via its proprietary AI-powered, stabilized, tracking satellite antenna, C-Bird.

She previously founded and ran four telecommunications companies providing global retail and carrier level voice and data services, two of which were public companies. Mary Ellen is a graduate of New York University with a Bachelor of Science in Management and Computer Science. She has also earned a certificate in Women Entrepreneurship from Cornell University.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Mary's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

The most challenging part of being a leader for me is to be focused on the plan and goals to accomplish in the present, while continually creating and aligning with the big future that the organization is fulfilling.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I think I became aware of myself as a leader in the 8th grade. I was inspired to support others in my class to learn and grow and fellow students started to view me as a leader.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

The morning for me is all about setting the tone for the day. The first thing I do is walk with my husband to keep ourselves active and in shape. I work at home, so I prepare the kitchen and my office for the day. Then I "return to sitting" for 10 to 20 minutes each morning, basically meditating to clear my head, pushing aside any thoughts or planning until the meditation is complete.

Then I review and edit the plan for the day and begin my interaction with the outside world at 9 am. The morning's work is mostly related to making sure each team member is powerfully set up for the day. We eat lunch together as a team. Afternoons are mostly relegated to sales, meetings with folks outside the team.

I eat dinner with my husband at about 7, finish up some work until 8:30 and then we spend some quality time together as a couple, talking, watching a movie, reading a book before going to sleep at about 11 pm.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Relate to each person as an individual. Find out what lights them up and empower that expression. Forcing an outcome is a waste of time.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The book that had the most profound impact on my leadership so far is "In Search of Excellence". It provided a place to stand for me as a leader that was intuitive, effective and aligned with my core values. It is a go-to book for me that has brought great value over the years and still does!

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Make it your business to have people around you win their games and you win yours.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

One of my formative experiences as a business leader was with a senior vice president at a financial institution where I began working as an 18-year-old administrative assistant. Upon graduating from NYU in 1980 with a degree in management and computer science, I was hired by the same bank to start a data processing department.

The senior vice president, who was a highly experienced banker, recognized my strengths, and didn’t hesitate to acknowledge my skill set and enroll me in an aggressive automation effort.

So, here I am in my early 20s and leading this massive effort. I was in charge of selecting multi-million-dollar hardware and software packages and heading up a newly formed data processing department with a team of 13 people.

The senior vice president, while only in his 40s, realized his limitations in the world of computing and data processing. He saw the opportunity to trust and collaborate with someone with knowledge and experience that could complement his skills.

But this wasn’t easy for him. He had to leave his comfort zone to give me, someone who was new and unknown within the organization, so much authority. By putting so much faith in me, he made himself extremely vulnerable. If I failed, his career would have suffered tremendously.

But he trusted me and I rose to his expectations. This goes back to community, which is essential for leaving your comfort zone. You need a supportive community to take risks, to push yourself and to push your organization.

But it worked. He won his game by making sure that we won ours, which is a lesson I never forgot!