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Two years ago, Kathryn Byron found herself burned out.  On paper, she had checked all the “right” boxes: graduated with a chemical engineering degree in 2009, secured a job at an oil and gas company, and advanced into leadership roles on its major operations — all while raising a young family. 

But after 14 years in demanding roles, Kathryn was no longer waking up energized by work. 

Burnout, she believes, is not sudden. It builds slowly. And as a mid-career professional in middle management, work became all-consuming. 

In 2023, Kathryn finally decided to pursue her MBA full-time at the ß÷ßäÉçÇø School of Business, a long-standing desire that had been put on hold for the last decade and a half while she prioritized work. 

“An MBA started to feel like both an escape and a pause point,” she says. “It was a way to, for the first time in years, put myself first and reimagine what I wanted from my career.”

With support from her family, she completed her MBA less than a year and a half later, convocating with a newfound vigour for her career — and life. 

“I’m leaving this program not only more professionally capable,” she says. “But a happier and healthier human.”

Kathryn credits her transformational journey to a series of introspective assessments conducted with her career coach, Paul Taylor, which aimed to identify her values and use them to guide her decision-making.

In her early assessments, one value kept surfacing: achievement.

“I wanted to be a highly respected senior leader — someone others look up to — in an organization I felt truly connected with,” says Kathryn. “At first, I treated my MBA like just another checkmark on that path. I was focused on finishing as fast as possible and getting back to work and leadership.” 

But as the program progressed, so did her perspective. 

Kathryn’s greatest point of pride on her MBA journey is how her mindset and actions have evolved in defining and pursuing achievement. She has also come to embrace a new value: wellbeing. 

Stepping away from the laser-focused pace of corporate life and into a new environment — one filled with fresh connections and new friendships — is what Kathryn says helped her reimagine the meaning of fulfillment.  

“I started doing things my old self never would have,” she says. “I found myself at Earls on campus every Thursday night with my new MBA friends, and I now routinely take dance, flexibility and strength classes. None of this would have transpired if I had been in my old work environment.”

She now believes carving out time for wellbeing makes better leaders, too. 

“I still want to succeed professionally and become the best leader I can be,” she says. “But now, I’ll show up as a stronger, more grounded version of myself if my life also includes connection and creativity.”

When it comes to advice for those entering the MBA program, Kathryn refers back to a lesson taught by her strategy professor, Vern Glaser, on the power of trade-offs and essentialism. 

“Focus your time and energy where you feel like you can make a meaningful impact, and become comfortable saying no to opportunities. Time is this incredibly precious, non-renewable resource. For me, that meant dedicating time to inclusion and diversity work,” referring to her involvement in the MBA Inclusion and Diversity Club. “I leaned in where it mattered most to me, rather than trying to do it all.”

Today, Kathryn is ecstatic to begin her new role as a Maintenance Leader at Dow Chemical, where she is helping lead the company’s decarbonization project, a climate-focused initiative tied closely to her values. 

“I’m incredibly grateful to my MBA experience for giving me the space to step back and rediscover my direction,” she says. “And, for the amazing network of relationships and new experiences it brought into my life.”