Christina Spade

Spade has helped boost Showtime’s revenue with financial strategies that have led to licensing the nets’ original series and getting higher affiliate revenues via increases in rates and subscriptions. A 15-year Showtime employee, Spade says success needs to be defined on your own terms. “All of the good career decisions I ever made followed the same thought process—talked to and obtained insights from as many mentors that I could and then followed my gut and intuition, even if it sometimes went against different advice.”

 How do you define a successful career?

It needs to be on your own terms. All of the good career decisions I ever made followed the same thought process–talked to and obtained insights from as many mentors that I could and then followed my gut and intuition, even if it sometimes went against different advice.

Best trick for maintaining the personal-professional life balance? 

Remember that some things need to be perfect but not all things; sometimes you have to smartly compromise perfection to get it done. I also always try to stay positive and see the bright side of things if possible. As a CFO, I have a natural professional skepticism so it is healthy for me to think through the positive aspects of any situation.

When not in the office, where are we most likely to find you? 

My favorite thing to do outside of the office is playing golf with my husband. It is something I look forward to doing on the weekend when I can.