Christine Driessen

Driessen’s strong business acumen has made her an MVP at ESPN. She played a key role in the company’s multimedia programming rights deals, which includes an historic 20-year agreement with the SEC to create and operate a multiplatform network that launched last August. Driessen says finding the right mentor is rare, but is worth the search. “Few people are willing to provide candid advice and when done it can have an incredible impact on improving one’s performance,” she says.

What’s the most important aspect of mentoring?

If you know the mentee well enough, the ability to give them honest feedback is critically important.  Few people are willing to provide candid advice and when done it can have an incredible impact on improving one’s performance.

Best trick for maintaining the personal-professional life balance? 

Balance is a difficult term. I have found that determining three facets of your life (career, wife, mother…) that will be your focus is critical to trying to reach a balance and feeling good about yourself.  At any one time, one of these facets will be the top priority of your day or week. If at the end of the week, you feel that you have been able to give to each of these facets and not necessarily to the same degree in most instances, then it has been a good week. Being honest with yourself and the people involved in those facets of life will also help you navigate this balance.

Your favorite trick for unwinding?

Spending time in the Adirondacks either walking, gardening and spending time on the water with my husband and family.