Barbara Melvin, COO of the South Carolina Ports Authority - Discipline, Decisiveness, and Being in It for the Long Haul

Barbara Melvin is Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the South Carolina Ports Authority.   She leads a team of over 650 employees including those in terminal operations, carrier sales, information technology and support services, crane and equipment maintenance, engineering, environmental, Port Police, procurement, the logistics solution center, and cruise operations.  She is leading the most transformative port project on the Southeast Coast in the last 100 years with the opening of the Leatherman Terminal that’s been 20 years in the making.  It opens in Spring 2021. Ms. Melvin also serves as the SCPA’s lead staff person on the Charleston Harbor Post 45 Project. She sits on numerous Boards and has been recognized with many awards. She is a highly influential leader in Charleston, South Carolina and across the Southeast.  She holds a degree in political science from Georgia Southern University and an MBA in Global Supply Chain from the University of Tennessee. Barbara’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-melvin-69393b13/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-melvin-69393b13/ ) WHAT YOU WILL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: How her background in politics has helped her the C-Suite. The importance of knowing your talking points What you can learn about someone from their Twitter Profile. How to successfully lead a 20-year project.   Her interesting path to COO over a 22-year span. Work-life balance strategies.  How the word “discipline” emerged as a defining word throughout her career. Her perspective on gender and the C-Suite. Why she’d like to instill the trait of decisiveness in all employees. A failure in her career that led to her success down the road. How to present your idea to the C-Suite. Insights on the catastrophic cost of turnover. On approaching an employee who is burned out and might quit. A moment of inspiration from her father. Helpful advice on what to read for those on a mission to get to the C-Suite. Barbara’s interesti