Mark Cox: Leadership, Coaching, and What Truly Drives Lasting Change

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Tricia Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest, Mark Cox, former chief operations officer at Eastman Chemical and current board of directors for Caras. Independent director, board of directors for Lutron Electronics and Huber Engineering Materials, as well as a member of the Board of Advisors for Management Solutions. Mark spent nearly four decades at Eastman, where he led global manufacturing, supply chain and engineering operations, overseeing more than 10,000 employees across 50 sites worldwide. Today, he serves on multiple boards advising on corporate governance, enterprise risk and leadership development. After retiring, Mark pursued a doctorate at Pepperdine University, where his research focused on the dignity of work and the transformational power of coaching. His work includes studying a ground breaking coaching program inside the federal prison system that produced remarkable outcomes in helping individuals successfully reintegrate into society. Mark brings a unique perspective on leadership, human potential, and what truly drives lasting change. Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark Cox: Trisha. Thank you very much. And it’s an honor and a pleasure to be with you today.

Tricia Stetzel: I’m so excited to have you on the show. And I know we’re going to focus on the last part of what I talked about Inside of your introduction. But I want to start with tell us a little bit more about who you are, Mark.

Mark Cox: Well, um, I was born and raised in Kingsport, Tennessee, which is Eastman Chemical’s global headquarters. And, uh, that company has legacy Kodak roots back to the gold box that we all grew up on, uh, in my generation. And I noticed, uh, Kingsport was a relatively modern city. It was an integrated industrial city, a planned city known as the model city. But one thing I noticed is a lot of folks, uh, who came to Kingsport, actually grew up on farms, grew up on farms in the southwestern part of Virginia, perhaps in eastern Kentucky. And these emerging industries offered opportunity for technical training, growth, career development, career education, And you know, not to stereotype, but for many, it provided an opportunity to have a house with a carport and send their kids to college, which is a great thing and speaks to the dignity of work. And as I entered the college years and started thinking about what I would like to do, I found that kind of work interesting. Uh, converting raw materials into finished goods for the betterment of mankind. And you think about it back in the day, image capture. Uh, you could do chemistry in a box and then develop it and have these images preserved for many years of great times in your life.

Mark Cox: So that that was what compelled me to study chemical engineering. And then later, I enjoyed the international business relationships that were developed, and I wanted to get more education there. So I went to business school and got an MBA and had the opportunity to learn how business worked and all the benefits it can bring to humanity and the relationships you build through that. And then ultimately, as I move toward retirement, having the privilege of seeing people use their intellect and physical abilities in countries throughout the world. I felt like I wanted to understand better in a formal way. What are some pathways that can be developed for folks who may not be in a position to enter an Eastman, who may be in a more challenged position than I was when I entered my career to find a pathway and enter into a situation where they can use their gifts for the betterment of humanity through work, but also for the betterment of themselves through work.

Tricia Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And you use this phrase dignity of work. And I think we’re going to hear that throughout our conversation today. Can you describe to me more around what that means to you? Dignity of work?

Mark Cox: Well, dignity of work. And, you know, my, my faith coming from a Christian perspective, I think about God creating work at the beginning, even before sin entered the world. But the dignity of work is an emerging theme in academia. But in its simplest form, it means I have a position. There’s something I do when you ask me that question. It may not be the primary definer of who I am and probably isn’t, but it’s an important part of who I am. Now, Trisha, I would not have anticipated this twist. I was interested when I retired into entering a doctoral program Abram in studying this subject. But the twist that came unexpectedly is my. One of my professors who ended up being my dissertation advisor is is literally a world renowned expert in the area of dignity of work. And she was approached by a recently retired prison warden who saw an amazing thing happen inside a US federal medium security prison and knew that this amazing thing could be transferred to other prisons and wanted a scholarly treatment of it. But before I tell what great thing had happened, I did some background research and found that when in the prison environment, someone had the opportunity to do a job. And that does happen, such as telemarketing. An all female prison is one example where a telemarketing organization went in, trained the ladies there to do customer service, created a corporate situation there where there was a call center, etc. management performance feedback, just like we see in corporate America. And the result of that was that the ladies saw their identities transition from that of employee of, of inmate to that of employee. And that was a really important transition that was made. So identity can transfer and it can be a healthy transfer.

Tricia Stetzel: Mhm. That’s amazing. And you know, I think even Mark, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show was just the awareness around some of the things that are happening that we just don’t know about. And what an amazing story you have there. Uh, around the women’s prison. So tell us more about this, um, coaching program, what it looked like and why it really stood out, how you got involved.

Mark Cox: Sure. So when I began my doctoral studies, that study that I referenced about an all female prison was one of several academic articles that I read just thinking about the dignity of work. I still had no idea that I would go down the route I did with regard to this specific prison situation. But here, here it is, uh, a US prison. Mckeon, FCI McKeon in Pennsylvania, the, uh, the warden there, uh, Brian Keohane, reached out to, um, my professor, Doctor Cristina Gibson, to share an amazing story. And this is it. They introduced a cognitive coaching program there, led by Warden Susan Morris, who was a 30 year veteran of the prison system and led education at that facility. And she decided that she would like to see an innovative approach around cognitive coaching. And when I say cognitive coaching, I’m talking about the things we see and receive in corporate America as leaders. Smart goal setting, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely, how to set goals and pursue them, how to hold others accountable. How to have constructive conversations. How to listen first before reacting. How to ask powerful questions. What accountability looks like for you and others. And she selected some men and she was persistent. And they joined. And she taught this initial class. And from there these men caught fire.

Mark Cox: They developed hope. And we used hope, theory, Trisha, as our basis. But it basically says it’s pretty simple. Carl Snyder came up with it in 1991. It has been validated in academia, in military, in business leadership and athletics. And that is if a person has some sense of agency, I can make a decision and they can see at least one pathway from where I am now to a future that is incrementally different. There’s something I could do if those two things exist. They’re like two cogs in a machine. They start turning together and they turn. Then the big wheel of hope and a person can move toward goals. So that’s what she did. These men were in a low hope existence both before and after incarceration, many of them in prison. Ten, 20, 30 years. I interviewed 16 of these men who had gone through the program and been released. And amazingly, of the men who went through this cognitive coaching program and were released, only 2%, as in one plus one, went back to prison. Only 2%. Trisha Recidivate relative to a clearly understood 50 to 80% of folks who have been in prison that long go back. So think about the societal cost of that. But before we get there, I want to say Miss Morris penetrated that low hope existence, believing in them, giving them the opportunity to enter this coaching program.

Mark Cox: It was a 20 week program. They entered it and graduated. Did all the homework. Lots of homework. Think about it. Doing this in prison not a common thing. So you have to be a little different and be able to tolerate perhaps some feedback on being a little different as you go through this. But then they caught fire. They developed working with an outside coaching expert named Doctor Ellen Neeley Ritter. That, and Miss Morris developed a curriculum that was offered to every incoming resident at McKeon. Smart goal setting the full coaching curriculum. And if you graduated that 20 week program, you could then enter into a more fulsome program and graduate as a certified coach. Then when you graduated, you started coaching other inmates in that prison who had interest. It changed the culture there, as the warden said. But the evidence speaks for itself. This wasn’t a a curated Trisha Pre-experiment. Right. They tried it. It worked beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. And now we took an academic approach and built a model that describes it, because this is almost never done. There was nothing in the research that suggested that a coaching program in prison would contribute to this kind of recidivism reduction.

Tricia Stetzel: Wow. That is amazing. All right. I know just based on this first part of our conversation that people already want to connect with you. Uh, what is the best way for them to reach out?

Mark Cox: Marc, if someone would like to connect with me, the best way is via LinkedIn. So I’m present on LinkedIn. And please just reach out with a message.

Tricia Stetzel: Perfect. And it’s Marc Cox, MARKCOX, and you’ll find him. And if you can’t find him, reach out to me and I will connect you with Mark. All right. Can we talk a little deeper about the, um, the extraordinary results of this program? So the first few that you interviewed went on, many of them to be coaches of other inmates. And there’s probably even more to the story. So tell us more.

Mark Cox: Well, the initial ten folks that Miss Morris had in the cohort, we called pioneers because they were willing to take the initial approach. It was the pioneers who then developed under Miss Morris leadership and administered the Hope coaching project at McKeon. The folks who then went through it. We called next gen. And what’s interesting about this is that as we looked, we did a qualitative method rather than quantitative, because the research in this space is nascent. And when it’s nascent, you can’t apply mathematics to it. You’ve got to try to understand first, is there a phenomenon here? However, as we went through the process and used a coding methodology that’s well developed on all the transcripts, we were able to make some assertations as to what were these learnings? Was this hope? Was this identity transformation to someone who had a purpose? Whether I’m ever released from prison or not, I can contribute here. Was it transferable? In other words, did the next gen manifest the same types of behaviors as the pioneer group, or was Miss Morris just extraordinarily good at selecting people who would respond? And what we found is the next gen showed very similar behaviors in terms of hoping and transforming.

Mark Cox: That’s encouraging. So it’s transferable. But I would say, Trisha, also very important is these men entered this program. And let me say this. I’m talking about it. And this is really important. I’m talking about it. The birth of heroes, they, they what they did, what they overcame is, is amazing. I’m, I’m if I were faced with the same, I am pretty confident I could not show that kind of resilience. I just admire them so deeply. So I want to say that very clearly that these 16 men did the work. Miss Morris did the work. One of the important things, though, for us as business leaders to know, is that the hope they manifested, the transformation, the self-efficacy, the resilience that they manifested before they were released from prison was critical to the next thing. It’s one thing to do it in prison, and it’s amazing thing to do it in prison, but it’s another thing to cross that release threshold with a record and try to enter the workforce foraging for work, starting over. And they did it. These men entered society. They are now entrepreneurs working for large companies, coaching others, and fully engaged in life. And that’s what’s amazing.

Tricia Stetzel: That is absolutely amazing. Can you tell us what would it be okay to share the success rate of the coaching program for the. That first group.

Mark Cox: Sure. So as we look at it, um, approximately 85 men went through the program. Uh, of those 45 were released. Now, the purpose it’s really important to know the purpose of the program was not to be released. Mhm. A lot of factors contribute to whether one is released. Okay. But of the 45 who were released, uh, we were able to obtain contact information for 20 of those. And amazingly, we were able to interview 16 of them. So that’s an 80% rate, uh, which tells you something there as well. But, uh, those are the numbers. So that’s an important thing. And then it’s also important to know that of the 45 who were released, uh, only one went back to prison. There was only one who recidivate. So if you look at us as human beings, and I’m not talking specifically about those who have been in prison, but us as human beings, when you’ve done something for 30 years, whether you’ve done the job at the same company for 30 years, you’ve been in the military for 30 years, you’ve taught at a, at a school for 30 years. All of us are institutionalized to some point, right? We know where the coffee maker is. We know where the restroom is, right? We know the rhythms of the place. We know what color the paint is in the given room. So to be able to transition from that institutionalization to a new reality with different dynamics, uh, and show the resilience to progress through that. For 44 out of 45 of those folks is is really impressive.

Tricia Stetzel: Wow, that is amazing. So how how does that experience for you, Mark, lead you to you have several decades of experience in the corporate space alongside of this beautiful piece of work that you’ve done and the interactions that you had during that program. How does that lead you to where you are today with all of the work that you’re doing with these other companies?

Mark Cox: Well, I think, uh, the translational elements of that for me are that when we engage in any endeavor and this specific endeavor, this is Houston Business Radio, we’re talking about business. And in the US, we’re typically talking about capitalism. And, you know, capitalism is not perfect, nor is any system. But one thing about it is when done well, when we show resilience, when we face obstacles as business leaders. We create opportunities. We are part of creating opportunities for others to use their gifts well. And I think having gone on the journey, I went on from a cooperative education student starting in a lab at Eastman, uh, to the job I had when I retired of leading our operations, the thing I would say is that financial profit is necessary to sustain the enterprise, but it’s not satisfying. Once you’ve been able to accomplish having a roof over your head and clothes on your back, the upside beyond that is rarely extraordinarily satisfying. But what is satisfying is to know that you have been part of contributing to another person’s ability to love their family, to use their gifts, and to experience dignity. We’ve all had probably undignified moments in our lives, and that’s not a great feeling. But for most people, those are episodic.

Mark Cox: But there is a portion of the population, and I think perhaps increasingly so, who when you ask them what they do, they may not be able to respond that in a way to that, in a way that makes them feel dignified, not in an arrogant way. And and we don’t want that. There is no job more important than another. And I’m reminded of when I believe it was. President Kennedy was touring the Space Center in Huntsville or at Cape Canaveral, one and past member of the custodial staff and asked him, what do you do? And he said, I’m working to put a man on the moon. Mr. president, so I think it’s really important that we understand that and we project that as leaders, because there. You cannot fake that. And and I think, how do you treat every person in your organization, whether they are leading a business, they’re in engineering, they’re making product, they’re on the custodial staff, they’re helping prepare the food at your organization. We’re all a team and we can invest in each other and see growth that will produce increasing dignity. And that’s an important part of what we do as leaders in business.

Tricia Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So I got goosebumps when you, uh, gave that scenario of the custodial person talking to the president and saying, I’m going to put somebody on the moon. That is ownership and dignity of work. He believed in what he was doing and that it was very important. So how do we as leaders, so let’s say our conversation is resonating with someone today, and they just don’t know how to get started with their team. They have a team of people, they appreciate the work that they’re doing, but they don’t really know if everyone on their team feels hope or the dignity of their work. Where do they start?

Mark Cox: Well, I think there are several ways a person could start, but I’m going to speak from my experience and go from what I know. And I think part of that begins with an honest 360 assessment from people who will tell you the truth. And that’s part of the coaching process. And this is not a commercial for coaching. I’ve been coached, I enjoy coaching. Coaching was part of this. But if you begin with that and you’re willing to receive it, my belief is that people around you who are honest, you want to ask people who will be honest with you, can give you better feedback about your opportunities for growth as a leader than your own judgment. I think that’s often the case. And then I do think if you can engage with a professional coach That they can help you, hold you accountable to behaviors that will enhance the dignity of your team and the effectiveness of your team. And what I have found, one behavior that I have found is really important. Uh, and that is this, that a transparent form of leadership goes like this. When we have difficult decisions to make or we have easy decisions to make, there is a forum. It’s a forum, it’s a place, it’s a room or it’s a virtual call, but we’re all there. We all give input and we are kind in our treatment of each other. In other words, I am not going to attack you personally. I’m not going to say cutting things. We will be hard on the issues, we will use our intellect and we will be aggressive on the issues.

Mark Cox: But everybody in the room sees the decision making process. And although they may not all agree with the outcome of the decision, they had their input, they had their full say. And then we take the direction versus the water cooler. Conversation is where it really was decided or this out second. So I think that’s an important part. And perhaps that’s the kind of thing that comes out in a 360 assessment. That is then a gap for a leader. And the leader says, oh, I didn’t know I had that gap. Or I may say, uh, no, I don’t think I don’t think that’s accurate. I think that feedback was skewed. I think you can make up all kinds of excuses, but an experienced coach will say, hey, that’s pretty consistent feedback. And I’ve heard it across. Do you want to grow or not? Do you want to advance your team or not? Whether you agree with this or not, this is the perception. Will you humble yourself and work on it? These men humble themselves. She was the warden. They went to the chapel with her. Did this, did this study. They weren’t in the yard lifting weights, which is a great thing. I mean, that’s a great thing. They were doing something different and they did the work and it made a difference in their lives and others. So you as a leader, are you willing to humble yourself? Are you willing to come under a 360 or some other form of feedback? Identify those two things you need to work on and then work on them. Your team will benefit.

Tricia Stetzel: Thank you. That is Amazing. And I want to tackle one last thing, maybe not in detail, because we are at the back end of our conversation, but the, the, the focus of dignity of work and how it’s so critical to helping people create lasting change. We’ve talked about change today, but we haven’t really dove into, and I don’t want to go too deep because we don’t have a lot of time. But what what are a couple of things around the dignity, dignity of work that really creates this lasting change?

Mark Cox: I think there are two contributors among many. One contributor is that in this particular case, they took a chance. They put forth effort. They persisted at it in prison, and it produced undeniable results. They saw other men change as a result of their coaching. So one way is to look back at the past and say, okay, that succeeded. I now believe as I move forward that it will. And their faith. Trisha we didn’t explore it today, but for many of these men, their relationship with God was a huge part of this. Second thing I would say is many of these men stuck together after release. They held each other accountable and having accountability partners, someone you can be honest with and who will be honest with you is really important.

Tricia Stetzel: Wow. Mark, thank you so much for this conversation today. It has been very insightful for me and I know also insightful for our listeners.

Mark Cox: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Trisha.

Tricia Stetzel: Absolutely. All right, you guys, if you want to connect with Mark, the best way to find him is on LinkedIn. You can either look me up and see the connection, or just go search for MARKCOX and you’ll find him and connect with him again. Mark, thank you for your time today.

Mark Cox: My pleasure and best wishes to you, Trisha.

Tricia Stetzel: Thank you. All right guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Mark and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or a Houston leader ready to grow. And as always, be sure to follow, rate and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business, your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.