The Most Powerful Women to Watch: No. 8, Cassandra McKinney, Comerica Bank

Cassandra McKinney has proclaimed one of her tenets for career success on her license plate for more than 20 years: WRK2PLY.

"Work hard; play hard," said McKinney, who leads personal and small-business banking for Dallas-based Comerica Bank . "I do believe in living by that because I give my all at work. But when it's time to rest, to reenergize, to spend time with family, to invest in myself and my development, I work just as hard at that as well," she said.

Under McKinney, Comerica's retail bank generated $965 million in revenue and 20% revenue growth in 2023. She leads 2,580 employees in the retail bank, which has $27 billion in loans and deposits.

Following the liquidity crisis that led to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and others in 2023, regional banks like Comerica have turned their focus back to strategic intent, McKinney said. For Comerica's retail bank, that has meant focusing on organic growth with its small-business customers by providing them with capabilities to make them feel safe and secure, and to bring deposits to the bank, she said.

The retail bank revamped its lineup of digital products and services for small businesses, she said, adding, for example, a new service in 2023 that provides lines of credit and term loans of up to $100,000 within 48 hours.

In building her career, McKinney said, she learned the importance of sponsors: Those who "can speak and vouch for you in the room that you're not yet in."

While mentors provide valuable counsel for career advice and developing skills, they may not be willing to vouch for you like a sponsor will, she said. For McKinney, a self-described introvert, it was difficult to step outside her comfort zone, reach out to potential sponsors and build out her network.

"It's not enough that just your manager knows and understands your capability. You need a broad group of people to understand and know," she said. "Some people speak to the old adage: 'It's not what you know, it's who you know.' I would tell you: 'It's who knows you,'" she said.

Leadership development isn't a straight-line path. "I don't expect, I don't think Comerica expects, that you can do a job for 30 years and develop wholly in a single job, if you're not versed in a variety of different experiences and exposed to different skills, exposed to different leadership styles of different people," McKinney said. Sometimes the path for growth might be lateral or even a step back to try a different track to further a career aspiration, she said.

Besides her "work hard; play hard" tenet, McKinney said that if she could offer career advice to her younger self, she would say to "follow your purpose and your passion."

"Do what you love, because otherwise the job's too hard," she said. "Be bold. Don't not take risks. Don't sit on the sidelines, because there's typically not a lot of opportunity in sitting on the sideline and managing to the status quo."

"Be true to your values," she added. "If the company that you're working for really doesn't match with your values, I think: Get out as fast as you can."