Hispanic Heritage Month Reflection

As I celebrate Hispanic Heritage month with my family, colleagues, clients, and partners, I reflect on how being a “Hoosier Rican” from East Chicago Indiana has shaped how I continue to show up for my teams, my clients, and my community.? There have been many experiences, situations, and decisions that paved my journey from student to corporate executive. Three learnings that have shaped how I show up authentically at work are: ?

?Find your WHY:

Growing up in a Puerto Rican, blue-collar household, education and doing well in school was the priority.? My late father would say, “My inheritance to you will be an education; take advantage of the opportunity I did not have”. ?With a strong work ethic, resilience, adaptability, and a competitive mindset, I was determined to be the best version of myself. ?By focusing on my education, I found purpose. ?My “Why” as a student was to be the best student I could be, be the first in my family to graduate from college and enter the corporate world. When you have a “why”, you work through the difficult, fail quickly, and adapt.? It’s the fuel to your fire; it’s the reason you keep getting up when knocked down. Over time my “Why” has shifted from focus on self to focus on others. ?When you ground yourself and put your energy toward your “why”, its less about you and more about others.

When you bet on yourself, you can’t lose.

Being the “first” in many aspects of my journey came with lots of uncertainty, doubt, and unknowns.? It’s like walking into a dark room trying to find the light switch.? Oftentimes, you find yourself bumping into something, running into a wall, changing direction. However, because of your “why” you will do everything you can to find and flip the light switch. ??Coming out of college, I had only one Job offer. ?I interviewed with Johnson Controls for what I thought would be an engineering position in one of their automotive interior plants. The Plant Manager and I hit it off and he really liked me but did not have an “office position” to offer me.? What was offered was an assembly position working Monday thru Friday, 7am to 3pm, making $10 an hour. He did leave a door open to say, at some point, with no guarantees, there may be an opportunity to transfer later. I knew what I was capable of; I just needed an opportunity.? Get my foot in the door and figure out the rest.? I bet on myself and took the position.? For 3 months, I worked on the assembly line building armrests. No complaints, no regrets.? An opportunity to work on a “special project” allowed me to work with a supplier on a continuous improvement initiative with alternate material.? It was this “special project” that laid the foundation for what would become a career in Supply Chain. I was transferred to the supply chain group and the rest is history. ?Six years later, I bet on myself again.? With a growing family, my wife and I talked about moving back to the Chicago area. As I was interviewing with Accenture, I was not sure how that would play out with the travel, the long hours, the daily grind. I bet on myself again now leveraging my supply chain experience at Accenture.? Oftentimes in our career we need to take chances.? We need to be comfortable being uncomfortable.? Like they say in the casinos, “scared money, makes no money”.? When you bet on yourself for your ‘why” you can’t lose.

Connections Matter:

Family, relationships, and connections are core to our rich Latino culture.? We all like to be seen, felt, and heard. ??Every connection matters.? We all have a story to share. ?There have been times where I would spend a lot of my time with my teams than with my family; think about the number of Monday – Thursdays on the road in client delivery. ??When you are in the trenches solving big, complex, business problems, connections are important.? How well do you know your team?? Do you know about their life outside of work? What is their purpose? ? When you make meaningful connections, trust is built and there is a general understanding that we are all in this together.? As a leader, if I am asking people to show up for me, I in return have a duty to show up for them.

?As I look back at my journey, I have no regrets.? Every decision, every action has put me where I am. I feel this is where I am supposed to be.? I am beyond blessed and extremely grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.?

?#HHM2023 #TogetherWeAreMore?#HispanicHeritageMonth #Accenture