Part 2: The Value Of Working In "Windy" Industries, Taking On Tough Jobs, & Being A "Truth Teller"

Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer at TPG, a global alternative asset management firm. Anilu started her career as an attorney; then spent almost 12 years at Goldman Sachs in Human Capital Management, eventually becoming the firm's Chief Diversity Officer and Global Head of Talent. She moved to TPG as the Chief Human Resources Officer before being promoted to her current role. (This is part 2 of our interview. Read Part 1 here.)

How did you go from heading talent to being the Chief Operating Officer? That’s not a typical career path.

I didn’t look at my role as being this defined thing that exists within the four corners of the room. If there's a conversation going on and it’s interesting, maybe it's not your area of expertise or your lane, but you can contribute something.?Get engaged in it. I think that women, in particular, need to do more of that. We tend to wait for someone to tell us that we are ready.

Of course, to be able to do that, you have to work at places where that's encouraged. So, I've gravitated towards organizations that are willing to be a little bit more creative.

In other words, it’s a combination of me being willing to put myself in situations where there was an opportunity for me to expand what my contributions could be. And also, importantly, being part of an organization and having a boss, in this case my CEO Jon Winkelried, who are willing to not be limited by someone’s title or their background, but who just really look at what the organization needs.

What do you think people saw in you that made them want to champion you?

When I joined Goldman, I was in Human Capital Management, which is what the firm calls HR, but I was in a group called Employee Relations. I joined the firm in 2007; then in 2008, the great financial crisis happened. Unfortunately, Employee Relations was the group that had to let go of employees. So one of the first things that I had to do was to tell the internal clients that I worked with that we needed to let go of people on their teams and to give me names.?Of course they were like ‘what are you talking about?!’

I worked with Edith Cooper (the Goldman partner who was the global head of human capital) during several of those really difficult situations. When she was looking for a chief of staff, out of the blue, she asked me if I had ever thought about that.

In fact, I had been considering whether I wanted to do something else, but I hadn't really told anyone. So, when she offered me that opportunity, it really changed the trajectory of my career.

I think that what people saw was that I was a truth teller. And that I really cared about the firm. And in caring about the firm, what I really cared about were the people of the firm and about us doing better.?Honestly, that has been probably a bit of a trademark of my career, and it's not for everyone. You know, not everyone likes you telling them exactly what they need to hear. And by the way, you're not always right!

So if you're going to be a truth teller, actually, I think that you need to be a good listener more than anything. When people talk to me, they’re often like, ‘oh, you must be such an extrovert!’ I actually consider myself an introvert. But we owe it to our bosses to tell them what's on our minds. They're not mind readers. I've learned that you just have to find a comfortable way to do that.

And, something else that probably helped me is that I grew up playing sports. So, I am a very team-oriented person, which is one of the things that I loved about Goldman. I think people know that I'll go the extra mile for the them and for the team.

Is there any other advice that you’d give to women looking to have a career as successful as yours?

I think enough cannot be said about this:?wherever you’re working, you really need to understand, how does that organization make money? Or if it's a nonprofit, how do they raise money? In other words, really understanding the guts of the organization.

I also think it all comes down to how do people remember you after working with you? Do they want to do it again??Or are they like ‘thank goodness that that's over!”

In addition, I greatly benefited from doing things that other people did not want it to, that seemed too complicated or that were a little hairy. Or things that were very unsexy or that needed to be turned around.

When I look at my career, all of the big step ups have come as a result of a combination of volunteering for or being willing to take on those kinds of assignments when asked.?People should think about navigating their careers as accumulating skills and experiences as opposed to roles.

The last thing I would say is look for industries and markets that are in rapid evolution. One of the things that I love about being at TPG is that we're at the center of what’s going on in the markets. When there is evolution and rapid change, that means there's a big growth opportunity. A lot of interesting things can happen to your career if you put yourself in the middle of things like that. It’s windy at the top. But if you can withstand it, you'll be so much better for it. Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer at TPG Capital, a global alternative asset management firm. Anilu started her career as an attorney; then spent almost 12 years at Goldman Sachs in Human Resources , eventually becoming the firm's Chief Diversity Officer and Global Head of Talent. She moved to TPG as the Chief Human Resources Officer before eventually being promoted to her current role. (This is part 2 of our interview. Read Part 1 here.)

How did you go from heading talent to being the Chief Operating Officer? That’s not a typical career path.

I didn’t look at my role as being this defined thing that exists within the four corners of the room. If there's a conversation going on and it’s interesting, maybe it's not your area of expertise or your lane, but you can contribute something.? Get engaged in it. I think that women, in particular, need to do more of that. We tend to wait for someone to tell us that we are ready.

Of course, to be able to do that, you have to work at places where that's encouraged. So, I've gravitated towards organizations that are willing to be a little bit more creative.

In other words, it’s a combination of me being willing to put myself in situations where there was an opportunity for me to expand what my contributions could be. And also, importantly, being part of an organization and having a boss, in this case my CEO John Winkelried, who are willing to not be limited by someone’s title or their background, but who just really look at what the organization needs.

What do you think people saw in you that made them want to champion you?

When I joined Goldman, I was in HR, but I was in a group called Employee Relations. I joined the firm in 2007; then in 2008, the great financial crisis happened. Unfortunately, Employee Relations was the group that had to let go of employees. So one of the first things that I had to do was to tell the internal clients that I worked with that we needed to let go of people on their teams and to give me names.? Of course they were like ‘what are you talking about?!’

I worked with Edith Cooper (the Goldman partner who was the global head of human capital) during several of those really difficult situations. When she was looking for a chief of staff, out of the blue, she asked me if I had ever thought about that.

In fact, I had been considering whether I wanted to do something else, but I hadn't really told anyone. So, when she offered me that opportunity, it really changed the trajectory of my career.

I think that what people saw was that I was a truth teller. And that I really cared about the firm. And in caring about the firm, what I really cared about were the people of the firm and about us doing better.? Honestly, that has been probably a bit of a trademark of my career, and it's not for everyone. You know, not everyone likes you telling them exactly what they need to hear. And by the way, you're not always right!

So if you're going to be a truth teller, actually, I think that you need to be a good listener more than anything. When people talk to me, they’re often like, ‘oh, you must be such an extrovert!’ I actually consider myself an introvert. But we owe it to our bosses to tell them what's on our minds. They're not mind readers. I've learned that you just have to find a comfortable way to do that.

And, something else that probably helped me is that I grew up playing sports. So, I am a very team-oriented person, which is one of the things that I loved about Goldman. I think people know that I'll go the extra mile for the them and for the team.

Is there any other advice that you’d give to women looking to have a career as successful as your’s?

I think enough cannot be said about this:? wherever you’re working, you really need to understand, how does that organization make money? Or if it's a nonprofit, how do they raise money? In other words, really understanding the guts of the organization.

I also think it all comes down to how do people remember you after working with you? Do they want to do it again?? Or are they like ‘thank goodness that that's over!”

In addition, I greatly benefited from doing things that other people did not want it to, that seemed too complicated or that were a little hairy. Or things that were very unsexy or that needed to be turned around.

When I look at my career, all of the big step ups have come as a result of a combination of volunteering for or being willing to take on those kinds of assignments when asked.? People should think about navigating their careers as accumulating skills and experiences as opposed to roles. ?

The last thing I would say is look for industries and markets that are in rapid evolution. One of the things that I love about being at TPG is that we're at the center of what’s going on in the markets. When there is evolution and rapid change, that means there's a big growth opportunity. A lot of interesting things can happen to your career if you put yourself in the middle of things like that. It’s windy at the top. But if you can withstand it, you'll be so much better for it.