Series
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Elizabeth Nieto

In this episode of "A LA LATINA: The Playbook to Succeed Being Your Authentic Self," our hosts Claudia Romo Edelman and Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner sit down with their guest, Elizabeth Nieto, the Global Head of Equity and Impact at Spotify. The conversation revolves around these three main points.

1. The Now-or-Never Mentality

Elizabeth's upbringing in Argentina during the tumultuous 1970s played a significant role in shaping her approach to risk-taking. The seventies in Argentina were marked by political and economic instability, with social unrest and uncertainty prevalent in daily life. In such an environment, Elizabeth developed what she calls a "now or never" mentality.

2. How to Be a Good Mentee

Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of being a good mentee as a critical aspect of personal and professional growth. To truly benefit from a mentorship relationship, she suggests several key qualities and behaviors that make someone a good mentee.

3. Elizabeth's Personal Leadership Playbook

Elizabeth's leadership playbook comprises six key qualities: Centered, courageous, curious, compassionate, community builder, and change agent.

Tune into the episode where we deepen in these topics and how Elizabeth's unique background and leadership principles have shaped her successful career at Spotify and what lessons you can apply to your own journey. Whether you're a young professional or a seasoned leader, this episode offers insights and inspiration for succeeding while staying true to your authentic self. Don't miss this engaging conversation on leadership, authenticity, and the power of embracing your cultural identity.
Show transcript
00:00
Hello, I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner and
00:03
this is the podcast A La Latina,
00:05
the playbook to succeed being your authentic self.
00:08
Today, we're gonna learn from Elizabeth Nieto.
00:10
Three key things. Number one,
00:13
how growing up in Argentina in the seventies gave her a now
00:16
or never mentality that make her take risk without thinking too much
00:20
about them. Number two,
00:21
how to be a good mentee and number three,
00:25
her personal leadership playbook including sixties centered,
00:29
courageous, curious, compassionate community builder,
00:33
and change agent. That's amazing.
00:35
Stick around for another episode of A La Latina,
00:38
a la Latina Hola.
00:47
Welcome to a new episode of our podcast A La Latina,
00:51
the playbook to succeed being your authentic self today.
00:55
Incredible guest, Elizabeth Mito Elizabeth is a global head of equity
00:59
and impact at Spotify.
01:01
She's also a board member of All Stars Project,
01:04
the Opportunity Network and a first shake for youth.
01:07
She's an advisory member of the entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the US
01:12
at the Columbia Business School.
01:13
Welcome to a La Latina.
01:15
Thank you. It's excited to be here.
01:19
So I wanna start,
01:20
you know, like a question.
01:21
So we were doing research about you preparing for this podcast and
01:25
we found a tone of your background and,
01:28
and information of your companies and what you have said about them
01:32
But we found very little about you and your personal life
01:35
Why is that?
01:36
Oh, that, that's a good question.
01:38
And I don't, it's not that I have never shared my
01:41
story, but I tend to be doing a lot about what
01:44
the companies are and maybe it is a little bit of the
01:47
upbringing that we were told not to talk about ourselves.
01:51
And so we're going to start into the conversation and more about
01:55
your work. And despite of what people said about Argentinians
01:59
because I'm from Argentina,
02:01
I was brought up to be very,
02:02
very humble. And therefore,
02:04
unless you really ask me the question about myself,
02:07
I will not be talking about myself.
02:08
I will be talking about my work or the work of my
02:10
team. We are especially interested in shining a light on the
02:14
stories of our guests because there's such diversity in the Latino community
02:20
that it's, it's a,
02:23
a hard to identify yourself with a Latina if you don't learn
02:28
about their journey. And also because women like you are so
02:34
far ahead in their careers that it's almost like there's all this
02:37
glamour around your role that it's,
02:40
it's hard to imagine like how your thing that I did laundry
02:43
this morning before coming earlier.
02:45
You were when you were starting your care career.
02:47
Like I'm sure you had struggles,
02:49
you made mistakes. So we would like for our audience to
02:52
identify themselves with, with our guests.
02:56
Can you tell us about your upbringing?
02:58
How did you grow up?
02:59
What were the values that you learned as you were a young
03:02
girl or a teenager that you can then track to now and
03:06
how you have gotten to where you are?
03:08
Good. So I grew up in Argentina,
03:10
as I mentioned, the daughter of a divorced mom in
03:15
the seventies when still being a divorced,
03:17
coming up, a divorced family was not well seen.
03:21
it has changed but it was not when I was growing
03:23
up. And, and I take that experience because that taught
03:27
me about being very independent.
03:29
You don't need to trust on someone else to be able to
03:33
pay for your rent or to take care of yourself.
03:36
So, so that part.
03:37
So then I went to,
03:39
I'm, I'm the product of public education from elementary school all
03:43
the way to university.
03:45
And I went to study Licia Tore and Ciencia de lu
03:50
Cian. So I have a master's in educational sciences and I
03:53
remember that at the time,
03:54
people say, what is that?
03:55
What, how are we gonna make any money with that?
03:58
And what are you gonna do?
03:59
And, and I think that a lot of what I see
04:02
now even in the students is you build knowledge unless you're really
04:07
going into a very specific trade,
04:08
being an accountant, being a doctor,
04:10
a lot of our education is about this building blocks of the
04:13
things that you may be able to apply in the future.
04:16
So what I learned was a little bit of common sense and
04:19
problem solving. I understood educational systems and what were the struggles
04:23
for that? And then I ended up going into corporate
04:27
almost by 10. I,
04:29
I did not know that I could have a corporate career and
04:33
in learning and development.
04:34
And that was the educational background and you were in Argentina all
04:37
this in Argentina. So I joined a multinational company at the
04:41
time was Citibank.
04:43
And that actually gave me the opportunity of working in a really
04:47
global environment. And I know we're going to talk a little
04:50
bit about accents and the differences.
04:52
I work in a place where everybody had an accent.
04:54
So for me coming to the US and being one of those
04:57
team, everybody had an accent.
04:58
So there was not anything that will be seen as,
05:01
as detrimental to your success.
05:05
And, and so II I did that and first want to
05:09
go to the university.
05:10
So there was a lot of expectations to be successful and do
05:14
something of, of my career.
05:16
And, and the other thing for those who knew,
05:19
you know, Argentina in the seventies,
05:21
eighties and still today,
05:22
it is a country with a lot of fluctuation.
05:25
So you learn to take advantage of the things as they come
05:30
to you because you don't know if they will come in the
05:32
future. So this is now or never approach is what I
05:35
have realized that I have taken every step of my career now
05:39
because I don't know if it's going to happen in the future
05:41
And those are kind of the things that I think that
05:42
have molded who I am as a person and as a
05:47
professional and you came to the US like transferring we cam with
05:51
city and I had a Latin America role.
05:56
So I was the head of learning and development for Latin America
06:00
There were 14 countries,
06:01
three languages, the Consumer Bank.
06:04
And then at a point,
06:05
I realized that if I stayed in Latin America with a Latin
06:08
America job, I will always be in that hall.
06:10
And I decided to take a lateral move,
06:13
we'll talk about lateral moves to a job in New York,
06:18
but it was a global job.
06:19
So it was a smaller organization,
06:20
but it was giving me the opportunity to bring my experiences from
06:24
Latin America, but also move into a global role.
06:28
And then building in a couple more roles in in Citibank until
06:33
I left after 19 years there.
06:36
But so many like you should listen to all of our episodes
06:40
because there's a lot of commonality about lateral moves and then not
06:45
also not pigeonholing yourself in one type of role and doing,
06:49
like moving to the American side of the business and
06:52
building network and as a,
06:54
as a part of your career.
06:56
Absolutely. So you were there for 19 years and you,
07:00
it's such a big company.
07:02
You were in the Latin American side.
07:03
I'm sure there were hundreds of,
07:06
of women with similar skill set as you.
07:09
Why did you climb the ladder?
07:13
You know, they say that to be lucky is being prepared
07:16
at the right time.
07:17
And I think that I was prepared at the right time.
07:19
I had a couple of mentors that really helped me navigate opportunities
07:24
And they were all males.
07:25
By the, by the look back,
07:27
there were a couple of,
07:28
of women later. But my first mentor just because of the
07:31
way that it was set up,
07:32
most of the managers that I had that became my mentors were
07:35
were men. And then I took jobs that I
07:40
didn't know enough, but I,
07:42
I was taking the risk to do that.
07:44
And I think that that's the other piece that if I think
07:47
back I was like,
07:48
why did I didn't know enough?
07:50
But, but it was the sense of I had a couple
07:52
of mentors saying yes,
07:54
you can do it.
07:54
We trust that you can do it.
07:56
But did you feel a like I've taken like rules like that
08:00
Like a little risky,
08:01
but only when I felt very safe,
08:04
like I feel like I had somebody in the company that if
08:06
I messed up, they have my back.
08:08
Yes. And at the time I was also a single mom
08:12
so I could take risks.
08:15
but I still needed to be.
08:17
Exactly. So I couldn't go completely,
08:20
wild because I needed to be sure that it will be
08:23
a paycheck at the end of that role.
08:26
So, and now you're at Spotify Swedish culture,
08:31
Latina, upbringing, by the way,
08:33
I love that now or never upbringing that really allowed you
08:37
to take risks without having to,
08:39
you know, like to think too much about it because it
08:41
was your upbringing and we should know more about that and be
08:45
more aware of our own past and how it influenced our
08:49
prospect of the future and our,
08:51
you know, playbook,
08:52
where do we have the strength in the playbook?
08:54
So you're, are you the highest ranking Latina on Spotify?
08:58
Yes, ma'am. And,
09:00
and tell, tell us a little bit about how has been
09:03
you know, like,
09:04
how, how, how is that?
09:07
And how has been your journey in bringing your,
09:10
you know, like in being your Latinidad and asset.
09:13
And when has it been a pro or when has it been
09:16
a con? again,
09:18
like looking at the things that your Spotify is this is the
09:21
first time that I worked for a non American company.
09:24
So in itself is very interesting and I happen to be the
09:26
most senior Latina or the only senior VP of Latina.
09:30
Congratulations, but we just wanna thank you.
09:33
Thank you. But if you think about it,
09:34
half of the senior leadership is Swedish.
09:37
So it is not the same that if you're in an American
09:40
company where most of the leadership,
09:42
so where half of us are,
09:44
are in the US or outside the US and the rest is
09:47
in Sweden. So it's,
09:48
it's, it's not notable but there,
09:52
there's less people here in the US.
09:54
And it has been very interesting to do this comparison.
09:58
And I think that one of the characteristics that we all share
10:01
because we're new immigrants because we had to navigate and straddle in
10:05
different cultures that we get to learn what,
10:08
how you get to be successful in the different cultures.
10:11
So this cross cultural skill set has helped me here.
10:16
It's a very humble culture,
10:19
the Swedish culture. And therefore that as I mentioned before,
10:23
you know, I was brought up,
10:24
you never go and talk about yourself.
10:26
So it's very aligned to my own values.
10:29
So although I have never worked in a culture like that,
10:32
it's not that difficult for me to be aligning on the things
10:36
that are important to the leadership.
10:38
So that's that's kind of the difference or the similarities that
10:42
I have found working in a Swedish company.
10:47
very collaborative, very consensus driven.
10:51
So very similar, right?
10:53
Exactly, very driven is not very Latino.
10:56
No, Latinos like hierarchy and somebody up there is making the
10:59
decision and you're like,
11:00
OK, hey, those are the kind of,
11:03
you know, and,
11:03
and this goes back to what you said,
11:05
you know, we're not monolith.
11:07
So you have different cultures and I think that also different industries
11:12
So if you think about financial services in itself,
11:15
no matter if you're Latino,
11:16
no, it's a very hierarchical organization.
11:18
You are regulated, you have external forces that makes you to
11:21
always be sure that your boss has signed off for anything.
11:24
If you go to the,
11:25
the technology companies or,
11:28
or consumer based companies,
11:29
they're not as hierarchical because you need to really be,
11:33
yeah, producing based on your consumer or based on,
11:37
on the new technology.
11:38
So I think that that also adapts to a little bit of
11:41
the evolution of industries,
11:44
you know, I,
11:45
I just want to take back a topic that you just opened
11:48
because we've never spoken about this about Latinos seizing the moment.
11:52
Do you know this concept of the Start up Nation from Israel
11:56
So Israel is,
11:57
there's even a book that's called the Start Up Nation.
12:00
And the it Israel is known for having a lot of start
12:05
ups in part because the culture revolves around the,
12:10
the military service and the fact that you,
12:13
you could die any day.
12:15
So it does something to,
12:17
to people like people just live in the day because they don't
12:21
know if they're going to die.
12:22
And it's almost like we Latinos have some of it.
12:26
Like you don't know,
12:28
it's not a about death but it's about economical prosperity,
12:30
what's going to happen in our countries.
12:32
But somehow Israel has taken over the brand of we are a
12:37
start up nation that seizes the moments and we haven't when we
12:42
also have that attitude of entrepreneurship and,
12:48
and I'm just going to make the most out of what I
12:50
have right now and just go for it some rebranding.
12:53
We should take some of the Israel brand and take it to
12:57
I mean, like pretty much I think that one of
12:59
the and we're like deviating from the topic,
13:02
the favorite topic, which is you,
13:03
but just to go into the entrepreneurial nature and what can we
13:07
bring? We are as Mexicans as Argentinians as Venezuelans.
13:13
When you're in your country,
13:14
you're half entrepreneurial because you are in your element when you move
13:19
to a place because you have to start something new.
13:21
Your entrepreneurial by definition is a self selection of the people that
13:25
come to the states that are now coined Hispanics or Latino or
13:29
Latin. Next. So by definition,
13:31
you're like having that selection of entrepreneurs that came because they wanted
13:36
something different or something or start something.
13:38
So we are absolutely entrepreneurial.
13:40
As a fact, Latinas generate small businesses six times faster than
13:45
any other group in America.
13:46
We're the job creator.
13:48
Number one in the country.
13:49
So the, the problem we have is that we don't know
13:51
how to deal with,
13:52
deal with that. We don't scale up.
13:54
We have only 2 to 3 employees and we pretty much remain
13:57
always with a second job at the side,
13:59
having a first job and then a little kitchen at
14:02
the side, a little sewing,
14:04
business at the side.
14:05
But yeah, that's on the,
14:06
on the start up nation mentality.
14:08
But I wanted to go back to the,
14:10
to the being Latina and also on an anecdote on,
14:15
on Spotify and how,
14:16
how interesting it might be actually to be a Latina in
14:21
a, in a company that is thriving on Latino culture in
14:25
so many aspects. So this,
14:27
I think that I mentioned I was in the festival can
14:30
Advertisement festival this year and I went to one of the Spotify
14:35
post Spotify parties and I saw your Ceo Daniel Eck and
14:40
and he was like,
14:41
hey, how are you?
14:42
And he's very shy,
14:43
you're very right about like humbleness and he doesn't like pictures taken
14:47
and you know, like,
14:47
he's that kind of like a backup leader and I don't have
14:50
to be a celebrity of anything.
14:51
This is a teamwork,
14:53
but he was like,
14:55
also, I was like,
14:56
yeah, yeah, I'm,
14:57
I'm, I'm Hispanic,
14:58
I'm Mexican and he was like,
14:59
immediately like, so what's coming after Reggaeton?
15:03
And after Banda, what is the latest thing?
15:06
And like, I'm glad he asked you and not me because
15:08
I would not know the answer and that will be the end
15:10
of my career. So I'm glad that he asked you because
15:13
in reality is Latino culture is driving a lot of the cul
15:17
culture and we're like number one,
15:18
number two, number three in the musical charts.
15:20
And if you're a company like Spotify,
15:22
then that's a culture that you appreciate and you are not the
15:25
only one. But I think that I'm,
15:26
I'm, I'm, I'm,
15:27
I'm happy on that.
15:28
So talk to us more about like that,
15:31
I'll come back because one of the things that is very interesting
15:34
of Daniel and some of the other leaders in the company
15:37
they're constantly trying to learn.
15:41
So when he asked you,
15:42
he was really being serious,
15:43
trying to take the opportunity of using an sme you as part
15:48
of the culture to learn more that it's coming.
15:51
So, and I think that if we go back to a
15:53
little bit of these Latinas and what we were taught to be
15:57
is in the positive way is you're never good enough.
16:00
So you need to continue to in the negative way to continue
16:04
to evolve in the positive.
16:05
It really makes us continuously say,
16:07
how do I re invent myself?
16:09
What else do I need to do to become what I want
16:12
to be? And that drive of continuous learning,
16:15
I think it's important that drive to progress that the desire that
16:20
unites all of us,
16:21
whether you're Argentina, Mexican Colombian,
16:23
that's all we want is to progress.
16:26
Let's go back to Latinidad and how in your career since you
16:29
moved to the US and in a global company again,
16:34
you know, like your identity yourself.
16:36
Have you felt that,
16:38
you know, like it was helping you,
16:40
did you feel any,
16:41
you know, like any cons on,
16:42
on your identity either from your clients?
16:45
It seems to me that the accent was never an issue
16:48
where there are some of the characteristics of being loud or anything
16:51
else that, you know,
16:52
like you felt were either helping you or stopping you.
16:56
So when I first came,
16:57
there were two moments where I realized,
16:59
OK, I have to really work against the stereotype.
17:01
The first one was all Latinos are late,
17:04
so all Latinos are late.
17:05
That's not true. And I know a lot of non
17:08
Latinos that are late to a lot of things.
17:10
And the other thing that once I got this,
17:13
oh, all Latinas wear red and at the time I was
17:18
so naive. No.
17:20
What does it mean?
17:21
Now? I do not have still today.
17:23
This is almost 25 years ago.
17:25
I do not own one piece of red outfits and,
17:29
and I, I,
17:30
you know, at the time I didn't understand but what they
17:32
were trying to say,
17:33
they had a view,
17:35
a very monolithic view of what the Latino culture was and I
17:40
was not part of that.
17:41
They couldn't see me as a white presenting Latina.
17:44
They couldn't put me together.
17:46
So the only thing that they need is to put me on
17:48
a red dress and then I will become the Latina that they
17:51
wanted me to be.
17:52
So, so it's not that I fought because I didn't want
17:57
to be a Latina.
17:58
I just didn't want to be labeled with the things that they
18:02
as negative. I wanted to be labeled with the things that
18:05
they so positive and we'll talk about what those are is being
18:08
collaborative, really working hard because I needed to prove myself every
18:12
day. Those were the things that I wanted to be defined
18:15
by and not by and,
18:17
and again, am I loud?
18:19
I don't think that I'm very loud but sometimes my husband thinks
18:23
I am. So I maybe,
18:25
you know, it really depends on what is allowed for
18:28
you. So, but,
18:30
but the, the ideas of what makes you successful in a
18:35
corporate environment, I will go and push on those and not
18:40
the ones that will pull me down.
18:42
So you would say that you succeeded because of some of your
18:45
characteristics as Latina, not despite of your characteristics as Latina.
18:49
But again, in companies that were very open to that diversity
18:54
So I don't want to sugar coat that everybody will have
18:57
that experience if you're coming to a company that is really open
19:00
to bring different voices,
19:02
then you can use your voice.
19:03
If you're coming to a company where they actually not allowing for
19:06
you to progress or they will use those stereotypes just to bring
19:11
you down. Then you can't really use that to your advantage
19:14
You've never experienced that.
19:17
I was very lucky that I have not.
19:20
Were you lucky or were you strategic?
19:22
Like for example, when you went to Spotify,
19:23
you work for 19 years at Citibank.
19:26
But when you decide to,
19:27
you went from, I went to a lot of other places
19:29
in between every time you feel like you landed somewhere where you
19:32
could be your authentic self.
19:34
So interesting when, when I decided to take this global role
19:38
this lateral move at city and I'll use that.
19:40
I had two options.
19:41
I could come and be part of a US HR department or
19:47
be part out of a smaller place that was a global department
19:50
And I decided to go for the global because that was
19:52
where I had an experience that was going to be useful.
19:55
If I was coming to the US HR team,
19:59
I was always going to be behind everybody else.
20:01
I was the one with an accent.
20:02
I didn't write English like my peers and,
20:05
and I had differences.
20:06
So in that case,
20:08
I was strategic, I said,
20:08
I'm gonna take a job where my skill set is going to
20:11
be seen as a value and not as a different.
20:15
And then every company and every role that I had had been
20:18
global roles where again,
20:20
having lived in different countries,
20:22
having worked with different culture was an asset and not,
20:25
and I think that being,
20:27
this is something that would be very useful for everybody.
20:30
One is being aware of how who you are can be used
20:36
as a positive and collaborative,
20:39
you know, like being fluent in different languages and being,
20:42
you know, like I think that you mentioned also adaptable
20:46
but also how do you bring awareness to yourself about
20:51
like the choices you make and how can you make,
20:53
you know, strategic decisions of being in a place where what
20:57
you have is a value and not,
20:59
not even if that means a lateral move,
21:02
even if it doesn't look like a straight line.
21:05
And that's a, that's a really good conversation that I have
21:08
with a lot of the mentees.
21:09
We're still being taught that it's all a ladder.
21:12
And if you think of the educational system,
21:14
the educational system is a ladder.
21:16
So you're always going to the next one.
21:17
But in your career,
21:18
it's not. So someone calls it the monkey bar,
21:21
someone calls it the lateral moves and,
21:23
and that, that's how you experience and you add skill set
21:27
and, and experiences in a way that could have a little
21:30
risk, but you also have ways to experience new things without
21:34
having the complete risk of failing.
21:36
So it's that balance between taking risk,
21:38
experience new things and,
21:40
and then the careers,
21:41
you know, hopefully will also bring you to other opportunities that
21:46
are bigger than the ones that you have.
21:48
And, and just like,
21:49
you know, like giving the role that you have,
21:50
which is massive, you should talk to us a little bit
21:52
more about your role.
21:55
has your experience been that,
21:58
is it lonely up there for you,
22:01
First of all? And then do you feel that you have
22:04
found a group of peers,
22:05
like minded Latinas that are opening the door for each other or
22:09
has it, you know,
22:10
like have you seen more like other communities that are more unified
22:14
to open the door for each other?
22:16
Share the access code and,
22:17
and, and let people go.
22:19
I think it's a combination.
22:22
I don't feel like that lonely where I am
22:27
but after the Supreme Court ruling about affirmative action
22:34
that was the night that we had all these texts going
22:37
back and forth and people that have done similar jobs like us
22:40
and saying I'm here.
22:42
If you want to cry,
22:43
let's cry together or I'm here,
22:44
I can give you a hug if you need all virtual hugs
22:47
So I do have a network of people that had had
22:50
similar experiences in job and it's a combination of Latin African Americans
22:55
Asian women that and men that had similar experiences.
23:00
So I do feel I do spend a lot of time building
23:04
relationships and keeping my network,
23:07
but not in a,
23:08
in a way just because it's good for the business because I
23:11
believe that I need those people and those people may need me
23:14
So, so I,
23:15
I do believe in building strong relationships and spending time with people
23:19
as we go through different moments.
23:21
And I also believe that our job is to open the doors
23:25
for everybody. And you know,
23:26
we, we have this idea and Sylvia Hill is the one
23:29
that came with this description of you are as good as the
23:33
people that you bring with you.
23:34
So how many people do you have in your pocket?
23:37
That will and, and those people are the one that you
23:40
want to continue to mentor the same way that,
23:43
you know, I got mentored by others.
23:45
So if you're not doing that constantly,
23:47
you're not a good leader.
23:48
So you spoke about affirm action and one of the questions that
23:51
I had was what do you see as the actions that
23:57
companies can take have taken that actually drive an inclusive environment?
24:02
And what are the things maybe that you've seen that maybe everybody
24:05
is doing, but they don't really do much.
24:07
And so potlucks are good.
24:10
It's good for people to connect,
24:12
but they're not changing your representation.
24:14
So it makes people feel a little bit connected,
24:16
but it's not. I do think that analyzing your data
24:21
and looking at where do you have pockets where you don't have
24:25
good representation. It is the first thing and then after
24:29
that, what are the root causes?
24:30
So if you feel that it's happened organically because you have not
24:34
been intentional in the way that you hire,
24:36
so how you do that and then how you ensure that the
24:40
different groups have the same,
24:43
similar opportunities to succeed and thrive.
24:46
So are you putting some obstacles?
24:50
And I'll talk about something Spotify that I think is unique.
24:53
So when I came to Spotify,
24:54
I look at the representation of women and they were the highest
24:59
I've ever seen. And I said,
25:01
I think these numbers are bad but there's something wrong here cannot
25:04
be this good. And,
25:06
and I have not been able,
25:07
I tell her I have not been able to prove the reason
25:10
why. But I have a hypothesis and the hypothesis is that
25:14
because of the Swedish regulations,
25:18
men and women have parental leave and men take the parental leave
25:23
So all our employees around the world have six months of
25:27
parental leave. And what happens?
25:29
Women take that and men take that.
25:31
And what happens then is there's no,
25:34
there's a backlash, there's not backlash because I have one of
25:39
my, my, my team members,
25:40
he's out for nine months now because he can do that based
25:44
on the way that they decided to do that with his wife
25:47
So that creates a real playing field.
25:50
So when I think about what are some of the things.
25:52
So it's not only that you have the policy because I work
25:56
in other places where we had a policy around parental leave,
25:59
men, but men were not taking because people are like you
26:02
But I've seen from the most senior leaders that report to
26:06
Daniel Dan men that take the time and they take the time
26:10
and it is expected and that's what makes the difference.
26:12
So and it doesn't hurt their careers.
26:15
So therefore they take it because they can come back and you
26:18
know, like to some degree,
26:20
I think that that's something that we think at least as
26:24
as, as Latinas that you cannot,
26:27
you know, like you cannot have it all.
26:28
You don't want to be in positions of power because you're gonna
26:31
compromise to your family.
26:32
There's that idea of being on the top of what does it
26:35
mean? And it means not maternity leave,
26:37
not this one, not that one.
26:38
Those are meets that and the expectation in our country says that
26:41
men do not take the time.
26:43
So, so we're not giving them the past to say yes
26:46
do it. It's important for you and your family,
26:49
the expectations that we put in this country and in Latin America
26:54
of men is that they are not supposed to be spending time
26:57
with the family, they're supposed to be doing the work.
27:00
And that's what it's so different.
27:02
So, so for me,
27:03
it's again, not just the policy but then the practice how
27:06
to embed that in the organization.
27:08
How did you leave that?
27:09
Do, do you have kids?
27:10
I'm sorry, I didn't it?
27:12
Yes, I do have kids.
27:12
So how did you experience that?
27:14
Did you feel like your career slowed down?
27:17
Or you were like we all as a family made
27:22
a lot of sacrifices as a family and and my kids
27:26
end up to be OK.
27:27
I say so they're fantastic if you ask me,
27:30
but I was told to be humble.
27:33
So, I have an adult daughter that has her
27:36
career. She lives in,
27:38
in Doha Qatar and I have an 18 years old who just
27:43
went to university to college this last week.
27:46
And they all know,
27:47
and I have a wonderful husband that has been an incredible partner
27:51
in figuring out how we both navigate our careers and our family
27:56
So we had for a long time,
27:59
we had before our,
28:00
our phones had, but we had a share calendar.
28:03
So we will ensure that we will cover for each other.
28:05
And we put our career and our family both as a priority
28:09
but we knew that sometimes we will have to,
28:11
you know, let them go.
28:13
So when I got the opportunity to go and I work for
28:17
Amazon, I moved to Seattle,
28:18
but my husband and my son stay here in New York until
28:21
we were going to move.
28:23
So he took over the responsibilities and,
28:26
you know, he still had his job,
28:27
but he took over what will be running the household while I
28:31
was in, in Seattle.
28:32
So finding a good partner,
28:34
whatever gender, it's important for your career.
28:38
If you decide that you want to have a partnership,
28:40
you're giving us, giving us pieces of advice that I later
28:45
I would like for you to write together,
28:47
put together as a playbook.
28:49
OK. So choose a partner be strategic,
28:52
you know, like,
28:52
so you like to close down the piece of identity in a
28:56
corporate environment and with your role at Spotify,
28:59
where you're leading equity but also impact or CS R and
29:05
sustainability, that's a massive role.
29:08
And the piece that we're talking about here is the,
29:11
the talent, the equity sense of belonging,
29:14
looking back and looking at Latinas,
29:16
younger Latinas coming in.
29:18
What are the, you know,
29:20
what are the cultural nuances that you wish,
29:22
you know, like all of your managers within your company
29:26
and other companies would know about Latinas.
29:29
Why hire Latinas and what would you say about,
29:31
you know, like those characteristics that right now for Latinas
29:36
are obstacles that we don't know how to flip the script towards
29:39
changing them too, instead of too social or too loud and
29:43
too collaborative and, and so on.
29:46
Talk to us about that.
29:47
I think that the biggest thing is to change some perception that
29:51
some groups are really education focused and some groups are not.
29:56
And, and I think that we as Latinos,
30:00
we figure it out if you're coming,
30:02
you know, as first generation that education is your path to
30:07
growth and growth, hopefully will mean some stability,
30:11
economic stability. So,
30:14
but that story, you know,
30:16
kind of what you said about Israel,
30:17
you know, we need to reframe and we need to remind
30:20
people in general that Latinx family as and and invest in the
30:25
education of their Children,
30:27
they may not have the same resources that other groups,
30:30
but that we believe in education.
30:32
And if Latinas start to talk about that and say why this
30:36
is important. Of course,
30:37
we, we believe about,
30:38
we care about our families,
30:40
but it almost feels like there's an,
30:41
when we say, well,
30:42
we care about our families.
30:43
That means that you don't care about your career or you don't
30:45
care about your academics.
30:47
And I think that we have to say,
30:48
no, we, you could care about more than one thing
30:51
and sometimes one will have a priority and the other one will
30:55
be a little behind and then you change that and you're constantly
30:59
in that influx of,
31:01
of creating that. And I think that we also have to
31:03
tell our new generation of,
31:05
of Latinas that it is not easy.
31:09
And you will have to make,
31:11
you know, this decisions and you will have to negotiate with
31:14
yourself, what is that you want to do?
31:16
And where are you gonna be able to succeed?
31:19
And where are you gonna be able to be the number two
31:22
And it's OK to be the number two,
31:24
sometimes if you're learning while you're doing that.
31:27
So I always, you know,
31:28
we always said you join a company and you leave a manager
31:31
and you leave a manager when you're not learning enough and that's
31:35
my my thing and you can do a lateral move.
31:37
But if you're not learning enough,
31:39
if you're not feeling this anxiety of not,
31:42
but I have to do something new and I have to figure
31:45
this out. This is not a growth career.
31:49
I feel like we Latina women are ahead of the times
31:54
or have been ahead of the times because now there's this concept
31:58
of the portfolio life.
31:59
there's even a book I think called The Portfolio Life because
32:03
research has proven that I guess the the safest path to happiness
32:09
is to have a portfolio life,
32:10
not everything about work,
32:11
not everything about family,
32:13
not everything about social causes,
32:15
just like having whatever you care about having AAA portfolio of things
32:21
that sometimes one takes priority than the other.
32:23
And this H BS Professor Harvard Business School professor just came up
32:27
with this book a few years ago and I'm like Latinas have
32:32
had this figured out a long time ago,
32:34
right? Like we're we're multitasking all the time.
32:36
We're working, we're entrepreneurs,
32:38
we're mothers, we're daughters,
32:41
we should have coined the term because,
32:43
yeah, but nevertheless,
32:44
I mean, let's be real.
32:45
There's a reason why we're doing this podcast.
32:47
There's a reason why you're the only Latina in this week.
32:50
There's a reason why,
32:51
like why, what is happening to us,
32:54
to our psyche, to our mentality,
32:56
to the obstacles, the real obstacles and the challenges that we're
32:59
facing based on either education because we,
33:02
we have wonderful assets and who we are and values.
33:06
But we're also, you know,
33:08
like sometimes not flipping them,
33:09
sometimes there are obstacles.
33:10
So why don't we have more Elizabeth Nietos incorporate them.
33:14
I think that being ambitious was always seen as a negative
33:19
thing and, and again,
33:21
I was not taught to be ambitious and,
33:22
and then we use,
33:25
and I remember being in a conversation with someone who's fantastic and
33:28
and, but she's too ambitious and I got the sense
33:31
of being ambitious was not good.
33:33
And we know that you can't,
33:34
I mean, you can't be successful unless you're ambitious,
33:37
unless you have that drive to do more.
33:40
And I don't think that we have taught our daughters to dream
33:43
big, to dream big.
33:45
I think that that's ok.
33:46
That's number one. Yeah.
33:49
What is the, what is the dream shoot for the moon
33:53
And you may land on the star,
33:55
shoot for the stars and you may land on the moon.
33:57
I think they are true obstacles in corporate America.
34:00
And I would love to go deeper into that.
34:03
Like, I think that in the not only in the ambition
34:06
of someone but also on the,
34:07
maybe the stereotypes and you were talking about,
34:09
you know, like some of some of the other pieces where
34:12
you know, like,
34:13
I'd like to see more more particularly in your position.
34:17
You have like a bird perspective of like how other communities maybe
34:22
are advancing faster and how.
34:23
Yeah, and, and,
34:24
and I think that this concept of assimilation has been an interesting
34:30
one, both from a societal societal perspective and in corporate America
34:35
So I'm the generation that was told you needed to assimilate
34:39
you needed to adapt to the rules of the game.
34:42
Learn that. And maybe if you're lucky,
34:44
you get to change some of them.
34:46
I think that the next generation is more open to push and
34:49
and you see that in the tech world,
34:50
you know, they're pushing to say these are different ways that
34:54
we want the rules to be.
34:56
And, and I think that that's a little bit of the
34:58
difference that we have down now that we have to
35:03
to get our women to realize and then you have to
35:05
figure out is this organization wanna want to let me be who
35:10
I am or not.
35:12
And you may take a job that you may not like it
35:14
for a while and hopefully you'll learn enough and then you will
35:17
go to an organization when they were being who you are is
35:20
being accepted. But,
35:22
but there is a and again,
35:23
I think that it's a combination of being lucky and a combination
35:26
of doing my homework of where do I want to go next
35:29
and having options that not everybody has.
35:31
So I don't want to be,
35:33
you know, not aware or naive that the options that I
35:37
have today are not the options that I had 20 years ago
35:41
or 30 years ago when I was starting.
35:43
So I was taking whatever job will allow me to do the
35:46
things that I thought I wanted to do and,
35:48
and, and I,
35:48
I understand that. So when we're talking about what I think
35:51
there was one of the comments that you have.
35:53
Why was it? Let me find it because we were the
35:55
playbook in the playbook you had.
35:59
Yeah. Take your first job wisely.
36:02
Let's talk about that.
36:03
Like, how important,
36:04
what did you think when you came up with that one?
36:07
Well, why didn't come up with that one?
36:09
We crowd, we,
36:10
we asked women in general,
36:13
not just Latinas, what like,
36:15
what are the things that,
36:16
that you think we should tell our audience as these are like
36:19
the 10 things you need to do if you want to reach
36:21
the top. And one of them was treating your first job
36:24
as an like as an anchor because many of us started
36:29
in organizations that were,
36:31
that had a brand that people knew.
36:33
And it's, it's almost like you do that big jump and
36:35
then you climb from there.
36:37
So that, that was what I was thinking.
36:39
And also because data indicates that Latinos were so loyal in general
36:44
that we stay 4541 to 45 mo months longer in our first
36:49
jobs than any other community.
36:51
So, pretty much because of the nature that we have and
36:54
the cultural, the cultural nuances that,
36:58
you know, like the cultural not barriers but you know
37:00
like understandings that we have,
37:02
which is lucky you have a job.
37:05
This is, you know,
37:06
calls Mas Bonita, stay in Mija,
37:08
you, you're like lucky,
37:09
lucky you. Then we tend to take that loyalty and to
37:13
try to just like fit in.
37:15
So I think that like by that,
37:17
that comment came from the perspective of the cultural and social noise
37:22
that we have and also how to be a now,
37:24
I understand that's why I said because I think that it's the
37:27
old view of looking at a career because what we said before
37:31
you know, you can do a,
37:34
a job now and then two other jobs that are not related
37:38
get different experiences and then jump to the right one.
37:41
So I think that by saying,
37:43
take your first job wisely,
37:45
it could add more stress,
37:47
stress for someone to say that,
37:50
you know, I need a job.
37:51
So I can't, I can build that.
37:53
And when I was growing up,
37:55
you know, jumping from job to job going two or three
37:58
years in a job was not the way to run.
38:00
That's why I stayed 19 years in,
38:01
at Citibank. But I also change internally in a lot of
38:04
jobs. So I had a lot of opportunities in our organization
38:07
that let me do all those things because it was big enough
38:10
But today, we look at the resumes and we're not
38:13
judgmental. When someone said I was there for three years,
38:15
I did what I had to do,
38:17
contributed to the plan and then I did something else because then
38:20
I figured out that what I wanted to do was something different
38:22
So I think that we are at a pivotal point on
38:25
defining careers and we still who are in leadership roles need to
38:31
adjust to this idea that careers can really move and,
38:35
and develop in a faster way.
38:38
And we need to tell our Latinos and Latinas that,
38:40
you know, it's OK to be there for four years.
38:43
And, you know,
38:44
if you think that you have done what you want to do
38:46
now, if you wanna stay 7,
38:47
10 years because you still have more to offer to learn,
38:51
to learn. Absolutely.
38:53
Yeah. Can you actually,
38:54
you touched a little bit on it and I think our
38:56
audience will benefit from what do you look for when you're looking
39:01
at a resume? What are red flags or what are the
39:03
things that you're looking for?
39:04
Like, I, I imagine you're looking for growth for learning
39:07
But are there things that,
39:09
you know, how people are,
39:10
sometimes staying in a job?
39:12
Like, I don't,
39:13
I can't quit before a year because it's gonna look bad in
39:15
my resume. What do you really look for when you're looking
39:18
at a resume?,
39:20
I'm looking for experiences and I'm looking for accomplishment.
39:23
So there may be reasons why,
39:26
you know, you left a job after a year,
39:28
maybe you had to move,
39:30
maybe you had a family decision that had to be,
39:32
but if you have an accomplishment,
39:37
and you can explain that when you,
39:39
when you're talking about that,
39:41
I think that that's,
39:42
that's the way to write resumes.
39:44
I think that we have also found again in the more progressive
39:48
or companies that are not just looking at that.
39:51
There's people that had gaps in their resumes that decided to do
39:54
something else, decided to go and try.
39:56
So if you decided to go and run the marathon and then
39:59
you took a year to train for that,
40:02
what I will ask is,
40:03
what did you learn about yourself?
40:05
Did you accomplish that?
40:06
What were the obstacles that you had to do that?
40:08
Because in some cases,
40:09
people have been saving for years to go and do that around
40:13
the world trip. And then what did you learn from that
40:15
So, but you have to have a very clear and
40:19
this is job description.
40:21
So what I'm looking is what are the things that I have
40:24
in my job description that align to the experiences and and we
40:28
say that Spotify, you know,
40:29
we don't hire for company fit,
40:33
we hire for company ad.
40:35
So what we're trying is not to say,
40:38
oh, you, you know,
40:39
there's a lot of,
40:39
oh, but this person is very good and you will get
40:42
she doesn't fit in our culture.
40:44
And we go like,
40:44
ok, that is a discriminatory comment.
40:48
You don't want someone that's going to,
40:50
you know, get people nervous about changes.
40:52
And so, and what we said here is just the opposite
40:55
We want that person that comes with an idea that is
40:58
different. It was interesting.
41:00
There was just an interview a week ago and Daniel,
41:05
we keep on talking about Daniel.
41:06
He will be very embarrassed by the way,
41:08
but he talk about,
41:09
he didn't understand some of the ideas behind the playlist and the
41:14
weekly discovery. And it was really by having people that he
41:17
trusted that understood what the customer wants.
41:20
But if you think about leaders and I'm hoping that we will
41:22
get with the podcast,
41:24
you know, people that are starting their career,
41:25
but also people that are in the middle of,
41:28
in their career, it is how do you get a group
41:32
of people around you that understand the business that are even better
41:37
than you that have no ideas.
41:39
You want a plus players because as soon as you get the
41:43
players, then they get c players and your organization falls apart
41:47
So you want to be sure that you bring people and
41:50
then you want to leave them the empowerment to do their work
41:55
And you know,
41:55
there will be conversations and,
41:57
and priorities, but it's always looking for that.
41:59
And I think that we,
42:01
we were not taught that and I think that part of what
42:04
we want to do with the podcast is to help not
42:08
so much entry, you know,
42:09
like, but at the end of the day,
42:10
that piece of the promotion where is where we get stuck,
42:14
we get stuck after mid level and we don't manage to get
42:17
to the higher level,
42:19
maybe because we just don't have navigation skills,
42:21
the rules of the game or we do it with,
42:24
you know, with a high cost,
42:25
which is we come to the,
42:26
to the end, very bruised in a long journey.
42:29
So we wanna like put the playbook out there,
42:32
put the best practices and so on so that we can,
42:35
we can do it halfway all the time.
42:37
And the other thing that I would recommend for someone at that
42:40
level is understand the organization.
42:43
So what we call organizational savvy.
42:46
And then not because you want to do politicking,
42:49
but you need to know who are the influence and who are
42:52
the stakeholders that will help you in your career?
42:55
So where are you going to have people that will see your
42:58
work and then they will put their own equity for your progress
43:02
And if you have,
43:02
again, if you have a manager that cares about your growth
43:05
they're going to be the ones pushing you.
43:07
But you have to find that and you have to be able
43:09
to contribute and have the expectations or get to the expectations.
43:13
And then when you get to the point where you're high,
43:17
take someone with you and take the card because I think that
43:20
a lot of the,
43:21
we've been talking about obstacles,
43:23
but we haven't discussed how many of us just come to a
43:26
place and when you make it,
43:28
you're like I made it.
43:29
So now I'm gonna forget my background,
43:32
my Latinidad, I'm gonna pretend,
43:34
you know, like I made it because of my attributes and
43:37
not go back and try to open the door for others.
43:40
And I think that that's where someone in your position leading
43:45
you know, like equity,
43:47
diversity, equity and inclusion is a strategic for the entire community
43:50
because we need more people that are in the positions.
43:54
We were talking before that 20 years ago,
43:57
the African American community through Jesse Jackson,
44:00
he openly said the call for African Americans is to go to
44:04
jobs either in procurement or in hr because those are the ones
44:07
that are gonna put the money to buy from small businesses or
44:10
to hire the people.
44:12
We don't have a strategic plan,
44:13
but we know how strategic those positions are.
44:16
So I think that,
44:18
you know, like,
44:18
it would be interesting for you to,
44:21
you know, like to talk more about,
44:22
like, what do you think in an organization?
44:24
Where should we be have?
44:25
Like, what is like,
44:26
how, how do you use your power to convince others about
44:29
like hiring? See,
44:32
I'm not opening almost in the other one because I think that
44:36
today it is the technical jobs.
44:39
For example, if I,
44:41
if I find a Latina that is thinking about computer science and
44:44
said, go for it,
44:45
do not miss that opportunity.
44:47
The technical jobs are the ones that are the well paid that
44:53
they have more opportunities.
44:55
So I think that given that there are so many opportunities in
45:00
the tech world where it's not just in the tech world,
45:02
you think about the banks,
45:04
the banks are full of tech people,
45:06
it's not just the the bankers.
45:09
So I will say that there are other and,
45:11
and yes, there is a question and I think that there
45:13
is the power of engaging with others and bringing money to your
45:17
community. The way that I do that is I do that
45:20
through non for profit.
45:21
So I've been very committed to non for profit that had to
45:25
do with education because I really believe that that's the path and
45:28
they all focus in both Latinx and,
45:32
and African American and the black community and Asians.
45:35
So those groups that are marginalized and how we continue to support
45:39
them. So I think that the world is changing a
45:44
little bit. So I will go for technical job,
45:48
go for finance work,
45:48
go for computer science,
45:50
go for creative,
45:54
innovative roles. Exactly artificial intelligence.
46:00
If you can learn that and machine learning,
46:03
you got the ticket.
46:05
We were really on a mission to changing the narrative of how
46:10
it means to be Latina in corporate America because we don't believe
46:14
that it's the job of the Latina to really like be rowing
46:19
against the current. We want the environment to be more welcoming
46:23
to us. Can you help us think through like flipping the
46:26
script and some characteristics that are associated with Latinos or Latinas that
46:32
are seen in one light but could be seen like negative light
46:37
and could be seen on a positive light.
46:39
Yeah. So, so this is all based on stereotypes.
46:41
So how someone else thinks of you without really knowing you,
46:45
but they have made some assumptions of your group of people.
46:48
And now they put that on you,
46:50
you know, I talk about being late as being one of
46:52
the things that was put on me.
46:52
And I thought that and I turned that around,
46:56
I think that this idea of being too social,
46:59
you know, being relationship driven well,
47:01
in some businesses, that's the work that you do.
47:04
So if you're in insurance,
47:05
if you are a banker,
47:07
building relationship is what you do and you have to build trust
47:11
And so being too social could be seen as a negative
47:15
if you're supposed to be coding on at a,
47:19
but if your job requires.
47:21
So I think that and,
47:22
and, and, and you all mentioned about how you use
47:25
those things as strengths and not weaknesses.
47:28
So if you are too social being Latina or non Latina,
47:31
well, find a job that adjust to that.
47:34
And, and use that to your benefit.
47:37
And again, assuming that a lot of our works required for
47:40
other people to be influenced.
47:43
So having being social doesn't mean that you're wasting your time,
47:47
you may be being social,
47:48
but you're learning about your job and then I think about what
47:51
can I do for you and what can you do for me
47:54
And then we all agree on having something that it is
47:56
good for the company.
47:58
So I don't think that the two social is or actually two
48:00
social is one of that.
48:01
That could be used in a negative way.
48:03
You're a butterfly, you're talking with people or you're using your
48:06
time to build relationships to get your job done.
48:10
I think that being too emotional,
48:13
that's one that happens mostly for women.
48:16
Although I have seen men crying in my office,
48:18
so let's put it out there,
48:20
we, we're humans and humans may be exposed to situations that
48:25
make you emotional or cry.
48:27
You never know what is in people's lives,
48:30
you know, when they leave the office that will get someone
48:34
to, to be emotional.
48:35
But, but I think that being emotional and being able to
48:40
be vulnerable today is seen as a positive.
48:44
again, we thought of leaders of those perfect men,
48:49
mostly all dressed very similarly,
48:52
all, you know,
48:53
covering for themselves, anything that they were feeling because they needed
48:57
to portray that image.
48:59
And today we're seeing leaders that are not that,
49:02
that are vulnerable, that talk about their families that talk about
49:06
their failures. You know,
49:07
there's all this tendency,
49:09
by the way, I'm not going to talk about my failures
49:11
that is crossing the line for me.
49:13
But there's all this tendency of people say,
49:15
well, I mess up,
49:17
I had a moment where I thought this was the right path
49:20
and then I found myself having to,
49:22
to go back and redo things.
49:24
Why is that good?
49:25
Like, why do you,
49:26
do you see in the data or any qualitative behavior that like
49:30
people are more engaged or they stay more with those managers?
49:34
I think that the this profile of the perfect leader that was
49:39
you know, one way has changed and the new generation
49:42
Yeah, exactly.
49:43
Exactly. That strong person,
49:45
you know, was one of the things that we used to
49:47
say and now we said,
49:48
well, I'd rather work for a kind manager that pushes me
49:51
to the thing, but they're kind not that they have to
49:53
be dictatorial or they have to be so,
49:56
so that has changed in the way that we expect leaders to
49:59
behave. And I,
50:00
I think that if we show that we are that kind of
50:02
people that is actually good.
50:04
But I love, for example,
50:06
when we were talking about submissive.
50:08
right, we proud even in our podcast guest that
50:12
said that they were accused of being too nice and that,
50:16
that was understood as not bitter enough,
50:18
not capable enough to,
50:20
you know, like to raise your voice and take the sessions
50:23
And therefore, she had to take a decision whether
50:26
they pretend to be harsh to be a you to be a
50:29
leader, whether or or not.
50:31
And at the end of the day,
50:32
I think that being submissive or too nice.
50:36
If you understand that power and if you're that person,
50:39
you can say to your boss or to your environment,
50:42
look, this means I'm gonna be leading as a mother.
50:45
I'm gonna bring people to together,
50:47
I'm going to bring empathy.
50:49
I'm going to probably be making sure that no one is left
50:52
behind so that the average of the group races but also an
50:56
inclusive, inclusive leader.
50:59
Exactly. And this idea of what we were just discussing about
51:03
like being respect for authority that if you're a manager of someone
51:08
that, you know,
51:09
has that respect for authority and hierarchy.
51:11
And if La Abuela is in the room,
51:13
well, you let Dabula talk and then if she tells you
51:15
to talk, then you will talk.
51:17
So if you're like,
51:18
if you're aware of that cultural nuance of someone,
51:23
you might be able to pick up someone and say like,
51:25
what do you think?
51:26
And that person could be included?
51:27
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
51:28
So we need our managers to have cross cultural education and,
51:32
and we talk a lot in many organizations and how do you
51:35
get managers? Because at the end of the day,
51:37
they're the ones making the final decision on,
51:39
on your career to understand what your strengths are and what your
51:44
opportunities are. And I think that this balance between being assertive
51:49
and being kind is something that we all have to learn because
51:53
you, you want to be assertive.
51:54
You, you want,
51:55
if you are managing people,
51:56
you want to be assertive,
51:57
but you also want to be kind.
51:58
I don't think that you have to be assertive.
52:01
I mean, there's,
52:02
there's not that but,
52:03
but it takes practice and it takes,
52:05
you know, sometimes you go like,
52:07
oh, that was a little bit too much.
52:08
And they were not expecting me to be too much because they're
52:11
not used to me being too much.
52:12
And then sometimes you go like,
52:14
well, this was good because we had a good conversation where
52:17
I could explain why I need this for tomorrow.
52:20
I'm not gonna just move deadlines and there are times that you
52:23
need to know that.
52:23
So what about you?
52:25
How do you lead?
52:27
I lead with kindness.
52:29
I I care about people and maybe it is because of
52:34
this relationship driven. But I also have let a lot,
52:39
a lot of people not go but go into better things.
52:42
So I don't believe that I own the talent.
52:45
I do believe that my role a little bit as a mother
52:48
is to continue to let people grow and,
52:51
and do better things.
52:53
So I, I had and I still,
52:54
I'm still connected with a lot of team members from all my
52:57
jobs and many, you know,
52:59
left to go and do an MB A and others went to
53:01
do a job that give them a different opportunity than the
53:04
one that I could,
53:05
could give. So I do believe that our role as leaders
53:08
is to bring the best out of the people that we lead
53:11
Do you mentor,
53:12
do you sponsor? Do you have mentors?
53:14
Do you have sponsors?
53:15
Do you ask for them?
53:17
I have a lot of mentees.
53:19
I have a card full,
53:21
you know, the dance card.
53:22
I have a lot of mentees and I love that because I
53:25
do learn every time that I meet with a mentee,
53:27
I do get to learn something.
53:29
Exactly. And,
53:31
and I, and I I have mentors.
53:34
I have people that I will call every time that there's a
53:37
new opportunity or, or a new challenge to have their point
53:42
of view. What are the characteristics or the,
53:44
the actions that a good mentee takes?
53:47
Like, how can I be a good mentee?
53:49
You have to call me,
53:50
you have to set up the time,
53:52
you have to come up with ideas on what you want to
53:55
talk and then so don't give me the word.
53:58
And sometimes mentees, especially again,
54:01
Latinas, women that are a little cautious when I talk to
54:06
her and I'm like,
54:06
I'm just like you,
54:07
we're all human beings and,
54:09
but we're all striving.
54:15
Can, you, can you also plug in money and the
54:18
money? They are all.
54:20
Exactly. I'm using it,
54:22
this way.
54:24
So I don't turn it around with the weird hand.
54:27
But,, but,
54:28
but yeah, but,
54:28
but ii, I don't know what I was saying.
54:31
Know that you have to be a good,
54:33
yeah, exactly. So you have to drive the agenda of
54:36
the relationship. And I have one of my mentees and we
54:41
talked a couple of weeks ago and she said,
54:43
do you realize that I've been your mentee for the last seven
54:47
years. She finished college and now she's back in hr she
54:51
did other things and once a quarter she sets up one hour
54:56
and sometimes we have to cancel but,
54:58
and sometimes she comes with a real problem and sometimes she comes
55:00
with ideas so she read an article and she,
55:03
so she feeds me a lot of new ideas.
55:06
So she's the perfect Amanda.
55:09
This is for you.
55:11
Our problem or ideas.
55:13
That's good enough. And for a high profile Latina executive,
55:18
you, you take that,
55:19
you take the time because you feel their drive.
55:21
That's great. I love it.
55:23
All right. You've been giving us a lot of snippets and
55:26
I would love to put it all together.
55:29
What is Elizabeth Nieto playbook?
55:32
So I did have in my notes.
55:34
I there was one time that I was asking,
55:36
you know, how do you get to the top and,
55:38
and can you do six things?
55:41
And it was about being in the C suite?
55:44
And I said, OK,
55:45
I'm gonna do the six things,
55:46
but they all have to start with the C why?
55:48
Because why not challenge yourself?
55:50
Everybody can write six things.
55:52
So the first one was to be centered.
55:54
So I do believe that it good leader needs to know what
55:58
their strengths and what their opportunities and then what is their purpose
56:04
So there's a point in your career where you have to
56:07
say, why do I spend all this time doing this?
56:09
It's because it aligns to my purpose.
56:11
And I think that being center on that is very important
56:14
knowing your values and,
56:16
and connecting to those.
56:17
The second one is being courageous.
56:20
So you have to take risks and we talk about and you
56:22
have to decide what is a huge risk or not when you're
56:25
in your career. What is your family situation?
56:27
But I think that if you're too comfortable doing what you know
56:32
and what you do,
56:33
you're not gonna progress,
56:34
you just now, there may be times in your career where
56:36
you said I'm gonna stay here for a little bit and I
56:38
don't have to push myself.
56:40
But if you stay there for a long time,
56:43
that's a little bit where,
56:44
where you will stay forever being courageous and being comfortable in,
56:48
in the fact that we're so many that we have choices.
56:52
So take comfort in the data and move on with courage.
56:55
Love that the next one being curious and we talk about learning
57:00
and I think that being curious about your job,
57:02
but everybody's sales job.
57:03
So I get to meet people and,
57:06
and I go like,
57:06
OK, tell me exactly what you do because I want to
57:10
learn how the business gets run.
57:12
So I can listen to the senior leaders and learn about the
57:14
big things. But I want to know what a podcast producer
57:19
does. How did they,
57:20
they start? How did they end?
57:22
And what are the things that they see their key performance indicators
57:26
And for me that it is being curious of what you
57:28
do in every business that I have.
57:30
I had always sit down with people and said,
57:32
tell me exactly what your job is.
57:34
So that's one of the CS the three things that we
57:37
have and also the learning piece that you mentioned,
57:40
then it is to be compassionate.
57:43
I think that and,
57:44
and maybe what we talk about being,
57:47
you know, from cultures that having relationships and really knowing your
57:51
people and knowing what is important to them.
57:54
I, I believe that it's what makes good teams gel
57:58
So for someone maybe being on the stage,
58:01
for someone maybe being in the background.
58:03
So you need to understand what that is and being compassionate and
58:06
not expect everybody to be exactly the same.
58:09
Actually, what you want is the diversity of everybody.
58:11
So you can have a better team.
58:13
And I think that,
58:14
you know, leading with empathy and then being accountable for
58:19
your own errors. I say,
58:20
I'm sorry a lot of times and,
58:24
and I'm OK with that because I realized that in we,
58:29
we go very fast and sometimes I go,
58:30
I forgot to do this or,
58:32
or I expected someone else,
58:33
but I should have been doing that.
58:35
So I'm I'm good saying apologizing for the things and the little
58:39
errors or mistakes that we make.
58:41
And I think that that's important and the team sees that.
58:43
So when someone else makes a mistake,
58:46
it's not a big deal.
58:47
We just, that's the way we do it.
58:50
I do believe in another seat.
58:51
It's a double word but because it's a,
58:53
it's a community builder.
58:55
I do believe that we have a responsibility as senior leaders to
58:58
build community and that could be whatever community you wanna do.
59:02
But if, if it is in your,
59:04
in the Latino community or in the community of people with disabilities
59:10
or in the community that people need and where you can use
59:13
your assets to their benefit.
59:16
I do believe that that's the way that we have to do
59:19
and and creating this ecosystem of talent around you.
59:23
So I was talking to someone today for lunch and said
59:27
oh, I found this great person,
59:28
but I'm not going to tell you who she is because you're
59:30
gonna take like I will never do that.
59:32
I believe that there's enough opportunities for everybody.
59:35
So that's what we have to do continuously sharing talent and,
59:38
and giving people opportunity to grow.
59:40
And the last one is being a change agent.
59:43
There are days that is not difficult,
59:45
not easy. There are days that you want to,
59:47
oh, let's leave the things that they are.
59:48
But if you're not constantly creating this environment where you're changing and
59:52
you're questioning the way you did things and how you have to
59:56
do it in, in the future,
59:58
you know, your organization,
59:59
your company, your your business,
1:00:01
your entrepreneur project may not be completed.
1:00:05
So those are my six.
1:00:07
You really personify the the and the leaders like when we look
1:00:10
at what good leaders look like now and,
1:00:13
and those that at least I admire when I hear from them
1:00:17
I, I think that,
1:00:18
that you're describing I'm,
1:00:20
I'm a fan of all of them now.
1:00:22
I'm a fan of yours.
1:00:23
Thank you. I love the six CS plus.
1:00:26
Choose a great partner with AC,
1:00:28
choose a great partner with AC with AC and the last two
1:00:32
questions. What would you give yourself as advice if you
1:00:37
were just starting your career?
1:00:39
What do you know now that you wish you knew before?
1:00:42
So there was one job that I didn't take and I had
1:00:46
a good manager and mentor who said you should go and run
1:00:50
part of the business.
1:00:51
I was working at city,
1:00:52
you should go and run a branch.
1:00:55
And I was like,
1:00:57
there's no way and I chicken out,
1:01:00
I totally did and,
1:01:02
and I think that it was ok.
1:01:03
I did well, despite not having done that.
1:01:05
But what, what I learned is that people from the outside
1:01:10
see things that you don't know you're capable of doing.
1:01:13
So I'm now pay more attention to other people that you can
1:01:16
do that. I'm gonna,
1:01:17
I'm gonna test you,
1:01:18
but you can do that.
1:01:19
But I didn't know that at the time and I thought no
1:01:22
this is too much risk or I'm not going to be
1:01:24
good at fail was not something that I could even think about
1:01:28
So, but knowing that others see things in you that
1:01:32
you may not be aware of.
1:01:33
I think that that's what I tell my Children.
1:01:36
I just made the connection with something that Marisa said.
1:01:38
So we had Marisa Solis from the NFL and she actually attributed
1:01:42
part of her success to,
1:01:43
to having moved to a part of the business where she had
1:01:46
to, to engage with the butlers.
1:01:49
And she took that opportunity.
1:01:52
You didn't take it,
1:01:53
both of you reached the sea level.
1:01:56
So it's almost like,
1:01:59
don't give so much weight to small decisions.
1:02:02
Careers are long and it's not a ladder.
1:02:06
It's a, it's a monkey bar.
1:02:07
So you may, you may have not gotten here if you
1:02:10
had taken in that role or you would still be here.
1:02:12
Who knows exactly. But what I learn is others know things
1:02:15
about you that you may be,
1:02:17
be open to see yourself through the eyes of someone else.
1:02:21
I like that last question.
1:02:24
So we are very interested in providing with the incredible
1:02:31
inspiration that you have provided us with today to the audience.
1:02:35
And we would like to know who do you think
1:02:37
that you admire that we should have in this podcast to provide
1:02:42
you know, like pro provide with insights with inspirations for
1:02:45
their stories so that we can start building a playbook for
1:02:48
Latinas to succeed.
1:02:50
Do you know Nina Vaca?
1:02:52
Yes. Love Nina.
1:02:54
She is a hero of having built her organization having been a
1:03:00
CEO and being kind and thoughtful and that's like the perfect combination
1:03:07
So for me,
1:03:07
Nina is always the person that I will give us a first
1:03:11
name, the other person that I admire and has a different
1:03:14
career. It's not in a corporate career.
1:03:16
Ele Ochoa, again,
1:03:18
those two examples of different Latina talk about different Latinas but being
1:03:24
two role models of mine.
1:03:26
Yeah, we just launched yesterday,
1:03:28
the children's book, the Hispanic Star,
1:03:29
children's book on Ele Ochoa.
1:03:31
Fantastic. The first the first astronaut to play flute in
1:03:35
the space. Just like incredible fantastic recommendations.
1:03:39
I know role models.
1:03:41
And if you're our role model,
1:03:43
I will take your role models.
1:03:45
Yes, there we go.
1:03:46
Well, this has been amazing.
1:03:48
Thank you so much.
1:03:49
Thank you. I am Elizabeth Nieto and I am part now
1:03:54
of the A La Latina podcast.
1:03:55
Excited to be here,
1:03:57
Elizabeth Nieto lead A La Latina A la Latina,
1:04:01
a la Latina.