Growing up Latino may or may not be difficult. Sure people say we are all given the same opportunities, however, these opportunities aren’t always presented to us like they are to other audiences.
For myself, it was difficult finding that Latino role model I needed to push me in the career path best for me. Although I’ve made my own decisions, with help from others of course, I still wish I had that one person I could always count on.
And when you think of successful Latino executives, who do you think of? Most likely the celebrities we see everyday. However, there are countless others working in industries we would never think of. Sandra Rivera is a Vice President at technology giant Intel; Victor Arias is a Senior Partner for Executive Searches at Korn Ferry; and Juan Galarraga is a Senior Vice President at Target.
These Latinos have reached the pinnacle of success as executives, and their stories, along with those of 17 other executives, are a fundamental part of the investigative work underlying the guidelines and themes of a new book “Auténtico, The Definitive Guide to Latino Career Success,” published in English.
The two authors are successful Latino executives. Andrés Tomás Tapia is a Senior Partner and Inclusion Strategies Solutions Leader at Korn Ferry, a leadership and talent consulting agency. Robert Rodríguez is president of DRR Advisors LLC, a consulting firm specialized in recruitment, retention and development of Latino professionals.
The three highlighted executives offer great advice that my dad instilled in me when I was a child:
- Sandra Rivera remembers that her parents always stressed that education is the only path to better opportunities.
- Victor Arias says that he inherited the work ethic of his father, who always worked extremely hard to provide his children with things that he did not have growing up.
- Juan Galarraga offers key points regarding how Latinos can adapt to the United States corporate world, something that is indispensable to triumphing in upper management.
The book contains advice from other successful Latinos such as Darren Revelez, President of IHOP; Jorge Figueredo, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at McKesson Corporation; and Yvonne García, the Global Head of Client Solutions at State Street Corporation.
Who are the Latino leaders and executives that inspire you?
The Professional Latino 
Thanks for your post Eric. Hope you’ll pick up a copy of Auténtico and that the insights provided resonate with you. Of course my role models from a values perspective were my parents. But my role models from a professional perspective were those Latinos who had careers that I never even thought of. My first Latino college professor. The first Latino VP in a corporate setting. The first Latino author, and so on. The saying goes, “You Can’t Be what You Can’t See.” These folks helped to show me that I too could be a VP, an author and a professor. All of which I was at one point in my career.
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