It was also an insular country. I developed an incredible desire to see the world and often gazed at a globe. At 7 or 8, I asked my parents to send me to language classes. We spoke Portuguese and learned English and Spanish in school, but I wanted to learn other languages, too.
One of my younger sisters had health problems, so my parents enrolled me in preschool early to devote more attention to her. I graduated from high school at 16. Then I attended a university in Rio de Janeiro during the day for a degree in economics while also attending another school at night in a different part of the city for a law degree (which I was allowed to do in Brazil).
I practiced law as part of an apprenticeship for my international law degree. At 22, I was both an economist and a lawyer . Then I taught economics at my undergraduate university while I studied for a master’s in economics.
In 1985, I.B.M. was recruiting in Brazil and was the hot company to work for. I applied and was hired as a sales representative. It was a great training ground for learning about marketing. In 1991, a colleague came into my office and told me he was leaving for the United States to get an M.B.A. After work that day, I went to the United States consulate to find out more about American schools that offered the degree. I applied to Northwestern University and enrolled in its M.B.A. program in 1992.
After graduating, I worked at several consulting firms for the next 14 years. Before I moved to my current position, I was at Accenture, where I was the global managing partner for the organization strategy consulting business.
In 2008, I left and joined Korn/Ferry in its Chicago office. I run the consulting business, which helps companies with their organization strategy and their leadership and talent development. Companies often call us about C.E.O. succession. Or they have their growth strategy in place, but they’re not sure what competencies and capabilities they need to develop — and how to do so. Or they need help in finding the next generation of leaders in the company.
I started my career helping companies with growth strategy, but I felt that they lacked the capabilities to put the recommendations into practice. I moved to the organizational change area and acquired the skills to help them. From there, I moved to leadership effectiveness.
Some projects I’ve worked on have involved mergers where large companies had to make decisions very quickly. It’s complicated to pick the best from two companies’ cultures and decide which executives should stay and which should go. Every decision in the first three months after a merger is crucial to its success.
I have never forgotten something that a boss told me early in my consulting career. He asked me what we did for clients, and I said we helped them achieve their highest performance level. He said, “No, what do you really do?” And I said, “We advise clients on their growth strategies.” He said that I didn’t get it, and that we really gave clients “pixie dust.” He explained that all executives have ambition, but that they don’t believe they can fly. We were there to sprinkle pixie dust, the way Tinker Bell did in “Peter Pan,” and to hold their hand so they could achieve things they never thought possible. It taught me empathy. Sometimes, I bring glitter to meetings to make his point.
As told to Patricia R. Olsen.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f9d4402506ab54fee2c35473d6ef790b