Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to Battle Ready. I'm Ricky Chavez. Today I want to begin with the leadership truth that I learned even before the boardroom, the office, or the real estate world. You do not wait until pressure is here to hit you hard, until you start getting ready. You prepare people, systems and and teams before the mission gets difficult. My guest today is Vanessa Angulo, Senior Director of Field Talent Acquisition for Cisco. Vanessa leads an enterprising hiring strategy across the US and specialty companies, you know, supporting frontline and professional roles across more than 180 distribution centers. She's known as a strategic and authentic leader who builds trust, strengthens partnership, and creates exclusive environments where people can perform this and they grow. Hey, Vanessa. Welcome today.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Hi.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: So you know this. I've known Vanessa for a long time and I'm really excited about today's show.
Vanessa, man, she has been through some things and always come up smelling just perfect.
Vanessa, let's talk about how we met.
Remember that? It was a long time ago, right?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Sure do. I sure do. So, and I happened to just when I started Cisco 13 and a half years ago, we were just bringing in talent acquisition to a centralized model, and Ricky was one of my peers that I met. And you just really welcomed everybody and made everybody feel so good, even when it was crazy.
But, yeah, I can't believe it's been 13 and a half years. And I mean, you left one year
[00:01:48] Speaker A: to the date that I joined. I did it as a favor, you know, I was kind of trying to figure out what I want to do when I grew up. And, you know, I remember I told him I'll do one year. And the day I got my one year coin. Yeah, the coins, that was the day I left. So it was all together. But I remember you coming. You had just barely moved to Houston, right?
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah, we'd only been there a couple years. Yeah, three or four years.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: And tell me where you from originally?
[00:02:15] Speaker B: I'm from New Jersey.
Grew up in Jersey and moved to Florida to try college.
College isn't for everybody, but moved to Florida to do the college thing and ended up meeting my now husband there. And then we got engaged and he works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was able to get a transfer and we moved here and had nobody here. Left all of our family in Florida and everywhere else and came here and it's been an amazing journey ever since.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: You know, the one thing when I think of you, I always think of resilience.
I know when you met with the staff and we're putting everything together for this interview, this is going to take you a totally different direction, I'm sure, because you do such amazing things with talent acquisitions. But I think the thing that's most impressive when I think about you is all of the turmoil, all of the bumps that you've faced on your journey to be now. What is it to top 50 women in Houston or top 20 women in Houston to watch right now?
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Top 50 women leaders in Houston.
Yeah.
It's been a journey, and it has not been easy.
Sometimes I feel like my professional career and the growth and everything has almost been like that place for me to almost remove myself from all the family health issues and just all the things that we've gone through a lot more than I hope for anybody.
And work was like my. My safe place. And, And I kind of threw myself into that. And it's. I'm. I'm just crazy like that.
It kept my mind going. It. It. It was the one thing I could control.
And, and so in those times, that's really where I. I put a lot of focus. And so even with all of the family health issues and everything else, I still was able to. I mean, I've grown from. I started at Cisco as a recruiter.
I was. I was recruiting for the drivers and the warehouse positions. And then I moved into a lead, then I moved into a manager.
Then I moved into a HR business partner role, and that was different.
HR business partners, I give a lot of credit to.
They carry.
They carry a lot for the colleagues that they support.
I did that, and I learned a lot. And then I went into the Director of Field Talent Acquisition, and about a year later, my scope kept getting bigger. And so I'm now Senior Director of Field Talent Acquisition. So I have responsibility over the US
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Essentially, you know, And I think about you, and I know you a little better than most, and, And I think about. I remember when I retired from the military and I took my first HR position, my wife swore to God I was going to get fired within the first, like, month because we brought up kind of the same little street, little crazy, kind of. Sometimes we have to put a filter on our mouth and our attitudes and everything like that.
And you were able to balance the Northeast personality in the south, although you still work with probably Talent Acquisition all over the United States.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: The Northeast companies love me.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Yeah, because you're at home, right?
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: But then you're down here. Because I remember when, when I retired, finally, I was in Boston, and I'd say hi to somebody, and everybody looked at me like, what do you want and down here, you have to learn it. You have to learn the opposite, right?
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. It. I'm definitely a kind of.
I'm a big personality. I, I love people, I love connections, I love relationships. And that's really just kind of a strength, a superpower. I've had people tell me and, and it was very hard. I think a lot of people that I've worked with in the past, like when I first started, they're shocked to see me now in my role and see how I work and how I function. I was very, very intentional of focusing on my growth and my executive presence and my emotional intelligence. And, you know, I know I can do more. I know I can be more. I know, like, I'm not, you know, at my ceiling yet. And so I still, I still have a lot to learn and to grow. But I'm really proud of how it's. This whole journey has not only made me a better professional, a better leader, a better colleague. It's. It's made me a better person, a better friend, a better mother, sister. I mean, it's just this whole, this, this point in my life has really shaped me a lot. A lot.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: And. And you did that all while, you know, you're a cancer survivor.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yeah, so I'm not. However, I did have preventative, so let me take a step back.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: So I did lose my mother back in.
I was seven and a half months pregnant with my son, my first child, and my mom had breast cancer 10 years before. And then all of a sudden, what they thought was a stroke ended up being brain cancer. And within a year, we lost my mother to brain cancer.
Fast forward.
My mother in law, who was living with us at the time, she ended up getting stage one breast cancer. So we were, you know, took care of her.
About a year or two later, my brother in law, Ray, my sister's husband, was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma and went through that whole battle. He was doing okay, went through maintenance, chemo, and this is, you know, they were living in South Carolina at the time. And so going back and forth and trying to have help long distance is really hard.
And then Ray seemed to be doing okay. And then my sister, at the same age that my mother was originally diagnosed, 47, 48, was diagnosed with stage three lymphatic breast cancer.
And when she got diagnosed, I immediately was seeing a breast surgeon, I was seeing a plastic surgeon. I was like, I'm not gonna.
After seeing chemo and radiation and several family members, I just Couldn't, I couldn't fathom putting my family through that.
So I had a preventative double mastectomy with a deep flap which is reconstruction and I did that and unfortunately one side failed.
So I had a second surgery. Nine days after a 12 hour surgery, I had another surgery to put an expander in and then I had complications there.
Had a third surgery six weeks later to remove the expander and just decided to go flat on the one side.
I just, my body was just done and so I did that for my family. Right. Like when I think about my, why it was all surrounding watching my mother in law, my brother in law, my sister all go through this horrible, horrible disease on top of friends and family that I know have suffered.
And I just didn't want to put my family through that. So I took a preventative measure.
I did do the BRC analysis, my sister did as well. Neither of us had the gene and so knowing she got it just made the decision really easy.
My sister was about a year and a half in remission and they then found a tumor on her brain and she, she had surgery and about a week after she had surgery to remove the brain tumor, her husband was made terminal because his cancer had come back. So we've been through a lot, but we definitely have, we definitely have brought us closer together and really tried to, to just stick together. But you know, it's, it's been a rough road.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: You know, we're going to be. Come back in a minute and talk a little bit about how important the support of your family and your employers are.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: And things like this. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Battle Ready. Stay connected to this show or any show you like on NOW Media live or on demand. You can download it anytime on on the free TV app of Roku or iOS and unlocks non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish. Now if you're on the move, you can go to www.nowmediatv for business and news and lifestyle culture and beyond. Now Media TV is streaming around the clock and ready for you to come and check us out. Now continue our conversation. You know, we took it a little bit and it was, it was, you know, just an amazing, amazing journey that this young lady went through. Vanessa, I'm glad you're with me today. Glad to be here, you know, going through this, these challenges and all of these things that you went through.
How important is support from. I know family that's going to come regardless. But what about your employer?
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I have been so blessed and lucky to have an employer and individuals, leaders, colleagues that I've worked with that have just been that support that have worked with me when, you know, I was going through some of these things and being able to work from different locations when I needed to, knowing that I was going to do the work regardless. Right.
And so I've been really lucky. I've had a lot of leaders at Cisco who have poured into me, mentored me, sponsored me, supported me.
Many that are still friends after they've left Cisco or I've gone into a different department. I've been really, really lucky in that sense.
I know that doesn't come with all employers.
Some are better at it than others. But I absolutely have felt nothing but supported and raised up and cared about throughout the journey that I've been with
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Cisco and with those things, I'm sure that gives you even more of an advantage, and I'm going to use that word loosely, at how you work with your people and as you grow the people under you and your peers.
So when you're, you talk, talking inclusion and actions, not language, can you speak to what it takes to change perception like in the actions around your, your teams or even supporting your different buildings?
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
So for me, inclusion has always been really important because in my experience I have had leaders who have taken me for what I am. I was a very rough diamond coming into the business. But for those leaders to see the things in me, see my potential, that just meant a lot. And so for me it's that paying it forward, making sure that people come to work and that I role model that. It's embedded in how I work and how I interact with people and how I support them.
I think it, it helps me be a better leader because I, I don't know everything even as the leader. Right. I don't know everything and other people have amazing ideas and so I try to role model that as much as possible.
And I am kind of a, like I said, it's, it's, it's a, it's, it's hard, but it's also easy if that makes sense.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: I've tried really hard to make sure that people feel that sense of belonging. I'm very involved in our colleague resource groups. I use my platform in order to help support and give voices to those individuals. And so I am.
Inclusion is kind of like the number one thing that I want to lead with and I think that's why we've had such high retention on the TA team because recruiting has not been easy in any way. Sense or, you know, fashion, especially since COVID And so to be able to have, you know, high engagement scores and high supervisor effectiveness scores and just overall retention in our group, I think says a lot about the leadership. The people on my leadership team making sure that the person is the most important thing and that I think it also helps me to be more understanding and empathetic while still being able to hold people accountable, but understanding what people go through and giving them that support and guidance and everything to help them kind of get through those things too.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: You know, one of the things that I, I heard you say and I really appreciate, especially from a senior leader, is I don't know everything. You know, it's, it's very amazing when you get the leaders out there that think they know everything, but the reality is they don't know what they don't know.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: And your openness to receive, you know, feedback, guidance or even help from others, that is amazing. And as you said, I'm sure it helps you grow a lot.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: So talk to me about some of the initiatives that you have now. I mean, you're in warehousing, right? You're delivery cold food, the whole nine yards. It's a pretty men driven organization. And what kind of initiatives have you put in place or has your team used as a culture to help more women get involved?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Yeah, we really strive to help women see themselves in those frontline roles.
We do have women drivers, women in our, in our warehouses. We don't have enough.
And so we've put together in partnership with our recruitment marketing partners, a women in operations campaign.
So we do a lot now. We do a lot more of just helping candidates on our career site see themselves in those roles.
We're also refreshing what we call a day in the life video and one of the delivery video we have.
One of the focuses is a woman delivery partner and talking about how it's, you know, it is ableing her to do things for her family and the hours and all those things and how she makes it work and how she's excited for all the support and guidance that she gets.
And so we've, we've done a lot of that of really just our brand awareness and things that we're putting out and creating on our career site, on our media that we put out any digital assets.
Just being really cognizant of helping women to see that they can be in those roles and helping them to then tie together how working at night helps them to be available during the day for their families or working a Driver role, where they start maybe at 3, 4 in the morning, and they're ending by 1 or 2 sometimes. Right.
Again, having that time with their family or whatever is a priority to them. So really, it's kind of being more visible and verbalizing all those different things that women just don't think about, that they could do these roles because we can do anything, so.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Yeah. And I get that. That's the thing about you. You remind me so much of my wife. You guys are like the same person. It's like, I. She always amazed me. I'm gonna tell you, this is.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: This is.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: This. This is something that actually happened the other day. I'm in the car with somebody, and I have a boat at my house, and the tire is flat, and I'm lazy. I hate to say it. I'm kind of lazy. So I'm. I'm talking to her, and there. There's a person in the car, and I'm like, yeah, just. The guy went out to wash the boat, clean it up, because we're selling it. And I said, we're going to get the flat. I just have him see if we can do the flat tire. And my wife says, I think I can. I can do the flat tire. And the guy next. And I'm like, no, I'll do it. That made me so not happy, because I don't want to do it. When she said I can do it, she kind of put me in the spot, man.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: And you're that same person. 100%.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: So let me tell you, Let me ask you, so what do you do to create inclusion without lowering the standards or making the effort feel symbolic?
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I agree with you with the whole, like, I don't want it to be sometimes with. When. When CRGs first were coming around, right? It's like, oh, it's Pride Month, or it's, you know, Black History Month, when really those things should be celebrated always, because it gives that diverse perspective.
It really helps the organization be better because you have different perspectives and different thoughts, and that helps you to think about things differently and really capture more people.
But what I'm really proud of is that we don't just talk the talk.
We really embed it into everyday business goals and priorities.
And how are we making it better?
By bringing our CEO talks about having a seat at the table. Everyone has a seat at the table.
The customer, the candidate.
So when we're thinking about processes, how is this going to impact the customer? How does this impact the candidate? How does it Impact the hiring manager. So we really try to look at it from all the different perspectives so that we're really making a robust, thoughtful discipline process, but also always, always being willing to evolve because the market is evolving. It's a very competitive landscape. And so having to stay connected into what's happening in the industry in recruiting and then bringing those things back to the business so that we can continue to make it better.
You know, I.
I'm really proud of how far we've come with inclusion.
As any organization, we still have work to do, but there's been a really great push around making sure that people come to our organization and feel that sense of belonging when they come, because then they're more productive.
They're not trying to mask. They're not trying to be somebody that they're not, which wastes energy that they could be focused on how do we make this better, whatever their focus is.
And I think that's what really makes us a great organization.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: So if somebody wants to continue a conversation with you, maybe get some support, how can they reach out to you?
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I am on LinkedIn, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram.
I welcome it. I love networking is a big thing. I'm also part of an organization for talent acquisition called Talent Collective, so feel free to check that out. They're on LinkedIn and Instagram and we do events on a monthly or quarterly basis all pretty around Houston talent acquisition professionals where we can learn from each other. So I welcome it at any point in time.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: So what stands out to me today is that inclusion is not just about checking a box. It's about seeing talent that may be great for your organization and not overlook anything and removing unnecessary barriers. We'll be right back when Vanessa talks more.
I'm here with Vanessa Ngulo. You know, we're talking about leadership, we're talking about initiatives. Now we're going to talk about environment a little bit, and then we're going to talk about something that we just talked about in the.
In the break between during the commercial. And that's about belief in yourself. But when people doubt you.
Vanessa, let's talk about that.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: So what does that do to you when somebody doubts you?
[00:24:52] Speaker B: It motivates me to no end.
I mean, it just.
I love when people doubt me now.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: It doesn't offend you?
[00:25:02] Speaker B: No, it doesn't at all. Because I love proving people wrong and showing them that anything I know I can do anything.
And I don't, don't get me wrong, I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I prove it to myself.
But I have a mindset like I. And I'm known for in, in my organization.
I don't know how to fail.
And so part of my growth has been taking on all the projects that nobody wanted, all the hard things that people are like, oh, I don't want to deal with that. I'm like, oh, I'll try it. I'll do it. And then I figure it out. Come. I. I say it all the time. Come hell or high water, I'm gonna make this happen.
And so that, that makes people want to work with me because they know that I'm gonna turn over every rock. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna have the right people that need, you know, that are gonna help us to get this over the line.
And, and that's really helped me in my growth because I've been scared. I went into an HR role. I never listen. I. I don't know what to do in hr. That helped me a lot with my poker face, by the way, but I, I learned a lot in that role. But I, I had support. I had people willing to help me and train me and, you know, guide me and coach me.
But I've taken all those opportunities and now use that.
But it fires me. I love it when somebody's like, you're not going to be able to do this. Okay, we'll see.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Let's talk about some of the things you said in this conversation. Right? Yeah. And the one thing is, you know, I'm going to give it a try.
But then you didn't say that you're going to do by yourself, but you did you start building your surroundings of individuals that, yes, are the right people to help you build and grow. And that's. What does that do for them?
[00:27:07] Speaker B: It gets so people did it for me, which I think makes it easier. Right. For me to do it. I have this whole pay it forward mentality, so it helps them grow and develop. And I always look at it as I like to share and I want to develop people. I love that about being a leader, because I don't want others to have to have fall on their face as many times as I have or experience some of the crappy stuff that I had to go through to learn.
I want to be able to share my experiences so they can get there faster and, and they don't have to have as many bruises and skins on the knee and everything else. And so I feel like my purpose of going through a lot of hard Things. And my dad always said I learned things the hard way. Why do you always have to learn things the hard way? I don't know.
That has helped me so others don't have to. And so I feel like that's my purpose is helping other people get there faster. And then also because of all the things I've gone through, even personally being better able to support other individuals who are going through the same thing and having that real life relevant experience and, and just helping them to get through it in the same way I had to.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: And there's no fear when I say fear. You know, I remember transitioning from the military to the civilian world. And in the military, you know, the general teaches all the way down to the private. Everybody knows the same mission, everybody needs to do the mission so that if somebody is gone, the mission keeps continuing to go on. But what I found in the civilian world out here in corporate America was people have the fear of bringing people to their level because the fear of being irrelevant or maybe getting replaced. But, you know, that doesn't bother you at all? You don't have any fear like that?
[00:29:07] Speaker B: No, I, I, I, I really do believe, like, there's only one Vanessa.
And I can do a lot of things. I can't do all things.
And I think that I'm, I'm not intimidated by anyone who's, there's a lot of people who are smarter than people on my team, smarter than me can do certain things. I build a team where the collective strengths make us all better. And we talk about it in our team meetings all the time. I'm good in some things and so I teach them. I have another manager on my team is really good at something else. She teaches us. We all learn from each other, which only elevates us and makes us even better.
The other piece is if I'm intimidated by someone I'm trying to grow, I'm, I'm ready to grow for my next role. So I have to prepare people to be able to take over the work that I do. And I look at it in that sense, not that someone else's growth or development is going to take away from me because I do have the belief that what God has planned for me, nobody can take from me. And so I'm just living my purpose and my plan. And, and so that doesn't mean nobody can take anything away from me. Nobody has that power. So I really do go in leading and developing. When I mentor or sponsor anyone, it is, I want people to be better than me. I want My kids to be better than me.
So I take all of it and I share and I probably share with my team. I'm super transparent. What mistakes have I made?
You know, what stupid thing did I say that I wish I didn't, but I share that because I'm not immune to any of that. I'm still learning. I'm a forever learner and I think that's what differentiates me from others who are like, I'm the leader. You got to listen to me. I don't, I don't. It doesn't. That's not my style. It's never been my style. You. And I think that because I am authentic and genuine and I do really care about people.
My team, even past my leadership team, the taps on my team, they all know me. I do skip levels. I do when they first start, I do 30, 60, 90 check ins.
It's important for them to know me and me to know them as individuals, not just a number on the team or anything like that. I really do think that makes us better and stronger.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: You know what I took away from that, although it's so impressive, I think the key to me was you're learning them for their growth, but also for your own growth. Because I can remember being in HR and manager's ready for the next position and the position's available but he hasn't groomed anybody to take his position. So he gets stuck.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Stuck. Yeah.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: And, and that's such a forward thinking mindset. And with you it's not only form or forward thinking. I think it's more just.
You're just that person. You know, let's just go on this journey together.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:32] Speaker A: Let's learn together, let's get better together and let's see where it takes us.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: And it helps you. Right. That's why you've been recognized.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: All the time I can remember I've been watching you as you grow, have grown throughout the years and just been totally, totally in awe of the, of the young firecracker that I know you're still not, not a young firecracker. But you're mid level.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: I'm still young.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: Okay. But, but, but the whole, the cool thing about it is, is it's nobody's infallible. Right. People make mistakes. People have to take things back. I'm the king of that for sure.
But you know, it's good that people see that everybody's not so perfect that they cannot grow from even their own mistakes.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah. But it. Allow it when you When. When people have that fear of making a mistake, it takes away from, like, the innovation, from the creativity, from, like, just going into things, thinking about it differently. Like, let's just try something different. We can't keep doing the same things.
And so I've always led in a way where I don't want you to be afraid of making a mistake. If you make a mistake, we'll fix it. The one thing, there's two things that I ask for.
One, that you learn from it and we talk about, what did you learn from it? How are you going to prevent it from happening again?
And two, making sure you're sharing that with the rest of the group because that shows ownership.
And for me, that's been pivotal in my growth and development is I own my mistakes.
I own anything that goes wrong in the field that is on ta. Right. And that's why I am highly respected and held in regard, because I do own it. I own it, I fix it. I tell you what, we're going to do differently.
And I've changed a lot of perceptions of leaders that I really didn't think I could get there with them.
And they're my biggest cheerleaders now because I changed the way they perceived TA because of how I owned it, I fixed it. I wanted to know what was their challenges and their barriers and. And partnered with them to know their business, to understand how we could help them.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: You know, I was always told that if you're not failing, you're not trying. I mean, you can't succeed if you don't try. You can't, but you got to be ready to fail.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: And adjust. And I, I think the ownership is.
Is the big thing, and, and especially at your level, you have quite a few levels underneath you. And, and I. I can remember back in the day where the leadership would say, well, the TA for Florida screwed up and not I screwed up. I'll fix it, and I'll work forward. And I think that definitely builds respect with operators. Right? Operations.
[00:35:41] Speaker B: Yeah. 100% with the operators. It builds from the team because they know we have their back.
And, and that changes their perception, too, because I'll tell you, I have people, they will drop everything to do anything, and they're in there with me during the war and the hard times that we struggled with after Covid coming back.
But it's because, you know, they know we got their back and we're going to help them.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: Well, strong leadership under pressure requires more than just a title. It requires credibility, consistency, and the discipline to understand the mission. Before making decisions that affect the team, you got to lead by example and you got to be able to, you know, take the brunt of it. We'll be right back with Vanessa.
Stay connected to Battle Ready and every other NOW Media TV favorite on live or demand and you can download it on Roku or iOS. If you're on the go, you can download now Media TV or you can even get anything for the lifestyle, the cultures, or any other English, Spanish podcast that we have. Just for you to sit down and listen to our host and some of our amazing guests like Vanessa today. You know, we've been on the. On the. In the last couple of segments, we're talking with Vanessa just about her growth through turmoil, her growth through leadership, and the team she's built around her. And now we're going to close out the conversation just to focus on your own leadership journey. Vanessa joined Cisco in 2013 as a talent partner. Partner and a director Level roles and advanced senior director of field talent acquisition. Now, before that, her experience included staffing, healthcare recruiting, and frontline management roles in the restaurant industry. So now you're in the food still, right?
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: Okay. So if you were to kind of. I'm gonna put you on spot.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: Biggest challenge, biggest barrier that has driven you through this whole. This whole journey.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: It's been.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: Be honest, Tell me the truth, because I know you.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been.
It's been believing in myself, like, not letting the imposter syndrome come in and really just recognizing the worth and the value that I have regardless of other people's opinions. Opinions, because everybody's gonna have an opinion.
And so it's really been believing in myself and knowing I can do things even if I struggled a lot because I didn't finish college.
And I know nowadays that's changing a lot. Right.
But I felt like I always was proving myself because I didn't have a degree, and that was like something that made me less than.
And so I worked harder and I did more and everything else just to. To get there. But I wish that I would have gotten over the imposter syndrome. And I still have it every once in a while, don't get me wrong. But I definitely know the value I bring to every table I sit at. And I think that confidence shows up in how I lead, how I interact with our executives or our senior leaders. And really owning, like, I know this. I know this better than most, and really owning that piece of it. Because even though I have a big personality, I almost, like, stepped back a little. Bit because I thought I wasn't good enough because I didn't have a degree.
And I definitely don't believe that anymore.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: Well, I think the cool thing about it is I always refer back to my wife because you and my wife have such a parallel success.
She also doesn't have a degree, and she's in a managing director's role now.
And it's just I watch how hard she works, and I remember watching how hard you worked even starting out.
And I can only imagine, just like I was telling you the break while you're. Just the choice of words and. And how you're explaining things, and it's. It's.
It's just amazing. Just the transformation and the growth.
But did you. Couldn't do it by yourself, right?
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
Absolutely not. I'll tell you, there's a lot of. There's a couple things.
One, I always ask for feedback. And I'll tell you, in the beginning, it was very hard because it used to be I get that initial, like, gut punch. Oh, that doesn't feel good.
But over time, I've realized that that feedback the leader was giving, because I asked for it, by the way, was making me better at the end of the day. And so I had a previous leader, Melinda Torbit.
[00:41:05] Speaker A: I remember that name.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: And she used to say, feedback is a gift. And I'm like, well, you can keep your gifts then.
But now I call her, and I'm like, you're right, it is a gift. Because, I mean, I wouldn't have been able to grow. I've had amazing mentors who have taken the time to pour into me, to teach me, some that are internal at Cisco, some that are external, and they've really, really helped me to recognize and, again, see things that I didn't see in myself.
And even my direct reports and the people that I work with, I surround myself with people where we want to see each other be better.
And so that comes with real, raw conversations. And they're not. It's not easy conversations, but I always lean into those, whether I'm getting it or giving it, as this is coming from a place of tough love, wanting to help you to be better.
And.
And that typically opens, you know, people to be more receptive to it.
But, I mean, I still struggle once in a while. I think everybody does, but I am definitely more confident than I've ever been.
And the mentors and the. The. Even the people I mentor, they teach me things.
They're different generations, they're different levels. And so it helps me to be more connected to, like, what the colleagues want, what, what's, what's, what's the new generations looking for, what's important to them. So it's a, it's always a learning experience for me.
And, and I just, I'm so grateful to all of the leaders, the operators that I've had the pleasure of working with, who then took me under their wing and taught me the business.
So I know I have a very strong business acumen and I'm learning the financials now even deeper as part of my growth and development.
And I'm just, I'm grateful for people taking time out of their very busy days to teach me.
Because you don't have, they don't have to do that.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: Well, that means you surround yourself by good people. I know. One of the things that I like about what you just said was, you know, even learning for, from the newer generation, newer people. I think if I was to give somebody a nugget that, that I really like. I tell my team this all the time is be careful when you say, I know something, and that cuts people off and that stifles your knowledge. And they're asking me, what, what do you mean, Ricky? I'm like, if somebody's starting to tell you something and you say, I know, they'll never finish their thought and you don't know what direction their thoughts going. So they may show you a different way, a smarter way, more, a better way.
[00:44:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: But by you saying, I know. So there's a lot of times I listen to some of the conversations and I'm like, wow.
And they may tell me something I already know, may not, or they may take me a different rate. But what great growth you have from that, how do you feel about that?
[00:44:35] Speaker B: Yeah, that is, that is something I'm very intentional about, because you're right.
Stifles people coming to you and wanting to bring ideas and thoughts. And so there are times when I'm like, yeah, I know that in my head, but I never, I never cut anybody off because I remember when I was in their position and how excited I was about trying something different and, and good and bad. Right. I learned the good from leaders and I learned what I would never want to do.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Call it good, bad, and ugly.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: I take it all and I decide what I do with it. Right. But that is, you never want to stifle that because that's when you stop evolving. That's when you stop continuously improving your processes, how you think about things.
My leaders constantly, I'm like, damn, I never thought about it like that, but it helps to open up another way to think about it or another way that someone else is thinking about it where you're like, oh, I could see where that could come off wrong if I went this direction. You know, it just, it makes you very intentional if you just listen more.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: It allows for good conversation. And I think the conversation is the most, because as the conversation goes on, I think the very powerful thing you said, and I had this on one other show. You learn from the good, you learn what not to do from the bad and just grow that way.
I know that I was on a team building team years, years back, and I was. A quick story. I was at in Delago. It was. It was Margaritaville. I mean, it's Margaritaville now, but they had a ropes course there. Long story short, all these VPs from this company come in and I had a group of 12. One of the 12 was the admin of one of the VPs. And they were doing a.
It was called Diminishing Resources. Long story short, I gave them this task. I told them what to do, I told them the rules, told me I had a few seconds, and I told them, now fix the task. And right at the beginning, the admin said, well, do this.
But nobody listened. All of them were talking. They were doing all these things. An hour later, she said it again. One of the VPs heard it. Finally, he said it. Now. Everybody did it. And during the ar, the after action review, I'm like, well, when did we hear this? Well, Jack said it. Well, wasn't it said before? Then? I asked the admin, I said, hey, when did you say? I said, at the beginning. And they realized you never know where you're going to get the right answer from.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:12] Speaker A: And she said, I talked to her about a year later. She's like, you should have never done that. They call me all the time now.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it does open that door a lot when, when you're. You're known as a thought leader or even just for people to bounce ideas off of you, I love that it takes. It takes time. But I always feel like that's really valuable because again, I always take something from it too.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: Well, Vanessa, if the audience wants to get a hold of you or get some more information, how do they get ahold of you?
[00:47:40] Speaker B: Yeah, Again, I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Instagram, I'm also on Facebook.
I'm totally open. If you reach out to me on LinkedIn and send me a private message, I'll send you my email address and I would love to connect and network. And again, check out Talent Collective if you're in Talent Acquisition or hr and you'll find me there for the Houston events as well.
[00:48:06] Speaker A: So this is what we believe on Battle Ready. Leadership is built before the pressure is tested and the mission and the proven way. We prepare for people to rise and everyone watching. We invite you to keep building your teams and keep working with discipline. Learn from everybody and keep the teams growing. This is the way we Battle Ready. We'll talk to you soon.
