CHRO & SVP, Global Human Resources and Internal Communications – AES
In your opinion, what qualities make a “Moves Mentor”?
A Moves Mentor is someone who is purpose driven, authentic, has a passion for helping others, is a good communicator and listener, and is compassionate and enthusiastic.
A great mentor inspires and empowers people around them and genuinely cares about helping others achieve their goals.
How does mentoring benefit the mentor? Career-wise? Intellectually? Spiritually? Socially? Any other “-allys”?
Mentoring is just as unique of an opportunity for both the mentor and the mentee. For the mentor, the experience strengthens leadership skills, it prepares one to work with different people and styles and is an opportunity to make a personal connection and have a positive impact in the lives of others.
For me, mentoring is one of the most important things I do both professionally and personally. I believe that it is my purpose to help develop the next generation of leaders and to pass on my experiences to help an individual grow. Often, I don’t even realize I am mentoring when giving advice or helping someone navigate a situation or a challenge, until I then observe that these same people have accomplished a personal or career milestone and outstandingly sought out additional resources to pursue their goals. As a CHRO, this type of engagement is often very much part of the job. Through this, I have developed deep, trusted relationships that enrich my life professionally and personally. It is a rewarding experience for me to see others grow, develop, and achieve their goals and ambitions.
Should mentorship be a company requirement or a personal give-back?
I think mentorship should be both. Mentoring comes in many different forms and needs to change as an individual navigates their career.
For a company, promoting mentorship is one way of fostering a culture of learning, growth, and development. Mentoring provides an opportunity to engage with diverse backgrounds, generations, perspectives, and not just to share career advice and experiences but to form real connections. There is also a real value in embracing mentoring as it drives higher engagement, productivity, retention, and positions an organization as employer of choice. At AES, one of our core values is All Together. We weave All Together and the attributes of mentorship throughout how we work across the organization. Mentorship is a core part of all our learning and development programs offered for early career entrants through the executive team. I personally believe and have benefitted the most from “informal learning,” which is why our Learning and Development framework is distributed as follows: experience and exposure (70%), learning through others (20%) and formal learning (10%). Development of people is accelerated through continuous communication and feedback and by gaining a variety of on-the-job experiences and exposure that help expand skills and capabilities.
What is your mentorship method? Do you prefer a more hands-on or laid back approach?
I don’t have a specific method. I think the more years I have been a mentor and the more I have developed my own leadership skills, the more I have learned to connect with different mentees and to use different styles. My approach is customized based on the individual, where they are in their career and how they want to engage.
I find that early career individuals generally require a more structured, hands-on approach with regular connection and engagement. We are setting shorter-term goals and building on the learning that comes through execution. For mid-career individuals, the engagement is a little less structured with more focus on navigating development goals and opportunities as well as expanding professional and personal networks. For senior leaders, it generally shifts to growth and development in terms of leadership capability, and a focus on leading through influence, and developing followership and other critical leadership attributes. Regardless of where they are in their career, I do focus on creating a trust-based relationship where I can both provide guidance and together assess lessons learned.
“In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism… in the 21st is century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for fairness and gender equality around the world.” *Why is gender equality even a challenge, especially in the ‘enlightened’ western world? What do you believe is at the root of this fierce resistance to female influence within society?
Women face multiple barriers, and it starts early. From the kind of educational opportunities offered, to limited exposure to women in positions of power, and of course cultural barriers. Resistance is driven by conscious and unconscious bias around what women can do or be, or skills and competencies they have or do not have. We need to empower girls and women so that they can meet the challenges and biases head on. For girls that means getting them excited about all the potential career paths and opportunities that exist through an investment in early education, especially on those that still have an underrepresentation of women like STEM careers. For young women, we need to create spaces for mentorship and networking so that they see themselves as a critical part of the next generation of talent. Then for women at all levels of their career, we need to offer pathways and programs so that they can continuously grow, move into new roles and functions, and continue learning. If we can continue to create these opportunities while increasing the value given to diverse sets of competencies and skills, we will be able to position females for success in communities and whole sectors and lessen the resistance to their influence within society.
Was there a defining moment or experience in your life that led you to where you are today? What was it?
I don’t think there was a single defining moment, but instead many moments that are woven together that have led me to where I am today. I am very lucky to have had many mentors and allies along the way.
In my life I have found that a lot of my best allies have been male colleagues, but I was lucky enough early in my career to work for a strong female CFO. She empowered me and challenged me to raise the bar for the HR function. Working for a CFO also meant that I had to not only know the business, but also understand the numbers and bring that strategic approach to the function. I was fortunate to have her mentorship and to have this experience early in my career, which has been invaluable. I have made it my mission to lift other women up.
How does diversity play into mentorship?
Mentoring provides an opportunity to bring people together from diverse cultures, experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. This in turn allows for mutual insights, learnings and the co-creation of ideas that lead to innovation and solutions in the workplace. I believe the strength of an organization and its sustainability comes through diversity, equity, and belonging. Diversity of thoughts and opinions are key not just in mentorship but are a core part of the people programs we have at AES. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women Leadership Programs, Powerful Pathways Programs, and other initiatives are designed to connect and empower our people to be a positive influence at work and in society and improve well-being. All together we work to identify and remove barriers of inclusion, expand networks, and create paths for future opportunities. It enables us to be better and to improve the lives of our people, customers, suppliers, contractors, and the communities in which we live, work, and serve.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Professionally, to be a life-long learner. To be curious, and not to be afraid to ask questions. To be a businessperson first, and a functional expert second. I have therefore focused on learning from others, collaborating with them and developing my network to be exposed to various personas, subjects, and functions, so that I can successfully deliver on my tasks and goals – whether personal or professional.
Personally, I was always taught that I can achieve anything with the right mindset.
What would you say to yourself if you could go back in time 15 years?
Continue to stay on the path, to let your personal values guide you and trust your instincts. Also, and this is something I still tell myself and others, give yourself some grace.
Who do you most admire? Why?
I admire all the strong women in my family – my mom, and my late grandmothers and mother-in-Law. They were my cheerleaders and taught me that I can be both a successful, career-minded women and a mother. They taught me the value of purpose, strong connections with people and the importance of giving back to others. They were great examples of using the gifts I have been given and the opportunities I have been presented with to help others, pave the way for those that face barriers and to lift other women up. I actively strive to be this kind of role model for my children, my nieces, and my nephews.
