Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage
Thao Nguyen
Vice President/ Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Initiative
Comerica Bank Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Web site: www.comerica.com Primary Business: Banking Employees: 9,500
Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why?
Education: B.A., Finance, graduated Magna Cum Laude What I’m reading: Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box, by The Arbinger Institute My philosophy: You only live once, so live life to the fullest. Interests: Music, travel, and food.
My most influential mentor was my credit manager, with whom I worked in my first year in banking. I admired his “lead-by-example” leadership style and his great sense of humor. He was highly respected for his excellent character, fairness, and the ability to lead and motivate others. He provided an inviting and comfortable working environment where employees felt welcome to share ideas and challenges. What advice can you provide for young leaders?
Leadership is not an entitlement, but something one earns through trust and respect. To earn trust and respect, one must demonstrate knowledge, common sense, honesty, and fairness. Good communication skills are necessary to achieve these tasks. A good leader also needs to listen to, and act upon suggestions and recommendations. My advice to young leaders is to invest heavily in your character. It takes years to build trust and respect, but a moment to destroy it. Given the chance, would you do anything differently?
Given a chance, I would not do anything differently. I believe the accomplishments I’ve achieved so far were done through hard work and perseverance. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with great people at Comerica, and enjoy the endless support from my family.
Sagrario (Sagra) W.C. Cabrera
Senior Vice President/Regional Manager
Comerica Bank Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Web site: www.comerica.com Primary Business: Banking Employees: 9,500
Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why?
Education: Attended community college What I’m reading: The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge My philosophy: Have a disciplined approach to your work. Interests: Family and reading.
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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal
One of my most influential leaders, if not the most influential mentor, is the one I currently have— my boss, Betty Tucker. She’s taught me the importance of wearing multiple hats in order to achieve the aims of any project. It starts with the importance of accepting and understanding that changes will always take place. Although the paths may change, provided we’re on the same team, the essential objective is the same. Betty has shown me different ways to inspire my team and has reminded me that we are only winning when the entire team is winning. Betty has demonstrated to me how to be a servant leader. We can’t lead if we don’t know how to follow. What’s the worst fault a leader can have?
The worst fault a leader can have is lack of compassion towards others. If they are not listening to their employees and only dictating orders, then their leadership role will soon vanish. There are those ‘leaders’ who don’t create the necessary environment of “wanting to win” from others. They don’t bring out the best in people. Their only objective is themselves, and having such a self-absorbed attitude will only get them so far.
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