Name: Leadership advice from Fortune 500’s only Latina CEO
Uploaded: 2024-03-22
Duration: 5 min 44 s
Description: “You can get a lot done if you don’t worry about who gets the credit,” Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar told Fortune.

“You can get a lot done if you don’t worry about who gets the credit,” Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar told Fortune.

Leadership advice from Fortune 500’s only Latina CEO

Leadership

I am so optimistic about women. We are changing the face of leadership in this country. I would say to young women, don't be afraid to have big dreams, don't be afraid to have aspirations, know what you want, go for it, surround yourself by people who want to support you and see you grow, learn constantly be learning and have have that North Star and just work towards it. I am incredibly optimistic about Latinos generally, when I first started, Latinos are maybe 9% of the population today. They are over 20% 90% of homeowners in the next decade will be people of color, 50% of those will be Latinos. Latinos are the one cohort that is having the educational payment, the job attainment and homeownership attainment. So it's very important to um I think for businesses to think of Latinos as the future of consumers. So it's important for us to understand the the population, their preferences, how they interact with the housing system. So it's just good business for us. Uh to understand the Latino community generally, you can get a lot done if you don't worry about who gets the credit. I've also learned that building relationships in good times when you don't need something and you're not being transactional is so important. For those times when you really do need those relationships, I have also learned that the ability to make change could be very fleeting and life is very fleeting. So when you get the chance to impact and have and make change, just act on it and come to it with great urgency. And I have seen leaders come in one day and be gone. The next day I come every day, I come to life saying like this is my ability to do the best I can today because it could really could be your last day. So um just embrace it. The work life balance question. I've always find it a very complicated one because number one, it depends on where you are in your life. Uh Number two, it depends what's going on in a particular day. So you have good days, bad days, you have some days where work 100% of your time. You have other days where his family is the priority and you do the best you can every single day. You know, for me right now with Fannie Mae, I've been there a year. I spend half my time in DC. Half my time in New York. I could not do this job, you know, 20 years ago when I was a mom of two with two young Children at school. But today I'm an empty nester and I'm able to find that work life balance and do the commuting and spend 33 days in DC and the rest in New York. So I think life is very long and trying to find balance and it's not a day thing. It really is a life journey. And that's how I have approached it. I love running. I discovered running at 45 years old and maybe it's because I like having a goal or I like having a challenge. I could not run a mile when I first started running and it was through the New York road runners and through their races where I signed up for the races. And I still remember my first half marathon. I'm like, holy cow. Everyone showed up at five in the morning and it was New York City at its best and I ran my first half did better than I had expected and have, since then have run three marathons and too many halves to count. And the community of running, what I love about running is, first of all, it's an amazing community. Number two, you're competing with yourself. It's about you setting a goal, whether it's a time goal, whether it's finishing a race, whether it's seeing a new city, it's all ages, all body. Hi, it's young, old, coming together for one thing of, of running. And to me, wellness is very important. I'm not a particularly good runner, but it's something that I feel better after I've, after I've been on a run. So it was one of the proudest moments for me when a New York road runners board member asked me to join their board and there are a lot of elite runners on the board. Um but they thought I was a poster child for running and how great running could be for health, for wellness and just the camaraderie, every runner wants you to become a better runner and it's just fantastic. So I have not run a race in the last year. But thanks to the Fannie Mae employees, they told me about the 10 mile Cherry Blossom race in April coming up in DC and I am training for a 10 miler. Come this April to me Women's history month and International Women's Day are so critically important. It's a reminder that women today are half of the population and we need that representation at all parts of society and women, seeing women and supporting women is a big part of the celebrations. And the more we do it out there celebrating one another, bringing others along men along with us and others along with us is critically important.