On this week’s episode of the Building Interest Podcast, we are joined by two Leader Bank team members, Vice President of Retail Banking Paola Dutschmann and Project Manager Cindy Perez. We discuss Paola and Cindy’s personal leadership journeys as well as what motivates them. They explain the importance of diversity and inclusion within both the corporate world and communities we live in, as well as their efforts leading diversity and inclusion initiatives at Leader Bank.

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Episode Transcript

Greg Farber:
Welcome to the Building Interest Podcast presented by Leader Bank. In season two of our podcast we will be exploring what it means to be a leader through conversations with leaders from the Bank, from within the communities we serve, and from across the banking and technology industries. Each conversation will focus on our guest’s personal leadership journey, as well as provide insights on what it means to be a good leader. In our last episode, I spoke with Leader Bank president Jay Tuli to reflect on our favorite moments of season one on the Building Interest Podcast. We also broke down what being a good leader means to Jay personally and professionally, and touched upon what to expect ahead in this season of the podcast. Today, I’m joined by Paola Dutschmann Vice President of Retail Banking at Leader Bank, and Cindy Perez, Project Manager for Leader Bank’s Innovation Team to discuss their personal leadership journeys, and what it means to them to lead diversity and inclusion efforts at Leader Bank. Welcome to both of you.

Cindy Perez:
Thank you, Greg, for having us here today.

Paola Dutschmann:
Thank you so much, Greg. We’re very excited.

Greg Farber:
Cindy. You’re a project manager for the Bank Innovation Team. Can you talk to us a little bit about what responsibilities that role entails and how you came to be in this role at Leader?

Cindy Perez:
It’s been such an interesting journey. I’ve been with Leader Bank for almost two years now.

Greg Farber:
So you joined during the pandemic?

Cindy Perez:
Right after the pandemic, actually, yes. So I started actually with a different team. I started with the Retail Banking Team. And I stayed there for I would say, over two, three months. And it was very interesting because when I joined the team at the time, they were just launching the HELOC program. And we were experiencing this backlog. Right. So we had many accounts that we needed to we are paying. And then I started proposing new stuff. I was like, Okay, why don’t we do this? Let’s do this initiative. Let’s try to streamline this process. And then I think my mentors noticed that at the time, the leaders of the Leadership Team noticed, that quickly, I was offered a new position with a Bank Innovation Team.

Greg Farber:
Did you have a background in loans or project management? Or was this just kind of organically that you were trying to figure out what works better?

Cindy Perez:
Yeah, actually, I am an engineer, my bachelor’s degree, is an engineer, management engineering. And I think I am usually trying to think out of the box. So I think that is something really good that I have, I’m always looking for ways to improve new processes, exploring like new options, doing research, and optimizing resources.

Greg Farber:
That got you invited over into the innovation team. Correct?

Cindy Perez:
So I wasn’t I was going blind. Actually, I didn’t know where I was going. What I’m getting myself into. But it’s been like such a beautiful journey. And I think just loving what I do. I think he’s just been so patient, for everything that I do is what brought me where I am today, right?

Greg Farber:
What could be better than starting a job starting a role and then sort of finding your way along the way and ending up somewhere where you actually like what you’re doing?

Cindy Perez:
Yeah, exactly. So, one of my main responsibilities as a project manager is I am in charge of all these projects and initiatives for the bank. So we’re usually researching new products, implementing a new project. So I’m, you know, in charge of the planning, execution, and monitoring of any projects, usually I am focusing on the consumer side. So I am supporting different teams at Leader Bank, the Electronic Banking Team, which is our contact center, loan servicing, deposit operations, and also retail banking. So I work alongside a lot with Paola, and we’re just working constantly on this continuous improvement because there is always room to improve.

Greg Farber:
So great intro, bring in Paola here, then you are recently promoted to VP of Retail Banking. Congratulations. Tell us a little bit about that accomplishment and how you got there and what that means to you and your journey here at Leader. Did you come here with that goal in mind? Or did you also start a little bit differently and kind of work into a role that fits you?

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, I started completely different. I started banking around six or seven years ago, I started from the entry level and I make my way through it

Greg Farber:
In operations or as a teller?

Paola Dutschmann:
As a teller, so I started as a teller and then in another bank, then I went from teller to a branch operations manager to a private banker, so I studied my licenses, all that. Then I moved to do operations for more branches that are in a different bank and then one day our now head of HR, Wes called me. And that’s how I started doing interviews here. And I that’s how I started at Leader Bank. And it was funny because I, I started working for a deposit account team, sorry for the deposit opposite team. And I was kind of like a liaison between the branches. And on the Deep Ops team, we were doing a lot of operations, a lot of audits, I love auditing. So I, that’s what I was doing with the branches, making sure everything was streamlined, and then pandemic hit. So I was able to move into other projects and start doing other other things like the PPP, the commercial PPPs, a live chat. And then I actually started working directly with them.

Greg Farber:
So really a very similar story, again, you kind of came from a slightly different background. And the situation you found yourself in morphed into something that was more fitting for sort of your skills and what you like to do.

Paola Dutschmann:
Correct. And I think I love to learn all the time, I’m always trying to learn a different skill. And I remember I started doing a project management certificate, and I went over like a year and a half studying. And then I had my first opportunity when we develop the HELOC program. And that’s when you came in Cindy. And the idea was for the branches to start opening this accounts, everything related to HELOC. And it was it’s been a work in progress for so long, but it’s been such an amazing project. And that’s how we started.

Greg Farber:
So I think, you know, a big part of leadership is to step outside of sort of the dictionary definition. And one of the things that stands out to me is really providing value to an organization. You both already mentioned the HELOC program through the branches as something. Any other thoughts on kind of some maybe some particular contributions that you worked on where you really feel like you were able to add that additional value that your role allows you to to contribute to the company?

Paola Dutschmann:
I can start if you don’t mind, I think there’s tons of values, I think is just not not one that I really, really like. I’m very passionate. So I would say that’s a value. Yes. It’s more passion for the mission. Right? What’s the purpose, compassion for the people. That’s definitely my my go to everyday, develop others. And I think the best one is humility. I had a really, really amazing mentor, my dad, and my grandfather. They were, they were simply amazing. My grandfather, he was an engineer but he was always looking how to help others. And my dad, so he actually was the CEO at that time of a pharmaceutical country. Sorry, company. So we moved to different countries. So it was basically and I was an only child. So we it was only the three of us, my dad, my mom and me. And so we were moving constantly to different countries and you could see how my dad, he was so amazing with every single person who would remember everyone’s name. He was so humble, it’s just, he would never raise his voice it’s just the way he would talk to you. You just wanted to be like him. And I remember since I was little I, I always wanted to be like, he was definitely my role model. My grandfather, my mother, I think it’s definitely my family. So I know you were talking about values, I think it’s not just one is it’s a mix of everything, right?

Greg Farber:
And really not being that sort of boisterous, loud leader, but really being that more quiet introspective understanding to lift folks up and be a leader in that way.

Paola Dutschmann:
Right. I remember that. When I was little, I was always like, Dad, I have this idea of all that I know is all like worked up. Like she would listen to me. Who would never ever said like, Okay, calm. Tell me. Tell me your idea. And then we’ll we’ll discuss it. Never I think he’ll always let me be. And then we will discuss the idea after. But I think I was able to be who I was. And that’s so important. Everywhere, where where you’re working, right? Being able to bring yourself be who you are.

Greg Farber:
So, on that sort of too, we’re talking about leadership, maybe that’s outside of the printed definition. I was really interested when we talked the other day to learn that you guys started a book club in the branches. How did that how did that come about? And not only do I want to know how it came about, but tell us a little bit about kind of the impact that that’s having. Is that helping with with teamwork, is that building rapport in the branches? Is it a formal thing does everybody have to join? It isn’t optional, like how does that work?

Paola Dutschmann:
So it’s funny so we actually so the head of retail banking, Dorothy, she’s my boss. We read a lot. We’re constantly reading. And I think we had our….

Greg Farber:
For work or just on your own?

Paola Dutschmann:
Own our own, Yes, but we normally share books. So we had our mini book club, it was just the two of us. And we would always share it the next morning, like, what do you think about this? And we had different like perspectives of what we were reading. Until one day, we’re like, why don’t we actually start a book club in the bank? And right at the time we finished reading the 21 laws of leadership. And it was, yes, it was perfect timing. And so we discuss it with other departments at that time, it was banking, innovation, and the Customer Service Team. So we actually made a plan like, why don’t we do this? It’s optional. But what do we really want out of this booklet, right? It’s not only the exposure, it’s not only that it’s a safe place, you can share whatever you’re thinking, right? When you’re reading, you can you can see something completely different or a different perspective. Right. So so that’s what we wanted, we started doing a book club. So I think we’re around 16 between the three departments. And I think the most important thing is that there’s no leaders, no one is a leader is not like I run every single agenda. No, you get the chance to be a leader every time.

Greg Farber:
So it’s a very informal sort of collaborative.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, yes, it is. But you actually do your homework, we know what we need to be the person who’s going to be in charge. We know in advance you create an agenda.

Greg Farber:
Meet regularly, there’s an expectation, but then there’s, but it’s still ultimately optional. And or is it a requirement, if you’re in the branches to join this book club, or just, if you’re if you want to participate and develop sort of these these qualities and read books and have that leadership opportunity, you get to do that.

Paola Dutschmann:
Right. And we, so when it comes when it’s in the branches, we we have this person that actually it’s part of the book club. And he has developed this amazing leadership skills because of the book club. So he was in charge of doing the agenda, we all help because that’s another thing we help each other, right? The main thing is, how do we help each other, let’s lift each other. So he started developing this agenda, and he was part of the book club, he actually led that time, he did an amazing job.

Cindy Perez:
I think the book club is one of those initiatives that we’re trying to do probably bank wide. And it’s a huge opportunity to people than that having had an opportunity to run a meeting in the past. Because we have like different people running actually the meetings how we just divided a different chapter. So we cover different chapters on each meeting. And it’s just the the fact that the person in charge needs to provide an agenda, and just have to be ready to have like different topics to study is causing. So it’s, it’s a matter of empowering.

Greg Farber:
But in a more casual way, they’re not they’re not going in front of an actual business meeting where they have to have a certain it’s a more casual format, where they can sort of learn how to do that, and how to get comfortable in front of the group and things like that.

Paola Dutschmann:
Sometimes it’s so tough, right? Getting out of your comfort zone, just sometimes is, maybe you were not in meetings all the time. And now you need to create a zoom call for everyone, like how do I do this, but he’s just reaching out to others in the group as well, like, Hey, can you help me?

Greg Farber:
Who picks the books?

Paola Dutschmann:
So the first one, we chose that because it was the leader one. But now that we’re finishing this one its just…

Greg Farber:
Rotate?

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, we’re gonna decide we don’t need to do leadership books all the time, or business books, its jus,t let’s choose something to read, whatever we want to read as a group.

Cindy Perez:
Yeah. But what I like about the book club too is that we are all sharing our thoughts. We’re sharing our point of view, right, we’re just sharing ideas. And as Paola just mentioned is where this is an opportunity to lift each other, right? Because people have had some exposure to actually run meetings or doing book clubs or, you know, being on on a meeting with different people right from the Bank. And this is such a great opportunity for those to be there and actually run meetings and it’s been such a fantastic job. Right. We can see the difference now.

Greg Farber:
That’s awesome. And so, you know, I want to kind of come back to something that Paola said a little bit earlier. And maybe Cindy, you want to chime in here too. I can tell just from your conversation, that you guys are incredibly proud of just being yourselves. And I think that’s something that, you know, in my career, I’ve certainly encountered people that were in leadership roles or otherwise, that was for lack of a better word, just fake and they weren’t genuine and they weren’t themselves and it’s much harder I find to follow when someone is being more obviously fake and it just doesn’t feel right or genuine How have you guys been able to just maintain being so genuine and to let that shine through and not sort of get trapped in that corporate pigeonhole?

Cindy Perez:
Yeah, I can go. And definitely, this is something that touches me so much. Because being in a different country is not easy. And, as Paola mentioned, getting out of your comfort zone, for so long, I was trying to be someone else to try to fit in, in a culture. And I noticed that I was losing myself. I was losing my identity. That was not me.

Greg Farber:
It made you less productive, more frustrated, or things like that?

Cindy Perez:
For so long I was starting like to change my accent, changing my you know, the way that I was saying things, and even changing my food. And that was not me. I was like, no, this needs to stop. I have a daughter. And she’s the biggest reason for me to be, what I am today. And I think she is my motivation to wake up every day. And she just changed the way that I see things now. And when you go to a different country, you’re leaving everything behind, you’re leaving your culture, you’re leaving your food, you’re leaving your family, you’re leaving your friends behind, to start a new journey. And I think I started hating my journey. And being proud of the person that I was becoming. And I am so proud of the person that I have become today. I’m proud of my roots. I’m proud of my culture. I proud, I am proud of the way that I talk. And I’m proud of the way that I connect with people.

Greg Farber:
I’m getting chills just listening to you. I mean, I think that that really is it is fantastic. Because you want to grow, but you can’t grow. And to use a terrible plant analogy, right? You can’t grow if you don’t have your roots. And you can’t let go of those roots. And to keep those now you’re still up and growing out from there. And you’re going to be a different person than if you had been limited to just where your roots were. But they have to go together and you can’t just give up one without the other.

Cindy Perez:
Exactly.

Greg Farber:
Now, think back to the sort of business as well. Do you think being genuine, the two of you leads to better results?

Paola Dutschmann:
Totally. And I kind of like wanted to talk a little bit about that. I think for so long since I came here. I thought like, Paola you’re way too intense.

Greg Farber:
You? I’m the intense one, come on.

Paola Dutschmann:
Well, can you imagine both of us? So yeah, so I think I thought for so long. You’re so intense, right? You’re so emotional. And, you know, what I recently have been, like, obsessed with Formula One. And you know how they’re so much into data, right? They lead with data, they make decisions based on data strategy is based on data.

Greg Farber:
Milliseconds, every tiniest little thing…

Paola Dutschmann:
Right? And it’s just the data is huge, right? You have so much data, you don’t even know where to start and how to make a decision. But then you also have that EQ, that emotional part that you see the leaders, the drivers, you see, everyone in the pit, there’s, they’re waiting for something good to happen. If there is something bad happens, they get emotional about it. So and they’re so successful.

Greg Farber:
And they’re all invested in they’re not shy about it. They’re not fake about it.

Paola Dutschmann:
Right? I was listening to this interview, and the person said, There’s not one person that works in Formula One, that they don’t love what they do. They don’t love raising they don’t we can’t have people like that. So I think it’s exactly what we want. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we want in leadership. Yes, of course, you need the data. Of course, you need to make decisions, right? But you also need to have that emotional part, like having a balance.

Greg Farber:
So do you think leadership is learned? Or do we all just have it somewhere and we just have to find out how to tap into it?

Paola Dutschmann:
No, I don’t I think you learn along the way. I was not the person I was three years ago. And I think there are a lot of situations in your life that shape you. Also. I recently lost both of my parents.

Greg Farber:
I’m sorry to hear that.

Paola Dutschmann:
Thank you so much. But I think it was crucial for me…

Greg Farber:
In what way?

Paola Dutschmann:
To… I just wanted to make them proud, even though they weren’t here.

Greg Farber:
Okay. And I saw motivation something adverse happens and you gain motivation from that, that brings out more of your own leadership skills that maybe you had all along, but you didn’t put to use?

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes. And I do believe there are situations in your life that just you just have to that I that’s another thing motivation, right? It’s such a topic lately and I think motivation is yes, of course, you want to motivate others, right? You want to motivate your team, you want them to be happy. That’s definitely what we want. But also motivation is you. You wake up in the morning, you want to be better. You learn you read a book because you want to, right?

Greg Farber:
But if you’re not motivated, who’s gonna want to work for you and be motivated?

Paola Dutschmann:
Right? Right. And I think that’s a huge part of leaders, you lead by example.

Cindy Perez:
Exactly. And I think also, being empathetic. No, just putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, that empathy, be empathetic, and say, Hey, I feel what you’re feeling. I am here to help you. I want to lift you. Right, I’m going to give you my hand in holding others accountable. So I think that is huge, as Paola just mentioned, like motivation, but being able to inspire others, with either your stories with either mentorship with either the way that you talk with just small little things. Those are small little wins are what he’s going to make a great leader.

Greg Farber:
Goes back to something Paola said earlier about her dad, and I don’t know if it was intentional, or if it was just his personality. But the way he would lift you up without you really feeling like he was lifting you up. Like it was just an organic thing that happened, as opposed to all right, Paola, sit down, this is what we’re going to do. Right, right. It’s a very different way of leading a person along.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, I don’t know, I think it was his personality. My grandfather was like that, too. I don’t know if I can mention it here too. But I had this lovely story. And I think every time when someone asked me to go to your happy place, I would definitely go when I was five or six years old. And we were living in a different country. So I would spend summers with my grandparents. And since early morning, I think the first thing we would listen to was classical music. So we were listening to opera the entire morning. And then he was always reading. So it was just a must. So we would read before breakfast. And then after breakfast, we would read again. And then we would discuss what we were reading. We were so little.

Greg Farber:
So you were in a book club when you were five or six years old. See, it all comes together.

Paola Dutschmann:
And drinking tea. I love tea so much.

Greg Farber:
So I want to bring us back to we’re obviously here talking about leadership. But the reason that you both are here specifically today is that you are part of or started the Diversity and Inclusion Group at Leader Bank. So I want to hear a little bit about that. What was the inspiration for that how really that whole group came to be and where you’re going with that?

Cindy Perez:
That group, I think is fantastic. I think is literally a safe place. And is something that we’ve been working so hard. We have three different pillars in the group, we have the culture pillar, we have the community pillar. And we also have the development career pillar. And it’s just fantastic to see many ideas for people from many different countries. It just is beautiful how everything is coming together, how we are just cross-referencing from previous experiences that we had for everything that we live in right now. And it’s just, I mean, the whole mission of this group is actually embrace the culture, the diversity, the equity, and being inclusive. create awareness across the Bank.

Greg Farber:
How many people are in the group now?

Cindy Perez:
We are like eight. Yeah.

Paola Dutschmann:
We have eight. Yes, I think at first, I think it was just understanding what diversity and inclusion mean. Right?

Greg Farber:
What do you think diversity means, in your opinion?

Paola Dutschmann:
I think it’s So diversity is not only being different, it’s just understanding we are all different and that’s fine. So it’s not

Greg Farber:
Just being different, but being cognizant of differences around you.

Paola Dutschmann:
Exactly. Okay. Yes. And also feeling safe. Right, that’s, I would say another thing that we’re huge right now that we’re talking about is the unconscious bias. Look at the big picture. Right, put yourself in other people’s shoes. What are they thinking? Why are they reacting like that? What’s going on with their lives? Can you come to this place and be yourself? Like, bring yourself to the table?

Greg Farber:
So if you’re a group of eight in a company of over three 400. Now, how do you get your message out? Is this? Is this a group that’s open to everyone? Or their meetings? Do you do push-out messaging? How do you include sort of everyone in the Bank in this process?

Paola Dutschmann:
So I think we’re still in that process. And Cindy, you can talk a little bit about this, too. We had all these ideas at first, right? And we needed to educate ourselves first. So we started meeting constantly, but we also needed a plan. What we needed was that foundation, yeah. And a good foundation, because it’s also a very complicated topic. What are we going to do if someone comes to us and talks about a different topic, right, what did we think differently? How are we going to address that situation? How are we going to make that person feel safe? So I think at first right now, and we’re still in that process Right now, Yes. It’s just understanding everything. What can we talk, What can’t we talk, but most importantly, understanding what are the pain points? So what we did just to understand what was going on, was we sent out a survey to everyone, and it was complete, we don’t know who answered, We just know, the pain points, and what are they looking for. What are they looking out of this group? How can we help?

Greg Farber:
What kind of response rate did you get? Did you get a lot of responses? Or were people hesitant to?

Paola Dutschmann:
I think it was a little bit of both. Okay, we got around half, half of them.

Greg Farber:
So really meaningful number of responses.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes. And so we’re already working on an action plan on how to do that.

Cindy Perez:
And I think we have enough data now because we while we just started doing is planning our whole year, around those results, right? Just setting goals. Okay, what every pillar is going to start focusing on before, as Paola just mentioned, we were working on the foundation. And because without any structure, you can, you cannot do a lot, right? So pretty much we need to just train ourselves to getting more into okay, what diversity means. What actually includes inclusion means in what equity means to right?

Paola Dutschmann:
Right.

Greg Farber:
Does this mean that there are events or things like this? Or how does, how does the group sort of communicate with the Bank at large?

Paola Dutschmann:
So right now, what we started is pushing out emails. But we do we created this amazing resource in SharePoint, we have a lot of information there so that you can understand what we’re doing. Or if there’s this special month, or we’re going through something, everything is going to be in SharePoint, we love that everyone goes there, we actually have a suggestion box that they can send like, hey, why don’t you guys talk about this, or this would be interesting. And that’s what we want. We want to hear from you. Right? We’re here for them. So we have that. Yes, we do have events planned for the year, we have several, several things that we have planned out. But I think what we did is very interesting, we actually did that with an apprentice as well. We did like a retreat, just to do like a business plan for the year. Okay, what are we want to do? What are the goals? How are we going to do it per quarter just to be structured? I think structure is everything.

Cindy Perez:
Yeah and Paola just mentioned that we do have this SharePoint tool. And this is getting bank-wide across the departments at the Bank. And here in SharePoint, we just sharing this podcast, these cool articles, Harvard Business Review articles for people to start, like training themselves, right? Exactly the same what we’re doing on the team. Because we want to coach everyone here. We want to get to every single corner of the Bank and get their thoughts, the feedback.

Greg Farber:
So we talked about diversity and kind of defined that it’s important before you even go along the way to define what diversity is and understand what you’re kind of working on. Let’s talk about inclusion a little bit. I mean, you can’t force people to like one another. Right? So so how does inclusion happen? How do you get that message to resonate with all the diverse folks we have at the Bank?

Paola Dutschmann:
We’re still working on that. Because you’re right, you can’t make everyone happy. But I think part of this group is also…

Greg Farber:
You can at least make them respectful or tolerant or things like that, right? As a starting point.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, actually, we’re working on training that’s gonna go out to everyone. And it talks about that, that unconscious bias, and how to be respectful also.

Cindy Perez:
And it’s awesome it’s a training that we’ve been building for quite a couple of months now. And it’s fantastic because we want to We want this training to be taken for everyone across the Bank, not just senior management, not just to managers or supervisors, supervisors, we want every single one, to be part of this, to understand the meaning of this, and to be more than welcome to our meetings to so

Greg Farber:
Everyone has the same baseline. And then from there, they can decide how they want to participate. Does your group have a formal mission statement of any kind like that? Or is it really just organic, you kind of are going where the pain points are, and kind of change, your goals as you go along?

Paola Dutschmann:
So we do have the mission and the vision of the group. But I think right now, we definitely needed that to understand what were the pain points, we don’t want to talk about unconscious bias. And then the pain point is something completely different, right? We’re not going to get to anyone. So I think that’s how we needed to start on based on that is how we are scheduling this entire year. And what we want to do, we’re having guest speakers, we’re doing podcasts, we have so many things prepared.

Greg Farber:
Do either of you do things related to diversity and inclusion in your private lives and your communities or things?

Cindy Perez:
Yeah, I mean, it’s a plan that we have, internally, but actually, I opted to be part of this PTO group for my daughter’s school which is called around the world, and where you have the opportunity to actually present anything about your country. And I think this is very important for me because I want my daughter and my daughter is six years old, and I want her to be proud of her roots. And I think this is a very nice way to encourage her and the kids to be more engaged with the community. And also understand that probably her mother in this case is coming from a different country. But I don’t want her to get lost around the way.

Greg Farber:
It’s such a simple example, again of leadership, no one told you to do that. And here you are making that positive impact on hopefully not just your own daughter, but other children that are going to participate in this and they can learn from it and then have their own stories to share.

Cindy Perez:
Yeah. And I am very oriented toward kids because they’re our future. Right kids are in the future. So I think…

Greg Farber:
Well, don’t give up on yourself just yet. You’re still a part of the future too.

Cindy Perez:
I’m talking about, you know, raising a kid.

Greg Farber:
So my daughter’s eight, I share a lot of the same sort of goals and paths, and then questions along the way.

Cindy Perez:
When I go to a bookstore, I usually go to this, this section that is about diversity. Because I want her to be engaged with that. I want her to start, I want my daughter to start reading this type of book, and say, Hey, I am as equal as you, I have the same opportunities as you. So I want, I want to create that awareness in her.

Paola Dutschmann:
I cannot agree with you more. I’m part of this organization, organization. That’s called “Get Her There”. And it’s for teenagers, it’s around the world. It’s for teenagers, actually, Michelle Obama is part of that organization. And it’s about getting teenagers to have the same opportunities, developing them, mentor them, what can I do for you?

Greg Farber:
Not just to have the opportunities, but to see that they’re there. I think that’s a big part of it, too, is that people have opportunities that they might not realize that they have, and to be sort of shown that way to see where those opportunities are. So final question for you both. Can you share with our listeners, I know it may be hard to kind of just pick one and pick one on the spot but who’s a leader that had a real impact on your life?

Cindy Perez:
I can start, I could cry, literally

Greg Farber:
Well, don’t all start at once…

Paola Dutschmann:
I have definitely had so many people in my life. But I would like to talk about Leader Bank. And that’s one of the reasons…

Greg Farber:
Really?

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes.

Greg Farber:
How apropo.

Paola Dutschmann:
I love working here since I started and since day one. I’ve been having this amazing mentor. Through these three years, people really shaped me that challenge me, and got me out of my comfort zone. And they’ve been with me every single day and I’m so grateful that’s one of the reasons I’m so loyal to Leader Bank and I definitely think this promotion that we were talking about it’s it’s not only me, it’s because of them.

Greg Farber:
And so it’s a reflection of the whole everything’s coming together.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, yes. Good days, bad days, they’ve been with me to this day, and I still go to every single one of them. So I’m really grateful to everyone.

Greg Farber:
Here I was thinking you’re gonna flip open a history book and drop some names. And you came up with the best answer possible. Your turn to top that.

Cindy Perez:
And, to Paola’s point, I wanted to point out that too, because I’ve kind of come across these leaders at Leader Bank, I started in a different position in a different department. And I think that mentorship and the fact that she was believing in me so much, and she was still mentoring me. I think that’s unbelievable. That’s, that’s beautiful. And I keep telling her like, every single day, like, I love the opportunity that you gave me, because I am what I am, because of the opportunity that you gave me back then.

Paola Dutschmann:
She’s amazing, by the way.

Cindy Perez:
And the mentors that I have today, too. I mean, I have people from different departments that we have these outstanding meetings bi-weekly, and it’s, it’s just amazing how they are trying to take me to the next level when we have these random conversations. And it’s just sometimes not everything about work, it gets something like personnel too, or when you’re sharing books, or articles, or stuff like that, that actually makes you think differently.

Greg Farber:
It’s making me think that what you’re describing here is not leadership as an isolated event. But as an ongoing circle. Every leader also has leaders that they look up to, and they had leaders that shaped them. And they had leaders that helped them along the way and so forth. It’s like a continuous line. It’s not just a snapshot.

Cindy Perez:
Continuous improvement.

Greg Farber:
Aha, perfect.

Paola Dutschmann:
You know, what is not? I think there’s a little bit of a misconception there that a leader is the title, and is completely the opposite. Has nothing to do with titles and has nothing to do with your position. Anyone can be a leader, anyone can leave each other up. Anyone can be a difference in your life. And I think that’s what we do. In my personal Leader Bank experience. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I love working here. It’s just It’s the people. It’s my leader is it’s everyone. It’s it’s Cindy. It’s every single person. We lift each other every single morning, with podcasts, books, everything.

Cindy Perez:
Sharing articles, I just saw this.

Paola Dutschmann:
Yes, I think it’s it’s definitely the people but it’s not the position.

Cindy Perez:
Yeah, it’s the person. And I’m grateful because I also have this mentor that she has shaped me so much so she’s, I know you can do this. She doesn’t tell me, but she knows what I’m capable of. And she’s, you will figure it out. Yes, you will do great. She’s kind of shy and quiet. But she’s, I think unbelievable. She’s unbelievable. That’s the word. She’s unbelievable. And she’s very smart. And she has her way to, to get to you, but very, very deep on you.

Paola Dutschmann:
I think we both have like the same mentors, mentors in our life at Leader Bank in. I think that’s the word. They’re unbelievable. Everyone has a different personality. But they really care about you. They really, know you, they see you as who you are, it doesn’t matter if we’re interns or not. Or passionate or, or we come up with an idea every single day is is you’re in a safe place.

Cindy Perez:
Yeah. And I also have this wonderful person with that I was working on a past project. And I keep having that conversation with him like very random conversations. But I have learned so much about him and know about him personally, but about his leadership style. That is it’s just beautiful.

Greg Farber:
Well, I have to say I learned a lot during this episode. I think this was really a lot of fun. And it’s really interesting to me, too. And I kind of had that moment a moment ago where I talked about leadership being sort of a cycle or an ongoing thing. It’s not really a way I’ve ever looked at it before and I want to thank you both for sharing all your thoughts and you kind of leading me down that path as well as in this conversation and for making the time to be here today. Thank you so much.

Paola Dutschmann:
Thank you for having us

Cindy Perez:
Thank you, this is a great opportunity, and thank you for thinking of us.

Paola Dutschmann:
[Spanish] Hacemos este podscast todo el tiempo, todos los meses tenemos un podcast diferente. Cindy y yo hacemos parte de Leader Bank trabajamos para el banco en diferentes líneas de negocio. Queremos invitar a todo el mundo para que se unan. Estos podcast son lindísimos aprendemos muchísimo, temenos diferentes líderes y por favor únanse, sean parte del podcast, escríbanos. Nos puedes escribir en LinkedIn, en social media la verdad es que estamos aquí para ayudar a todo el mundo.

[English] This is an outgoing podcast we have at Leader Bank. There is a different episode each month and the topic varies every time. We both work at Leader Bank, in different teams, and support different lines of business and today we want to extend the invite to everyone to join and listen to this podcast. The episodes are wonderful and full of information; there are different leaders in each episode and provide amazing insights. Please join us, listen to the podcast, and feel free to contact us via LinkedIn or social media- we are here to help.

Cindy Perez:
[Spanish] Estamos felices de estar aquí hoy, y nuestra comunidad hispana, estamos aquí para uds, como Paola acaba de mencionar, aquí estamos para ayudarnos y para levantarnos los unos a los otros, para darnos ese apoyo que tanto queremos. Gracias!

[English] We are very happy to be here today and for our Spanish community- we are here for you! We are here for everyone, to lift and support each other. Thank you!

Greg Farber:
For more information on today’s subject, visit leaderbank.com. In addition to past episodes, you can also find our corresponding blog entries for more insights. This podcast is a production of Leader Bank, N.A. equal housing lender. Member FDIC. NMLS number 449250.