Paola Gutierrez: Finding Your Purpose With The Help Of A Coach

Finding your purpose in life is seldom about the things you are genuinely passionate about. Most of the time, we pursue career paths that are most profitable instead of the most satisfying. However, this mindset builds a society of hard workers with no dreams. Paola Gutierrez, Innovation Designer at Accenture, shares with Yanet Borrego how she was able to take hold of a purpose-driven life thanks to coaching. Paola explains how to discover what you really want to do without being pushed around by society's expectations and other people's opinions. She talks about giving more attention to your internal fulfillment instead of chasing external validations and drowning in fear of missing out.

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Paola Gutierrez: Finding Your Purpose With The Help Of A Coach

This episode is very special because I am bringing one of my coaching clients, Paola Gutierrez. We’ll be talking about the coaching journey, the transformation she went through, her dreams on what’s next for her to continue living a purpose-driven life. After finishing my one-on-one coaching program, Paola said, “I feel more energized, happy, fulfilled, courageous and accountable to myself than I ever have.”

During the episode, we also dig deeper on the decision-making process of leaving authentically. I want to remind you of the free resource I prepared for all of you, a three-question framework to make the decisions that lead to fulfilling outcomes. I’m going to be honest, making decisions that align with your authentic self can be overwhelming. Going through these three questions frameworks will enable you to go from overwhelmed to feeling decisive. Let’s get into the episode. 

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I have a super special guest. She is my dear friend. She was a coaching client. She’s a Consultant with a huge global Fortune 500 company. She’s also an I&D leader and now she’s taking big and bold steps to continue aligning with her purpose. Paola, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you.

Thank you for having me. I’m so excited.

I was so looking forward to this interview. We met in Accenture when I was working with a company years ago. Since I’ve met you, I have been impressed with your ability to always dream and think of the possibilities and want to help the world we live in. I feel we need more of that. I truly appreciate that of you. Thank you so much. Paola, I always ask all the guests, tell me a little bit about your background, where were you born and what are you doing now?

I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. I got to travel the world a little bit when I was a kid because of my dad’s job and had been in the US for many years. I went to Texas A&M, so I went to college here. I graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering, then I started right away at Accenture working as a consultant in our rotational program. I did a little bit of everything for about two years, then I joined our human potential practice. Now, I work as an Innovation Designer in our Houston Innovation Hub.

What is your favorite part of working?

My favorite part about working, especially as an Innovation Designer, is that to your point, we get a lot of creative freedom to think about the future and where we want to take our clients and how we use technology. It’s an exciting place to be and a very creative and fun atmosphere to work in. I’m very grateful that I have that role in that opportunity.

It sounds like the perfect fit for you, Paola, because I think back on all the projects you have had. I know a lot of people would agree that you always look for projects where you can create an impact in the community. These are projects that no one has ever heard of, but somehow, Paola always finds these freaking amazing community projects, which I love because that’s the essence of who you are.

It was funny because we had a meeting at work and somebody asked me like, “What do you love to do? What are you passionate about?” I said, “I’m passionate about equity and inclusion and making an impact.” I said, “I was lucky that I always find these projects.” My manager was softly yelling in the background. She was like, “She’s very vocal.” I’m like, “Yes, I am annoying.”

You don't want to be vulnerable when you don't want to face the fact that you have some issues you have to work through.

 

It is important to ask for what you want. I’m so happy because that’s one of the biggest lessons in life. If you want to build upward, why not? One of the things I mentioned while I introduced you was that you were my coaching client. You went through a coaching process. I love working with all my clients. I love working with you again.

One of the things that is important for me is that my clients have goals that inspire me. That feedback, in order for me to do my best as a coach, in order for me to help all of you to get there, to those dreams and goals. Even before we started the interview, I was telling you that I can talk a lot about what coaching is, but listening to people’s stories and experiences, I feel it is a label of a deeper understanding.

That’s why I want to bring to this show people who are super inspiring like Paola and who have gone through a coaching program to share stories of transformation and create awareness of what coaching is also. Saying that, why do you think you were drawn towards coaching and how do you know that was the right fit for you?

When I graduated and when I started at Accenture, the cool thing about Accenture is that we literally do everything and anything under the sun, so the possibilities were endless but that was also challenging because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I came from a prescriptive four years in college, had a path laid out that traditional industrial engineers will take, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted something completely different, but I struggled for three years figuring out where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. To me, when I met you and when you talked about coaching, I figured that I needed it because I felt lost. I didn’t know how to succeed, which was killing me because I’ve always been a driven person.

In my StrenghtsFinder, I have achiever discipline responsibility. I felt like I wasn’t meeting any of my own internal expectations. I was falling short of what I thought I had to do to feel accomplished. At that point, I was like, “No, I need to figure out where I’m headed. I have no compass. I’m headed nowhere.” It was draining my energy. It was making me feel sad all the time. I felt worthless at that point. To me, that was important. I needed to figure out where I wanted it to go, not necessarily the steps or my next role or career, but more of like what I am trying to do in life. That was an enlightening moment and epiphany for me.

I love so many things about what you said. We have spoken to one of them about this before is, how linear the educational system is in terms of whenever you choose a path, everything is built for you. There is little room for you to have time to start getting to know yourself and even getting to know, “Is this the right path for me?” What are your thoughts on that? I know you might refer to that. I wanted to learn a little bit more about it.

I always joke that when I retire, I want to be a college professor and have a class that teaches you about the basic things of life, like how to have a house and personal finance, everything that college or school does not teach you but it’s foundational to be able to be an adult. Part of that is, I always say like, “I would have a six-week lesson plan on figuring out what you want to do, what you want your life to be, whom do you want to be when you “grow up"? What’s the legacy that when you’re 60, you say, ‘That was such a good life and a fun career.’” It feels very wholesome to people.

In the education system, I feel there’s no space for creativity and trying out things. When you’re a kid, you’re always taught that you have to follow. If you’re doing science, for example, as experimental as it gets, it’s always about to follow the activity steps and the result. You write it down, but there’s no room for that curiosity, like, “What happens if I don’t do it? What happens if I do something else?” Our education system needs to foster that space for people to figure out who they want to be because then you get to high school.

You always hear the same career paths, like, “You go and be an engineer or you get prepared to go to a med school or law school.” It’s very prescriptive. You can be a lawyer, but what does that mean for you? What can you do with that? That’s not necessarily sitting in an office going through papers or being a doctor. What are the possibilities within the paths that we have now to make it your own so that you truly enjoy what you’re doing and it’s not following somebody else’s path and what they defined for you? We need more room to explore. We don’t have enough room to explore.

When I think back on my past, I was in high school, Latin and immigrants, our community experiences, a lack of role models and mentorship. At least my mom didn’t know better. I was going back and thinking, “I like chemistry. I would love to give back to my family, support them financially.” The financial piece, I feel, is something that there is so much pressure around more than your fulfillment and your happiness. It’s like, “Get a job or you can earn money.” “What if I don’t like it? Is that going to benefit me long term?” No.

One of the things that I was thinking about before our conversation was the concept of acceptance and accepting yourself. It’s one of the things that I still struggle with because I have dreams. I say, “I wish that I could do that,” but a part of me doesn’t accept it because I’m like, “What if my parents don’t agree with it? What if I can’t make money off of it?” To your point, that financial piece is always something that I struggle in the back of my head with. How am I going to support my parents? What if somebody else in my family needs help and I can’t be that person? I always have that urge to be able to give back to them since they’ve done so much for me throughout the years.

That part, I feel like that’s the hardest thing, that acceptance. What I want to do is okay and I can be successful doing it because other people have done it, so why couldn’t I? It’s hard because I grew up with a belief of how things should be and how you can be financially secure and what the steps are to do so. That’s always a delicate balance that I always think about and try to accept.

It’s natural, overcoming those unconscious patterns. The important piece is taking action and experimenting because as you continue doing that on the side of maybe being financially secured or studying or doing whatever, you start gaining more confidence and congruence that it’s possible for you. The important part is not to let that stop you, which you had, and we’ll talk about it.

You talked about your experience in college and you were entering into a world. What was the thing that you were, in that transition, you started to think of what I believe to be true is no longer that anymore for you? What was the moment that you realized like, “I need someone else to help me?” which was coaching in this case.

I would see other people that were at the same level. They seemed to be very sure of themselves and what they wanted to do. Whether it was true or not. I don’t know, but it seems like it. I felt like I didn’t have that. Even looking at my partner, he’s always been passionate about design ever since he was a kid. He knew what he wanted to do and I always struggled. Ever since I was a kid, I don’t know what I like and what I’m good at. I know I can be good at anything and everything that I put in my mind, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s fulfilling. It’s just I can be good at it.

I always watched people around me who had that sense of purpose and genuine interest in what they were doing, and I didn’t have it. It made me feel frustrated and anxious because I was like, “Why can’t I figure it out?” That made me realize that I’m good at things and can be excellent at everything I do. I hate saying this but great at it because I want to develop the talent that will say like, “How did she do that?” I felt like I was in a place where I couldn’t do that because I wasn’t interested in the work that I was doing and learning more about it. I was going through the motions. To me, it didn’t feel like I could do 40, 50 years of the same thing that I was doing over and over.

That, to me, was like, “I need to ask for help,” which is something that I don’t like to do either because I like figuring myself for myself. I bought books. I’ve read every self-help that’s been trending out there to figure out what’s going on and what’s the roadblock or why I am having so many issues figuring out my path. I realized that sometimes you need that mirror, the sounding board helping you sort through all of your thoughts and ideas and maybe showing you things that you don’t even know about yourself.

How did coaching help you get there?

It was forcing me to truly self-reflect on who I wanted to be. The second one was holding me accountable because when you are in adulting mode, everything else takes priority when you don’t want to take the time to look at yourself. You’re like, “I don’t have time to sit down and write my thoughts. I need to go do something else. I need to clean the kitchen. I need to figure out my finances.” It’s scary and you don’t want to be vulnerable and you don’t want to face the fact that you do have some issues that you have to work through.

Those two things were the most important for me in coaching because there was nowhere for me to escape. If I didn’t call you every week and I had done my homework, you’d be angry at me. I didn’t want you to be angry at me. I was like, “No, I got to get my work done.” I intentionally carved out the space to do some self-reflection and digging and be honest with myself, which I love it.

I wouldn’t have been angry. I hope you know that. I was introduced to coaching back in 2015. The cool thing that drew my attention to coaching is that you, as a person, have certain goals as a coachee. The only agenda for the coach is the client’s agenda. It’s like, you tell the coach, “I want to get there.” The only thought in the coach is like, “How can I help her get there to a place she defined by herself?” I’ve been coached too. That’s the magic part of coaching. If you have a person fully dedicated to your success, isn’t that crazy?

Coaching is having somebody who will hold you accountable, making sure that you are taking the time to figure out what you want to do.

 

Sometimes we look for those people either at work or we look at maybe our friends or family and subconsciously like, it’s not that they have an agenda, but they have their own experiences. They want to help you, but they only know from their own experiences and sometimes don’t know how to detach from that. They unintentionally guide you or steer you in the way that works for them but may not necessarily work for you. As if the training to be able to decouple the two, it can be sometimes more harmful or it might even inhibit you from being completely honest with them because you’re afraid that they’re going to judge you or do something else. That’s going to be more on tied to their interests rather than yours.

I love that clarification that you based, Paola, because it is true. As part of the coaching program, you’re not telling the client or you, in our case, what to do. You’re rather asking them questions to help them get to the best approach for them because, as you all know, we all have past experiences. We have our sets of unconscious beliefs of values. Whatever you perceive does a projection of what’s going on inside you, within you. It is the self-realization that you were talking about. Going back with reflecting, what is best for Paola? For the first time, what does Paola dream off? It is possible.

I remember we work on creating your goals and compelling future. This is something that I’ve seen over and over with 99% of the clients. As I coach, I ask, “Who is the person that you want to be?” I want you to start dreaming. There is a certain resistance to hearing a dream that they can be yours. Who is the person that you want to be? Why do you think that is?

As we’re growing up, we start gathering fears. Your parents’ fears, siblings, friends, what you see around you. When you hear the word dream, there’s so much fear attached to that. Saying it out loud, you’re like, “I don’t want to sound stupid,” because we don’t want to become dumb. “My dream is dumb and I don’t want anybody to think that I’m dumb. I’m going not to do it. I’m going to create a dream that works for everybody else.” It’s always like trying to fill others’ expectations or making sure that you’re not putting yourself in a vulnerable spot where people get to judge you or make comments on the things that you want to do. That’s why that resistance is there.

One of the things that I learned from you was, you always make the decision within you first, then you’re communicated out to avoid people. Putting their set of expectations or their thoughts and judgments on you because the natural tendency is to get to others to validate what we want to do. When they don’t validate it the way that we want them to validate it, we’re like, “Maybe not. I’m going to find out something else to be passionate about.”

I love what you said. I also feel that we come into this world and there is a pre-design package of a path for us. You’re born, do what you need to do, do what you do at work. These are the boundaries. This is where you operate. When you ask someone to dream, they literally need to break through those boundaries of what they thought their life or potential is. The potential is also booked into these preconceived notions and signs. I agree with you. The major block is fear and worthiness, not feeling worthy to break through those boundaries.

You’re even able to do it.

That’s a good one.

It's like, “I don’t know why I dream. I can’t do that. Let me lower my dream into being XYZ.”

They’ll stay in the system where you’re supposed to say there. You said to yourself, one of the things coaching enabled me to do was look at myself in the mirror and self-reflect and dedicate time for that. As you dedicated time for that, what was the biggest surprise when you looked at yourself in the mirror?

The biggest surprise was that I had a lot of things that were holding me back and I couldn’t understand why. To your point, like, “My dream isn’t attainable or sounds dumb or it sounds stupid.” It got me thinking like reflecting about all the other times in my life where I’ve been able to accomplish things. I was like, “Where does this even come from?” I’ve been able to accomplish things all my life. Now, if I want to accomplish my dream or what I enjoy and love or what might be my dream at a certain moment and I’m like, “No, I can’t do that. That’s dumb. Let me stick to what I’m doing now.” Why? That was one of the biggest realizations. To me, I have all of these things that are holding me back, but I don’t even know where they come from.

For the audience, a lot of those things that are beliefs or even negative emotions, leave it in the unconscious mind. A lot of times, they manifest in different ways and you don’t even realize that because it’s not conscious. It’s not something like you are there to see. It happens like an automatic pilot. It’s a blind spot a lot of times for people. Sometimes having that person, like a coach trained to those limiting beliefs, that emotions and even the language patterns that the clients are using, may sound like a limiting belief. “Let me check with her.” It’s super important.

What you were saying about having somebody that listens because the reality is that, in life, we don’t listen in our day-to-day. We hear, but we’re not absorbing and processing and analyzing what the other person is saying. Talking to them in a way that makes them reflect. You hear something, somebody asks you a question and your instinct is to solve, like, “Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that?” Instead of listening. There is so much value because not only is another person listening to you, but you also started listening to yourself at what you’re saying and the things that are coming up. You suddenly start connecting the dots like, “I said this five minutes ago and now this is coming in.” It’s like wizardry.

You went through coaching. Before going through coaching, you had an idea of coaching. I imagine your ideas shifted after you completed coaching. What was the idea you used to have about coaching that it got transformed into something else? What are the insights you got about the process that you’re like, “This is interesting.”

I thought a coach would literally tell me what to do. I’d be like, “These are my problems. These are things I want to do,” or have some like magic insight like, “You have like mommy issues or daddy issues, then we’re going to fix it and it’s all going to go magically away.” The biggest insight, for me, was that self-reflection and holding myself accountable and doing the work like having to do the work. You can’t escape it.

There’s somebody there that will hold you accountable to make sure that you are taking the time for yourself to figure out what you want to do. It sucks at first because you’re like, “No, I want to be told what to do and go do it,” but then, slowly, it starts being a very enjoyable process. They were like, “I want to find out more and dig deeper into this thing that I’m struggling with or that feeling.” You also start naturally doing the work for yourself by yourself. That’s what was interesting for me.

It is so true because we expect to find the answers on an external element, either a person, a book or something else. Even though we may find some answers that way, the level of fulfillment you feel when you start to understand yourself and start arriving and the right answers that lay within you is totally different. Would you agree?

Yes, because then you start finding who you are. You start decisions from who you are rather than from what a person is telling you.

Whom you are supposed to be, like the society’s norm. I don’t know if I was listening to a podcast or reading a quote. It was talking about being successful from the external perspective versus being successful within yourself. If you’re successful, everyone else’s like, “Paola is super successful. Yanet is super successful.” You don’t feel that way yourself because you know you’re violating some boundaries in terms of who you are. That is not right for you because no one else is going through your experience. Part of life is discovering who you are and doing the things you love and being creative to also attract the abundance you deserve, like money, which is one of the top concerns for everyone else.

We’re consulting. The pace is very fast. It’s almost like a video game. You move level and you are always, to a certain extent, getting more financial rewards, responsibility, recognition, visibility, wherever it may be and you almost start craving that. You are all going to get to the next level. To your point, one of the things that I found was, I was doing well when my performance reviews came around. I was getting recognized. My career counselor would say, “Yes, you’re doing great. Everybody loves you in practice. You’ve got a great reputation,” but I was like, “Cool.”

At the end of the day, that doesn’t mean that much to me because I’m not getting the recognition or the visibility or the responsibility in the areas that I want. It’s very different when you do it just to do it versus when you do it and you know that it is right within you and it’s in line with where you’re trying to go.

Small consistent actions will break you out of the constant loop that makes you feel you are not accomplishing anything.

 

Paola, in the process of you discovering who you are and what are the things that are aligned with yourself, one of the things that through the coaching processes you discover is your values in a specific area of life, in this case, career. What has been the biggest transformation from when you started a coaching program and when you finished that?

I had no idea about what my values were. I could give you my empathy or community but I didn’t know what were the most critical ones to me. That was also a point of self-reflection, like, “What do I even value?” I’m always here saying, “I want to make an impact,” but how and what’s the compass that’s guiding me? To me, it was thinking through very basic foundations. What do I value? When something irritates me or frustrates me, what makes me say, “This is where I draw the line?”

I remember you had a lot of things on your plate. You always have a lot of extracurricular activities and knowing your values, what you stand for and what are the things that you are aspiring to be led you to be more purposeful and intentional with the things you were saying yes to. Sometimes we tend to please everyone else and say yes and we want to help. In the end, it’s not adding value to us, which goes back to a theme of this interview so far.

I always have that question that you told me in the back of my head, “Am I doing this out of love and out of fear?” Now, I evangelize people with it. In my team. I’m like, “My coach says,” and people are like, “That’s fantastic.” It is because a lot of times, we do things out of fear. We don’t do them because we want to or because it’s intentional or because it’s going to get us to where we want to be. It’s more of like, “I need to do it because I’m worried.” Those are the trigger words.

Working with you, I started realizing and being more self-aware of the language that I use, but like, “I’m worried that if I don’t do this XYZ. I am afraid that if nobody takes this leadership position, then it’s going to fall through the cracks. Am I doing it because I love it or because I feel like I have some commitment that maybe I created for myself but not because I wanted to because I thought I had to?” I always have that question present when I’m picking up things or when I’m trying to do things. Sometimes, there are choices that I can make and others that I can’t make and I have to go with it. It’s important that when I do have that freedom to choose, I choose things because I want to.

That’s the importance of having a direction. You call it a comeback because I feel now, more than ever, everyone is overwhelmed with options. Everyone is like, “I can do this. I want to do everything at the same time.” The more you understand the direction and yourself, the more you can become in taking the stations that lead to fulfilling outcomes like you explain.

One concept before we move on. FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. I use that all the time. I’m like, “I need to take this opportunity because I have FOMO. What if I miss out on it? This person who’s high up in the company will know who I am.” The FOMO then makes you like rack up all these things and you’re like, “Now I can’t do anything because I have no time.”

I remember when you told me about that question, like, “Am I doing it out of fear or love?” I also realized like, “I’m using FOMO a lot.” When you use the acronym, you forget that it starts with fear of missing out. To your point, we’ve got many options and we always have FOMO, like FOMO that I’m not traveling or doing this or doing that. It’s like, “Do I want to do any of that?”

It’s very external focus. External validation versus internal fulfillment. A lot of times is external validation that we are speaking rather than what the heck we want. Isn’t that crazy? What do you think was the biggest transformation for you in the coaching process?

For me, it was realizing, although the small steps and the invisible work that you sometimes have to put into things that we don’t appreciate and give them love too, but those are the things that get you to where you want to be. We’re conditioned because of social media and movies. Every time that you read the news, you’re like, “A unicorn,” or whatever and like, “They started from nothing and now they’re valued at $850 million.” You’re like, “What am I doing with my life?”

As you suggested, I read, The Slight Edge and it talked about those small, consistent actions. To me, that was like, “Pff,” because it broke me out of that constant loop that we’re in. We’re so bombarded with all of this influx of information that, at the end of the day, it doesn’t do anything but make us anxious about life and all of the things that we’re not accomplishing.

To me, when I was reading this and when we talked about like, “You have this goal. What are the steps that you’re going to take,” it's bringing it back to basics and that breakdown of what’s my plan, what am I going to do in the next month and the next two months and so on. That was big for me because it took a lot of pressure off of my need to accomplish.

If I remember well, there wasn’t a session that you were like, “I’ve been thinking all of these, but I don’t know. I haven’t taken more action. I don’t know if I want to do it.” One of the things that you were very decisive about at the end of the coaching program was like, “I’m going to do it. I’m going pursue these tasks.” At the beginning, in your introduction, when I said, “Paola is taking big and bold steps to align with her purpose,” that came into mind. Would you mind sharing what that is? I want you to share your dreams, too, because I truly believe it’s possible.

I spent about four years going back and forth, trying to decide whether I wanted to do an MBA. Finally, after working within it, I was like, “Yes, I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it because it’s right for me.” The previous years had been a lot of like, “I needed to do it because it’s going to get me a better salary. It’s going to get me a better concession.” Myriad of things of what you do when you’re in consulting or like, “You do a couple of years consulting and you go off to grad school and you come back and you’re the VP or whatever.” Initially, that’s what I wanted to do it, but I never committed.

I would buy the books. I would train the GMAT training and stuff to take the test and I would never commit. After being very clear on what I wanted to do, I was like, “Now I’m going to do it because I’m sure of it. It feels right. It feels like I have to.” It’s a dream that I’ve always had. I’ve never known why but now, I see clearly why I want to pursue it. I finally committed to it and now, I’m in the process of applying. Hopefully, in December 2021, I will have some good news.

You will. There are specific things that you’re passionate about and that you want to create an impact and change. Tell us more about your dreams. It’s possible and you’re going to make it happen. When you share it with others, I believe it becomes even more real. Let’s do it.

I’m very passionate about equity and inclusion, especially women. To me, it’s about how do we activate and tell the stories of women in the world that are truly making a difference and being those role models, to your point, for all the little girls around the world. At first to me, I didn’t have a direction for why I wanted to go to grad school. After having that clear compass, I was like, “This is why I need to go to grad school because there are knowledge gaps that I have and I want to make this dream of mine of telling the stories of women happen.” I want to do it in a way that creates economic mobility, freedom and opportunity for women around the world.

It’s the way that society works. You need to know how the business world works and money works, how to run it, how to make it work for you. I finally decided that I needed to go back to grad school and give myself the space to experiment, try out things, explore different areas and find ways to make this something that people want to invest in that makes sense for everyone. That gives women the opportunity to be the best that they can be.

I am so proud of you because me, listening to these years ago when we worked and now you sound so much more congruent and committed and you’re like, “This is it. I’m sure. I’m going to make it happen.” I love that about you, Paola. I appreciate it.

Thank you. The exciting thing about it is that everything that I do now, I try to tie it back to this bigger goal that I have that feels very nebulous and abstract now because I haven’t figured out where exactly I want to play. Every opportunity that I’ve been given so far is helping me build the skills to eventually create that dream for me.

I had the opportunity to do some workforce development projects. Now, I am doing a lot of energy transition work. I’m learning all these different things that I know affect women in one way or another. Maybe they’re not specifically tied to it, but it’s given me a toolkit of skillsets and knowledge that I can then apply once I create more of a concrete plan around my massive plan.

It’s exciting because I no longer feel lost. I’m like, “I’m going to take this role. This is valuable because it’s going to teach me 1, 2, 3. I’m going to be able to later use that knowledge to create a set of opportunities for myself down the road.” It makes life a lot more exciting and fulfilling and at work as well. I get to embed different things in different projects or when people ask me for help, I’m like, “Have you thought about this? How could it potentially affect a woman or minorities?” This concept of inclusion is so vital in this world now. It’s exciting.

Everyone should have coaches as a guide in finding the best version of themselves, ultimately creating a world where all can live happily.

 

You’re going to be super successful. I remember all of our interactions. Paola and I were so passionate about inclusion and diversity. We would go out of the way to make sure certain things happen or at least that there was awareness of it. I feel that this is who you are. This is your essence. Something that everyone sees. The fact that you’re also seeing it and you’re pursuing something that you’re aligned with, that’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.

I was in a call and they were asking like, “What is it? What is one of the things that we do great in life or one of the things that I was willing to work on?” I was like, “We do great in hiring a fantastic, powerful Latina women, but we don’t do enough.” Everybody was like, “Yes, you’re right.”

Sometimes it takes a leader. Sometimes it takes someone to say something bold for everyone because not everyone is confident to say, “That’s me.” Why? It’s because we are focused on what other people may think that fear of how they show up. I’m proud of you for being that voice that sometimes goes bold and stands up so everyone else can be heard. It’s important.

Thank you. I try.

You’re doing great. Keep that up. I feel like everyone is gaining clarity. They’re walking the path. What do you recommend to someone who feels lost and is trying to gain clarity, find purpose, or be more fulfilled? Based on your journey, what would be your advice to our audience?

One, if you can and you’re able, find help. It doesn’t have to be a formal coach, but people in your life that genuinely have your best interest in mind. It’s how our relationship started in the first place. Talk to them, figure out, and ask them how they see you and what they think about you. Is that answer aligned with whom you want to be? If it isn’t, then start looking for the people who can help you be that person you want to be. The second thing is identifying the things that fire you up and make you angry but in a positive way that you’re like, “No, I got to go. I got to do something about this.”

That’s how I started realizing a little bit of the things that made me passionate. It wasn’t something that I was numb all day. It was something that I was like, “This is so frustrating. I got to go fix it and do something about it.” It made me excited. Even if people said no, or if people didn’t seem to care, I was like, “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to find another way. I’m going to keep being annoying about it and vocal. I’m going to be a squeaky wheel until somebody gets sick of it and they’re like, ‘Fine.’” When we started our whole inclusion and diversity campaign, that made me so excited. It made me want to take action.

Find those things that make you want to take action that you’re willing to fight for, even if it feels like you’re yelling at the wind or it was a giant roadblock. You will find a way to make sure that the right people start hearing what you’re saying. Find help, because if you’re a proud person like I am and you don’t want to let anybody in, find those people that you trust that you feel comfortable with being yourself and pouring your heart out and not being afraid that they’re going to judge you or set their expectations on you so that you can start having those moments of self-reflection and thinking through, “Who do I want to be? Who do I want to be known for? What do I want to leave when my time comes and I have to leave this world?” because, at the end of the day, we got only one life. Why spend it doing the things that we don’t want to be doing?

That’s why we’re doing this interview, too, because part of our mission, yours and mine, is to inspire others to be that change agent in their lives first, so they can also inspire others to find their own light at the end of the day. I appreciate you. I have one last question for you. Imagine a world where the main focus of the educational system was to help people find their own light and purpose and align their careers to that. They are bringing the money to what they’re passionate about and something that they truly believe. It makes them feel like, “Let’s take action because I care about this.” How different do you think the world would be?

It would be different. We would not be fighting with this whole life or struggling with this whole work-life balance thing that everybody always has going on because we would be imbalanced ourselves. We wouldn’t have the stress, anxiety, all of these mental health issues that we’re all dealing with now. I feel the world would be a lot more vibrant. We would have better conversations and a lot more progress because everybody would be doing the things they want to be doing instead of what somebody else tells them to do. We should all have coaches from literally when we’re born. That guide us and that are there to help you so that we can all be the best version of ourselves and create a world where we want to live and, hopefully, where everybody else wants to live.

Focus on you being the change. This famous quote, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” Ideally, the educational system would be like that. Let’s start with ourselves in order to inspire others to do the same. Paola, you’re a huge inspiration to me and to everyone else. I appreciate you being here, dedicating the time, going through the coaching process, going through the interview and more than that, taking bold decisions in order to align with who you are. I’m excited about your MBA. I know you’re going to do amazing and get to the schools you want to get into. Share your information because I want people to connect. They truly felt touched by this story and everything you shared. It would be great if they could find you too.

The best way to find me would be on LinkedIn. I don’t use Facebook and Instagram. I’m like lurking. Paola Gutierrez, it should be easy to find me. If not, I work at Accenture, so that should give it away. I’m always open to talking to people, learning, figuring out what other people are doing because that’s another way that we get to explore and say, “That’s cool. I want to do that.” I’m happy to connect with anyone over anything.

Thank you so much for that. I appreciate you. I’m sure we’ll keep in touch. I hope all of the audience enjoy this interview because I am sure after this call, I’m going to be so energized and ready to go. Thank you for sharing your experiences, your insights and everything else. I enjoyed our conversation.

Thank you. I energize myself.

I feel like we can still talk all the time. This is how something that you’re truly passionate about makes you feel like. We started and we’re both like, “It’s Saturday morning. Let’s do it.” Now, we have more energy than when we started. I love it.

That’s true. When you were telling me about like, “Share your dream.” I got so excited about it.

Thank you again. I hope everyone else has an inspiring day after this conversation. I’ll see you next on the next episode. Thank you, Paola. I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Free Resources:

Need Clarity? 3 Simple Questions to boost your clarity and make authentic decisions that lead to fulfilling outcomes

Starting your day without direction? Start your morning on purpose with my go-to 5 mins routine.

Important Links:

• Paola Gutierrez 
• Accenture
• Make The Decisions That Lead To Fulfilling Outcomes
• The Slight Edge
• Houston Innovation Hub

About Paola Gutierrez 

I am an infinitely curious human being.

I work with C-Suite leaders of Fortune 500 companies to solve their most pressing problems. I have sat down with them, listened to their needs, quantified ideas, and defined use cases for their products. I’ve conducted design thinking workshops to innovate and help clients think about their challenges from different perspectives.

My expertise is to discover and analyze client challenges, identify opportunities and create/execute a co-defined vision. I can successfully develop and manage products, putting end-users always at the center. I excel at connecting, activating and leading teams, aligning on strategic priorities and generating an abundance of ideas to shape new offerings. I create narratives that connect and inspire both the technical and business worlds and thrive in thinking big and doing work that makes an impact.

Today, I’m focusing my energy and expertise to drive cultural change and innovation within my firm and with my clients to create responsible businesses that care for humans and for our planet. I am a believer in the power of data, systems thinking, and business strategy as the most basic levers to reach sustainable development.