Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/723999
t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 25 professor and said, "Where do you think would be a good internship?" He said, "There's one internship for an Aggie at Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, and you need to get that internship because that's the best one and you'll get the best experience." I did, and I came here as a summer intern between my junior and senior year. I had a great experience. I loved the work, I loved the people. My now-husband was a few years ahead of me; he was working at the bank already, and he was the person they assigned to be my mentor for the summer. I met him on my second day of work. I ended up getting an offer at the end of the sum- mer to be an analyst after I graduated, which I didn't accept because I thought, 'Who would accept the first job they've ever been offered?' It didn't seem like the right thing to do. I said, "Thank you very much but I would like to think about it." I went back to school and interviewed with everybody and got lots of job offers and then thought, gosh, I think I really liked what I had. I ultimately accepted the offer, so this is literally the only place I've ever worked. Q | What's the best part of banking? A | To me, the fun part is doing the things that are not what people expect. In this company of 235,000 smart people all over the world, we have somebody who knows a lot about almost everything. When I'm able to find the right person or some valuable information and make connections that help people, that's exciting. We do this inside the firm, but it's also really fun to do that in the community because we're in a position to know a lot of people and know about their businesses. Q | How would a colleague describe your style? A | They would say I have a lot of energy. I'm very collaborative. I don't take no for an answer very easily. I always think there's a way to get something done. I often see people referring to optimism as a trade-off, as if you cannot be both an optimist and a pragmatist. I don't buy that at all. It ties very much into my belief that there's always a way. Short of being in two places at once, which is what I always want the most, I really believe I can almost always find a way to make something work. It also comes from being very grateful for the big things and the small things every day, and having the perspective that things happen for a reason. Q | Has your leadership style remained constant or has it evolved over the years? A | I do think you learn from people all along the way. People who you work for, people who you work with. I think my style is consistent, but I hope people would say I've refined and learned skills. I do think you have to, at some point, make a conscious decision to step up and lead in a certain way. I would say five years ago my leadership was much more around doing my job well, if you will, and then the last five years I've had more opportunity to lead more broadly and through commu- nity impact, like with the Greater Houston Partnership. In our company, there's a strong culture and so you learn to be successful within that culture. Then when you lead more broadly, you realize, "You know what? Not everybody grew up in the JPMorgan Chase cul- ture." The way we all hold each other accountable and the standards that we have don't necessarily apply to everybody else. You learn a different way of driving at the same pace. I think we move fast in this organiza- tion. Patience is probably not my strongest attribute. People at the Partnership would say, 'Gina, Rome was not built in a day,' and I'd say, 'If it could be, we should go ahead and do that.' It's always a matter of prioritiz- ing, right?' With that said, there have been several points in my career where I've had to rely on borrowed confi- dence, where I have been asked to take on a responsi- bility, a role, whatever, that quite honestly, in my heart of hearts, I was thinking, 'I wonder if anybody knows that I don't have a clue how to do this.' But then there is someone who thinks I can do it, so I think I must be able to do it. You fake it until you make it. Q | What is your perspective of the Texas Medical Center? A | I think the medical center is an absolute jewel. It is one of the most valuable assets we have. Of course, I mean that from an economic impact perspective, but to me it's on a very personal level, too. When someone from outside Houston just gets a cancer diagnosis and they're calling me saying, "I have to go to MD Anderson and I don't know how," because it's Houston, I say, "I'll be thrilled to help you." In the bigger picture, when I sit and listen to the plans for TMC3 [an ambitious new innovation campus still in the planning stages], and TMCx [an accelerator program, launched in 2015, that offers startup com- panies shared workspace and guidance from health care leaders], I get so excited because I think about what that will mean for Houston in terms of our next generation. The things that will come out of that, that will change people's lives, save people's lives, improve people's lives—we can't even imagine what that'll be. It's exciting to me. It's so big, it's so impactful, it's so innovative, that we will attract the best talent in the world to be a part of it. Q | How do you balance your personal life with the work demands that come with leadership? A | I follow this rule when I'm trying to determine where I should be, particularly when it's work or community-related versus family, because those things overlap all the time. My rule is to think about who's going to miss me. If I'm not at a cocktail recep- tion, is anybody even going to go, "Gina Luna is not here." Probably not. If I miss an important ball game or school event, though, my child's going to know I wasn't there. That's a good barometer for me. Then I also do the five-year rule—in five years if I look back, am I going to be really regretful that I missed this or I missed that? That's how I make decisions. On the other hand, I've never wanted my kids to have the notion that the world revolves around them. I like them to see that their parents have responsi- bilities, and we do lots of things in the world, not just doting on them. That's reality. Q | What advice have you received from mentors? A | I have as many mentors for personal life as I do for professional life. When my boys were very little, one of my mentors said, "One of the things I did with my kids was just sit them down and tell them very overtly, you are the most important thing in the world to me, so if you ever need me, I will drop everything else and be there for you." I thought actually saying it seemed like a good idea. My older son was like, "I know, Mom." A few years later it was time for the third-grade musical and I had to be in Chicago. It was a meeting I couldn't change and I couldn't miss. I was really feeling bad about it. We had a talk about it and he just looked at me and goes, "Mom, this is not one of those things. It's not that big a deal." So there will always be challenges and choices, but I think that honesty and just being open really helps. (Continued) Short of being in two places at once, which is what I always want the most, I really believe I can almost always find a way to make something work.