On today's show, Zach sits down with Jorge Corral, Accenture's Office Managing Director for Dallas/North Texas. He speaks about his experiences as a first-generation professional and what fuels his passion for Latinx reputation in the STEM fields, and he also shares three points of advice for Latinx professionals.




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TRANSCRIPT

Zach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and look, if you didn't hear the last time or the last time before the last time, I gotta share something with y'all, okay? Living Corporate has partnered with Accenture to feature some of their most experienced black and brown North American managing directors to share their journeys. My hope is that you check these out and you peep the links in the show notes to learn more about each of them, including our next guest, Jorge Corral. Jorge Corral is the Accenture office managing director for the Dallas/North Texas region. He is the global lead for Accenture's sourcing and procurement business for the products industry and also leads Accenture's Southwest retail practice. Hold on. So look, he got both of these places, right? He got both of 'em, okay? Jorge serves as a senior business advisor to many senior global Fortune 500 executives and has helped a wide variety of large retail and consumer goods companies to drive top-line growth and to improve their profitability through transformational change. He has spoken as an expert at various retail, shared services, inclusion and diversity, and procurement conferences. He is a board member of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the Dallas Regional Chamber. Jorge was recently profiled in the D CEO Magazine list of the most powerful business leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth. Listen, the most powerful business leaders. Not the most powerful Latinx business leaders, not the most powerful leaders of color. One of the most powerful business leaders period, okay? Check that out. Sound Man, go ahead and give me them air horns for that right there. [air horns sfx] You know what I'm saying? And no disrespect to the--you know, making sure that you have the specifications around identity, but what I'm saying is he's just cold, right? He's just--he's that guy, okay? [laughs] In 2018, Jorge was recognized as one of the top minority business leaders by Dallas Business Journal and was also a finalist for D Magazine's 2018 Latino Executive of the Year. With that being said, the next thing you'll be hearing is the interview I had with Jorge Corral.




[pause]




Zach: And like I said right before the break, we have Jorge Corral with us. Jorge, how are you doing? Welcome to the show.




Jorge: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Zach. It's a pleasure.




Zach: Man, it's a pleasure all mine, trust that. So, you know, I just want to go ahead and just give a little bit of cheers--[children applause sfx]--for the fact that you're here. We appreciate that. For those of us who don't know you, would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself?




Jorge: Yeah. My name is Jorge Corral. I'm the Dallas office managing director at Accenture, which means I lead an office of more than 2,000 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and my job is to really bring the services of Accenture and everything Accenture has to offer to solve business problems for our Dallas clients. And it's also about connecting Accenture more broadly to the DFW community. I also work in Accenture's management consulting practice, helping companies transform their businesses in different ways. I studied engineering and have two graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, and I also have a master's in business administration. And on a personal level, I have four kids and a wonderful wife. I was raised in a large Hispanic family in California, in Southern California to be specific. I was raised with five awesome siblings in a very large extended family, and frankly I think that's what set me up for success in the world I live in now, in consulting, because at the end of the day consulting is all about relationships, and I certainly learned plenty about relationships and relationship skills growing up in a big extended family.




Zach: That's incredible. So, you know, you're talking about the fact that you came from relationships, and then that--and like you said, that translates into the relationships you now manage, not only internally within your Dallas office, but also externally in your community building and relationship building, which we're gonna talk about today. But, you know, you had a bunch of flexes within your bio. You talked about your professional background. You talked about your educational background. You talked about your family. You know, I can't really say congratulations on every single thing 'cause, you know, we only have, like, 30, 45 minutes, but I can drop some air horns. So let me just go ahead and--[air horns sfx]




Jorge: [laughs] You are too nice. Thanks.




Zach: No, no, it's not a problem at all. Now, in an interview with The Business Journals last year, you talked about better integrating the Accenture Dallas office with the Dallas community, and you expounded on some corporate partnerships that you helped build and amplify. Can you share more about the role of influence and relationships that they play in an executive position, particularly as a member of the Latinx community?




Jorge: Yeah, I mean, I--I'll share to begin with that I like to live by one of the principles I learned from many people along the way, including my parents, and that's I really believe we're all responsible for making the world a better place, today and for the future. So for me, I personally didn't get to where I am by accident. I got a lot of help, directly and indirectly, along the way, and I recognize that many people broke a path so that I could have my opportunities. So I'm happy to find a way to give back, and in my Accenture role, you know, I'm really lucky and truly fortunate to be able to give back in different ways. So an example, over the last couple of years I've been able to join the board of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and two years ago, we, Accenture, were able to commit to being the presenting sponsor of their Social Innovation Accelerator program. That really helps accelerate and mentor new non-profits that are providing support for our communities in different ways and solving problems that are around education, income, and health for our DFW community. So I've also been able to speak to Latinos on various platforms is another thing that I've had the opportunity to do, and that's both internally and externally. So internally as part of the Hispanic-American employee resource group leadership and externally at places like the University of Texas-Arlington's Center for Mexican-American Studies, where I've gotten just a lot of reward from being able to mentor Hispanic youth with a lot of promise. And I also have had the chance in the local community to serve on different panels, and one of the panels that I'm able to serve on from time to time is, you know, where we bring in 200+ middle school and high schoolers, and I just share some of my life stories and my life experiences up on the stage. And it's less about the story I tell you and more about sometimes when you're young, just looking up on the stage and seeing somebody that looks like you, sounds like you, that alone makes things possible. So I'm happy to give back in whatever way I can.




Zach: Jorge, that's all facts. You're absolutely right, you know? It's interesting, because for me, you know, I thought about getting into consulting, and I--for me, I didn't even know it was something possible until I was in college and I just happened to see a black man who told me he worked at Accenture. And I was like, "What is--" You know, "What is that?" Right? And it went from something, you know, abstract and kind of esoteric to something actually very practical and possible, right? So 100% agree there. And speaking a little bit more about sharing your story, right? You came from humble beginnings as a son of Mexican immigrants. So not only you are a first-generation corporate professional, you're also a first-generation American as well. So what do you think are some experiences that are exclusive to first-generation Americans of color, and what advice do you have for those who are also the first in their family to really enter corporate America?




Jorge: Well, I'll say that's a big, big question. I'll share my--I'll share my life story and a little bit about myself in hopes that, you know, some of that would--people could relate to it and maybe get something out of it. So I would just say that I feel really lucky and privileged in my background, because I'm part of a connected, large, loud, proud, loving, bilingual, bi-cultural family, and for me that is--I can't imagine a different life for myself. And for me I was very lucky 'cause I had very good role models. Like a lot of immigrants, my parents had an ambitious vision and were willing to put in a lot of hard work and invest the bulk of their lives so that their kids could have big, big opportunities. My parents were big, big into education as the way to advance us, and they sacrificed a lot for me. And, you know, in a lot of ways they didn't just talk about it, they lived it. So I'll tell you a quick side story. My mom went back to college at age 40 when I was 12 years old with six kids at home and a part-time job. So, you know, you can't imagine a better role model, right? And I also had smart, ambitious siblings who helped me too. So, you know, I've been really lucky in a lot of ways with my family life, and I'm also really grateful 'cause I've got a lot