Ricardo Castro took a chance on me when he hired me back when he was Deputy General Counsel at the Open Society Foundations. At the time, Ricardo was looking for a candidate who could commit 2 years to the position due to the steep learning curve. I was honest and explained that I could only commit 1½ years, as I was planning on starting law/grad school in the fall of 2002. He hired me anyway, and it changed my life – not only because of where I ended up working, but because of who I was working for. My father’s sudden death at around this time changed my life’s trajectory and I postponed grad school until later in life. I ended up working with Ricardo for 12 years. We then overlapped for almost 2 years during his tenure at the Ford Foundation.
I can say, without reservation, that the years I worked with Ricardo are the best years of my career. I have never met a manager as devoted and invested in their staff’s development and growth as Ricardo is. As the daughter of immigrant parents, born and raised in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City in the 1980s, and the first in my immediate family to attend college, studies suggested that I would become another statistic. Not only am I living proof of the opposite, but I did not achieve this alone. It is the direct result of having worked with Ricardo during the formative years of my career and at a time when I was experiencing profound grief and great personal loss – a time when everything seemed dark and Ricardo’s guidance and mentoring represented light, hope for the future, and positive reinforcement at all times.
One of my greatest take-aways from business school is that “Leadership is different [from management]. Achieving grand visions always requires a burst of energy. Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one’s life, and the ability to live up to one’s ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response.” (From John Kotter’s “What Leaders Really Do.” HBR).
This embodies what Ricardo represents to me and to those who have had the privilege of working with him. Ricardo was a motivating force that inspired my colleagues and me to use our voice, build our confidence, deliver our best work, and to learn about all the areas of the law. As I sat in class during my last semester of business school, I kept thinking of how fortunate I was to have worked with Ricardo and to have benefited from the leadership and mentoring examples he set very early in my career, for it is uncommon to come across leadership of this caliber. Ricardo embodies the best of humanity and what it means to be an attorney – a person of the highest integrity that is committed to fairness and justice. I am thrilled that Hispanic Executive is sharing his story in honor of #HispanicHeritageMonth. 💐
Ricardo Castro’s journey from a working-class Cuban immigrant neighborhood in New Jersey to VP, General Counsel, and Secretary of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) reflects his deep-rooted commitment to community service.
His early experiences interpreting and advocating for his family and neighbors inspired a career focused on making a difference. Today, he leads efforts at one of the nation’s top nonprofits, advancing health and equity for all.
Read more about his inspiring story: https://hubs.ly/Q02Qv2Dk0
#Leadership #CommunityImpact #HealthEquity #LatinoLeadership
