CHALLENGE CONTINUES
At the end of the day, she said, “You are in charge of your career and your life.”
Reaching the Top of Texas Instruments Duy-Loan (pronounced Zee-Lon) Le joined Texas Instru- ments (TI) as a 19-year-old engineering graduate. Over the next 17 years of her career, she rose from design en- gineer to TI Fellow (the equivalence of vice president) and earned 24 patents. In 2002, she became the first woman and the first Asian American to be elected TI Senior Fel- low, the highest rank on TI’s technical ladder.
To date she remains the only woman to hold this pres- tigious title. She is currently responsible for technology readiness and operational ex- ecution for TI’s multi-million- dollar embedded processing business.
Women of Color: What would you say are the fundamentals of executive leadership?
Duy-Loan Le: From my per- spective it is seeking inputs:
knowing the pulse of the organization, accessibility to people, demonstrating integrity, possession of courage and lead[ing] by example!
WOC: What are the five most critical skills of leadership?
Duy-Loan Le: • Listening and empathy • Sound judgment and good intuition • Communication with clarity and conviction • Influencing ability • Organization/Planning/Prioritizing
WOC: What’s been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Duy Loan Le: Juggling the balancing act of when to be firm and when to be kind—especially when I have to operate in a man’s world and when to honor western and eastern cultures. What helps me to manage this challenge are a strong emotional backbone, clear mental thinking, and stamina to focus on the end goal.
48 WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2013
Fundamentals of Executive Leadership: Strategies That Get Results
Prior to joining General Dynamic Land Systems (GDLS), Sonya Sepahban had oversight of technology, quality and process performance in space vehicles at Northrop Grumman over a 12-year period. She also spent a decade at NASA Johnson Space Center working on programs such as the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and Crew Rescue Vehicle. Currently, Sepahban oversees a department with more than 2,500 employees and ac- counts for a significant portion of General Dynamics Land Systems sales.
Tips for Success Duy Loan Le, senior fellow and Texas Instruments Technical Leader: • Marry the right part- ner—rich, handsome are nice, but the wrong reasons—and work on your marriage every day
• Give yourself time before you have children to stabilize financially and build professionally
• Execute to excellence no matter what the task is • Give without asking or expecting things in return and help others along the way
Women of Color: You’ve progressed from general engineer to program man- ager; chief engineer to vice president of engineering; and now senior vice president. What would you say are the fundamentals of executive leadership?
Sonya Sepahban: At any level, I believe there are three fundamentals to successful leadership: The ability to understand the environment, external demands and expec-
tations of the team; skills to translate those into internal objectives and inspire the team to do their best to achieve them; and (perhaps most importantly), the know-how to set up the measurements and controls to track progress and trigger actions as needed.
Ultimately, it all comes down to delivering on promises, and in a defense-based business like ours, it’s crucial because lives depend on it.
WOC: What are the five most critical skills of leadership?
Sonya Sepahban: In no particular order, I’ve noticed the following common attributes and skills in leaders that I have admired and tried to emulate:
• Demonstrating a genuine interest and commitment to the greater good beyond one’s self
• Fostering a collaborative spirit to truly understand and work with others
• Effective communication at every level of the organi- zation
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