How Preparation Fuels Performance at Nasdaq

I want to take this moment to express my gratitude to GLOBE for the incredible educational sessions that they have done for Black History Month. THANK YOU ALL for your work throughout the year and for programming that helps us to become better people and professionals, regardless of the color of our skin.

And speaking of GLOBE, I hope that each of you had the opportunity to attend the GLOBE session called “Owning Your Career With Paul Francisco.” A former NFL player, Paul was born and raised in Honduras and after coming to the United States as a teenager, learned to play American football. A football scholarship to Boston University led to a short career in the NFL.

After enjoying the remarkable diversity of race, background, religion amongst his “brothers” in the NFL, Paul was profoundly disappointed to see only white faces in his first job in Corporate America. When he asked why, he was dissatisfied with the reasons. Undeterred, Paul has made a career of solving the problem. Today he is the Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Officer at State Street Corporation, which has more than 42,000 employees across the globe.

What does preparation and a strong culture mean for you? At Nasdaq, you are encouraged to nourish your curiosity. Take initiative and try to make things better than they are. Be flexible, smart and scrappy. Model empathy and openness with your colleagues. Communicate as clearly and kindly as possible. And of course, keep your eye on the goal: we are a results-driven company.

Paul Francisco observed the same qualities in his career: “A lot of the success that I have achieved is around being flexible and anticipating challenges. ‘Keep your head on a swivel,’ as we like to say in football… be humble, be able to be coached, be able to be mentored. And be ready to act on the feedback so that you can perform better.”

I guess that growing a business is not so different from winning a game of football.

As we close another Black History Month, let’s keep talking and learning from one another. I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of GLOBE programming throughout the year. And keep the conversation going! Please share your thoughts with a comment on this article.

Thank you Nasdaqers for your attention. This is the first post in our new monthly DEC blog series. Next up is Women’s History Month in March and the International Women's Day: Leading Through Adversity conference on March 8, hosted by Adena.

Ghostwritten for Laura Agharkar, former AVP of People Experience and Culture at Nasdaq.