Days are constantly changing in the life of Ana Larrea-Albert. Her roles as mother, professor, executive, author and more keep her constantly striving to take on the next challenge. After transitioning out of multiple different job functions such as Morgan Stanley banking, operations, medical devices, marketing, and even ship building - Larrea-Albert felt inspired to give back. In her newest book, Beyond Enough: The High Performer's Path to Confident Leadership, she does just that.
Early Life and Education
Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Larrea-Albert moved to the United States in the late 1990s to pursue her undergraduate degree at Florida Atlantic University. Possessing a drive to succeed at a young age, it was in pursuing her coursework that she developed her passion for purpose-driven leadership.
After graduating with her Marketing degree in 2000, she went on to pursue multiple different career paths before finding herself back at Florida Atlantic in 2010 completing her Masters of Business of Administration (MBA) with a focus in International Business. Her studies didn't stop there, as she led a successful career in marketing and operations before graduating with a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2021.
"When you're curious about the world, and how it works, find something, start there - and then find how that can be transferrable with skills and knowledge to the next step."
Career Beginnings
Larrea-Albert is now holds a position as adjunct professor teaching Leadership and Organizations at her alma mater, Florida Atlantic University's MBA program. Additionally, she serves others as a consultant for BDS Global Advisors, travels the world as a bi-lingual professional speaker, and increases employee's value through her Confident Leader Lab coaching program, facilitated through the Institute of Leadership and Culture that she founded in 2019. Most recently, she's authored her newest book, Beyond Enough: The High Performer's Path to Confident Leadership.
Prior to her current roles, she accomplished significant career milestones in the fields of banking, operations, medical devices, marketing, and even ship building.
Her decision to try so many new opportunities stemmed from the work that she did during her MBA. During this time she started coaching and mentoring on the side and noticed that the world needed better leaders.
"By putting my passion towards that, I was trying to equip leaders that can lead themselves and others better."
Larrea-Albert wants to be known, not by her titles, but rather by the impact she leaves on others. She wants people to realize that they should best describe themselves through their purpose, which evolves by focusing on their why.
Journey as an Author
Having developed a keen interest in writing during her studies, Larrea-Albert wanted to challenge herself through writing her own books. Initially, this began by putting things on paper as a type of passion project, but quickly evolved into writing bi-lingual children's books.
"I call it a success because I started it and I finished it."
Larrea-Albert considers a major part of success as just getting used to scary decisions. Her newest book started to take shape when she started teaching, as she saw her students going through the same challenges with the types of questions she had encountered throughout her career.
Looking to create a far-friendlier approach to answering those questions, she set out to write this book with the vision that readers encounter that "aha" moment. When she sees this look on her students faces, it both inspires her journey for the book and pushes her to continue going.
While writing an entire book from start to finish can seem like a daunting and intimidating task. Larrea-Albert segregated her writing into clear and distinguished tasks that she could accomplish on a daily basis.
"Great books are not written. They are re-written."
After recognizing that first drafts are meant to be chaotic and messy, she took to the keyboard once again and continued to make edits until finally arriving at the masterpiece of a book she has now completed. If you're interested in pre-ordering the book now, click here.
Wisdom Learned Along the Way
Throughout her illustrious career, Larrea-Albert took note of the attributes that brought successful people happiness. Among these, wealth never stood at the forefront.
"I want people to recognize that while the pursuit of money can inspire hard work, it's not what I've seen to truly bring happiness. Turn the fancy title and Lamborghini into - 'I want perspective and to bring impact to others' - and the rest will fall into place."
Among her wise words, Larrea-Albert shared a note for younger adults, in that they should work hard and go for it while they are young and have the energy and ambition. Responsibilities of life, career, and family grow larger as people get older and getting ahead of the game is never a bad idea.
Final Thoughts
Larrea-Albert consistently shared insightful and well-articulated thoughts on how she best hopes to serve others through her numerous roles. She exemplified sophistication and elegance during our conversation and her book is expected to be nothing short of spectacular. Moving forward, I encourage everyone to run head-first at life, just as Larrea-Albert has, and accomplish all they are striving for.
Vinny Hale
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