Ma'am's the word

The first piece of information given out on HSBC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Gigi Pio de Roda’s CV is her birth date, down to the year she was born —1966.

In a world where most women above 35 lie about their age, or tactfully keep people guessing about it, Gigi dishes it upfront. A sign, perhaps, that when you’re 43 and already the COO of HSBC Philippines — you’re a child prodigy.

Gigi fills in the shoes of Elaine Dichupa, who was COO for a decade. When Gigi, then SVP for credit risk management, was approached by HSBC’s CEO Mark Watkinson to take Elaine’s place upon her retirement, Gigi was surprised. She had not cut her teeth on the field of bank operations.

“I had zero background on operations,” recalls this Financial Institutions major from De La Salle University, who joined HSBC in 1995 as an account officer. “But I was excited at the opportunity given to me.”

As she says now, “Sometimes all you need to get ahead in life is for someone to take a bet on you.” Watkinson took a bet on her and Gigi is determined to make him and HSBC a winner with that bet.

Her marching orders were clear — bring up efficiency and bring down costs. She was to run the operations side of the bank like it were a business.

Her management style, says Gigi, “is not to let things alone” even if the going is good.

If other managers believe that, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Gigi’s style is, “If it ain’t broke, how can I improve it?”

Her goals as the new COO are cost efficiency, service excellence (i.e. ensuring the bank’s commitment to serving the customer at the shortest possible time) and getting employees to be “engaged” with the bank and its activities particularly those related to its Corporate Social Responsibility.

As a boss, she likes her staff to question her on certain matters, because it shows, “that they’re interested.”

She’s also determined to keep her life-work balance despite the fact that she likes the view from the top (of the corporate ladder).

There are certain times of the day when Gigi’s secretary knows when not to disturb her — homework time. Not hers, as COO, but her children’s. Gigi tries to be there, albeit over the telephone, when her children (a boy and a girl aged 10 and six respectively) need her help for homework. She avoids evening socials unless they’re work-related, and is glad there aren’t too many of those that need her presence. This working mother is fortunate that she is in a job where the most of the work happens between 9 to 5.

To keep her life-work balance, Gigi bears in mind what a motivational speaker has advised her: Choose only five roles in life to concentrate on. Otherwise, you will spread yourself too thinly. Gigi has made sure those five roles in her life include the roles of mother, COO, friend and athlete.

Yup. Gigi runs three times a week and hopes one day to join a marathon.

* * *

Pretty and feminine, Gigi wasn’t your typical privileged little girl who went to ballet classes and Hawaiian dance sessions. In grade school, she didn’t enjoy literature classes at all. She liked what the nerdy boys liked — math. She found herself drawn to numbers and equations. After graduating high school from the Assumption Convent, Gigi went on to La Salle to major in Financial Institutions. She didn’t stray from her training and immediately took on a job after graduation as a marketing assistant for car financing at BA Finance Corp. From there she joined Citibank as administrative assistant before signing with PCIBANK (now known as EQUITABLE-PCIBANK) as assistant manager, Corporate Banking Division. She managed a loan portfolio concentrated in the manufacturing and trading sector consisting of 14 group accounts with a total asset valuation of P1.5 billion.

But Gigi knew she didn’t want to be a loan officer all her professional life. She looked at all the bottom rungs of the corporate ladder as steps to reach her goal. More important, she made sure being in the lower rungs, “was just temporary.”

As COO, she shows aspiring bank managers what “temporary” means. Gigi always made sure she put a foot forward — and up.

Was her gender an obstacle to her rise in the banking totem pole?

“Age and sex have nothing to do with it,” says Gigi, the poster girl for that confident declaration.

“But at the same time, you can’t be a typical girl or you’ll be run over.”

When a woman is an ascendant star in the office firmament, certain people (both men and women) will, “try to bully you,” she says.

“But you just have to show them your boundaries,” Gigi adds.

* * *

As a banker, Gigi is upbeat about the coming year.

“We’ve seen the worst of the crisis,” she affirms. “I am cautiously optimistic about the new year.”

I asked Gigi to give non-bankers tips on how to not only ride out the tough times but to make money despite it. “Save,” is her first word of advice. Gigi believes in setting aside 50 percent of her income after expenses.

Her second word of advice? “Spend!”

“You have to strike a balance between saving and spending,” she counsels. “Because you have to spend to keep your sanity.”

For her part, if she has spent a fortune on one designer bag, she will lie low on her expenses for the next few months. Her quota, she says, is two nice bags a year — and one good massage every week.

And that’s a fine equation for someone who knows how to balance life’s pleasures and responsibilities.

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