From the diary of Alberto Pando's story
Life and Experiences
- Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
- How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
- They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
- Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
- What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
Professional Career
Leadership Advice
Alberto Pando's story
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
I was born in Havana one month before the Cuban Missile Crises. That detail has a way of focusing your mind on how tenuous life is; and how precious an opportunity we have to leave our world just a little better a place than how we found it. We moved to the US just after my fifth birthday. Grew up in violent, section 8 housing. Life was hard. I was a terrible student with few friends and fewer prospects. I don’t have many happy memories. But the experience didn’t leave me embittered; quite the opposite. It served as a motivator to spring me forward. Luckily, I had great parents. Thanks to them I wasn’t living in a totalitarian state. They were poor in material terms but possessed an abundance of accumulated wisdom. As I matured, I realized how fortunate I was to live in a country where your own efforts shape your destiny. By the end of my first year of High School, I was an A student. I have since lived the American dream in all its glory and complexity. I have a great family and deep and abiding friendships. No one could ask for more.
From the diary of Alberto Pando's story
Life and Experiences
- Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
- How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
- They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
- Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
- What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
Professional Career
Leadership Advice
Alberto Pando's story
How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
I’m not sure I agree with the premise of the question. I’m a walking billboard for that old axiom that states if you do something you love for a living, you’ll never have to work a day in your life! It’s incumbent upon any of us that have had the privilege to lead, to make sure our colleagues have the tools and freedom to be able to recharge their batteries as they see fit. Ultimately each of us needs to find that balance that works best for us. There are no magic formulas.
From the diary of Alberto Pando's story
Life and Experiences
- Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
- How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
- They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
- Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
- What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
Professional Career
Leadership Advice
Alberto Pando's story
They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
A smile. A look of genuine interest. Clarity of thought. A curious mind. As for business, I remember something I read decades ago attributed to Warren Buffet; “when I hire, I look for three basic qualities. Intelligence, energy, and ethics. And if they have the first two and not the third, they’ll kill you”. Generally speaking, I hire really really well. It’s one of my principal strengths.
From the diary of Alberto Pando's story
Life and Experiences
- Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
- How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
- They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
- Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
- What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
Professional Career
Leadership Advice
Alberto Pando's story
Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
Good question. And a very difficult one to answer. There have been so many! The principal things they all had in common were the work ethic and talent they modeled and embodied, and the confidence they showed in me. From Luis Blanco and Mal Karwoski at Univision to the late and truly great pioneering executive Joanie O’laughlin and our phenomenal team at Fox in San Diego to Emilio Azcarraga and those scores of people in News, Sports and entertainment at Televisa in Mexico City. And so many other fabulous, passionate colleagues who made working all those long hours a true joy. Without all of them, I would have achieved nothing. I’m the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
From the diary of Alberto Pando's story
Life and Experiences
- Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Some fun facts and anecdotes from your life.
- How do you maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
- They say that first impressions last and are made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What personal attributes convey a positive first impression to you?
- Which people helped you to get where you are today and what did they do for you?
- What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
Professional Career
Leadership Advice
Alberto Pando's story
What challenges do you expect to face in the future and how will you tackle them?
The key challenges on the horizon have already started to take shape. Technology and how we adapt to it are my main focus. It will continue to disrupt just about every facet of our life. With machine learning, traditional jobs that have powered our manufacturing base and other major facets of our economy will either change radically or evaporate. We are building NewsPrime in order to address the crisis in one such area; Local news. 21st-century business models and associated practices are literally killing off that business. Local is the foundational building block of News. Without it, the crisis in government will grow, and citizens trust in it will continue to wane; with devastating consequences. Our democracy is at stake. That’s not hyperbole. There’s a reason the founding founders made freedom of the press the very first amendment to the constitution
