Episode 13: Ching Valdezco
“All of us face barriers of different kinds, for me being Asian and being on the petite side, I look younger than I am. That is a challenge. I have learned to develop a strong executive presence, to be able to hold my ground and to get people to listen to what I have to say.”
"Don't compare yourselves to others."
Ching Valdezco, Director, Exec-Comm, on getting out of your head and developing executive presence
Ching Valdezco helps professionals present, communicate, and influence more effectively. She had a long standing career working in global companies, which started in the Philippines. Fifteen years and three countries later, Ching decided to make a career transition and delved into the training world, where she is doing leadership development for Exec-Comm, a global training company.
Ching was raised to believe that there is nothing that she can’t do. This was not always easy outside of her home due to stereotypes coming in the way. As a petite Filipina woman, Ching had to work hard in developing a bigger voice and a bigger presence to stand out. She also had to overcome her fear of public speaking.
hing deconstructs the meaning of executive presence, which is a widely used term in the business world, yet the meaning of it is so elusive to many. Executive presence is the necessary ingredient to getting the next promotion, or stepping into the C-suite. For women especially, executive presence is the “it” factor for determining professional success. Ching has mastered the art of achieving executive presence, from her personal and professional experiences.
Podcast Details
Find out from the podcast how Ching:
- Learned to work in a global company, from recognizing that there are many ways to solve a problem to incorporating diverse perspectives in the problem solution to intentionally creating a leveled playing field when conducting global conference calls
- Got out of her shy, “geeky” stage to becoming a better communicator
- Got over her fear of public speaking and the strategies she employed to erase the fear
- Defines executive presence and her three strategies to close the perception vs. reality gap
- Approaches networking and the actions she takes when she is at a networking event
- Advises anyone who is looking to do a career transition and why she thinks of her career like a professional athlete
- Changed her mind about certain things in the past few years
Ching's piece of advice for others: Invest in yourself and your skills.
Ching was recently honored as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence in 2016. Don't miss this episode if developing executive presence is your goal!
About Ching
Ching Valdezco brings to her clients over 15 years of expertise in global leadership, people development, influencing skills, and consultative selling. She taps into her international experience at Procter & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard to: help executives present with confidence and impact, help technical leaders explain their business value to clients, simply and clearly, coach new and experienced managers to build their people development skills, and teach recent hires and emerging leaders how to be better presenters, communicators, and leaders.
Prior to joining Exec-Comm, Ching served as Director of Strategy and Planning in HP's Enterprise Services business. She has led business operations and pre-sales teams, supporting strategic outsourcing deals over a hundred million dollars in scope.
Ching started her career at Procter & Gamble, and holds a degree in Computer Science. She has lived in three countries and managed teams across the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband; they enjoy hiking in nearby state parks and traveling around the world.