About
Gemma
After years in bank auditing with Deloitte, I reached the position of my dreams and became the CFO of an international company. I was leading a team of eight people. On the first day I wanted to take a coffee with them and they left me alone in the office. I asked them ‘let’s go for a coffee together’ and they didn’t move away from their desks. You can’t get anywhere as a leader if the team doesn’t follow you. That’s what I learnt that day while I was having the coffee by myself.
After my adventures as a CFO, I went into our family business for financial services where I started from the bottom and learnt the art of Sales at the sides of my dad. Following his advice, always being the first to arrive and the last to leave, I became the CEO achieving 20% in annual growth for the company. We became the market leader of the sector in Spain.
Years later I undertook a Management By Out with a risk capital firm. The changes and the crisis in the industry brought us to the limit, as a team and as people. We learnt to manage our emotions, to lead the change and to face the new challenges of the market heads-on. Successively, I took the decision to pivot my profession towards team management and consulting for organizational transformation. In the biggest moments of difficulty and stress, I learnt the value of values, and the importance of being well myself to do good for my environment.
I am a member of YPO International, the biggest association of leaders in the world and I am part of the leading commitee of YPO Barcelona. I also moderate and faciliate leadership retreats for YPO and other leadership associations.
Partner of The Zone
Currently, as partner of The Zone I guide companies on their cultural transformation journeys to create high-performance environments that also support happiness and a more balanced life. Without being able to handle our own emotions and the emotions of our teams, bringing change forward and overcoming the big challenges of today’s world is impossible.
Emotional Intelligence
My passion for Emotional Intelligence has led me to create the Emotional Intelligence Institute (Instituto de Inteligencia Emocional) to support young people and parents on their learning journey. I’ve experienced first-hand what it means to be a leader and to bring a company forward while in parallel caring for a family. Being a mother or father today is not easy, for me, understanding and managing my emotions and those of my two children, was the only way to move forward.