Alex Cano on being Genuine in Serving Others

When I chatted with Alex Cano, one of the things I asked him about was his volunteer work as a marriage counselor. Yes, you read that right. Aside from his operational excellence experience with companies around the world, Alex provides marriage counseling. That level of emotional intelligence and passion for the well being of individuals really came out in our conversation.

‘Genuine’ was a recurring word in our conversation. Alex told about his approach to building trust and collaboration when working with new teams. “When they start to see that you really are there to help, that opens up the whole world. And I mean, doing this with a true heart. With real internal belief that you are there to help them.”

That genuineness extends to how Alex embraces the concept of servant leadership. This has allowed him to very effectively move between industries and leverage the experience he has gained along the way. “I will say that my point of view is that when I go to another industry, to another business area, to a new project, I’m always thinking, how can I serve? So how can I help them? It’s not about me. It’s about them.”

This frames the problem and projects around the customers and effectively allows him to make effective decisions.

Additionally, this focus on people also extends to how Alex approaches accomplishing his operational KPIs. According to Alex, people lead the KPIs. Not the other way around.

“If I focus on my people, and help my people, and support my people, the metrics will get done. If I just focus on the metrics, I worry about the metrics, and I keep focusing only on the metrics and I forget about my people, then this is not going to work.”

Alex believes that this type of people-centric leadership has been critical for those companies succeeding in 2020. “We see where the leadership in the good leadership is right now because the companies that have been able to stay or grow are where the leadership is really taking care of the people in the company.”

About Alex Cano:

Alex Cano is the Founder and CEO of Alex Cano Consulting and Coaching. He is a recognized expert in different fields including Continuous Improvement, Change Management, Project Management, Organizational Psychology, Quality, and EHS.

He has led, coached, and mentored over 200 successful improvement projects across all business areas, working with professionals in more than 15 countries. His successful career has included a wide array of management positions in Top world-class corporations including Borealis, Cemex, and Albea. Alex has led and managed different business areas: Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Operations, Quality, Project Management, Supply Chain and Environment Health, and Safety.

During that journey, he has acquired 19 certifications in different areas of expertise including: Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Strategic Change Management, ISO 9001/ISO 14001/ OHSAS 18001 Lead Auditor, Licensed Practitioner of NLP, Certified Life Coach, among others.