Liliana Marques Da Silva

How did your experience at IE prepare you for your professional career? In what ways do you think the program has changed your life professionally and personally?

Even during the course, I was already learning a lot of things that I could already apply to my work and improve the way I was working by better understanding the interconnections between finance and strategy, between business finance and operations or marketing. Along the MBA, I gained all these additional skills, added knowledge, and when you’re working so hard during the program and you’re learning at the same time, you may think “this is so demanding, this is a lot of information.” But we’re learning so much with all of that! And it was in the end, when we finished, that I was like “here I am, I did it, what’s next?” I was clearly looking into new opportunities, what I should do next with all this knowledge that I had gained, not only within the sector I was working in, but within new sectors. And having a modern perspective of business, I wanted to apply all of this that I had learned, and I felt that although my background is finance, I was interconnecting it with the business as a whole. I was no longer the very good finance professional, so I stepped out of that, which was my goal. And I clearly applied that in my work with the things I started doing afterwards. I was still in finance, but it was a more holistic perspective of finance and all these interconnections, and how finance can apply to operations and how we can improve in there, with all these metrics and how we follow up all of that. I learned that at the Global Executive MBA program, taking that step forward.

Why did you choose to study this program at IE?

It is a very interesting story. Many years ago there was an MBA fair in Lisbon and I attended that fair. The focus on entrepreneurship in IE’s presentation was very attractive to me. And I thought “this must be a very good university” and I always kept IE in my mind. It really caught my attention, and how in this university you can think outside the box. It’s not just great in finance—but if I want to be great in finance, then IE provides that—it’s great in different fields, and you add entrepreneurship, it is something that nowadays we all need. And it’s not just for building your own business, I think it is the entrepreneurship concept within your company that allows you to think outside the box, be creative. IE really caught my attention, and because of work and family and circumstances of life, I was always postponing applying for many years.

I had thought about applying in 2016, but it was not a good time. I thought “I have lots of work, I am travelling a lot, two days ago I had a promotion, I have to focus on my work”. But in 2018, I thought “now I am going to apply, this is the year, I am not going to postpone this any longer!” and it was mainly because I knew that IE was different from other universities and could provide me with that perspective of being an entrepreneur as well, because up to today I had been a corporate person. IE really made the difference with that.

What is one thing you wished you knew, when you were a student?

I was getting my grade in finance, I was the kind of student that likes to be up to date, I like to be the best in the class. I had that all over my school life, but the one thing I actually learned more when I was at the MBA was about leadership, because that concept of organization, of managing people, of adapting yourself to people, how to be a leader, how to take people with you, to know this is not just about you being very good, because even if you are good, you won’t necessarily be successful. I learned this especially at work, and I learned a lot of techniques at the MBA. To become a leader, you lead through others. And that was clear, we have a lot of materials and resources provided by IE, the Global Executive MBA and even the coaching program we have along the course, and that is all aimed to teach us that leadership is fundamental.

What kind of stories can you read from a financial spreadsheet?

From a financial spreadsheet, I can make a lot of conclusions about the business, if it is going well or not, if the business has financial problems, cash problems, if it is also able to grow. If the business is currently a sustainable operation. I can also understand how the business has been doing until now and if it probably needs to diversify a bit in its business sectors, and from there, from that spreadsheet, I can link this to the strategy of the business and give solid recommendations on where the business should be looking into for the future. I apply a lot of knowledge from my previous experience into corporate finance, but during the period in which we had the class of corporate finance, the teacher was able to give me a new perspective on how to see the business. Because it is not black and white. We can probably see accounting like that, but this is not black and white. You can see different perspectives depending on where the business wants to go. If the business is in restructuring mode, if the business wants to grow or develop new lines, depending on that you apply different techniques.

What would a world without spreadsheets look like?

It would be boring, definitely! We need them. But sometimes I think we tend to make them too complex and they can be much easier to get the same conclusions. Sometimes, you create 40 or 50 spreadsheets, but probably with one or two you can get the same conclusions. And you see this nowadays, with the spreadsheet freaks [laughs], calculating many graphs and many tables, but where do we need to focus? I like going straight to the point. We need to have information and we need to consider that information for the analysis, which is fundamental, because with just the spreadsheets we are not going anywhere. It’s trying to simplify them, having the information that is needed, together with some analysis, and we will get some better conclusions.

What’s the most difficult financial decision you had to make in your career?

Difficult decisions in finance have two main sources. One of them is related to budget preparations, the whole corporation is preparing a budget for the year and they have a lot of perspectives, they want to invest, and they want to spend, so they need financing. We need to see where the business is going, or how it wants to grow, or in what stage the business is in. And sometimes, those budgets are not aligned with what the company wants, with the strategy of the company. So, aligning those budgets with the strategy is usually a task of finance, because finance is the one who is usually doing budget cutting. And that’s always a difficult decision and I had many of them, when I had to be the one to look at a budget that had to be cut by half. And that is always tough.

So, you always have someone who is planning for the budget, who has done it based on what the company wants, and finance comes in and says “you reduce your costs, try to find your way out.” This is the part where we have to ensure the right to profitability for the business, ensure the budget is aligned with the strategy. The other part where finance is also a source of hard moments is when the business wants to do capital investments. The money is there, but where should the company invest? Because probably it has about 10 interesting projects in very interesting regions, all of them with potential for growth and development. And you have to make a decision on where to invest. This is a decision the company makes together with finance, analyzing what profitability can be taken from each investment. It should also be aligned with the business strategy, what does the business want to do, what is the business perspective for the following years. And then you have the tough assignment to say “you can’t move on with the project.” It is usually in finance to decide the investment the company will move forward with because it can obtain a better IRR, which is the profitability you get for business.

As a female leader working in finance, are there still milestones to overcome in this sector?

A lot, I must say. I think there’s still a lot to do. This goes step by step. And we need to work on that in this community, in this society, to encourage women in general, not just young women, but women in general to look into their future career and what they want to do. And to tell them that they can combine family and having kids with work. I’m an example of that, so I always say “look, I started my MBA when I had three little kids, one was nine months old and the twins were two years old, so I started the MBA and it seemed impossible, but you have to do it”.

I’ve always enjoyed working, I enjoy my professional career. I’m always looking for ways to improve, better ways of doing things. And I think we have to take this way of thinking to young females. To say “you can do it”, you don’t have to choose between having a family or having a career, you can have both. But they will always say, “yes, but if I have kids at work it won’t be easy… Yes, but with my family I can’t work so many working hours, it’s impossible to study then…” But to do that, for women to help women, we also need help from this society. And help from the family, help from the husband…So, we need to have support in general. Probably my husband is fundamental for me, I couldn’t have done the MBA if it weren’t for the support of my husband. But of course, going outside of my specific case and looking in general at what we can do, there’s still a lot to do. And I can see that at work, but we need to take small steps to reach that point of equality. We have to encourage women and say “you can do it, you can combine family and work, so go for it.”

Also, giving more visibility to the story of successful women like you, I think that’s fundamental.

Yes. As a woman to be able to say “you can do it”, will allow other women to know I’ve done it. So, if I’ve done it, you can also do it.

There’s a lot we can do, and we have to take the cover from IE, we are in this community, what we can do will be on one side to support women, but I don’t like just to say this about women. I think it’s about giving support to communities in general, supporting people if they come from outside, asking “what’s the kind of support they can get for their integration in the society, in the community?” So, I think we have learnt this at IE, this openness, to support, what is needed to have this big network. It makes us believe and understand that it is possible. Sometimes it may be said “oh that will be very difficult, to move now to Japan, how am I going to move to, let’s say, Japan?” But I’m sure that as part of the IE community we can find some context, some network. You can find a network there and you can find help there. Meeting someone who did the same as I’m doing and shares the same experiences… I believe this to be one of the biggest assets at IE, all these experiences we have and sharing them to help others. I really believe that it’s the way of helping communities, it’s by paying attention, sharing and giving any support needed.

What do you do to decompress? What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I exercise, actually. I like hiking. Being on my own. Having my time so that I’m able to think, think on my own. I really need that to decompress, to be on my own thinking and if I can combine this with some exercise, usually hiking, that’s the best

It’s a sort of mindfulness.

It is mindfulness. I do mindfulness actually on my own with some small exercises, low light exercises, or walking. But I like to think on my own.

If you were not working in the financial sector, what do you think you would do to make a living?

I’m really connected to business, corporate business, so I would see myself as a business professional, definitely. If not finance then probably something related to strategy of the business or development of the business. It’s a really tricky question because this is where I’m trying to move. So, if I did not have a finance background I would probably be a business person working in strategy.

You’re definitely moving towards that direction

It’s a natural thing in the end. You know, working for so many years now, for over twenty years, it’s about where I would go next now. And I think it would be there.

What’s your favourite memory from your time at IE?

During the Global executive course, the face-to-face periods were the best, and I must say the one in Los Angeles was the best of all. I had a great time, I really enjoyed the US, I enjoyed LA, and the university, UCLA, is great… The teachers, all the speakers we had were fantastic. It was a great combination for us. We did company visits, we went to visit Disney, we went to visit national monuments in the outskirts of LA… It was not just the city, but the combination of the whole visit of LA was fantastic.

How is the Liliana of today different from the Liliana who graduated from IE?

Well, I’m much smarter. We learn more. I’m much smarter than that time. Of course when I finished graduation in December 2019, it was a relief. It was really a closure of this period because it was so hard, it was so demanding, it was such a sense of accomplishment. So, at that period I was like “oh I’ve done this, what’s next?” So, from January 2020 on I was thinking how I needed new plans for my life, I needed to move one, I needed to do something different. And I was really looking forward to that. Of course, we can’t forget COVID. That caused some turbulence in our plans. And I was able then to change sectors, I’m Currently working in the technology sector, which is very exciting, very demanding, but you know that gives me now, two years and a half later, a perspective of what I lived at that time. That I was able to grow from there, I did develop myself. Everything I learnt at the MBA was like a mark, we did the ceremony, we closed this period of my life, but I needed to look for something new, I needed to look for something different. And looking back now, I really feel like it was a great choice to do the MBA, and I did move ahead.

It’s like you really see how everything that you were looking for by applying to the MBA is now becoming a reality.

I think it comes to life. You have to put a lot of effort, of course, this is not just about “things will happen on their own.” I don’t believe in that. I believe that you always have to work hard, I always tell people “if you work hard, things will happen”. But you need to adapt yourself and redefine your plans, and probably if something does not work then you’ll have to think of a different way… But you need to be calmed, think ahead, and things will then happen. This is based on my experience. Be calm, do the MBA, live your life, lice day by day, and then you’ll see that you will capitalize on everything that you’re learning. You’ll get the benefits later, don’t try to get the benefits immediately, especially with this terrible experience that we’ve been living with the pandemic. We have to be calm and wait for things to happen. Do your best, work hard, and things will happen.

If you had a billboard that you could display to the world, what would you write on it?

You know, there was one quote that I heard this morning which was great, if I may use that one. It was “keep chasing the best next you”. It was great and that’s me, I’m always chasing the best next me. I’m always looking for how to improve, and how to do things differently. I don’t like comfort. So, I’m always up to new things and you know, within the scope of things that I enjoy, it’s about chasing the next best me.

Going to the office or remote work?

A mix, Definitely.

Going deeper into the box or connecting boxes?

Connecting boxes.

IE Tower or María de Molina Campus?

IE Tower.

Managing or leading?

Leading.

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