A TCU graduate and former influential figure in the Mexican government told students and community leaders to know their passion and what they want to do with their lives.Juan Hernandez, a former adviser to Mexican president Vicente Fox, was the keynote speaker at the Leadership Council and Leadership Center’s 12th Annual Leadership Institute Dinner on Friday.
Hernandez said it is important to recognize passion, determine a plan and what makes a person angry.
Hernandez said he decided early on that he wanted to become a novelist and poet, and that college was not the place for him because colleges did not teach poetry or novel writing.
He said when he told his father, he expected him to explode, but instead, his father acted calmly and discussed the importance of going to school to get a degree.
“My father told me you might consider studying anything – psychology, history, law – anything because it will give you material to write about,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said he followed his father’s advice and got his degree in English and has not stopped learning since.
Hernandez said his education has led him through different journeys in life, such as working for Fox as the head of his Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad.
Hernandez graduated from TCU with his doctorate in 1981 and started his political career in 1996, when Fox asked him to create the “Guanajuato Trade Offices” in the United States and serve as his representative in the United States.
Hernandez, the first of six children born to an American mother and a Mexican father, said that although his parents loved each another, they didn’t always understand where the other was coming from.
“My first memories were trying to deal with this American mother and this Mexican father who did not understand each other very well,” Hernandez said. “As soon as I was born, I had to become the interpreter and the cultural in-between.”
Laura Rizzuto, a junior accounting and finance major and chairwoman of the Leadership Council, said Hernandez was chosen as the featured speaker because he embodied the theme of “One Destination, Many Roots: Planting the Seeds of Leadership.” “We picked Juan Hernandez because he was a former ambassador to Mexico,” Rizzuto said. “Right now, we have some students from our sister university in Puebla, Mexico, Universidad de las AmÂricas, so we were trying to tie in their experience here.”
Hernandez wasn’t the only community leader at the dinner. The Kelly Alumni Center was filled to capacity with 200 guests, including Bob Bolen, former mayor of Fort Worth and L. Charles Gaines, fire chief of the Fort Worth Fire Department.
Barbara Brown Herman, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, said she was pleased to see many of tomorrow’s leaders sitting across the table from some of the today’s finest leaders.
Herman said the Leadership Center has already assisted students in community-sponsored internships and hopes to continue to assist students in the future.
“From its conception, the leadership center has defined leadership as positively influencing one’s community, whether that be an organization, city, state, country or ultimately, hopefully, the world,” Herman said.
Andrea Porter, a senior communication studies major and co-chairwoman for the Leadership Council, said being part of the council has been beneficial to her.
“The Leadership Center has taught me that leadership is a culture that can be learned as you develop values, beliefs, skills and experiences that can transfer to the real world,” Porter said. “It is something you can learn little by little.
