IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2021 - 63

by her and her husband as proud
diversity advocates.
During her career, Duy-Loan experienced
being 'the only' many times, an
experience commonly felt by members
of under-represented populations.
Throughout her career, she often faced
being the only female in the room, the
only Vietnamese-American, the only
immigrant and certainly the list could
go on. While some people can find the
experience of being 'the only' as intimidating
or discouraging, Duy-Loan
encourages us to reframe this experience
and learn to harness the power of
uniqueness with a resilient attitude. " I
think of the word 'the only' a little bit
differently. Do you know how many
people would be willing to pay for the
painting Mona Lisa? It is rare, it is
unique, and it is precious. So, being the
only is not a disadvantage, it actually
can be an advantage. Think about that
the next time you're in an 'only' situation-think
of yourself as that Mona
Lisa painting. "
The experience of being 'the only'
has offered Duy-Loan the opportunity
to cultivate her tenets of leadership:
gratitude, hard work, perspective
and approachability. " I listen to
people from where they are talking,
not from where I'm talking. I don't
judge people through the field of lenses
that I've lived through, but through
the difficulties that they've been
faced with. " A key part of being able
to maintain perspective in any situation
is to learn how to actively listen.
Being an innovator at TI and working
in new product development allowed
Duy-Loan the opportunity to work on
advanced technology, which was
often ahead of its time. Sometimes a
great technical idea would meet a
roadblock when it came to implementation
in the operational side of the
business-rather than being discouraged
in these times, she focused on
understanding why a decision was
made so that she could use this
knowledge to fuel her future strategic
decisions. Working with and learning
from people from all over the world,
in different situations, since her preteen
years as an enterprising street
vendor, has informed her leadership
style and enabled her to learn from
everyone around her.
During her induction as a Technical
Fellow at TI her husband was mistaken
as the honoree, rather than her. DuyLoan
utilizes this example to emphasize
that as people go through life, they
collect experiences which shape their
thought processes. From these patterns
of experience, people will naturally
draw conclusions and being the
one to 'break the mold' of people's
expectations can lead to genuine mistakes.
During these times, it's helpful to
cultivate a sense of grace and humor-
" You just have to laugh at the situation,
don't take it personally. I would not
have survived more than three decades
of insanity at TI if I didn't have my
sense of humor. Learn to laugh at life,
take things light-hearted. "
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IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2021

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