Providing "Insight" to Clients

I am currently a director for Oracle Consulting (ORCL ). With nearly 50,000 employees, Oracle is the world's leading enterprise software company. I work out of Oracle's office in Troy, Mich., where I work within our enterprise architecture organization.

Enterprise architecture focuses on aligning a company's enterprise business strategy with its information technology. Enterprise architects are the liaisons between a company's business strategists and its information technology professionals, who often aren't well-versed in each other's languages. As an enterprise architect, I can facilitate expert communication between them.

STRATEGY SESSIONS.  My background includes strategy and enterprise architecture leadership roles at Accenture (ACN ), Intelligroup, and Ford Motor (F ), where I worked while I earned my MBA from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. My Notre Dame MBA prepared me for my job by giving me a world-class education in the relevant areas of leadership, information technology, entrepreneurship, ethics, economy, finance, innovation, accounting, and business strategy.

I joined Oracle in 2005, working on a strategic program called "Insight." This program helps our leading clients to understand and address their business goals, strategies, competitive threats, and pain points. First, we conduct multiple discovery sessions to analyze the client's current business processes. Based on the input from these sessions, we develop various solution designs. The Insight is completed with an executive-level solution presentation, which includes a phased implementation plan and road map.

Here's a typical day in my life:

5 a.m. Alarm goes off. I head to a quiet place in my home or hotel and reflect and pray. I listen, ask for strength, give thanks, reflect on leaders I admire, and ask for ways to improve. I can't think of a better way to start each day.

5:30 a.m. I leave for a workout. I usually bring a newspaper, a book, and the latest issue of BusinessWeek (of course!) to read while I work out on the elliptical machine or stationary bike. Reading and exercising at the same time makes me feel like I'm really leveraging my time.

6:30 a.m. I handle not-for-profit work. I sit on the Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business Alumni Board, and I'm also president of the 300-member Detroit chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), one of the largest and fastest-growing Hispanic professional organizations in the country (see BusinessWeek.com, 12/4/05, "Demand for Hispanic MBAs Is Caliente"). I send follow-up e-mails after a successful Notre Dame executive retreat I led titled "Strengthening the Spirituality Within our Leadership."

I also send thank-you notes to the participating leaders in a NSHMBA-Detroit power breakfast and award ceremony. These leaders include Dick DeVos, former CEO of Alticor and candidate for governor of Michigan; David Mounts, CFO of Domino's Pizza (DPZ ); Teresa-Iglesias Solomon, board of directors, AMCORE Financial (AMFI ); and Frank Venegas, chairman and CEO of Ideal Group.

7:30 a.m. I check my Oracle e-mail and download several files to read on the plane...

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