“Big Ships Can Turn Slow”: Life Lessons from Entrepreneur Hanaa Jimenez

Challenges can teach people a lot about themselves. For Hanaa Jimenez, Founder & CEO of Gold Cardinal Consulting, it was upheavals and untraditional life paths that taught her the most important things. “Flexibility and adaptability are incredibly valuable in both life and business,” she says. “It was my circumstances that led to me truly embodying those skills.” 

The daughter of immigrant parents, Jimenez was raised by her single mother in Virginia. “My Mom felt she could never take a break, at one point she was working three jobs to keep it all together,” Jimenez shares. “Many of the experiences I had growing up showed me how to never give up and instilled a hard work ethic within me. I have expanded this view to also seeing rest as being productive - I don’t want my children to think it’s all a hard grind that leads to burnout and also see the tremendous impact that intentional rest can have.” 

Having two children (16 and 6) has strengthened Jimenez’s determination to succeed in her mission of inspiring change in workplaces across the country. Gold Cardinal Consulting provides workforce solutions in learning and development, strategy, employee engagement, change management, leadership development, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  

In September, Jimenez enrolled in an Executive Leadership Program - Strategies for Building and Leading Diverse Organizations program at Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Education. This prestigious course offers an even deeper understanding of DEI in the workplace and how diverse organizations realize advantages via evidence-based approaches to attracting the best and brightest. 

“I’m excited, and it's going to be great to meet some other folks who are also in the industry doing similar work, learn from them, and hear what they're seeing,” said Jimenez.  

One especially proud achievement stood out for Jimenez, working alongside an organization that historically had many challenges in equity. Gold Cardinal Consulting partnered with said organization to delve into the root causes of these problems and design a strategy, offer implementation support, and create sustained progress and transformation. As a result, employees felt seen and valued, reflected in the viewpoint scores that illustrate work culture change. 

 “The positive impact on people’s lives is what it’s all about for me,” says Jimenez. “That’s actually why I started my own company. I had several experiences in my professional journey when I felt disempowered and continued to run into roadblocks when attempting to implement true, valuable change, even when I got promoted at the leadership table. I was pouring everything I had into everything I was doing to create the impact needed for my team and our customers, but there were so many internal obstacles that prevented it from happening - with some even actively working against it. This is ultimately what propelled me towards starting an organization where I could enable companies to achieve their desired business outcomes alongside their people thriving.” 

Benefits of owning a business include being able to set boundaries between a leader’s professional and personal life. Jimenez is clear about when it’s time to focus on work and when to be present with her children, even if it means ‘putting her phone on plane mode.’ Using mindfulness to keep her centered in the moment, she is all about integrating different elements to build a fulfilling life. 

At 21, Jimenez was a single mother while at the same time enrolled in college full-time and working a part-time job. “One college advisor told me I wouldn’t be able to realistically graduate on time if I had a small child at home,” she reflects. “This only made me more determined to succeed even though it was incredibly hard. In the end, she apologized for having said that and nominated me for valedictorian at graduation.”  

“I had to find that balance between accomplishing what we needed to keep the roof over our heads and also having quality time. I had a pretty tough schedule, but it was rooted in thinking about our individual needs and figuring out how we could make that work together. I had to grow up really quickly.” 

Being a single mother at a young age without traditional support structures inspired Jimenez to find the motivation to go after what she wanted. “A Maya Angelou quote that has stuck with me since that time is ‘the birth of my son gave me the courage to invent my life,’” she says. “I did not waste my energy on things that weren’t important to me but went after what I really wanted and didn’t stop until I got them.” 

Finding your purpose is just the first stage. Things do not change overnight, it takes time. “Understand that big ships turn slow sometimes,” Jimenez advises. “You won’t see instant results because the bigger the ship, the slower it turns, but it still arrives at its destination. Keep that in mind through the ups and downs.” 

This philosophy is embedded in the work of Gold Cardinal Consulting too, because company ethos’ and working conditions do not change overnight. “We think about the client’s end goal and then work out what the journey looks like incrementally,” says Jimenez. “We may need to change course as it goes along so adaptability is important.” 

Although there have been unexpected changes in the course of Jimenez’s own life, she has turned them into gold.  

To discover more about how Gold Cardinal Consulting can help transform your employee engagement and business performance, check out their website.