Adriana Cisneros y Gustavo Cisneros en entrevista con Forbes. Mayo, 2011.

1. May 6, 2011<br />Leadership<br />Adriana Cisneros and Gustavo Cisneros of Cisneros Group<br />Forbes. By Susan Adams<br />This interview is part of the cover story in the May 23, 2011 issue of Forbes, where we ask eight father/child pairs to reflect on their relationships and the extent to which they think entrepreneurial drive is a result of nature, nurture or both. Read the full story here. <br />Don't fear failure: Adriana and Gustavo Cisneros.<br />Adriana Cisneros is director of strategy and vice chairman of $1.5 billion (sales) Cisneros Group, a private media, entertainment, telecom and consumer products conglomerate founded in 1929, now based in Coral Gables, Fla. Her father, Gustavo, took over the business from his father, Diego, in 1970. FORBES pegs the family’s value at $4.6 billion. Adriana’s two older siblings advise the company, but in 2009 Gustavo named her as successor. Since then she has created an interactive strategy for the company’s 12 TV programs–from news to hit Hispanic soap opera Eva Luna–and headed game applications for mobile devices.<br />Adriana on the origins of her business drive: Nurture is a big part of it. … My parents were extremely supportive of their kids coming up with crazy ideas. When I was 6 years old I started a club, Los Emprendedores, in the Dominican Republic, where we had our beach house. We spent the day picking up bottles, and our parents would pay us for them.<br />When I was 13 years old and in school in Venezuela, we had spring break. My father had come up with the idea of DirecTV in Latin America. He needed a local partner in each country for receiving satellite signals. I got on a plane with him and went to a different city in Latin America every day for 14 days.<br />Gustavo: We thought DirecTV had a better chance in Latin America because of the immense landmass and the lack of wiring and cable. At that [time] it was a hard concept to explain. But [Adriana] got it after two sessions, and she became like a goodwill ambassador. … She would sit down in all my meetings and listen very carefully. … She asked a lot of questions.<br />Gustavo on what he has in common with his father and daughter: My father lacked fear. He took chances that other people would not take. … He had some failures but he tried to make them in a smart, informed way. He took risks, nevertheless. I was a risk-taker, too. Fear was not an element in my life, fear in business. … I wanted to be number one. … [Adriana] has a passion and no fear of failure. That, perhaps, she inherited from me.<br />Adriana on her relationship with her father: Ninety percent of the time he has let me do things the way I want to do them. The incredible thing is he has become my thinking partner. We can talk about very big ideas–and so forward-thinking that if we talk about them with other people too soon, they probably think I’m crazy.<br />Gustavo on Adriana: She has immense drive. She’s tireless. She has very good ideas and wants to carry them out. We had a big success with [the interactive strategy on the soap opera] Eva Luna.<br />