Counsel Brew

To Do F/U - Gabe Vazquez

Shereen El Domeiri & Nicola Hobeiche Episode 52

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0:00 | 1:09:27

This conversation covers a lot of ground. From exploding matcha to stepping into leadership before you feel ready, Gabe keeps it real about what it looks like to operate under pressure.

In this episode of Counsel Brew, we sit down with Gabe Vazquez, Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Vistra Corp., to talk less about titles and more about how he works. His approach is simple on the surface. Gather. Organize. Optimize. Build the system. Trust the system. Then know when it’s time to throw it out. And yes, there’s a checklist or two in the mix.

Gabe guides us through how he thinks about productivity, including his very real commitment to the to-do list. If it’s on the list, it’s getting done. If it’s not, it’s probably getting added just so it can be checked off. And yes, that includes a running list of F/U reminders. Follow-up, technically.

Stepping into leadership early. Managing people with more experience. Navigating situations where there is no clean answer and no time to overthink it. No playbook. Just judgment, trust, and a willingness to move. When things go sideways, whether it’s a major weather event or an operational crisis, the focus shifts quickly. Not perfect answers. The right people in the room. Clear heads. Forward movement. As Gabe puts it, it’s go time.

What makes the conversation work is the balance. Discipline, but flexibility. Structure, but self-awareness. And just enough humor to admit that even the best systems don’t always survive contact with real life.

There’s also the matcha. Gabe is fully committed and does his best to convince us we’d like it if we just gave it a real shot. We remain unconvinced.

Listen now.  

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 Explicit Rating is for the occasional use of colorful language.