Cross Gender Networking with the FWA – Business Strategy

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week the Financial Women’s Association of New York held the inaugural event for its new Men’s Alliance – an initiative designed to promote cross-gender networking. The sold-out scotch and chocolate tasting event, “Single Malt Chocolate” took place at Debevoise & Plimpton LLC and included over 200 attendees and tasting advice from Vosges Chocolate and The Macallan.

What was made clear throughout the evening was that the purpose of the event was not simply about opening lines of communication between genders. The event was designed to promote client networking – using the cross-gender networking platform to enable members of the FWA to be more successful at their jobs.

FWA President Susan Ganz said, “How do we engage men in this dialogue? It’s about men and women being in business together.”

Driving the Dialogue

Deborah H. Kaye, Co-Chair of the Men’s Alliance, and Managing Director and Senior Managing Counsel at BNY Mellon, also focused in the importance of opening conversation between the genders. She said, “We created this event to bring men and women to the table. There’s something for everyone. We need to get people interested in creating a dialogue.”

Kaye continued, “And we’re thrilled with the response. We sold out a month in advance.”

She explained that the FWA has long welcomed men into the organization’s membership – and many of the group’s events are not gender specific. Still, she said with a laugh, “When I say, ‘yes, we take men,’ they never believe me!”

“A lot of men say, ‘where’s my networking group?’ Eighty percent of our events are not about women. Men want a seat at the table,” she added.

Ganz focused on the business aspect of the event. “It’s not about doing this for your daughters or your spouses. All colleagues want better communication and education.”

She continued, “Going back to our recent Forbes article, research shows that investing in women makes good business sense. Companies that leverage networking groups both internally, and externally through groups like the FWA, will do better in business. It’s strategic.”

Learning from One Another

Kaye said she has learned a lot from her male colleagues throughout her career, particularly when it comes to leadership. “We actively coach each other in terms of management styles. I know I’ve improved as a manager as a result of dialogue – as a result of this Alliance.”

Charles Bernard, the FWA’s Mens Alliance Co-Chair and President of Criteria for Success, said he came into the group with the intention to learn from his female counterparts. Tapped to lead the group by Kaye, and then nudged by Ganz as well, Bernard said, “It’s of strategic importance [to network together] because we in business today are hungry to learn new ways to improve how we run our businesses. Men and women collaborating much more is a great way to do that.”

He said he hoped to hone his skills in networking as well. “We can learn from each other. I have found that men can be bulls in china shops quite often at networking. Quick to make connections, wanting to push business only to discover that they might have done better approaching a contact more methodically, getting to know them so that they might A, find out that they are a good fit and B, be more comfortable referring someone they know well.”

He continued, “I felt that the FWA had a different approach to networking. Much softer, more into making long lasting relationships and usually with a substantive fun or learning event attached to it.”

Building long-term strategic relationships has often been heralded as a way for women to get ahead in the workplace. It is a positive sign that men have started to realize that networking with women is just as critical to their career development as well. Hopefully the FWA’s Men’s Alliance is the beginning of a domino effect in cross gender networking, driving awareness of the strategic value of women in business.