Voice of Experience: Juliet Bullick, BlackRock
Recently, The publisher of Glass Hammer spoke to Juliet Bullick, Head of Institutional Account Management in the UK at BlackRock. Juliet shared her insights about her job, flexible work arrangements, and her advice to young women in finance.
Juliet made a good point when I spoke to her about her four-day work week, a flex-work arrangement she has had in place since her son was born almost six years ago.
“Not everyone wants to take a salary adjustment and deliver a full week’s work in 4 days.” She does emphasize that the key to making this arrangement work is flexibility on her part to work whenever needed.
“I have worked the past few Fridays as we have been busy, it’s a reciprocal deal on the flexibility and it’s not for everyone or every role. You just cannot say that you have to leave at 3:45pm every Thursday. You need to gain the confidence of your manager that the job will be done as well as, if not better than a 5 day a week person.”
Juliet has broken the glass ceiling at BlackRock, where she manages 12 people directly and 100 people indirectly. She started off as an account manager of the team in 1996 when it was still Mercury Asset Management under Carol Galley’s control.
After a short stint in headhunting, Juliet’s first job in the industry was with Foreign and Colonial in the spin-off firm specializing in emerging markets, then known as Latin American Securities. She cites this job as a milestone as she learned from two fearless mentors, Fred Packard and Audley Twiston-Davies. The lessons she learned were straightforward and unforgettable, namely, be brave, be entrepreneurial, focus on the client and control costs in a growing business. All of this turned out to be good advice for the Managing Director position which she now holds.
Juliet’s next career move? She believes her current organization presents further exciting opportunities and challenges for her.
What advice does she have for aspiring MDs on the client side of investment management?
“Everything you do today shapes what you do tomorrow. If I was doing it all again , I would spend more time building internal networks, as its really important to have those go-to people in the organization.”
Juliet modestly insists that 90% of her success has been due to the fact that she is surrounded by such smart and talented people and that collaboration has led to great things. The BlackRock’s Women’s Network in Europe (EMEA) has been thriving for the past 18 months with a steering committee of 5 female MDs and 20 women on a wider committee. The Network is totally inclusive. Men are encouraged to attend the events and all women are members by default.
As publisher of the Glass Hammer and CEO of Evolved People Media, I would like to thank Juliet for sharing this success story of how to break the glass ceiling and achieve a healthy work life balance. Inspiring stuff for the rest of us.
