Looking Forward to 2010: A Letter from the Founder

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What a year 2009 has been! The markets hit a deep low in March and then incredulously the Dow Jones index has bounced back to over 10,000 points to end the year on a better note for investing confidence here in the U.S., and the U.K. is fighting hard to see similar gains on the FTSE.

2009 has been an important year for The Glass Hammer in furthering our mission to inform, inspire and empower professional women. One of the highlights for me personally was putting together an invitation-only breakfast networking club for senior women from the fund management industry to come together around specific relevant topics in panel discussion. The debate on the new business model for the Buy-Side can be seen here. Around the discussion we conducted a survey which resulted in a whitepaper produced in conjunction with Stone House Consulting on the future of the fund management industry. Interesting reading for both genders and a powerful guide to what 2010 may bring for players in that industry.

The mission of theglasshammer.com is to create opportunities for professional women to advance to the corner office, to stay in the game and win it. We will be continuing our breakfast networking club for senior executives in NY and plan to extend that to London in Quarter 2.

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A Holiday Message from Our Managing Editor

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christmasThis time of year is one of reflection, of wrapping last-minute gifts, spending time with family and friends, and making resolutions for the year to come.

As we complete our second year, we at The Glass Hammer are grateful to everyone who has played a part in our growth and success. Our readers and sponsors have helped us reach new heights of journalistic excellence. You have inspired and transformed us.

2009 has presented all of us with challenges and opportunities. We have listened as you have shared your stories with us. We recognize how lucky we are to find ourselves in the company of those who are transforming their industries. We are indebted to those who have given of their time to make our community better by speaking with our writers, sharing  feedback, or contributing articles for publication.

We expect that 2010 will be another year of what you’ve come to expect from us editorially—informative profiles of top women and thought-provoking news stories.

Sharing in the growth of this blog and online community as Managing Editor has made me incredibly proud. Although I will be leaving The Glass Hammer at the end of this year to return to the practice of law, I am confident that The Glass Hammer editorial will continue to be a must-read for top female business executives globally.

I have enjoyed meeting so many of you over the past year and a half, and have learned a great deal from this experience. I could never have imagined that that a chance meeting with Nicki Gilmour, the CEO and founder of The Glass Hammer,would result in such a fun and exciting adventure!

Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year! And look out for my editorial contributions in 2010.

Pamela Weinsaft
Managing Editor
TheGlassHammer.com

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Voice of Experience: Janet Lustgarten, CEO, Kx Systems

janetpaloalto[1]By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

From a childhood in Colombia, to a life in the States, Janet Lustgarten’s personal motto might as well be “no guts, no glory.”

Lustgarten’s father was a men’s suit manufacturer in Colombia when new political pressures brought change to business and the way factories were run. “It was a difficult time,” she recalled, “and my family thought we’d live a better life in the United States and moved to Florida. We were the classic family coming to America looking for security and opportunity”

Just seven years old when the family arrived in Miami, Lustgarten didn’t speak a word of English, but found herself already proficient in math. “Even in Columbia, I was already leaning towards being good with numbers but, when I didn’t have the mastery of the language, that became my academic strength,” said Lustgarten. She followed her love of math and logic to Mt. Holyoke, the all-women’s liberal arts college. Ever the groundbreaker, Lustgarten commuted to University of Massachusetts for the computer science classes she required and became the first person to declare a computer science major at Mt. Holyoke.

“Computer science was a field that was up and coming,” said Lustgarten. “And I had a very clear objective to be financially independent. I wanted to develop a career path that would allow me to live comfortably in New York City. I was confident that I could graduate from college with a degree in computer science and secure myself a well paid position.”

After moving to New York City, Lustgarten interviewed with IBM for a sales support job but didn’t get the job because she “didn’t fit the mold.” Not stopped by this disappointment, Lustgarten began to look around for other opportunities. She was “just curious about personal computers, PCs, and went into Computerland, the only retail computer store  in New York City, a couple of times. When she observed that most of the sales people barely knew how to turn on the machines, she saw an opportunity. She met with the owner of that store and proposed that she build a technical support department within the sales department of the store so that customers would have successful preliminary experiences with computers instead of frustration. The owner gave her a chance—and a salary. Through that job, she developed a consulting business, helping computer customers with the installation of memory chips and other technical issues after purchase.

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Ask-A-Career Coach: “What Do You Think Of Facial Hair?”

jobsearchContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart™.

Okay, that question did not come from the Glass Hammer demographic, as it came from a male audience member in a recent panel that focused on Big Career Mistakes. But now that I have your attention, I wanted to highlight a few points to ponder inspired by the above question that do relate to Glass Hammer readers:

When you have the opportunity to get feedback, ask big questions. The panel was for senior executives and featured former recruiters and executive coaches from a variety of backgrounds. This was a golden opportunity for participants to get candid insight into job search and career planning. This participant was clearly torn about whether his moustache was sabotaging his career, but I recommend focusing on the bigger picture items.

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10 Reasons You Need a Mentor, Especially Mid-Career

mentorBy Andrea Newell (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Behind every corporate logo is a culture filled with personalities, politics, and procedures. How do you navigate this new landscape, excel at your job, and advance your career? Find a mentor.

A report released by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology found that “mentoring has been associated with higher job satisfaction, higher promotion rates, higher future income, increased work success, and higher retention rates.”

Dr. Lois Zachary, author of The Mentor’s Guide – Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, The Mentee’s Guide: Making Mentoring Work for You, and Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide, asserts that mentoring is a leadership competency. “Mentoring shouldn’t just be the result of a formal program, leaders should always be looking to grow. Learning is the purpose, process, and product of mentoring.”

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Against All Odds, Women are Thriving in Michigan – Here’s How

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Portrait of happy young businesswomanBy Andrea Newell (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

The latest Inforum Center for Leadership report shows that the number of women reaching the boardroom in the Top 100 public companies in Michigan hasn’t improved in recent years and, at 9.6%, is far below the national average of 15.1% (in 2008). 46 companies (46%) have no women directors (up from 41% in 2007). And, as of October 2009, Michigan has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the U.S.

In light of its bleak economic picture and seemingly unbreakable glass ceiling, Michigan’s business climate appears to be a cold one for women. However, these businesswomen aren’t singing the blues. What do they have in common? They work for either a woman-owned business or a large company with a balanced executive suite.

What’s their secret? Collectively, these companies value their female (and male) employees by implementing work/life balance initiatives, supporting mentoring programs, and fostering good communication and a team-oriented environment.

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up

Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.Martin Mitchel of CTG

The U.S. Federal Reserve upgraded its assessment of the economy and left discount rates unchanged. ExxonMobil is to buy XTO Energy, a U.S. natural gas company in a $31bn all stock deal. Terra Firma launched a multibillion-pound lawsuit against Citigroup. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

  • The U.S. Federal Reserve upgraded its assessment of the economy and highlighted its intention to shut down most of its crisis-fighting liquidity measures in early 2010. However, it left the discount rate at which it lends to banks unchanged.
  • The ECB made its final offer of 12-month, emergency liquidity.
  • After seven years of deflation, the Bank of Japan said it will no longer ‘tolerate’ falling prices.

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Five Top Books for Working Women

BooksBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Wondering what to put on your holiday gift list? Well, there’s always more space on the bookshelf for a great career-boosting book. Here’s our round-up of the best business books for women at work.

  1. Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham.

    This is a practical guide to identify ‘what a strength is’ and how to put your strengths to work. “It is great for individual contributors and a powerful tool for managers looking to motivate teams and change the dynamic of the dreaded performance management discussion, which is so often focused on weaknesses,” says Camille Mirshokrai, Director, Global Leadership Development at Accenture. “This book is especially timely because Gen Y is focused on feedback, and this book can help managers channel that feedback in productive ways for the individual and the company.”

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Voice of Experience: Renee Pendleton, CPA, Partner, Cherry, Bekaert & Holland

ReneePendletonBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Renee Pendleton had a steady babysitting job in college. That wouldn’t necessarily distinguish her from many others her age. But how many babysitters parlay advice from their employer into a successful career path?

“I had wanted to be a controller in a small company but, he convinced me to try public accounting first because, if I didn’t like it, I could always go to a private company. But it would be difficult to go into public accounting if I did it the other way.” She followed the advice with the intention to “get in, stay for two years and get out,” but decided to stay at the end of that period to learn a bit more. “Now, here I am 22 years later, still in public accounting,” she said, laughing, “And I blame that guy to this day.”

Raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, Pendleton started off majoring in psychology at Old Dominion University. She intended to learn to help people with their problems; however, after one semester of psychology, “I thought, these people are out of their minds. I just don’t get it!”

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Supporting and Retaining Talent at Lovells LLP

iStock_000007040467XSmallBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Lovells was the first top ten UK law firm to vote in a female managing partner, Lesley McDonagh, in 1995. Ruth Grant has just completed a three-year term as regional managing partner for London and recently assumed the role of global people development partner. The company has a strong history of promoting women so you’d expect Lovells to be at the forefront of developing schemes to support emerging female talent – and they are. This year they have set up a mentoring programme as part of their women’s network.

“We launched the mentoring programme pilot in direct response to the requests of members of the Women’s Network,” says Katherine Mulhern, partner and co-chair of the Network. “Mentoring programmes have been identified as having particular benefit for women seeking to progress internally. The objective of our pilot mentoring programme is to stimulate and progress the professional development and personal growth of women within the firm necessary to deliver sustained business growth.”

The scheme is open to all women, in both support and legal functions, and was launched this September. The plan is to run the programme for between nine and twelve months and see how it goes. “To ensure we get the best results from this programme we have invited Mairi Eastwood and Peninah Thomson from Praesta, an executive coaching and mentoring organisation, to brief our mentors on some useful mentoring frameworks and skills for effective communication,” says Mulhern. “The exact shape and flow of each mentoring assignment will be different. We asked mentees to identify any particular objectives that they wish to achieve from the mentoring programme and have sought to match them with mentors who would be best placed to assist them.”

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