On Being Bold: Thought Leadership and Why It Is Risk/Reward

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iStock_000009913938XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson and Nicki Gilmour (New York City)

Thought Leadership is creative, progressive and often full of risks as you need your team to follow through on your vision, whether it is the next innovation of a product or just a process that needs to be improved.

“If you’re scared of offending people, don’t be a thought leader,” said Nicki Gilmour, Founder and Publisher of The Glass Hammer at a panel discussion on thought leadership.

The event hosted by Barclays Capital‘s Women’s Initiative Network and the YWCA of the City of New York was entitled “How to be a Thought Leader.” Along with Gilmour, the panel featured Carol Hymowitz, Editorial Director for ForbesWoman, and Barbara Jones, Editorial Director of Hyperion Books and VOICE. The event was moderated by Monica Hanson, Head of Financial Institutions Debt Capital Markets at Barclays Capital.

By the end of the discussion, Hanson summed up what makes a thought leader: freedom from worry about criticism, energy to put your plans in motion, and the intellectual curiosity to think about how the status quo could be better and to come up with innovative new ideas.

Yes, all of these things do describe thought leaders – plus the ability to effectively communicate your ideas and plans.

As Gilmour said, “You do have to have an appetite for risk.”

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Voice of Experience: Dorothy Collins Weaver, Co-founder and CEO of Collins Capital

Dorothy Collins WeaverBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“It’s a good thing I’ve been blessed with two things – I’ve been blessed with lots of energy and a love of the vertical learning curve,” said Dorothy Collins Weaver, Co-founder and CEO of Miami-based hedge fund of funds, Collins Capital.

From founding her hedge fund of funds, to supporting an orphanage in Colombia, to chairing the Miami Federal Reserve, to chairing “We Will Rebuild,” the federal relief effort following Hurricane Andrew’s devastation of Miami in 1992, as well as leading several other philanthropic and civic endeavors, Weaver’s boundless energy and love of learning have driven a career spanning continents and industries.

Based on her experience, she advises, “Be in the room where decisions are being made. Roll up your sleeves. Get dirt under your fingernails.”

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up

Beth 005Contributed by Beth Collinge of CTG – a division of ILX Group plc.

British banks produced encouraging Q2 results, mainly due to a reduction in impairment charges and booming retail and commercial business. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank left benchmark interest rates unchanged. THe ECB president announced eurozone economic recovery “surpasses expectations”. In the US, non-farm payroll figures raise the prospect that the Fed will reinstate a quantitative easing programme to stimulate growth. And Chinese manufacturing output grew at a slower rate in Q2 and predictions for Q3 are for further slowing.

Economic Backdrop

  • The global economic recovery was again shown to be fragile with news of slowing expansion in Chinese manufacturing adding to disappointing growth in the US. The Chinese purchasing managers’ index for July sank to its lowest level since February 2009: the economy has been restrained by Chinese government attempts to curb real estate speculation.
  • In the US, although the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent, US businesses created jobs at a slower pace than earlier in the year and barely fast enough to keep up with population growth. Private payrolls increased by 71,000 jobs, compared with a forecast of 90,000. Overall, the US economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, and a revised 221,000 jobs in June, but that decline was the result of the end of temporary government jobs for the 2010 census.
  • The euro has rallied 11 percent since reaching a four-year low versus the dollar on June 7, as investors gained confidence that government austerity measures will help the region weather its sovereign-debt crisis. A report last week showed business confidence in Germany unexpectedly climbed to a three- year high and monthly purchasing managers’ indices for Europe said growth in services and manufacturing industries accelerated in July.
  • The ECB and the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at their monthly meetings.
  • The COMEX December gold futures contract closed up Friday at $1205.30. People were also buying gold on the longer-term view that the dollar may weaken further and inflation may rise if a stuttering economic recovery causes the U.S. to inject more money into the system. In addition, China announced a series of measures to liberalise its local gold market, which will increase liquidity and spur development of gold financial products.

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Three Measures of Accountability Key to Sustainability Initiatives Moving Forward, Say CEOs

iStock_000006954519XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In June, Accenture released “the largest CEO-based study on sustainability of its kind to date,” based on more than 100 in-depth interviews with world business leaders and an online survey of 766 UN Global Compact member CEOs.

The study, entitled “A New Era of Sustainability,” [PDF] reveals the attitudes toward sustainability held by top leadership in a variety of sectors, including “automotive, communications, consumer goods and services, energy, financial services, metals & mining and utilities.”

Said Peter Lacy, UNGC-Accenture CEO Study Project Lead 2010 and Managing Director, Accenture Sustainability Services, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America:

“We hope that this study provides a rich, authentic and evidence-based platform to understand CEO views on the progress, challenges and implications of the journey toward a new era of sustainability.”

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35 under 35: Carol Paterson Smith, Head of Hedge Fund Clients at Rothschild Blackpoint

CP Portrait 2006 (2)By Cleo Thompson (London), founder of The Gender Blog

Carol Paterson Smith has one key piece of advice for women in business – and it’s a good one.

And, as a hugely successful and influential woman in the City of London, her words of wisdom carry some weight. Paterson Smith is head of hedge fund clients for Rothschild Blackpoint and, in her early 30s, is one of the City’s most connected and stylish players.

Early days

“When I graduated, I knew I wanted to do something intellectually stimulating and I also knew I wanted to move into sales. I’ve always been very commercially focused – I was an Avon lady in my mid teens. When I was 18 I managed a sales team in Edinburgh. My mum runs a business and is very successful; she’s a great role model who has always encouraged me.”

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Five Innovative Ways to Improve Gender Diversity at Your Company

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iStock_000004692549XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

What makes a firm’s gender diversity programming really work? According to Jacqueline Akerblom, National Managing Partner for Women’s Initiatives and Programs at Grant Thornton LLP, it comes down to culture change. For the Global 6 accounting firm’s workforce, she said, diversity initiatives are “fully ingrained into the culture of the firm.”

But it wasn’t always like that. Six or seven years ago, Akerblom said, the company noticed it was losing a lot of its female employees. Recognizing the value of its women, the firm set out to keep them. Since 2004, when its women’s initiative was launched, the number of the women partners at the firm has increased by 184 percent, growing from 31 to 88.

How did they do it? Innovation. Here are five ways the company has succeeded – and your company can too.

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Hard Questions: Why won’t we work for women?

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iStock_000009246116XSmallBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

You don’t have to look too far into management research to uncover that all the statistics point to one thing: we prefer to work for men. When Ella Edmonson Bell asked her MBA students whether they would rather work for a woman or a man, most of them said they’d prefer a male boss. When ForbesWoman asked their Facebook community the same thing, the answers were the same. Admitting our preferences doesn’t seem to be a problem – we’re happy to confess that we want to work for men – but why do we feel like that in the first place? What’s so problematic about working for a woman?

“One way of explaining this phenomenon is gender schemas,” says Dr. Birute Regine, a developmental psychologist and author of Iron Butterflies: Women Transforming Themselves and the World. “A gender schema is an unconscious cultural assumption we hold about men and women. One schema is that women are first assumed incompetent and therefore not leaders, whereas for men it’s the opposite – that they are first assumed competent until proven otherwise.”

The problem with ideologies of this type is that we don’t necessarily know that we have them, and they tend to be pervasive. “Both women and men hold these assumptions,” adds Dr. Regine. “So perhaps women prefer male bosses because they assume they are more competent, and don’t give women the same benefit of the doubt or confidence going in. Women bosses may not be as supportive because, even though they know that they themselves are competent, these schema lead them to assume that other women are not.”

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Shaking Up Bankers’ Bonuses: New Legislation in the EU and UK

iStock_000011934674XSmallBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

“Since banks have failed to reform we are now doing the job for them,” says Arlene McCarthy, the vice chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and the woman who has just spearheaded new rules on bankers’ bonuses. “We have a duty as legislators to respond to the public’s concerns by voting in favour of these tough reforms to end the obscene bonus culture. At a time when the government is making substantial cuts, scaling back public services and support to families and businesses, our constituents expect banks to prioritise stability and lending over their own pay and perks. The banks have had two years since the 2008 financial crisis to do this and have failed to act, so now we will do the job for them.”

Gone are the unlimited cash bonuses and exceptional pension payments; in come rules about capping bonuses to salary and distributing shares instead of cash. Bankers might not be happy, but taxpayers will appreciate the shift towards a culture of transparency and accountability that focuses on repaying public loans.

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Voice of Experience: Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President, Citibank California

Rebecca Macieira-KaufmannBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Helping others be the best they can be is a big motivator for me,” said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President of Citibank California.

She focuses on providing the best experience for the customers of Citibank, as well as supporting her team to ensure they have everything they need to win. She said, “Helping customers be financially successful and seeing the team succeed is very motivating. Nothing can make me happier – it’s why I come to work in the morning.”

According to Macieira-Kaufmann, her career has been driven by two things – her love of business and her love of travel. Speaking three languages and having lived in several countries, she said, “I’ve always loved business. I started four different companies – before college.”

“To sum it up, I’m a fourth generation San Franciscan with a global background.”

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up

Beth 005Contributed by Beth Collinge of CTG – a division of ILX Group plc.

The US has avoided a double dip recession, although the Fed reported that the recovery has slowed. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision softened some provisions in Basel III, watering down earlier definitions of capital and including a long phase-in period to comply with new requirements about leverage and liquidity ratios. BP announced that Robert Dudley will replace Tony Hayword as its CEO.

Economic Backdrop

  • In global equity markets the week began well, in the wake of good earnings from companies in the US and Europe, and a sharp rally in banking stocks after European bank stress tests eased investors’ fears about the region’s financials. The rally was reversed mid-week, however, when some US economic numbers such as durable goods and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book cast doubt on the outlook for growth later this year. In its Beige Book report on the American economy, the Federal Reserve observed a modest rise in economic activity in June and the first half of July. The Fed found that conditions were improving in most of its 12 regional districts, but that advances were moderate, lending credence to the view that the recovery is weakening but broadly on track. Nevertheless, Wall Street recorded its biggest monthly gain in a year.
  • Following news that the American consumer-confidence index had fallen to a five-month low of 50.4 in July, from 54.3 in June, and the release of poor data on second-quarter US growth, the dollar fell against a broad range of currencies. On a trade-weighted basis it was down 0.9 per cent over the week, and was at its weakest against the Japanese currency (apart from two trading days last year) since 1995.
  • At the same time, the euro rallied to its highest in three months: it gained 0.9 per cent to $1.3025 over the week, at one point rising above $1.31. The pound was 1.5 per cent stronger at $1.5662, its highest level in five months.
  • In US government bond trading, the disappointing data on July consumer confidence and on the US labour market kept yields on US Treasuries near their lowest levels for the year. The yield on 10-year notes was at 2.91 per cent on Friday, down from a high of 3.06 per cent on Wednesday.

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