Position Yourself for Success: Female Leaders Share Advice at the 2011 Women on Wall Street Conference

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iStock_000012630343XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last night, Deutsche Bank hosted its 17th annual Women on Wall Street conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The event drew over 2,000 people, mainly women in the financial services industry.

Jeffrey Mayer, Managing Director and Head of the Corporate and Investment Bank in North America at Deutsche Bank, opened the evening by pointing out that although the industry is seeing a generational shift when it comes to gender diversity – roughly 20% of attendees were at the Managing Director level or above, while 80% of were either “fresh out of college” or at the director level – “the percentage of women in senior front office roles falls short.”

He continued, “We need to attract, develop, and retain more women who can punch through to the senior ranks.”

The theme of the evening was “Breaking Through to the C-Suite.” Keynote speaker Sharon Allen, Former Chairman of the Board of Deloitte LLP said she believes that the ability to get to the top really comes from within.

“I know what a difference the organization can make because Deloitte was really a trailblazer with our [women’s] initiative.” But, she continued, “No matter what your organization may do to help promote your career, at the end of the day, it won’t matter unless you perform and watch out for your own career.”

She explained that to make it to the top, women must plan their own career, seize the opportunities that come along, and be willing to promote their own accomplishments.

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Alter Your Outlook: Is Your Mindset Diminishing Your Success as a Leader?

NatalieRunyonContributed by Natalie Runyon

A recent Forbes article indicated that the perception of power—more so than gender—may have to do with women’s challenges with negotiation. And while this may be true, it does not change the outcome—we see little female influence at the top ranks of organizations. The mind is powerful and shapes our interpretations of events and experiences in the workplace. When driven by fear, it can overwhelm us with a constant dialogue of self-criticism. In a state of constant mental negativity, our leadership, influence, and confidence are undermined. Indeed, changing our mindset from negative to positive can literally change our perspective and enable greater leadership performance, influence, and advancement.

Could it really be that simple? In my experience, simple, yes; easy, no.

As a leadership coach to women, I deal with these challenges every day. Here’s how I advise my clients to alter their outlook.

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Voice of Experience: Nellie Borrero, Managing Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity, Accenture

NellieBorreroThis week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic professional women – each day this week we’ll feature a profile of a Hispanic woman breaking the glass ceiling.

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Just this month is my 25th anniversary with Accenture,” began Nellie Borrero, Managing Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity, at the organization.

“When I came on board, I was very focused and aware of the possibility and opportunity to increase diversity,” she recalled. Borrero was the first person to start a full time diversity role, having begun in the New York office, and then expanding the diversity program to the US. “Now, today, we have a global focus,” she said.

“I’m happy about the progress I’ve seen in the culture in my organization,” she said. “We’re incredibly diverse. My mission and objective has always been to create an environment where everyone can feel like they can succeed.”

She continued, “And now people – whether they’re in the US, or India, or Japan – are coming in, feeling a sense of belonging, and that they can succeed.”

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Voice of Experience: Marilyn Foglia, Managing Director and Head of Latin America, UBS Global Asset Management

Marilyn FogliaThis week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic professional women – each day this week we’ll feature a profile of a Hispanic woman breaking the glass ceiling.

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I used to be very timid,” began Marilyn Foglia, Managing Director and Head of Latin America at UBS Global Asset Management.

After 25 years in the industry, Foglia has learned her lesson. “I wasn’t always so persistent about getting my ideas on the table – but now I am!” she laughed.

“If you’re too polite and wait for an opening to speak you may never get a voice. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. We women tend to think that if we work hard, we will be rewarded. But we have to ask for it.”

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Thought Leaders: Ana Duarte McCarthy, Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer, Citi

thought-leadership“It’s important to remember that everyone can be inspired by your message,” said Ana Duarte McCarthy, Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer at Citi. Senior women, she added, can help effect change within their organization by seeing themselves as role models – for younger women and for younger men.

“As a female leader, it’s not just the women you influence. It’s also the men whose vision of leadership – that women are effective leaders – changes.”Beginning the Diversity Journey

Duarte McCarthy has been with Citi since 1995, and one of her proudest achievements, she said, was being part of the work to bring employee resource networks to the company.

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Intrepid Woman: Foluke Akinlose MBE, CEO & Founder, Precious Online

folukeakinloseBy Cleo Thompson (London), Founder of The Gender Blog

As a child growing up in Manchester, Foluke Akinlose dreamed of launching a magazine for women and girls who looked like she did. But how did this childhood vision culminate in the creation of Precious Online, an e-magazine, network and resource for the UK’s c. 2.3 million women of colour and of the UK’s only awards for this community, described as a “memorable occasion” and “inspirational” by British Prime Minister David Cameron?

“When I was younger, there were no British magazines that featured girls who looked like me. I’d spend my pocket money on American imports and they were great, but I really wanted to read about the Black British experience. When I grew older and started working in the media as a journalist, I quickly realised how expensive setting up a print magazine was. I just didn’t have those kind of funds, so I decided to put the magazine idea at the back of my mind for a while.

“In 1996, I began working in the online department of TV company ITN. Because of the nature of my job, I spent a lot of time researching online. I came across so many online publications aimed at African-American women but there was nothing for those based in the UK. I soon realised that the web gave me a publishing channel and that it was a way for me to launch the magazine of which I had always dreamed. So I followed my dream.

“Precious got underway in 1999 and was the first publication of its kind to launch in the UK. We now get 80,000 unique website visitors each month and reach 10,000 women via the mailing list – our goal is to be the premier destination for women of colour on the web.”

Precious aims to provide resources for and to showcase women of colour and to shine a light on their achievements in business and life. The site runs articles on health and beauty and profiles black writers and artists, as well as organising events every quarter on topics such as the joy of networking or an audience with an entrepreneurial woman.

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Senior Women in the City: The Impact of Regulatory Reform on the UK Financial Markets

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Women-working-on-a-computerLast Wednesday, Theglasshammer.com held its first annual event in London for senior women in the capital markets. Our panel’s topic, “How to manage risk and find growth in the new regulatory environment,” opened up dialogue for senior women to discuss how to do business in the financial markets in 2012 and beyond. The event drew almost 100 senior women from leading financial firms in the City as senior women from both the sell-side and the buy-side came to network and participate in a closed-door discussion. The focus of the event was to address how to navigate the markets, find growth, and stay compliant in an increasingly regulated environment.

Moderator of the event, Monica McConville, Partner, Practice Leader, English Law Equity Capital Markets at Shearman & Sterling, invited the panelists to give their perspective on the way capital market regulatory changes might impact day-to-day business.

The panel, consisting of Mary Pragnell, Managing Director, Regulatory Response, GBM Treasury, RBS Global Banking and Markets; Joanna Cound, Managing Director, Government Affairs and Public Policy, BlackRock; and Dr. Sonja Koerner, Partner, Risk, Financial Services, Ernst & Young, tackled a set of questions posed by regulatory reforms in the post 2008 crisis ‘New Normal.” To manage risk and continue to grow as an industry, we contemplated how could we predict, define, and manage some of the unintended consequences of regulators’ actions.

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UK Companies Stalling on Female Board Appointments

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Discussion between two female executivesBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

UK companies aren’t moving fast enough to hire female board directors, revealed a new report released yesterday by the Cranfield School of Management. Professor Susan Vinnicombe, co-author of the report said, “Our review reveals that the number of women in board positions is beginning to creep up albeit quite slowly.”

Six months ago Lord Davies of Abersoch presented an independent report discussing the state of gender diversity in the UK’s top companies. The review suggested that firms were not doing enough to attract and retain women in top positions.

As a solution, Davies called for British companies to set targets for the percentage of women they aim to have on their boards, and recommended that FTSE 100 companies set a 25% target for women on boards by 2015.

The new review by the Cranfield School of Management showed that the percentage of women on boards has grown from 12.5% to 14.2% in 2011. And, the Financial Times notes, “Since the Davies report, women have accounted for 22.5 per cent of appointments – below the 33 per cent he recommended.”

The Cranfield review revealed that only 33 companies on the FTSE 100 are aiming for the 25% target recommend by Davies. According to the Telegraph, in fact, a full two-thirds of blue chip companies have yet to even set out their plans for getting more women on boards. Dr. Ruth Sealy, co-author of the Cranfield report, commented:

“The results from our report suggest the recommendations in Lord Davies’s review have had beneficial effects in terms of reinforcing good practice, but they also demonstrate an institutional inertia, whereby companies persist in their existing approach – or lack thereof – to gender diversity on boards. It is so important that our top companies set the standard for achieving better representation on their boards.”

In his initial report, Davies suggested that if companies fail to set targets to increase the representation of women in the boardroom, the government should enact quotas similar to those in Norway, France, and Spain. Prime Minister David Cameron is reported to be writing letters to the members of the FTSE 350 who have not set targets to encourage them to do so – before government intervention is necessary.

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Iron Butterflies: Ushering in a New Era of Collaboration

BiruteRegineContributed by Dr. Birute Regine

The late US Congresswoman Bela Abzug said that in the 21st century “Women will change the nature of power, rather than power changing the nature of women.” And this is exactly what Iron Butterflies are quietly up to.

For thousands of years we have been a domination-based society that has used power over others. This use of power generates hierarchies, a frontier mentality, a “lone ranger” style leadership, a command and control approach that reveres “masculine” qualities of independence, autonomy, and individuality.

Some good things have come from this use of power: the industrial revolution, technology, architecture.

But if you think of the woes of the world—sexism, racism, terrorism, genocide, war, environmental degradation—what do they share in common? A use of power over others. A power that is no longer sustainable.

The world is begging for a different kind of leadership and Iron Butterflies are leading the way. They are ushering in a new era of cooperation by exercising a collaborative style of leadership that transforms the meaning of power from power over to power with and for others.

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Voice of Experience: Tamara Box, Partner, Head of International Structured Finance, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP

TamaraBoxBy Cleo Thompson (London), Founder of The Gender Blog

A self confessed “start-up junkie”, Tamara Box always wanted to be a lawyer and was told from a young age that she was too argumentative – an ambition and a personality trait which has subsequently stood her in good stead in her career as an award-winning structured finance lawyer and steering committee member of the 30% Club.

“I grew up in Texas and had a great role model in my mother, who worked in the telecoms industry at a senior level. My first international move came when I relocated to London to study at the London School of Economics. Then I returned to the USA and did law at Georgetown. After graduation, I joined Coudert Brothers, first in New York and then in Singapore where I worked for four years and met my English husband. My first “start up” opportunity came early as a founding member of the first overseas office (in Singapore) of US law firm Orrick. In 1997, I moved back to the UK to open Orrick’s London office and I made Partner in 2000.”

After stints at top London firms Tite & Lewis and Lovells, Box landed at Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2006 – the same year in which her son Hugo was born – in order to build their structured finance business from scratch.

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