Movers and Shakers: Julia Fuller, Vice President of Environment, Health and Safety, Thomson Reuters

juliafullerBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“My advice for women is to know yourself,” said Julia Fuller, VP of Environment, Health and Safety at Thomson Reuters. She explained, “Focus on what are the things that you really hold dear as your core values. What are you really good at? Know your real strengths. Having that knowledge about your abilities is really powerful.”

After growing her career at the Reuters Foundation and then becoming global head of corporate responsibility for Reuters, she shepherded the program through the 2008 merger with Thomson. Then Fuller turned her attention to women’s advancement. Fuller leads the UK chapter of the Women @ Thomson Reuters network, and also leads the London network Women on the Wharf, a multi-firm women’s networking group which is focused on helping women stay in their careers at the challenging mid-level.

“Be true to yourself and know what makes you tick,” she advised. “Don’t try to be someone else and don’t try to live up to someone else’s dream. Follow your own dreams.”

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Transformational Tools – A Leadership Practice of Journaling

Contributed by CEO Coach Henna Inam

Journaling is a powerful leadership practice that I recommend to all my Executive Coaching clients if they want transformative change in their leadership.

When I first started journaling, it was something I had to force myself to sit down and do. I am the kind of person who likes to be incredibly productive and efficient and I saw journaling as a waste of time. After all, there were many more productive things I could be doing – folding the laundry, catching up with friends on Facebook, flossing … you get the picture. And then I read data that suggests that all kinds of successful people, including U.S. Presidents, had a daily practice of journaling. Well, that got my attention!

Journalling allows us to get greater insights and knowledge into ourselves and others, which is a core foundation of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is one of the greatest drivers of our success and wellbeing as leaders. Research also suggests that journaling can improve our stress levels, our health, and feelings of wellbeing.

So, here are 10 steps to a successful journaling practice:

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Movers and Shakers: Meg Brown, Director, Sustainable Investment, Citi

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Meg Brown, Director of Climate Change and Sustainable Investment Research at Citi, one of the first things she learned when beginning her career was the importance of speaking up. “When I was quite new, I didn’t know that if you don’t ask you don’t get. But if you do ask, you get quite a lot.”

Based in London, Brown leads Citi’s global climate change research and its European ESG product. She continued, “The best advice I’ve ever been given is to always have a view. If you have a view, if you contribute, people want you on their team, regardless of your gender.”

She said the advice has become even more meaningful as she’s advanced in her career. “No one is going to hand things to you on a plate. If you have a voice, if you contribute to the business, you can negotiate.”

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Standing Out Online: The New Realities of Job Search for Executive Women

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iStock_000014187113XSmallBy Robin Madell (San Francisco)

Technology, social media, and the recession have drastically changed the face of job seeking—it’s much harder today to stand out from the noise. Talent hunters now have access to literally hundreds of millions of online resumes in an instant through job boards, search engines, and networking sites. Yet the online environment can serve as an “equalizer” as well, helping to create a more level playing field for executive women during the job search process—provided they know the right strategies to use.

How can you cut through the clamor and gain the attention of potential employers, recruiters, and hiring managers in today’s ultra-competitive online and social media environment? Who better to ask than Mike Junge, who currently serves on the leadership recruiting team at Google and has helped hundreds of job seekers land offers with Fortune 500 companies around the globe.

Junge is also author of the recently released book, Purple Squirrel: Stand Out, Land Interviews, and Master the Modern Job Market and a former five-time Recruiter of the Year with a national staffing firm. As such, he has the inside word on what it really takes for female execs to get hired in an environment where it’s no longer about searching for jobs—it’s about being searched for.

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Voice of Experience: Deborah Hazell, CEO and Regional Head of HSBC Global Asset Management, North America

Deborah HazellBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Reflecting on her career, Deborah Hazell said one thing she wishes she had learned earlier is the importance of being heard. “Speak up if you want something,” she said. “My key promotions have largely been because managers only realized I was the right person when I put my hand up and stood right in front of them.”

Hazell began her career as a door-to-door salesperson, climbing through the ranks of the asset management industry to arrive at her current role, CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management, North America. Today she is passionately involved in leveling the playing field for women in the industry.

She added, “Believe in yourself, that you can do things, and speak up if you want something.”

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Mastering the Art of Diagonal Networking

HurryContributed by The Runaway MBA

Diagonal networking. Have your heard of it?

Probably not… because I made it up several years ago. It’s a phrase that I coined after noticing a trend in networking efforts that were more and not less successful.

As I set off in my job search, I began the process of networking. Early in my career I observed that people were inherently afraid of one another. For many, the sound of the word “networking” sends chills down one’s spine. Networking has a multitude of definitions that include conversations with colleagues past and present to asking people that you may or may not know to connect on Linkedin. For me, networking meant socializing and finding ways to meet people that I did not know. With over 1,000 contacts in outlook and numerous alumni at my reach, I felt overwhelmed. Where to start? How? What would I say?

I needed to find a way to bridge this gap if I planned on being successful.

So I started to put myself out there – phone calls, coffee, and in office meetings. Each time I put myself out there I braced for the outcome. Every time I entered a situation I expected to maintain the status quo and was always surprised when I could find a good leads.

At first my success/failure ratio seemed random. I was disappointed when “close” colleagues let me down after my past favors, and surprised by the kindness of strangers. I chucked up the failed requests and conversations to other factors out of my control (i.e. company issues, bad day in the office, lack of sleep, etc). But factors that were not out of my control were not a factor. I managed to have successful interactions with people inside organizations that were falling apart and to be rejected by people in thriving organizations.

I am always looking for an angle and process to bisect around. It’s the mathematician in me ever working on how to back into a proof. Given: I want a meeting. Goal: How will I get there.

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Women, Risk, and Banking

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iStock_000014186302XSmallBy Liz O’Donnell, Founder of HelloLadies.com

The day before the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston last week, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, was fired up. Iskenderian was reflecting on a story in the Financial Times that ran with the headline, “Women bankers linked to rise in risk-taking.“ The article, based on research from the German Deutsche Bundesbak, reported that according to a study of German banks, boards with higher proportion of female executives “lead to a more risky conduct of business.”

Iskenderian knows risk. Women’s World Banking (WWB) is a network of 39 financial organizations from 27 countries that provide credit and loans to low-income women worldwide to fulfill their dreams by starting their own businesses. In addition to providing microfinancing, WBB works to empower and educate women to build financial safety nets for themselves and their families. That can be pretty risky business in some parts of the world.

The report on which Iskenderian was focused, actually looked at three variables on boards: gender, experience, and education. “Level of experience is what influences performance,” said Iskenderian expressing dissatisfaction in how the media had framed the report.

“I don’t think the genie is going back in the bottle,” she said addressing the idea that homogenous boards make better decisions and that women disrupt the “cozy” board environment. She cited a University of Michigan study that shows heterogeneous groups produce better outcomes. “You can’t take this (Bundesbak) study in isolation,” she said, also citing the mandate in Norway to fill 40 percent of board seats at publicly traded company with women. “The Norway mandate had teeth,” she said, and women received training to bridge any experience gaps. “There is a roadmap drawn for us. Train more women to serve on boards and it can be a very virtuous circle.”

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How to Negotiate Like a Litigator

Business woman with spectacles while at workBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

The idea of career negotiation – for a raise, promotion, or special project – can seem scary, especially if you’ve never done it before. But active career management is so important for advancement. And, in fact, many of us negotiate every day as part of our jobs.

“I tell our younger team members that we spend so much time being strong advocates for our clients, but you really have to step back and remember how important it is to be advocates for your own self and your own career,” says Lori Cohen, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig who holds a record of 55 straight trial wins. She also chairs the firm’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Litigation Group as well as co-Chairs the Atlanta Litigation Practice.

“It’s hard to get into that mindset as women. We’re so used to watching out for other people, we may not spend as much time as we should, advocating for ourselves.”

By tapping into the negotiation skills you use in business, says Cohen, you can also advance your career. Here’s how.

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Three Keys for a Successful Women’s Network

Business people raising their hands with focus on mature ]womanBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Professional women are “lukewarm” about the effectiveness of women’s networks, according to a new study out of the Simmons School of Management. Polling over 250 attendees to last year’s Simmons Leadership Conference, researchers found that many women are unsure about the usefulness or direction of women’s networks.

In fact, 79 percent of respondents ranked their women’s networks at “somewhat effective” or “not effective.” And 84 percent described women’s networks as “somewhat effective” or “not effective” at promoting women.

But, the research shows, a there are a few factors that increase the effectiveness of women’s networks. For example, the study says, “there was a very strong correlation between those respondents who were actively involved in their network and those who felt that their network was effective.”

The good news is that they also uncovered a few critical factors that may contribute to their success.

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Avoid Career Traps: Set Goals for Your Growth

mindydiamondContributed by Mindy Diamond

Back in the 1990s, a book called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray sold more than 7 million copies and spent 121 weeks on the bestseller list. CNN referred to it as “the highest ranked work of nonfiction of the 1990s.” The premise of the book is that women and men come from distinctly different realms on almost every issue ranging from automobiles to wardrobes.  While that’s not exactly breaking news, particularly among women, the implications of these differences play out in many ways at home and in the business world.

Working over the years with many high caliber female financial advisors, I have witnessed the stark differences between genders when it comes to considering changing jobs.  Women and men approach the idea and process of change very differently.

While there are, of course, exceptions, women generally try to make the best of a given situation and wait until they are profoundly unhappy before looking to make a fundamental career change. Further, if they do leave their current firm, it is often driven more by necessity than by taking proactive steps to make a change.

Men, on the other hand, are more inclined to seek solutions to the problems they are facing at their firms and are more aggressive about finding a resolution. They tend to resolve differences by demanding that senior management pay attention to their issues and look to remediate them, or by choosing to go elsewhere. This is not to suggest that women are less proactive than men. Rather, because women have so many competing priorities for their time, often including family matters, it takes a higher level of pain and frustration before they look to rock the boat. I believe many of the differences between the two sexes stem from women being more sensitive and trusting than men and more inclined to believe that the situation at hand will improve if they just continue to work hard and do their job well.

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