Three Ways to Develop Your Growth Mindset

Female leaderBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

What’s one of the key factors in taking your career to the next level? According to the women speaking at the American Express Women’s Conference last week, that answer is the growth mindset.

Moderated by American Express‘s Kim Goodman, President of Global Business Travel, the panelists included Marissa Campise, Vice President, internet and digital media companies at the venture capital firm Venrock; Maria Contreras-Sweet, Founder of Promerica Bank and first Latina in California state government to hold a cabinet position as Secretary of Business, Transportation, and Housing; and Carolyn Everson, Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook.

As Goodman said, “The growth mindset is really all about courage.” The panelists shared their advice and experience on the meaning of a growth mindset. Here are three ways to develop your own.

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What Does ‘Having It All’ Mean to You?

laurabergerContributed by Laura Berger

Do you have it all? Or perhaps you feel trapped in a cycle of your own doing that could lead to your undoing? I am extremely thankful for my clients, but not for the state in which they come to me, as it is often the latter.

Helping women “have it all” is my professional passion, and I discuss and research the topic whenever I can. Recently I facilitated a top discussion called “What do you define as having it all?” for Forbes Women, and the insights were quite compelling.

1. Do we really know what having it all means to us? Perhaps the title of the discussion needed rephrasing for an online forum. Without the benefit of previous context from a conversation, many of the answers sounded much like the Hollywood dream. And who can be blamed for it, with the most celebrated TV shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad having the theme of living out a life adorned with all life’s toys proximate to their core themes. Even Modern Family, a masterful show that has two fundamental purposes—to have us examine our relationships with ourselves and others and have us laugh in the meantime—shows families with big houses and all the modern toys, with one spouse stay-at-home. I quickly suspected that if the question were asked a different way, the answers would be less Hollywood and more real. We quickly reframed the question to “what do you think determines your success?” We began to receive what one responder called varied “snowflakes.” We then added one word: “what do you think determines your life’s success?” Then, the answers then became even more compelling and personal, as respondents quickly shifted to what was truly important to them, in a less cliché frame.

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Making Your Impact: Advancing the Economic Power of Women

Smiling female professionalBy Natalie Sabia (New York City)

“Women hold up half the sky,” was the mostly widely conveyed message of Deutsche Bank’s 18th Annual Women on Wall Street Conference; a message so powerful, it resulted in mostly laughs and applaud, along with a few tears.

Over 2,000 women of all ages and all areas of financial services packed into the conference excited to hear from not only great women speakers, but also eager to hear what men in our business have to say.

Robert Rankin, Co-Head of Corporate Banking & Securities and Head of Corporate Finance at Deutsche Bank kicked off the night with an uplifting speech how global companies need women employers in order to grow their businesses. Currently, women control an astounding $12 trillion of global consumer spending. “It’s important to develop, inspire and motivate women in this business,” said Rankin. “This is a global movement.”

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Impact: How Women are Leveling the Playing Field

iStock_000009056376XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On Tuesday night, American Banker magazine celebrated the Top Women in Banking and Finance with its annual awards dinner. This year, the theme was impact, and the evening celebrated women who are not only serving as role models for women in the industry, but changing the way the industry works for women.

Irene Dorner, CEO of HSBC Bank USA and the Top Women in Banking honoree, gave a powerful speech about how diversity can help improve the industry, as well as its reputation. She called out a culture of systemic bias and encouraged leaders to change it.

“I know plenty about soccer, cricket, football, cars… Do I care about them? No,” she said. “But does anyone ever ask me about my shoes? Rarely.” As the audience laughed, she continued, “But there are other manifestations of bias that are much more dangerous than a pair of shoes.”

According to Dorner, instilling a culture of true meritocracy would change the system to one where female leaders can thrive at work, where the right people make it to the top jobs, and where everyone can be their authentic selves. On top of that, she said, the industry would renew its standing in the eyes of the general public.

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The Power of a Transformational Intent

Contributed by CEO Coach Henna Inam

Ever been part of a dysfunctional meeting? They waste time, sap energy, and kill employee engagement. An executive coaching client and I were preparing for a meeting she was going to in two hours. It was a high stakes meeting and she expected it to be politically charged. Each functional group had their “wants” and the battle lines were drawn. Sound familiar?

What if there was a tool that helped us not just survive but actually transform these types of situations into productive dialogues? Read on for coaching on how to do that. I call the tool that works “Transformational Intent” and it has the power to change our experience of any dysfunctional situation, not just meetings. “Transformational Intent” is the act of simply setting the highest, most positive intention prior to any action or situation.

When heading to a contentious meeting we can create a conscious intention of who we are in the meeting and what outcomes we are looking for. When faced with a situation, we let go of the need to control the situation to fit our needs and embrace the opportunity to set a clear, positive intent for the best outcome.

Why does intent work? First, setting an intent helps us to consciously direct our focus. What we focus on shapes our expectations, what we move toward, and what we experience. Second, quantum physics is teaching us that any object that is observed is changed by the very act of observation. Could it be possible then, that the expectations with which we observe others changes them? It explains why in experiments, teachers’ expectations of students actually changes their performance. Third, our own intent matters because of what neuroscience research describes as emotional contagion. This is our ability to read others’ emotions and mirror them, even unconsciously. In layman’s terms it’s called empathy. We all have mirror neurons in our brains, a fancy way of explaining why when one person yawns, the rest of us are triggered to yawn as well. When we are inspired we have the ability to inspire others. Our emotions and intent are read and contagious. Imagine the personal power we each have to be transformational leaders, if we take 100% accountability for our intent.

Back to the battle lines of our favorite meeting.  Here are three intentions and questions we can ask ourselves on the way to a meeting or in any situation.

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Top Women on the Buy-Side: Finding Yield in a Volatile Market

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Women-on-TabletLast week, The Glass Hammer hosted its fifth annual Top Women on the Buy-Side breakfast for female leaders in the investment management industry. Our panelists discussed the risks and opportunities for the year ahead, as well as how and where they are finding yield in a volatile market.

Moderated by Wall Street journalist Heidi Moore, the panel included Gabriela Franco Parcella, Chief Executive Officer, Mellon Capital Management Corporation; Denise Higgins, CFA, Client Portfolio Manager, ING Investment Management; Anne Milne, Managing Director, Emerging Markets Corporate Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Judith Posnikoff, PhD, Co-Founder & Managing Director, PAAMCO.

The lively conversation ranged from dealing with the challenges of uncertainty, managing risk, and the bright spots ahead. Milne quipped, “What are we looking for? Returns. Moreover, we’re looking for risk adjusted returns. We’re looking for good ideas to generate risk adjusted returns. And we’re making calls to find analysts to generate ideas to generate risk adjusted returns.”

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Communication: Top Tool of World’s Greatest Bosses

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Businesswoman Giving Thumbs Up - IsolatedBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new study by Seattle-based leadership training group, Fierce Inc., communication is the cornerstone of a good boss-employee relationship. The study, which polled over 1,700 corporate executives and employees, set out to find what qualities make a good boss, what reciprocal qualities make a good employee, and how they can work together to be most effective.

Four out of five respondents (80 percent) said the most important thing a boss can do is ask for feedback from their employees. A smaller but significant group (37 percent) said it was important for a supervisor to provide constructive feedback to his or her direct reports.

Since today is National Boss’s Day here in the United States, it may be a great opportunity to examine your own managerial communication style. How are you conveying your own leadership in the way you communicate?

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Voice of Experience: Pamela Jackson, Partner, Mergers and Acquisitions Tax, PwC

pamjacksonBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Believe in yourself,” advised Pamela Jackson, Partner and Founding Member of PwC’s Mergers and Acquisitions Tax business in the UK.

Through a career spanning over three decades – and three continents – Jackson has had the opportunity to learn a lot. She went from being mistaken for the receptionist when she first started out, to ascending to partnership and leadership within PwC, to being named Women in the City’s Woman of the Year, to now leading one of PwC’s new key strategic initiatives.

Jackson encourages women to embrace their self-confidence. “Tell people what you want. Keep asking for it. Don’t sit and wait for things to come to you. Success comes to people who go out and take it with both hands,” she said.

“Take calculated risks and go for it. Every time you take a risk, you continue on your journey.”

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Voice of Experience: Laura Sanchez, Managing Director, Private Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs

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One of the most important lessons Laura Sanchez has learned throughout her career is the importance of being yourself.Laura Sanchez

Sanchez, now a Managing Director in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs, found that by allowing her unique personality to shine, she was better able to connect with clients, which ultimately helped her career.

“When you’re new – and I had also switched industries – you may be anxious about fitting in and looking like everyone else or acting like everyone else. But trying too hard to fit in can stifle who you are.”

She continued, “To not be yourself for the majority of your day creates a lot of stress.”

Ultimately, she says, authenticity was her key to a more fulfilling career. “When I’ve been true to myself and let my own light shine through, that’s when I’ve been my best. That’s when I think the success started,” she explained.

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Three Ways Executive Search Firms Can Boost Women on Boards

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iStock_000006262297XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new report by executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, increasing the number of women on boards may become more difficult in the near future. While the spotlight on hiring more female directors has shone more brightly in recent years, the percentage of women in those seats has stagnated.

Not only that, new research shows, the pool of women traditionally considered for these jobs may be shrinking. The report says:

“Over the past five years, the number of women reaching senior executive roles has decreased by 12 percent, shrinking the talent pool from which most female directors are likely to be drawn. Despite some recent high-profile appointments, only 4percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and – as any board search professional can attest – boards still almost reflexively seek sitting or retired CEOs to fill board seats.”

Based on EEOC labor statistics, the number of women reaching the C-suite has decreased by 12 percent between 2000 and 2010. And because fewer women seem to be making it to senior management, it may become harder in the coming years for companies to diversify their boards.

As Claudia Pici-Morris, co-author of the report and US Head of Research for Egon Zehnder, explained, “It is surprising to see the number of women making up the future pool shrinking, and shrinking steadily.”

There’s clearly a disconnect between boards’ desire to increase their percentage of female directors (as well as the dialogue and debate around the issue of female leadership within the general public) and the groundwork being laid to prepare women for the director role.

Fortunately, Pici-Morris explained, more can be done to prepare and locate women for board positions – and executive search firms, companies, and women with their eyes on a board seat all have a role to play.

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