Movers and Shakers: Kerris Wigfall, Vice President, Fixed Income Compliance, ING U.S. Investment Management

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“It’s very hard for me to say there are particular barriers for professional women,” began Kerris Wigfall, Head of Fixed Income Compliance at ING U.S. Investment Management. “And as an African American woman, I’m pretty sure a lot of people would expect me to say it’s harder to move forward. But that hasn’t been my experience.”

She continued, “Different companies play by different rules in determining how people grow and move forward. For me, I’ve focused on learning and trying to be the best at what I do, and I’ve been honest with myself with regard to what I’m willing to tolerate. I’ve found that’s how to earn people’s respect. As a result, people have been willing to vouch for me and help me move forward.”

She recalled how, when she interviewed for her first company out of law school, the firm didn’t have a compliance job available. “But the person who interviewed me was impressed by my skills and abilities, and he wanted to take a chance on me. Nine months later, he called me back because he found an opportunity for me.”

Similarly, another previous boss has served as a reference for her later on. “He knew what I could do and my level of professionalism and was willing to do what he could to help me take the next step in my career.”

Wigfall says she has been able to cultivate that kind of sponsorship throughout her career. “I’ve been blessed to have people who understand what I’m trying to do, and really support me moving forward,” she added.

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Movers and Shakers: Rashaan Reid, Director, Mortgage & Securitized Products Sales, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Rashaan Reid, Director in the Mortgage & Securitized Products Sales Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the most important factor in succeeding on Wall Street is drive.

“Having the passion is the first thing – it takes a lot of energy and stamina,” she explained.

Next important, she continued, is the willingness to learn. She encouraged people just beginning their careers in the industry to hone their curiosity and build a broad foundation of knowledge. “Seeing different aspects of the business gives you a well roundedness and a better ability to provide solutions for your client. You have to ask questions and learn the business from the ground up.”

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Celebrating African American Professional Women

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In honor of Black History Month, this week and next week, every day The Glass Hammer will feature interviews with notable African American women on their career experiences, aspirations, and advice for other women in their field.

The women span industries like financial services, law, accounting, and technology and have reached various levels of seniority. In fact, each career path is different, and while some have been shaped by similar factors – like participating in diversity programs at the university level or having had valuable mentors and sponsors along the way – the interviews show that today, there are many paths to the top for women of color.

Check back all week long to read about African American women who are making a difference at work and in their communities.

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How to Talk About Politics at Work

By Robin Madell (San Francisco)

What do you do when a coworker tries to engage you in a conversation about politics, forwards you an email that supports a particular political viewpoint, or makes political comments that you feel are inappropriate? Likewise, if you are engaged in politics, what’s an appropriate way to be authentic to your personal beliefs without alienating someone who may disagree? Is it ever okay to talk politics at work?

According to recent survey by Fierce, Inc., which includes responses from executives and employees in the finance industry, more than half (54 percent) of workers say that political discussions are not healthy and do not improve communication. In fact, 78.1 percent of workers claim that political discussions cause coworker tension. Yet nearly the same number—80.4 percent—don’t want employers to forbid political discussions at the office.

How can we solve this dilemma?

One way is by establishing some ground rules. “Employees will talk about politics, whether it is allowed or not, so organizations should set guidelines on how to approach the subject of politics and what is acceptable behavior,” says Halley Bock, Fierce’s CEO and president. “Although political discussions may cause tension, management should never outlaw specific topics of conversation.”

Here are suggestions from Bock and others on the etiquette of talking politics at work.

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Spouse Out of Work? What to Do

By Robin Madell (San Francisco)

Despite the slowly churning economic recovery, massive layoffs continue to occur with frightening frequency. For example, with 2013 barely underway, big banks across Wall Street began announcing plans for large-scale layoffs, and other industries will likely follow.

Might your spouse or partner be among those let go? It’s something that paired professionals have to worry about. Even if your own job seems secure, the loss of a partner’s position can wreak financial and emotional havoc on your household and threaten the lifestyle to which your family has become accustomed.

Business owner Lisa Adams recently lived through her husband being out of work. Though he began a new job in January, it required the couple to relocate, adding another layer of stress to an already difficult situation. Adams and her spouse found the loss of her husband’s income hard to manage as well. “We lived within a three months’ severance and no unemployment since he worked for a nonprofit,” she says. “Financially extremely challenging.”

What should professional women do—financially for their family and emotionally for their partner or children—if their spouse or partner loses their job? The Glass Hammer asked Roy Cohen, author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide, for his advice. “This is one of the greatest challenges professionals and their families may ever face: unemployment and job loss,” says Cohen. “Its impact on families is enormous and the effect of long-term joblessness has yet to be fully understood or examined.”

He adds that how parents manage the stress and hardship of job loss will have a significant impact on how their children approach change and loss in their own lives. “It is a great opportunity to model the very best behaviors and to show children that it is possible to navigate change successfully and with confidence rather than fear,” says Cohen.

Cohen offers these suggestions on how spouses and significant others can provide support during a job search, for better or worse.

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Enabling Women to Be Authentic Fuels the Desire to Lead

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

New research [PDF] out of INSEAD, the world’s largest graduate business school, shows that women leaders experience less stress at work when they feel good about… being women. This finding may seem simple and obvious, but the rigorous study delves deep into identity theory around leadership and gender, with quantitative research on over 600 female leaders across the globe.

The study, “Me, a woman and a leader: Antecedents and consequences of the identity conflict of women leaders,” was written by INSEAD researchers Natalia Karelaia and Laura Guillén. They found that, especially in male dominated organizations, women leaders experience significant conflict regarding their social identities as both a leader and a woman.

Many women in the study reported spending all day conforming to an aggressive, stereotypically “male” leadership identity at work. Feeling forced to behave in a way that was inauthentic to their more traditionally “female” gender identity – warm, nurturing, cooperative – left these women unhappy at work, stressed out, and unmotivated to lead.

These women saw leadership as something the had to do, rather than something they wanted to do.

But, the research shows, this identity conflict seemed to diminish in companies that were more gender balanced at the top, middle, and entry level. In fact, working in organizations where being a woman is seen as explicitly positive left them more motivated to lead.

“By reducing identity conflict, a more positive gender identity increases the joy of leading and decreases the sense of obligation to do so,” Karelaia and Guillén write.

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Being Authentic – What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Contributed by CEO Coach Henna Inam

Are you an authentic leader? It’s a big topic. Carl Jung said, “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”  It’s the topic of my upcoming book. It’s a topic that’s very personal to me and it’s a topic that is very universal. We feel our best and most inspired when we can be authentic – and we create the greatest contributions to our workplaces when this happens. Yet, there are many challenges to our being authentic leaders.

One of them is love. For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d write a blog post about “what’s love got to do with it” – with being authentic.

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Breaking the Ice with New Clients

By Robin Madell (San Francisco)

“Don’t be the faceless name who’s suddenly appeared on the client’s bill.”
–Julie A. Fleming, JD

Many people, particularly in the professional services, establish long-term relationships with clients that may span years or even decades. Yet when you’re first assigned to work with new clients at the beginning of a project, you may know nothing about them.

How can you establish rapport and trust with a new client and learn how to break the ice? For answers, we asked a panel of professionals across the legal, finance, and technology industries for their experience and insights.

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How Do You Define a Good Company for Executive Women?

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) released its 2013 Top 50 Companies for Executive Women list. The annual list has served to continuously raise the bar on what it means to be a “top company.”

For example, Carol Evans, CEO of NAFE and President of Working Mother Media, explained that initially, to make the list, a company had to have at least one woman on its board of directors to even apply for consideration. But, as more companies elected women to their boards, NAFE bumped that requirement up to two women per board two years ago.

“We are hoping to raise it to three in the future,” she continued. “And you do get more points for having more than two women on the board now.”

Beyond the boardroom, NAFE also takes into account factors like advancement programs, the numbers of women rising to the top, the percentage of women running billion dollar divisions, the percentage of women reporting to the CEO, the percentage of women in the top 10% and 20% of earners at the company, and the percentage of women leading profit and loss functions.

All of these factors reveal whether a company enables women to take charge as leaders. But, Evans says, even though companies are evolving to be more female-supportive, it’s not time to celebrate just yet. There’s still a long way to go.

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Voice of Experience: Maura O’Sullivan, Partner, Finance, Shearman & Sterling

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

After over 25 years in law, Maura O’Sullivan, a partner in the Finance Group at Shearman & Sterling, has developed a keen understanding of how to serve clients and how to do exceptional work. But she’ll never forget the early days.

One of her early assignments as an associate sparked her interest in complex deals and taught her the importance of making a difference on behalf of clients. “News Corp is a big player today,” she recalled, “but in the early ‘90s, it was having financial difficulty. As a member of the Shearman & Sterling team advising News Corp, I helped negotiate a workout of all of its debt globally. There were over 100 different credit facilities and about 150 lenders involved.”

Even by today’s global standards such a level of complexity would be considered significant – but at the time it was almost unheard of. She explained, “The corporate organization chart – if you put it on the wall – covered 10 feet. I spent my mornings talking with European lenders, my afternoons in the US, and my nights with Australian and Japanese banks. We got all of the lenders to agree to a standstill.”

“That, as a deal, will always stand out because of the sheer complexity and the opportunity to be creative. Starting with News Corp and continuing to this day, workouts and restructuring are among the more interesting things that I do. I like to find solutions that help my clients.”

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