Voice of Experience: Gail Cohen, Vice Chairman and General Trust Counsel, Fiduciary Trust Company International

:ÌpBy Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Gail Cohen says that her career in law “happened by happenstance.” Out of college, she was hired by a trust and estate attorney because she could type, but ended up staying with the firm for 10 years during which time she became a paralegal, attended law school, and became an attorney.

“When I finished college and began working for the law firm, I thought about going to law school, but I had no clear direction,” Cohen said. “I had no idea what kind of law and honestly, at the time I had no idea what trust law was.”

After working at her first small law firm, Cohen spent several more years working for a large international law firm, Cohen then took a position with Fiduciary Trust, where she has spent the last 20-years of her career, now serving as vice chairman and general trust counsel. Currently, she is in the process of opening up a new office for Fiduciary Trust located in Boca Raton, FL.

“This is the kind of work that truly excites me because it’s entrepreneurial,” Cohen said. “I’m spearheading the project and it’s a lot of responsibility: a new office in a new market, requiring that we build our reputation. It’s almost like a start-up. It’s thrilling!”

The Challenges of Leadership
As vice chairman and general counsel, Cohen is a leader at Fiduciary Trust and as such, her biggest challenge, she says, mirrors the challenge leaders in any industry encounter: making sure the people you’re working with can do their job well.

“Day-in-day-out, that is a big responsibility and a big challenge,” she said. “The goal is to give people the tools, resources, and knowledge they need to accomplish their role and fulfill their responsibilities.”

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Flexibility Stigma: The Unspoken Problem Facing Working Women and Men

iStock_000008472982XSmallBy Tina Vasquez, Editor

According to Professor Victoria Brescoll’s June 2013 study, “Ask and Ye Shall Receive? The Dynamics of Employer-Provided Flexible Work Options and the Need for Public Policy”, managers are most likely to grant flexible work schedules to men in high-status jobs who request flextime to pursue career advancement opportunities. Women in both high and low status jobs, on the other hand, are unlikely to be granted flextime for either family or career reasons.

Flexible work options include telecommuting, compressed work weeks, and sharing jobs, among other things. According to the Yale School of Management’s Yale Insights, to study the circumstances under which managers are willing to grant their employees flexible work schedules, the researchers behind “Ask and Ye Shall Receive” asked managers to react to scenarios of employees requesting flextime in the form of a shift in work hours. The scenarios varied in whether an employee was male or female, in a high-status managerial job or a lower-status hourly wage job, and the reason for the flextime request—either for childcare or to take professional development classes. The cruel irony is that researchers found that women in high-status jobs requesting flextime for career advancement were the most likely to think their requests would be granted, though they were the least likely to have their requests granted.

When speaking to Yale Insights, Brescoll said, “Workers most in need of flexible scheduling… are among the least likely to receive accommodations from their managers. All women workers, regardless of their status or the reason for their request, face a gendered wall of resistance to their requests for flextime, while men face status-specific resistance.”

Denied & Stigmatized
Not only do women struggle to obtain the flexible work options they so desperately need, they’re stigmatized when they take advantage of the flex options available to them – and interestingly, so are men. According to Work-Life Law, studies spanning 30 years have consistently verified that employees who use workplace flexibility statutes suffer career detriments. When speaking to the New York Times last summer, Joan C. Williams, founding director of the Center for Work-Life Law, said she invented the term “flexibility stigma” to describe the recent phenomena of companies having flexible work policies on the books, though it’s known to employees that they’ll be informally penalized for using them.

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Persuasive Presentation: Bringing Content to Life

Headshot tigerBy Raleigh Mayer, Gravitas Guru, Raleigh Mayer Consulting

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld famously said, “Ninety percent of the population would rather be in the box than give the eulogy.” Although Seinfeld is an entertainer and not a psychologist, his perspective on the enthusiasm – or lack thereof – most show for public speaking was spot-on. Those who manage to brave the stage or podium, whether by choice or assignment, tend to be fairly uninspiring. In fact, the most common appraisal from colleagues who have listened to another executive speak is a one-word review: “fine”. And “fine” is adequate praise, considering the limited creativity, enthusiasm, and delivery techniques that most presenters display.

So what’s the antidote to a “fine” presentation?

The Power Source of a Presentation
Most presenters tend to follow a very academic model for their programs, meaning they invest the bulk of their effort, time, and energy on research and content. It’s a mistake. Content, of course, is critical, but to deliver it well one must first be prepared—or coached or trained—to convey confidence, or at least the illusion of confidence, to reassure the audience that the speaker is qualified and worth listening to. In addition to real or perceived confidence, a presenter must actively seek to make a compelling connection to their audience, both to include the room as a whole and to appear to engage with as many individuals as possible, through eye contact, compelling gesture, and vocal dynamics.

Keep in mind that when we listen to a speaker in the workplace or on a political stage, our main judgments are rarely in response to the content—“What did you think of her speech?”—but on the speaker: “What did you think of her?”

As much as content matters, it is equally necessary to give attention to the human behaviors that audiences respond well to, which include the appearance of confidence, fluid body language, the illusion of direct contact, an engaging voice or tone of voice, well-structured content, and perhaps most important: energy, passion, and personalization.

Albert Mehrabian, psychology professor emeritus at University of Southern California, has studied the impression-making effect of behaviors on an audience, discovering that 55 percent of all impressions are purely visual – and this includes attire, personal appearance, posture, and gesture. Mehrabian also found that 35 percent are tonal (having to do with pitch, volume, and pace of speech). Only 10 percent of impressions, Mehrabian discovered, are directly related to content.

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Women on the Verge: Three Practical Tips for Getting Ahead on Wall Street

iStock_000010363335XSmallBy Jordannah Elizabeth

We’ve all heard that women make up 54 percent of the workforce, but only 16 percent of senior management jobs. So, how do you move from a middle level position to leading the strategy and direction of the firm?

If you’re a woman on the verge of making a big move, or mulling it over, consider these practical tips for making a splash:

1. Harness the Power of Online Networking
It’s clear that any woman who is going after a high-powered position in any industry will need to have a strong resume and portfolio. While many focus on painstakingly compiling their credentials, career background, and accomplishments, spending weeks on application materials and making everything look as perfect as can be on paper, they’re forgetting one important thing: digital trumps paper.

Having a strong Linkedin profile and digital resume is of the utmost importance. More and more we’re hearing about crucial connections being made online and women landing their dream jobs as a result of creating a stellar LinkedIn profile. If you haven’t harnessed the power of online networking, you’re behind the curve.

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Can You Bring Your Whole Self to Work?

iStock_000018133371XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Are you the same person at work as you are at home? For many women, especially those working in male-dominated industries like the financial services, law, or technology, the answer is no. Whether that means feeling pressured to conform to outmoded gender stereotypes or to leave family concerns at the door, in some organizations or teams, there is an expectation that workers fit a certain persona.

We’ve heard many times the exhortation that we should bring our “whole selves” to work, that we should be able to bring our whole selves to work. But what happens when it’s clear our “whole selves” aren’t welcome in the office?

A new paper, published in the Academy of Management Review‘s fourth quarter issue, describes the ways people navigate identity expectations at work. The authors, Lakshmi Ramarajan, Harvard Business School, and Erin M. Reid, Boston University School of Management, explain the pros and cons of different coping strategies for employees and for organizations.

According to Ramarajan and Reid, when people feel their work and non-work selves are harmonized, they are less stressed out and more productive. That’s why companies should push the inclusion agenda, rather than trying to force out differences of personality and passion that bring true diversity to the workplace.

Increasing Tension Between Selves

Ramarajan and Reid article is called “Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Non-Work Identities at Work.” They say the tension between work and non-work personae have become more fraught over the past 20 years for three reasons. First of all, job security has decreased over the past two decades, meaning people are relying more on their personal networks to find and keep jobs – which means there’s more mixing of work and personal relationships. Second, they write, diversity has increased in the professional realm significantly. They write:

“Although women and minorities are making their way into previously homogeneous roles and occupations, organizational and occupational entry, socialization, and promotion processes are often based on the images of previous successful workers… Not fitting this image might heighten workers’ attention to their disqualifying nonwork identities…”

Meanwhile, those accustomed to homogeneity may have never had reason to consider difference before. “Heightened diversity may also make nonwork identities more salient for all workers simply by placing people more frequently in interactions with demographically different colleagues,” they explain.

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Voice of Experience: Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist & Co-Founder, Risk Economics, Inc.

Samantha KappagodaBy Hadley Catalano

Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, Inc. in New York City, loves puzzles. She sees equations and hidden patterns woven throughout all aspects of life – from the Fibonacci sequence in a nautilus to the socioeconomic trends of an aging workforce – and feels compelled to solve them.

For Kappagoda, who is also the Co-Lead Investigator at the RiskEcon Lab for Decision Metrics and a visiting scholar at Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences at New York University, analytical problems are the fuel driving her dedication to her profession. An occupation she sees more than just a career, but a perpetuation of the legacy of all female mathematicians and statisticians.

“There have always been women scientists, but the current perception is not necessarily accurate, in that their contributions are under-represented,” said Kappagoda, recently named the 2013 Women of Distinction by the Girls Scouts of Greater New York.

Kappagoda explained that women have always had significant scientific influence, although the archetype of the profession often tends to be misleading.

“One of the main barriers to success for women in STEM is that the world does not tend to have the complete picture of these women’s great accomplishments and contributions to their fields,” Kappagoda said. This includes women like Ada Byron King, metaphysician and founder of scientific computing, as well as actress Hedy Lamarr, who patented an idea in 1942 for frequency hopping, which later supported secure military communications and mobile phone technology.

This is why Kappagoda encourages women pursuing economics, statistics, and mathematics to develop skills and build camaraderie.

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Developing “Leadership Presence”: 14 Tips

Leadership PresenceQuite frequently in my leadership consulting and coaching practice, I am asked about “leadership presence,” specifically how to increase our “executive presence” or “board room presence.” Coincidently, many of the men and women who bring this up are people whom I believe already do, in fact, have significant leadership presence.

This may not be surprising as we all have some degree of insecurity, that inner voice in our mind that often whispers negative thoughts to us. The key question is how much insecurity do we have and how do we manage it? While there is a wealth of good information about this subject on the Internet and in books, articles, and videos, let me offer my ideas gained from my experience.

Our leadership presence stands on the shoulders of our character – our values, how we carry ourselves, how we think, what we say, and what we do.

Here are basic principles that will help us a great deal:

1. Have a positive attitude, be encouraging and helpful to others, and never – I repeat, never – speak critically about someone behind their back. (Doing so reflects poorly on you.)

2. Be an attentive listener. Listen to understand and learn. Lean forward. Let people sense your interest and that you care. If appropriate, take notes. It is a sign of respect.

3. Use your soft skills, being friendly, warm, and welcoming.

4. Don’t talk about yourself. Realize that your listening is your gift to others. Be curious. Try to listen 80 percent and speak 20 percent of the time.

5. Want to impress someone? Ask helpful questions that show your leadership presence. For example, “What first step could you take to help you achieve that goal?” or “What is holding you back?”

6. Appearance is important, dress neatly and for the occasion. Being well groomed and smiling helps, as do comfortable eye contact, a firm handshake, standing tall, shoulders back, and walking purposefully like an athlete. We can all do that.

7. Try to always be early and remember names, which is very important and a simple way to impress people.

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Be Happy – It’s All About Autonomy

iStock_000004699538XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to recent research out of Northwestern University and Stanford University, it is possible to make yourself more happy. In fact, the study suggests, there may be a connection between happiness and personal empowerment. That is, acknowledging that you have the power to change your own level of happiness is what drives happiness to increase.

The researchers, Kelly Goldsmith, Northwestern University; David Gal, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Northwestern University; and Lauren Cheatham, Stanford University, set out to find whether thinking about happiness is enough to make people happier. What they found was that simply pondering the nature of happiness wasn’t enough.

Over the course of three experiments, the researchers found that people who merely thought about happiness in general didn’t really report any increase in their level of personal happiness. But they did see a significant boost in the reported happiness of people who were prompted daily to think about what they did that day to make themselves happier.

It seems that happiness is all about autonomy – a reminder that we can change our happiness level is what actually makes us happier. If you really want to make a difference in how happy you feel, instead of saying daily “I want to be happier,” your mantra should be “What have I done today to be happier?” Here’s why.

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Voice of Experience: Gloria M. Grandolini, Country Director for Mexico and Colombia, World Bank

gloriagrandoliniBy Irene Solaz (Madrid)

Gloria M. Grandolini, Country Director for Mexico and Colombia at the World Bank, has never regretted her choice. She began her career as a traditional macroeconomist when she joined the World Bank 23 years ago, and later substituted her technical responsibilities for those of an executive working for the strategic and management dimensions.

“Since day one I have been working and taking decisions aimed at providing better opportunities to others, with a wider understanding of the global context, and the political and socioeconomic dynamics.”

Experience in the World Bank
It wasn’t easy in the beginning. Ten years ago, as a macroeconomist, she became the World Bank Treasury Manager and, later, the Director of the Financial Products group.

She felt overwhelmed because she did not have any experience in this area, and managing a group of traders and Finance PhDs as well as working with the increasing responsibilities of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis proved to be hard. But the management skills she had learned in her previous jobs allowed her to “bring a different perspective to the group”.

“I feel most proud of mentoring more junior staff along my career. Today, I feel pride and joy when I see many of them succeeding and reaching managerial positions.”

Grandolini has learned a lot along the way. “The chemistry and loyalty with the people you work with, both your boss and your closest colleagues, make a huge difference in terms of work environment, support, trust and ultimately your success.”

She also notes that “all money-related arrangements need to be stated in writing. Verbal agreements are not enough. And I’m not referring to salary arrangements but to any work-related matter or agreement related to money matters – such as budgets!”

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Finding Women-Friendly Employers: Look for the accolades and then look beyond them

iStock_000012303174XSmallBy Jennifer Keck

More than ever, companies in the financial services sector are recruiting top female talent, but many employers have yet to address the career challenges women face. Lack of mentoring, leadership programs, and flexible scheduling options steer women off an otherwise promising career track.

When it comes to getting ahead, a women-friendly employer is vital to your success. Here are a few ways you can ensure you’re making a move to a company that goes out of its way to recruit and retain women:

Look for the Accolades
Companies with women-friendly policies often receive the recognition they deserve. Catalyst is a great place to start your search – and it’s an organization we often feature on The Glass Hammer. The organization awards companies for excellence in addressing diversity issues, while also serving as a resource for businesses and job seekers.

Other resources include the National Association for Female Executives, which publishes a list of top companies for executive women, Working Mother Magazine, known for its list of 100 Best Companies, and Vault.com, a site that posts company rankings, salary data, and more.

For anyone working in accounting, Accounting Today Magazine is a must on your subscription list. You should also find out if your potential employer is included in the Accounting MOVE Project, a yearly report that profiles firms that are making headway in retaining and advancing women.

Evaluate Programs and Policies
Companies often emphasize diversity hiring, work-life balance, and/or benefits packages on their website. However, that doesn’t mean they have impactful programs in place. Weeding out the posers from the real deal is essential.

“Some firms decorate their website with a string of awards that they have won,” says Joanne Cleaver, President of Wilson-Taylor Associates. “If they are claiming that they are award-winning, or on a ‘best’ list, then it is reasonable to ask them quite specifically why they won those awards and how you could expect to experience that award-winning culture in everyday life.”

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