February 2014 | The Glasshammer

Accept it – we’re all part of the changing face of leadership

By Nneka Orji

Within the women at work discussion, there is a lack of diversity considering the fact that African-American, Asian and Latina women make up only one eighth of all women holding management and professional positions in the US.

Recently, President Obama, in his State of the Union address, supported the case for pay parity and ethnicity, citing that women generally make 77 cents on the dollar for the same job (and with the same education). There is an added nuance here as African-American and Latina women generally make 64 cents and 55 cents respectively. These numbers reflect the wage gap across all industries and classes of people in America, but how do these statistics impact those who identify as minorities on Wall Street or in Fortune 500 companies?

Changing perceptions
Being a minority can be a challenge. We all want to belong and when we feel like an outsider it can have a direct impact on how we shape our careers. According to a study conducted by Catalyst, women who feel ethnically/racially diverse – different to the majority – are also less likely to be mentored by C-suite and senior executives; 58 percent of those women who feel ethnically/racially different are mentored by this group, compared to 71 percent of women who do not feel different, 72 percent of men who feel different, and 77 percent of men who do not feel different. In addition to less access to senior level mentoring, ethnically (when manifested as race), the study suggests that women who identify with non-dominant groups in the workplace are more likely to lower their aspirations.

These diminished aspirations coupled with fewer mentoring opportunities can have a tacit impact in the initiatives aimed to increase this group’s representation at the executive and board levels.

Aspirations are linked to self-perception, so in order to achieve more notable progress women must change their self-perceptions. GEM’s 2012 Women’s Report showed that in all economies within their study sample, women perceived themselves to be less capable than men. While current corporate environments are likely not to offer the role models who look like “outsiders,” women do not need to look too far to find the reference points which support high aspirations as there are successful women all around them.

Business leaders must also work on shifting their mind-set as the real impact of misguided perceptions can still be seen throughout business. In a study run by the University of Utah, investors found IPOs led by female founders or female CEOs less attractive because they perceived women to be less capable than their male counterparts. While this study excluded race and ethnicity as a factor, a separate 2007 study found that over three quarters of the minority ethnic women surveyed felt that the leadership style of white women was more positively received. The image of competence and ability is changing, yet there seems to be slow acceptance of this fact.

February 28, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Voice of Experience: Natasha Granholm, Partner, PwC US

Voices of Experience

Natasha Granholm began her career at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP) as an intern and is now a partner and though she’s clearly a success in her field, she laughs when admitting that her interest in accounting was by happenstance. She was really only looking for an “easy” honors class in high school that would allow her to boost her GPA, but her teacher saw something in her and decided to enroll her in accounting competitions. “There is such a thing as an accounting competition, I promise,” Granholm laughed.

Once in college, she didn’t have an “absolute desire” to enter accounting, but knew it was worth exploring given her propensity for the field.

“The real appeal to me was that it wasn’t just about computing numbers. Accounting is theoretical; it’s not just about being good at math,” the partner said.

Early in her career, Granholm did a little of everything, from serving clients in the tax-exempt sector to M&A, an area she was particularly drawn to because of the dynamic and fast-paced nature of the work. She even did a “tour of duty” with PwC’s national M&A group in Washington, D.C. where she says she grew both personally and professionally.

“It opened up my point of view and gave me a more global perspective,” Granholm said.

Redirecting
Not too long after Granholm returned to Chicago from D.C., the economy began to decline and when the US economy fell into a recession in late 2008, the deal markets came to a halt. At this time, she was pregnant and decided to take some time off from work to focus on her family. When she returned in 2010, the economy hadn’t fully bounced back and Granholm wasn’t sure which direction to take her career in, though she did know she wanted to continue at PwC.

February 27, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

What To Tell Your Little Sister About Her First Internship

Mentors and Sponsors

By Ashley Mosley

These days, internships are a rite of passage for students and young professionals. That rite of passage, however, has recently been tested.

According to ProPublica, more than 30 lawsuits have been filed by interns against firms like Sony and Universal. While most complaints have to do with back pay, discrimination and sexual harassment have also been noted.

Consider this: Your little sister is venturing into her first internship. What sorts of things should you tell her? In order to optimize her role to ensure she’s getting the most out of her internship, here are things she needs to know:

Internships Should Be Educational
Contrary to the movies, internships shouldn’t be about grabbing coffee, running errands, or making photocopy after photocopy. They should directly relate to her field of study or boost her career in some way. Recent reports also suggest this is what the majority of interns want, with 30.2 percent reporting they want the chance to do real work and 47.3 percent reporting they are interested in access to executives and mentorship.

Interns Should Be Compensated For Their Work
Here’s the deal: Interns need to be compensated for their work. There’s no way around it. The majority of the 30+ lawsuits mentioned previously have to deal with compensation; the fact that interns were putting in the work, but not getting paid for it. Plus, paid interns are generally happier and more engaged. Being paid can also help the millions of students who have the burden of student loans.

Consider telling your little sister this: Paid internships not only attract the most diverse candidates, these interns also have an increased shot at getting hired.

If your little sister has taken on an unpaid internship, make sure she’s also aware of her rights — and alternatives she can request if pay is not an option: a stipend, skills training, networking opportunities, event attendance, flexibility, or company outings.

February 26, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Thought Leader: TJ Huntley, Managing Director, Internal Audit, Citi

Thought Leaders

This month, TJ Huntley, Managing Director of Internal Audit at Citi, celebrates 22 years of working in the financial services industry. She remarked, “This industry allows you to make a difference with customers and clients and simultaneously engage in various analysis of key risk, independently assess the design and operating effectiveness of key controls, and engage in various operational process initiatives.”

As the financial services industry has evolved over the years, so has Huntley. Throughout her career, she has always embraced change and new challenges. This, she noted, is a key component of professional growth and development. Huntley advised, “You cannot survive as a leader if you are not equipped to handle changes that may be required in your strategy, vision, or leadership style. Innovation requires change.”

Huntley added, “You have to believe that you can contribute at a fast pace in an environment full of change, like the financial services industry, where so much is happening from a regulatory perspective.”

Navigating the Regulatory Environment of Financial Services
According to Huntley, the challenges presented by regulatory compliance are currently a key focus for senior level executives in financial services. “Right now, various organizations are going through a series of transformations, looking at what they do and figuring out how to do it better. Having a strong and independent internal audit department is important for interpreting, assessing, and identifying the gaps within an organization, and advising the boards on the risks and independent audit assessments associated with different business practices.”

Regulators have what Huntley referred to as heightened expectations for large national banks and federal savings associations to strengthen the minimum expectations and force organizations in the financial services industry to look at their risk management practices, which include assessing the controls to mitigate risk and demonstrating sustainability of those controls. “These expectations are driving the actions of all the critical banks,” said Huntley.

February 25, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Voice of Experience: Leslie Hale, CFO, RLJ Lodging Trust

Voices of Experience

RLJ Lodging Trust’s CFO, Leslie Hale, grew up in an entrepreneurial family and from an early age she says she was in love with the concept of taking one dollar and turning it into two. She was a natural. Whether it was getting chosen out of college for GE’s world renowned, ultra-competitive Financial Management Program or becoming a CFO at the age of 35, time and time again it’s been proven that she was born to thrive in the financial services industry.

To Hale, one of the biggest appeals of the industry was that it went well beyond Wall Street, enabling you to apply your skills and learn new ones in areas as varied as real estate and healthcare.

This love of learning about new sectors was fostered at GE, where Hale was rotated to a different area every six-months. Hale has done just about everything the industry has to offer, from working on Wall Street to working in mergers and acquisitions (and everything in between), eventually deciding she liked real estate the best. She would spend five-years in this space before business school.

“The beauty of financial services is that while every industry is different, the actual finance aspect is the same. You can take your skills and apply them anywhere that interests you and you can be successful in that space,” Hale said.

A Career to Be Proud Of

There are very few women CFOs and even fewer African American women CFOs and as an African American woman serving as CFO of a publicly traded company, Hale is one of just a handful in the entire United States. Clearly, this is one of her proudest achievements.

“I’m fortunate to work for a great company with a visionary CEO who was willing to take a chance on me,” Hale said. “Success, as we know, is about being prepared, but it’s also about opportunity. When you’re prepared and an opportunity arises, it can be career changing.”

February 24, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Professional Women in the UK Face a Large Pay Gap and Struggle to Juggle it All

Managing Change

By Irene Velázquez

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, in 2013 the gender pay gap between male and female full-time workers increased to 10 percent from 9.6 percent. It is also being reported that one of the industries where women experience the largest pay gap is financial services.

Clare Flynn Levy, CEO of the financial software firm Essentia Analytics, says men are granted higher salaries simply because they stand up for their rights more than women do.

“Women don’t tend to shout from the rooftops about their achievements and talents the way that men do. They don’t tend to put themselves forward for projects and promotions,” Levy said. The CEO also says that men fight for a bonus they don’t believe they deserved, something most women wouldn’t do.

Levy also cites the financial service industry’s “traditional work environment” as an issue.

“In fund management, there is quite a traditional work environment where you are at your desk early in the morning and you leave relatively late, and it’s quite face-time oriented. There’s an assumption that ‘I have to be at my desk between eight and six every day.’ Once you have kids, maybe that becomes a problem.”

Women essentially have two jobs: their full time, paid work, and their full time domestic duties at home. Given that women often have to work twice as hard to get noticed in the workplace, it’s no wonder the women surveyed in the UK are feeling the overwhelming pressure to perform, which makes the pay gap even more dispiriting. In the funds industry in London, women are experiencing a pay gap of 37 percent, according to the salary data company Emolument.

A Problem for Business
Emolument reports that asset management companies do not pay women fairly. In London, women earn a minimum of £40,000, whereas men earn at least £41,375 at analyst-level, and £34,300 and £34,800 at the entry-level.

February 21, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Being the ‘Other’: How Othering Holds Women of Color Back

Office Politics

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Contrary to commonly held stereotypes, women who feel racially/ethnically different are not less qualified to lead. According to Catalyst’s latest report, Feeling Different: Being the “Other” in US Workplaces, which is based on data from high-potential women and men who have MBA degrees, differences in experience, such as the time since they received their degrees, do not explain the gaps in rank that exist between women who feel racially/ethnically different and those who did not or between these women and men who felt different. It appears as if a great source of these gaps is something called “otherness.”

Feeling Different & Being Excluded
As defined by Catalyst, otherness is about being different or having characteristics that set you apart from the dominant group or groups in a given context. Those who feel like an “other” not only feel different, but also feel separated from the essential aspects of a group. The issue is that when women of color, or anyone who feels in the minority in the workplace, do not experience belonging in a group, they may consequently be excluded.

Don’t be mistaken: This isn’t just about “feelings” or being excluded from after-work drinks – though exclusion from informal networks can be a concern. Othering translates into a serious problem for women of color wanting to get ahead and for companies who need diversity to compete on the global stage. The report states:

“Those who experience otherness in the workplace are by definition not part of the dominant power structure at the top of a company. Many people believe that their lack of advancement is a result of a lack of insider knowledge or training—for instance, not knowing that they should seek out mentors within their company or that a lack of visible projects can hold them back. Our findings, however, suggest that it is not lack of knowledge, but rather lack of access, that impedes the advancement of those who feel different from the majority in their workgroup.”

According to Catalyst’s report, women who felt racially/ethnically different were the least likely to be at the senior executive/CEO level (10 percent) compared to men who felt different (19 percent) and those who did not feel different (16 percent women; 25 percent men). Of women who felt racially/ethnically different, 48.2 percent had received two or more promotions. In contrast, 51.4 percent of men who felt racially/ethnically different had received two or more promotions as had 55.6 percent of women and 58.4 percent of men who did not feel racially/ethnically different.

February 20, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Voice of Experience: Lisa Opoku, Chief Operating Officer for the Securities Division in Asia Pacific, Goldman Sachs

Voices of Experience

In 2003, Lisa Opoku came to Goldman Sachs for what was supposed to be a three-month assignment, but her stint became a stay. In 2009, she became Chief Operating Officer for the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific and in 2012, she was promoted to partner. She came to the multinational investment banking firm from Richards, Kibbe & Orbe and says that her background as a lawyer gave her an advantage, even becoming partner at the firm while still on assignment at Goldman.

“When I started my career I was all about hard work. My parents are from Ghana and I have inherited an immigrant’s work ethic. My parents taught me that if I put my head down and work hard, the rewards will come,” Opoku said. “The corporate world is much more complex than that. You can do an excellent job and it can sometimes be invisible if you are not careful. You have to be vocal about what you contribute, network with your colleagues and clients, and make sure that you are an advocate for your career.”

Team Work

Currently, Opoku’s favorite project is the team she is building in Bangalore, focused on system enhancements and improvements to global processes.

“I am most proud of the team that I have developed in Asia Pacific; you are only as good as your team. I trust my team with many difficult strategic projects and they always deliver the highest quality product,” the COO said. “It is not easy to learn to delegate when we are all ‘Type –A’ people but, it is the only way to truly gain leverage and be more strategic about your work. Every day we can see the impact. The talent in Bangalore is so impressive and the team there is adding a ton of value to our Global Management and Strategy priorities.”

Right now, Opoku is very focused on changes in technology, with Goldman’s trading desks partnering with its technology professionals to enhance performance and efficiency.

February 20, 2014/by The Glass Hammer

Turn Your Mentors into Sponsors

Expert Answers

By Ida Abbott

Sylvia Hewlett’s pioneering research has shown the importance of sponsorship for women who want to get ahead in their careers. Though the title of her new book is “(Forget a Mentor) Find a Sponsor”, I believe both sponsorship and mentoring are crucial. Mentors serve important career functions and many mentors evolve into sponsors. The key is to be shrewd about finding mentors who can best move your career in the right direction and then get them to champion your success.

While there are important distinctions between mentors and sponsors, both concentrate on helping you achieve career success. Today, mentors are seen primarily as advisors and counselors who foster your learning and professional development, but do not necessarily go out of their way to advocate for you or push for your promotion. In contrast, sponsorship is predicated on power and focuses on career advancement. A sponsor treats you as a protégée, actively grooms you for promotions and leadership roles, and has the power and influence to make their advocacy produce positive career results for you.

Sponsors become more important as your career progresses, especially as you move closer to the top where the competition for partnership, leadership, and resources is greater and the stakes become higher. That’s when you need someone to speak up for you and persuade decision-makers that you deserve a promotion to partner, a higher bonus, or a seat on the executive committee. For someone to do this, however, they must believe that you are worth the risk they are taking in standing up for you. They must know you well enough to trust that you will live up to your promise and their expectations.

This level of knowledge, confidence, and trust takes time to grow. When you already have a mentoring relationship with someone, the foundation for sponsorship is present. But you need to carefully identify the mentors who could become sponsors and then move the relationship in that direction.

When assessing a mentor’s potential to become a sponsor, look beyond the good advice, emotional support, and feeling of comfort they offer you. Many women gravitate to mentors, frequently other women, whom they see as understanding and supportive. But sponsorship is about the power to help you move up, not about friendship or role models. In most organizations and professional firms, the vast majority of power brokers are men. If these men are able and willing to help you achieve your career goals, they may be your best sponsors even if their personalities and lifestyles do not appeal to you.

February 19, 2014/by The Glass Hammer