Megan Hogan: Chief Diversity Officer, Goldman Sachs

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Megan HoganIn the latest edition of the Glass Hammer, Megan Hogan, Goldman Sachs’ chief diversity officer, shares her path to the firm, comments on her passion for diversity, equity and inclusion, and discusses her interests outside of the office. 

Megan Hogan, Goldman Sachs’ chief diversity officer, joined the firm in 2014 as a vice president on the Diversity & Inclusion team, and has spent her time at the firm supporting efforts related to the recruitment, development and advancement of diverse professionals.

Prior to her current role, Hogan led the diversity recruiting team, spearheading new programs such as the firm’s Black Analyst and Associate Initiative and Neurodiversity Hiring Initiative, which provide mentorship and networking opportunities to Black and neurodiverse individuals, respectively. In addition, Hogan’s team partnered with teams across the firm to establish the Market Madness: HBCU Possibilities Program earlier this year, which recruits students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

She notes that she’s most proud of launching the neurodiversity initiative in 2019 on World Autism Day. “As a mother of a child with learning differences, it has been important for me both personally and professionally to create opportunities for children like mine who are exceptionally bright, but navigate the world differently,” said Hogan.

A Thread of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” Throughout Prior Work

“Prior to joining the firm, there was a thread of advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in my corporate law work,” said Hogan. She worked as a litigation associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP covering white collar, insurance, and complex commercial cases and trials. During that period, Hogan dedicated significant time to pro bono cases, primarily representing immigrants seeking asylum. “I come from an immigrant family – my mother’s family came from the Dominican Republic to find better educational and economic opportunity for themselves and their children. It’s always been important to me to advocate for people seeking refuge from persecution as a way to pay it forward and allow others to find those same opportunities,” said Hogan.

During an externship, she also spent six months working for MFY Legal Services, where she provided legal assistance to low-income New Yorkers to resolve issues in the areas of housing and foreclosure. “A large part of my work was focused on identifying housing opportunities for people who had difficulty finding affordable housing,” Hogan said. “This included protecting them from private actors or individuals who might be biased against them.

Commenting on her decision to interview at Goldman Sachs, Hogan said: “I ultimately realized that I wanted to work on diversity, equity and inclusion full time.” She went on to say of the firm’s diversity and inclusion work in recent years: “We have done a lot of great work to level the playing field across recruiting, and opening up opportunities at the firm to an even greater array of candidates.”

Recruiting and Diversity-Related Goals

Discussing Goldman Sachs’ recruiting and diversity aspirational goals, Hogan highlighted that the firm has “seen the power of having goals, as well as remaining transparent and holding ourselves accountable.”

She went on to underscore the importance of providing transparency to ensure that managers across the firm understand their role to recruit and retain diverse individuals on their teams: “We need to ensure that every individual throughout Goldman Sachs understands they have a responsibility to help reach our aspirational goals and foster inclusion and diversity.”

“I Never Lose, I Only Win or I Learn”

Hogan, who earned a BA in African-American Studies and Psychology from Yale University in 2003 and a JD from Fordham University School of Law in 2006, shared that early on in her career, she reflected often on a Nelson Mandela quote: “I never lose, I only win or I learn.”

She went on to note that, “As a first generation college student, I thought there was no room for failure or mistakes. I realized there should be no fear when it comes to failure – we only learn from our missteps over time, and it leads us to do more interesting things.”

Hogan also shared advice for individuals beginning their careers, noting the importance of taking risks: “After graduating from law school, I felt the need to have a five-year plan mapped out. But, by being so focused on implementing this plan, I didn’t take advantage of other stretch opportunities, such as mobility or working in different areas of law.” Her recommendation: “Innovate and learn by thinking outside the box, taking risks and betting on yourself.”

A Passion for Helping Others

Hogan has been a long-time advocate for addressing hunger insecurity throughout New York, a cause she describes as “near and dear to my heart.”

For several years, she has volunteered with the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, and notes that the employees of this organization are “on the front lines, making sure that homeless individuals or those in shelters have access to their next meal.”

In addition, Hogan serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Center on Race, Law & Justice at Fordham University School of Law and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s New York Advisory Council.

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Op-Ed: Back to School Strategies for Working Parents As School Resumes

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Daisy DowlingBeyond the kids’ health and safety, nothing is as important to you as their education.  Here’s what to know and do as they head back to school this (unusual) fall.

But if you’re busy adapting to the pandemic “next normal” – and simultaneously concerned that your five-year-old will have a difficult time adjusting to the school routine, that your eight-year-old will need help with her science homework, and that those standardized tests are looming, too, it puts you in a real bind.

With some special working parent tactics and approaches, however, you’ll be better able to handle all of those details and logistics while focusing on the piece that really matters: your child’s overall academic development and long-term success in school. Where to start in terms of handling the current working-parent “school challenge”? By taking charge in three educational areas that can be the most challenging for you as a working mom or dad.

Homework

Homework can all too often morph into an overwhelming, time-consuming exercise that ends past bedtime, in power struggles and tears. What should be a simple algebra worksheet can leave you feeling torn: of course you want your child to succeed academically, practice resilience, and feel comfortable tackling new challenges—but when you’ve got so little time to spend together each evening, the last thing you want to do is spend it carping at your child to finish her assignment, or checking it for errors. So:

  • Figure out an organizational system that works. Review your calendars together at the start of the week so that you and your child both know what’s coming as far as homework, quizzes, and tests; set up special baskets to hold uncompleted assignments and library books to be returned; and have your child lead “backpack check” each evening. Make it age-appropriate, but do find your system.
  • Emphasize that homework is your child’s, rather than a family, responsibility. Even if you plan to review your son’s Spanish conjugations, let him know that you’re there to help when he’s truly stuck, not to remind, nag, proofread, or otherwise serve as unpaid labor. As he grows, help him think ahead about bigger projects. As the science fair approaches, for example, ask “what’s your plan?” for making the papier-mâché volcano rather than leading the project yourself.
  • Hold a family study hall each evening. The kids do their homework, while you catch up on office emails or reading. Pick a reasonable length of time—ten minutes for a young child, ninety for a teenager, for example—and set a timer on your phone to go off when time’s up. When it does, the whole family gets to enjoy downtime or a relaxing activity like watching a favorite TV program together.
After-school activities—and ways to think about them

After-school activities can supplement your child’s education in wonderful ways, help you “stretch” care arrangements, and bring an element of fun into the relentless homework-and-testing cycle of modern education.

Taken too far, however, after-school activities can put terrible pressure on any working-parent family. Here’s how to keep perspective, ensure that extracurricular activities remain a positive, and make the choices that are right for you.

  • Avoid using activities to plug an emotional hole. It can be easy, if you feel guilty about working long hours, to “compensate” by stretching to pay for expensive ballet lessons or by spending all weekend, every weekend, focused on your child’s chess tournaments. And you may try to convince yourself that success on the stage or playing field now will make your child’s later life much easier. But overpaying, overscheduling, and overextending will only make working parenthood harder, and very likely reduce the benefits those same activities are supposed to bring.
  • Stay neutral and balanced. For each potential extracurricular activity, carefully consider its pluses and minuses. If it helps your child academically or socially and doesn’t require huge expense or time investment, great. If it makes scheduling and logistics easier, even better. But beware activities that leave you feeling like you’ve got yet another job to do.
  • Go slow. For driven professionals, it can be tempting to cram in as many extracurricular activities as possible, and do each one to the max. But your child doesn’t have an adult’s focus, energy, or drive, and her livelihood doesn’t depend on her performance on this field just yet. Set reasonable limits—e.g., one after-school activity per week or one sport per season—and let your kid say no if she wants to. Remind yourself that you can always sign up next semester, or as she grows and her interests change.
Volunteering—and how to do it efficiently

It’s unlikely you can make it to every school performance, library fundraiser, and field trip, even if you wanted to. So here’s what you can do instead. In the first week of school, tell your child’s teachers and/or the school’s volunteer coordinators that you’re eager to put in your fair share of sweat equity—but that you will be doing it all in one go. You’ll schedule a personal or vacation day well in advance and use it entirely for school volunteerism.

Maybe you’ll be the “reading helper” in your daughter’s class in the morning, walk the school’s neighborhood safety patrol in the afternoon, and take the minutes during the school fundraising-committee meeting at 5:00 p.m. When the day is over, you’ll enjoy knowing that your yearly contribution has been made in full—and efficiently. That “I’m not doing enough” guilt will go away, and you’ll be able to focus back on family and career.

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Copyright line: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Adapted from Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids by Daisy Dowling. Copyright 2021 Daisy Dowling. All rights reserved.

Daisy Dowling is the author of Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids (HBR Press, 2021). She is the founder and CEO of Workparent, an executive coaching, and training firm dedicated to helping working parents lead more successful and satisfying lives. She is a full-time working parent to two young children.

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Katherine Stoller: Partner, Litigation, Shearman & Sterling

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Katherine Stoller“You have to be able to step back and think about not only the problem in front of you right now, but what are the next several months of this case going to look like?” reflects Katherine Stoller. “Where are the risks that we’re not focused on today, but we need to be able to see coming at us from other directions?”

Stoller speaks to how listening matters, the importance of presence and anticipation, and bringing the hard-to-navigate topics into the office chat.

Growing Through High Intensity

Working in the litigation practice, Stoller represents clients in criminal and regulatory investigations – representing people and companies involved in government investigations that can involve allegations of money laundering, sanctions violations, securities fraud, insider trading and market manipulation. She also represents clients in civil litigation, advises financial institutions on their ongoing relationships with regulators and conducts internal investigations.

“By the time clients bring in an enforcement lawyer, they’re frequently in high-stakes situations with a potential crisis on the horizon, so you come in as the steady hand and repeat player. You have to be a good listener,” says Stoller. “The first job is always to understand the facts and figure out the strategy , and then be ready to adjust the strategy as you go. It’s fascinating working with clients through these high intensity stretches.”

Not only is Stoller energized by the caliber of clients she works with on both the legal and business side, but she finds the cross-border aspect of her practice means that she is constantly learning – be it political, legal or cultural differences among the various international jurisdictions.

“Every case involves a different geography and a different business. You have to get steeped in the facts and the relationships among the clients and the regulators or enforcement agencies,” says Stoller. “You learn so much about how other countries operate, and I love that.”

Holding Grace Under Fire

Stoller finds good listening is a prerequisite of being an effective lawyer.

“I think a lot of lawyers come in and think it’s their job to start speaking right away. But there’s so much listening you need to do to understand the business, what the authorities are looking at and what matters to each of the stakeholders,” she says. “Taking all that information and building it into a strategy, and making sure you’re not missing out on what’s important to each of the stakeholders, is a really important skill.”

Stoller feels that understanding “the importance of narrative” is also very important, the ability to shape the story in a way that people can not only understand it, but follow the facts that are crucial to your argument.

As the daughter of an M&A partner at Skadden, she remembers hearing her father on the phone and even as a girl, she picked up that he modeled being a trusted advisor: “He was always calm and precise. You could count on his judgment. There’s a presence to being the calmest person in the room when things become challenging and intense. I hope I picked some of that up from listening to him.”

Moving More Towards Vision and Anticipation

Stoller joined Shearman & Sterling in January 2020, recognizing the opportunity to thrive with the firm, and made partner on July 1st of this year.

As a junior lawyer in the investigations space, doing well was about being meticulous, understanding the record well and not losing track of the details. But as she’s grown more senior as a lawyer, Stoller notes the remit has moved much more to big picture strategy and anticipation.

“The more senior you get, the more you are responsible for steering and being able to see around the corner and anticipating the different challenges that you’ll face along the way,” she observes. “You get more experienced at identifying the problems you may be seeing tomorrow.”

Stoller also values being able to effectively mediate conversations through difficult or stuck places so they can move forward, and without having to be a “bang-on-the-table sort of lawyer”.

Learning from Witnessing, Including Yourself

Having joined Shearman just a few weeks before the lockdowns, with few days in the office, Stoller looks forward to again experiencing in-office time with colleagues.

She notes that for her, much of her most valuable mentorship has happened through witnessing other lawyers in action when it counts: “I’ve learned a lot from sitting in people’s offices on the days when things are going wrong, when you get bad news and you respond to it, and one call leads to another. The chance to watch how excellent senior lawyers practice is important for more junior lawyers.”

Stoller emphasizes to those whom she mentors that it’s up to them to think about where they want to go, what they are good at and what they still need to learn.

“I think young lawyers need to feel empowered to ask for the kind of work they want and to speak up in meetings. There’s a strong tendency to stay quiet, which is the flip side of how important it is to learn from listening,” notes Stoller. “I encourage my junior associates to jump in, tell me if I missed something, ask a question, make the point someone else didn’t make, and start getting used to the sound of your own voice and advice. Of course, you also need to back that up by being diligent and having command of the facts and details.”

Bridging the Conversations

Stoller believes certain conversations should happen more often around law offices, so she will often bring up the topics that more junior lawyers may be reticent about.

“There are conversations that are hard to have and times where you don’t know if it’s okay to ask for something,” says Stoller. “I try to open the door to conversations I wanted to have when I was starting out. It can be a matter of just saying to someone, how are you doing? What kind of support do you need?”

Taking care of very little ones while managing a career that values long hours and lots of face time is one topic example, and a challenge she navigated some years back: “It’s hard to talk about the reality of your career during those few years when you need to leave the office at a certain point, or you don’t know when you’re going to be able to get the baby to sleep.” She feels it needs to be spoken to more explicitly, so parents can be open about what’s going on.

With a son of nine and a daughter of six and a passion for reading herself, Stoller makes sure to read to her kids every night and is currently in middle of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, quite the throwback to her own childhood.

By: Aimee Hansen

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14 Career Insights and Tips From Women Leaders in Asia (Part 2)

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women leaders in asiaDuring our Spotlight on Asia this month, The Glass Hammer has curated the best of career insights and tips from inspiring female executives and women leaders in Asia.

In the first part of this series, we shared seven top tips. This week, we continue with seven more experience-based insights from Asian female executives.

1. Get out of your own way.

“The barriers to success for women in our profession are sometimes ourselves,” said Quek Bin Hwee, previously as the Vice-Chairman of PwC Singapore and the Markets Leader of PwC Asia. “We sometimes believe we cannot reach the pinnacle of our career. This is not always true. It is possible for those who desire it. These women tend to embrace change and always keep an open mind.”

Update: After 25 years of global and regional positions with PwC Singapore until 2017, Quek Bin Hwee sits as director across several boards and member on others.

2. Define your own possibilities for yourself.

“You need to determine your own path and carve out your own unique identity,” advised Paloma Wang, previously as a Partner, Capital Markets Group at Shearman & Sterling in Hong Kong, when reflecting on her trajectory. “Don’t let anyone else dictate who you are as a professional or as a person.”

Having ascended to partnership by 37 years old, Wang shared, “By establishing your own priorities and doing the things that truly make you happy, you will drive your career path in the right direction. Don’t make concessions because you are junior or because you are a woman. Plant your feet firmly and set your sights on achieving everything you want.”

Update: Paloma Wang is presently a Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates.

3. Take the risk of influencing outcomes.

“Earlier in my career, I was more reserved about expressing my views,” said Stephanie Hui, as Head of the Merchant Banking Division in Asia Pacific Ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs, who grew up as a Chinese woman in a conservative family in Hong Kong.

“But over time, I realized we are in the business of taking calculated risks and just keeping my head down to produce top quality work while hoping others would notice would not make me a leader,” Hui noted. “Instead, I would have to effectively and respectfully influence outcome. I learned that being vocal in the right context is important.”

Update: Stephanie Hui is an MD responsible for the private equity investing business of Goldman Sachs in Asia and has been with the firm for 26 years.

4. Do not contort yourself to conform.

“When I was first starting to practice law, I tried to mimic my male colleagues by dressing how they dressed and talking like them,” said Jun Wei, Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells in Beijing. “One day, a client of mine who was a very successful business woman told me that no matter how much I tried to act like a man, I would always be a woman. She urged me to be proud of my identity.”

Wei emphasized the importance of junior women lawyers to be themselves and resist conforming to male-dominated work environments just to fit in.

Update: Jun Wei remains a Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells, now over 19 years with the firm across mergers.

5. Manage your boss.

“It is important to know how to manage your boss,” said Siew Choo Ng, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Network Partnerships in Asia at American Express. “He or she is the one who can be your sponsor and help you with your career. Often times you are competing for their time and sponsorship with your other team members, so it helps to distinguish yourself from the pack.”

If she could have learned anything sooner to help her navigate, Ng said that would be the golden piece of advice.

Update: Siew Choo Ng still holds this position on her LinkedIn Profile.

6. Leap before you have all the answers.

“I think women have the tendency to be a bit conservative at work. What I mean is that we like to gather all of the information we can before providing an answer, for example. While that is important, I think women need to try to be a little more daring, take more risks and be confident,” said Wei Hopeman, previously as Managing Director and Head of Asia for Citi Ventures in Shanghai. “You have to start down a new path long before you have all of the answers because by the time you get all the answers, the original opportunity will be gone. This is something I have learned from my own career.”

“If you never take on new challenges and new experiences, then you are never really allowing yourself to learn and grow,” said Hopeman. “You learn every day. No matter how senior or junior you are, part of making yourself better is learning from your mistakes and your successes.”

Update: Wei Hopeman has been the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures for the past seven years and sits on several boards.

7. Seek to align with your purpose.

“To begin finding out what your purpose in life is, imagine looking back forty years from now and asking yourself what would make you proud, or if you would be able to admit to having lived a full and meaningful life,” suggested Nora Wu, formerly the PwC Global Vice Chairwoman and PwC Global Human Capital Leader out of China. “The answers will give you a good indication of what you want, or should, aim for in life.”

Wu then advised to not hold back: “You never know where one opportunity or interaction will lead you and you only can find out if you give it your best shot. You should never be afraid to work hard or put in the long hours. Work-life balance is indeed possible, especially if you do not separate your work and your life. By aligning your purpose, personality, and aspirations, it will be easier to create a balance.”

Update: Nora Wu is now an independent board member at JD Logistics and sits on a few boards.

We hope you enjoyed this two-part retrospective! Click here to see part one.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Geklang Lee: Chief Operating Officer, PGIM Real Estate, Asia-Pacific

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Geklang Lee“I think women’s trajectories should not be compromised when they have children, and that’s something that we need to advocate for,” says Geklang Lee. “I was fortunate enough to work in companies which were more enlightened.”

Lee speaks to accepting challenges, taking a career break for motherhood, being an executive and showing up in full integrity.

Seizing The Opportunity to Level Up

Born in Singapore, Lee was initially drawn to chemistry and biochemistry and scientific research. Unable to align with a path in genetic engineering, she took a completely different turn and chose to do research in the financial world.

She began in a research role on the sell-side in the public sector: “That fulfilled my desire and my interest in research. It fulfilled the analytical aspect of me.” Her enjoyment of the work drove her success and by 32 years old, she was a managing director.

Then Lee shifted to become a strategist, heading up the equity business in Singapore for Indosuez WI Carr, before moving again to become an Executive Director at UBS, to set up the Singapore Equities institutional research team which was subsequently ranked by Institutional Investors. As leadership opportunities came at her, Lee took them on despite the internal doubts to whether she was ready.

“Very often, women are much more cautious about opportunities or in raising their hands for opportunities. We feel like we need to be sure and know everything before we commit, because we want to do well,” says Lee. “But my view is that we should not shy away from challenging opportunities, putting ourselves out there and getting out of our comfort zone. If we set our minds to it and are willing to put in the hard work, then we can get the job done.”

Letting Go For Motherhood and Coming Back Again

“So many women feel that if they take time off to have a baby, they will be disadvantaged,” she says. “Sometimes organizations feel that way, too: you take time off, someone has to do your work, so there has to be a compromise. But I strongly disagree with that.”

In her case, both times Lee took maternity leave to have her children, she experienced an advancement. While on maternity leave with her first child, she received a big salary increase. When she came back from her second maternity leave, she was promoted to head the Singapore equity business at Indosuez WI Carr.

When over 40 years old, Lee left the UBS Executive Director role to spend three years with her three children, even though it felt like a risky move.

“I had already missed the growing years for my two older kids. I’d always had that guilty feeling of not being a mom, and had told myself I would look after my grandchildren,” she says. “But when my youngest was born, I decided, no, why should I wait? I actually wanted to spend time and bond more with my kids.”

For the first year, she retained a part-time consultancy with UBS. For the second two years, she was a full-time mom. Then as circumstances changed with her husband’s firm, she decided to return to work and reached out to her network contacts, which she had nurtured. Soon she was running the global real estate market neutral strategy for a hedge fund, before moving to PGIM Real Estate.

“Women shouldn’t be concerned about not being able to come back into the workforce, but I think what is critical is that we need to keep our contacts, “she says. “I always encourage people to keep your contacts within the network, as it’s extremely important for helping to build career path and opportunities, staying in touch with the markets, and moving jobs or returning to the workforce.”

Shifting To The C-Suite

At PGIM, Lee had the opportunity to go from managing the Asia Pacific public equities real estate portfolio to assuming the position of Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific real estate business. Moving from investments to a COO role was definitely pushing beyond her comfort zone.

“As a COO, you cannot be an expert in everything, but the team is there to support us as leaders. We provide the strategic direction,” says Lee. “Humility is important, recognizing they know more than me in the job they do, because they are the experts.”

Lee is dedicated to developing people, and emphasizes the leadership traits of versatility and adaptability—being open to different mindsets, perspectives and ways of doing things.

“Even if someone presents something that I do not agree with initially, I do need to listen, and reflect before making any judgments,” she says. “Everyone has a lot to offer. The young people today have a lot to offer, and if we are open enough to listen and allow them to present their ideas, then it will make us all stronger leaders and a stronger organization.”

Showing Up With Integrity

Lee never planned her career path, but has always put her best into anything she does. She feels that in her case, her commitment and hard work produced results, earned recognition and created opportunities.

Lee learned by emulating some of her previous supervisors. When she was deputy head in a previous firm, she noticed and admired how the head of the team did everything with the team’s interests in mind.

“When I was subsequently promoted to his position, because he moved on to greater things, I remember asking myself: am I willing to fight for my team, even to the extent that I may compromise my job? Am I willing to fight for my team for what is right?” she says. “Only when I was prepared to do that, did I accept the role.”

Thinking to her childhood, Lee remembers being a little girl in an underprivileged family and loving music but being unable to afford music lessons. When she was able to join the school band, her instructor said: “whether it rains or it snows, you have to turn up for practice.” She laughs that it never snows in Singapore, but if it were to, you still show up. At seven or eight years old, this left a big impression upon her.

“I think that developed my sense of commitment,” Lee reflects. “When you commit to do something, you just turn up. You turn up all the time. Regardless.”

Doing Things Differently and Better

Lee feels that as a woman, she shows up differently in a way that strengthens the table.

“As a woman, I don’t look at everything just as a task. There is often that softer touch that we bring to the table,” she says. “That helps when I’m running teams, because I’m not only interested in the output, but just as much in the individual.”

Lee is excited about how the forced circumstances of remote working has created rapid technology advancements and mindset shifts while raising questions: “How do we connect with our colleagues? How do we make sure that they feel part of the organization? How do we continue to build a team culture?”

Lee is energized by the company’s strategic operating initiatives —known as PGIM Real Estate 2.0—being ed by PGIM Real Estate’s Global chief operating officer, Cathy Marcus: “It’s essentially encouraging us to rethink the way we do things, and why we do them that way, in order to see if things can be done better,” says Lee.

Her children are now 27, 25 and 21. Lee loves sports and runs every day. She also plays the saxophone, enjoys pottery and embroidery, and does volunteer work with refugees in the greater region as well as migrant workers.

By Aimee Hansen

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Spotlight on Asia: What Does Gender Diversity in Asia Look Like in 2021?

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Gender Diversity in AsiaDuring the month of August, The Glass Hammer looks to the state of gender diversity in business and among leaders in Asia. The region is ahead globally in some facets, behind in others, and facing opportunity gaps where more women are needed.

Here’s a brief overview of the key themes we see happening across Asia now:

Gains in Women Executives in ASEAN Region

According to a Grant Thornton report 2020, the greater Asian region was split when it comes to women in executive leadership.

The global average is 29% (on par with North America).

While ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations) tied with Eastern Europe at 35% to rank second highest in women in senior management roles globally, after Africa (38%), APAC (Asia-Pacific) had the world’s lowest representation (27%).

The ASEAN region showed very impressive growth from 28% in 2019 to 35% in 2020, thanks to a range of initiatives around diversity.

In 2018, prior to COVID-19, McKinsey estimated that advancing women’s equality in Asia-Pacific could boost the collective regional GDP by 12% by 2025 to $4.5 trillion.

Still A “1 Woman” Boardroom in Asia

A significant gap exists between women’s representation in senior management and their presence in the board room in Asia, where Asia lags behind.

According to the Egon Zehnder 2020 Global Board Diversity Tracker, only 73% of boards in Asia had at least one woman (89% globally). Only 33% had at least two women (70% globally) and 12% had at least 3 (49% globally).

The data shows only 12% of Asia board seats are held by women (23% globally), and only 16% of new appointments in 2020 were women (compared to 30% globally).

In China, women hold 12% of seats too, though only 29% of boards have at least two women and only 10% had 3 or more. In India, women fair much better – holding 17% of seats. 60% of boards have at least two women and 23% have at least three.

Arguing the financial case for diversity, the Board Gender Diversity in ASEAN report found companies with over 30% women representation had significantly greater financial performance (3.8% ROA) relative to boards with no women (2.4% ROA). Even one woman helped, according to the authors, but the financial performance difference increased with representation, especially at over 30% women.

Women in Tech Relatively Strong in ASEAN But More Are Needed

The global demand for digital talent outpaces the supply, including in Asia-Pacific. BCG reports that in the first quarter of 2020, 5% of technology roles went unfilled in Singapore.

Women’ participation in tech in Southeast Asia (32%) outpaces the global average (28%), and mature markets like the UK and Australia, being on par with the US. But despite the relatively high numbers, BCG says a significant tech gap remains. Across countries, women’s representation in tech in ASEAN lags relative to other industries.

The key “moments of truth” that must be supported in a women’s journey into a long-term career in the technology sector, according to the consultancy group’s research, include: their choice of major at college, selection of first job and decision to stay with a technology career once they’ve started.

As the dynamic is different in each country across these key truth points, the interventions to encourage and foster diversity must be tailored to each country’s context. In Thailand, women are 48% of tech graduates but only 42% of tech jobs (the highest % across ASEAN countries). Whereas in Singapore, women make up only 29% of tech graduates but comprise 41% of the tech workforce ,due to demand.

The vast majority of women in tech feel they have benefitted from diversity programs and 65% feel tech does better than most industries in tailoring programs to women, yet BCG argues more tailored efforts are needed at the “moments of truth” points.

Opportunity Gaps for Women in Asia Pacific

Per the LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2020, developing markets – including in Asia Pacific – are generally more confident about having access to opportunities: India (121), Indonesia (117) and China (116) top their list, while Japan comes in last (80).

But LinkedIn, according to Feon Ang, Managing Director, APAC, also found that women felt they had less opportunities than men, and COVID-19 not only disproportionally affected women but also their outlook on the future. One in three women in APAC felt that gender was a significant barrier to opportunity.

The research showed that 41% of women in APAC felt they had fewer career development opportunities than men, with that sentiment being strongest in China (44%), Malaysia (45%), Japan (47%) and Singapore (49%). Whereas in India, 4 of every 5 women felt they’d missed offers or opportunities due to gender.

The challenges facing women vary as well. Ang cites that “lack of time” is the main barrier to opportunities for women in countries such as India, Philippines and Singapore. Whereas “lack of professional skills” is the primary barrier for women in Japan. And in China and India, women feel they have a “lack of guidance through networks and connections.”

Less than a fourth of working professionals in APAC feel that their organizations are prioritizing gender diversity. Managing familial responsibilities comes up as a challenge to career development for many APAC women (45%) especially in India (71%).

Where are the Women Executives in Japan?

In Japan, women hold only 15% of management roles according to McKinsey, only halfway to the country’s 30% target. In 2019, Japan was ranked at 121 out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender-equality index, the lowest among developed nations.

In research, McKinsey identified a gap in career-advancement goals. Japanese women are less likely to indicate they want a promotion than men (15 points lower), yet also more likely to feel gender is in the way and less confident. Overall men and women in Japan have the same hesitations towards promotion, but more women feared they would not be able to manage work/life balance.

When it came to what motivates aspirations for promotion, Japanese women tended to cite external recognition of their talent and strengths and the personal growth opportunity. Japanese men cite financial benefits, social status and rewards more.

Whereas the financial and status incentives are enough to motivate men, organizations like IBM are learning that women in Japan are more compelled when both witnessed for their personal skills and talents, and engaged individually on how advancing would particularly impact their own development.

Regional Diversity & Inclusion

LinkedIn’s Ang cites conversations on diversity and inclusion that include male allies; more women in leadership roles; family-friendly and flexible working policies; stronger mentoring and networking; and investment in learning and development as key measures for organizations to help close the opportunity gaps for women in Asia.

By Aimee Hansen

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14 Career Insights and Tips From Women Leaders in Asia (Part 1)

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women leaders in AsiaEvery August for the last ten years, The Glass Hammer has featured career insights and tips from women leaders and executives in Asia.

In this retrospective feature, we’ve mined the best experience-based guidance across those interviews, and this month we’ll be sharing in two parts!

Here are the first seven tips:

1. Be open to learn from everyone.

“Be open in your career,” advised Pamela Yeo, General Counsel and Senior Vice President at AIG Property Casualty Asia Pacific. “When you realize that everyone around you can teach you something new, and you become receptive to knowledge sharing and connecting, this can have a big impact on your advancement.”

Yeo urged young professionals to put themselves out there to catapult your journey through connection.

Update: Pamela Yeo remains in the position she has now held for nearly 17 years.

2. Do not keep your head down.

As a junior analyst, Kathy Matsui was told to “work hard, keep your head down, and you will go far.”

“This was the worst advice I could have been given as a woman just beginning her career, but when I first began working the idea that an ‘invisible hand’ would simply promote you was widespread,” Matsui told us, previously as Vice Chair, Global Investment Research at Goldman Sachs in Japan back in 2019. “Aside from excelling in one’s job, women need to also identify mentors, connect with others across their organization, and share their accomplishments.”

Update: After over 26 years with Goldman Sachs, Kathy Matsui is a founding General Partner of MPower Partners, Japan’s first ESG-focused global VC fund, as of May 2021.

3. Check your self-limiting assumptions and projections.

Earlier in her career, Kathy Matsui also shared with us the risk of operating inside the framework of your own self-limiting projections, which meant she spent too much time early on spinning her wheels just to prove her worth.

“My client base here was pretty homogenous when I first started working in Japan, in that it was mostly Japanese men who were twice my age,” remarked Matsui. “At the beginning, I felt like I had three strikes against me because I was female, foreign, and young. But this was really a perception that I put upon myself because professionally, nobody actually treated me differently based on my identity.”

4. Claim your voice in the conversation and early on.

“Put it all out there on the field every day,” recommended Padideh Raphael, Partner at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. “Women tend to wait for validation before sharing their opinion, but they should speak up earlier.”

As a first generation American raised with gender-related boundaries by her Iranian mom, Raphael said: “I believe there are no inherent barriers to success in this industry, but in some cases I have seen that women are traditionally raised or shaped to abide by societal norms,” she says.  “To the extent possible, women should be confident in having a place in the discussion.”

Update: Padideh Trojanow (Raphael) remains a partner at Goldman Sachs, now with the firm for over 22 years.

5. Discern your own truth when it comes to work and family.

“Each person has to look inside themselves and make their own choice without feeling pressure from family members, and then ask them to support that choice,” asserted Xing Zhou when it come to work and family life, as Diversity & Inclusion Leader at PwC China. “I view it as an achievement that as the mom of two children, I am able to find the balance and can serve as a role model for others in my firm and industry.”

Zhou discussed how Chinese women face pressure from their husbands and in-laws to shift their focus entirely to motherhood, whereas that is not every woman’s desire for herself and only she can truly decide.

Update: Xing Zhou has been with PwC Hong Kong and Mainland China for 24 years. She has now additionally taken up the roles of North Markets Leader and Beijing Office Lead Partner of Mainland China.

6. Make clear choices to keep evolving.

“There were lots of things I was interested in, and I wasn’t sure what to focus on; I was always hedging my bets. Only when I started to make choices, and others could see what I was about, did it all came together,” stated Ay Wen Lie, Partner, M&A Advisory at PwC in Singapore.

Wen Lie advised getting clear on what you stand for and believe in, both when it come to the work you are doing and creating your personal brand, otherwise you dilute your ability to impact and stand out: “Don’t be afraid to make choices, play to your strengths and focus your energy on where you can best add value.”

Update: Ay Wen Lie has been a Partner at PwC in Singapore for ten years.

7. Constantly nurture your network, internally and externally.

“For women at all levels of their careers, constantly building your personal network both internally and externally is extremely valuable,” said Teo Lay Lim, previously as Country Managing Director of Singapore for Accenture. “Building personal networks helps you to draw on others to augment your own insights [and] perspectives,” she added, emphasizing that Accenture had more than 85 local women’s networking groups in 32 countries to help build up their networks.

Update: Teo Lay Lim is now a Chairperson at Accenture in Singapore, with over 33 years with the firm.

Look out for Part 2 of this retrospective of top advice from female executives in Asia!

By: Aimee Hansen

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OP-Ed: Six Hallmarks Of Rebuilding Strong Relationships at Work

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relationships at workAs we come out of the pandemic, rebuilding strong relationships at work will require special attention. Strong relationships are crucial for success and satisfaction – they determine the extent to which our managers, direct reports and even colleagues outside our area provide us the information, resources, and support we need as well as their openness to influence and willingness to work out difficulties.

Those relationships have suffered during the last 18 months. Tasks have been more foregrounded and personal connection backgrounded, as Zoom exhaustion, phone and email replaced the informal in-person contact that often builds connection.

Returning to working in person creates opportunities to build and rebuild strong, functional relationships. And there are challenges. We can’t just “flip a switch” and return to how it was before. Jobs have changed, and so have our needs. Some colleagues left and new ones were hired who we haven’t met in person. Some are happy to be back, others aren’t. Old habits and approaches might no longer work. We feel pressured to make up for lost time, leaving us without the luxury of letting new relationships develop over time. What to do?

We have studied what it takes to proactively build strong relationships quickly at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business for decades and know that relationships exist on a continuum from contact with no connection/casual to closer/more personal and ultimately to what we call exceptional. There are six hallmarks to moving along that continuum.

Six Hallmarks of Relationship Building

The first is I can be more fully myself and so can you. With someone new we tend to be cautious. As the relationship develops, we disclose more, which decreases misunderstandings and increases ways to connect. It also encourages the other to share, since disclosure tends to be reciprocal.

This relates to the second hallmark: both of you are willing to be vulnerable. What can I do to encourage you to disclose besides initiating? I can learn how to ask questions that convey I really want to know you and what matters to you. Reciprocal sharing and vulnerability build trust and understanding.

Disclosure feels risky. The third hallmark is therefore trust that what I share will not be used against me. That trust is built over time as you each take incrementally larger risks in becoming known to each other.

Fourth is, a willingness to be honest with each other. Do I know that you mean what you say so I don’t have to read between the lines or worry about what you are withholding and vice versa?

As we share more of ourselves, deepen our relationship, and work together, disagreements are inevitable, and conflicts might emerge. The fifth hallmark is dealing with disagreements and conflict productively in ways that further build the relationship.

The final hallmark is both of us are committed to each other’s growth. This may require raising difficult issues and giving challenging feedback, in service of each other’s learning and development.

Applying the Hallmarks In the Office

As we emerge from the pandemic, here is how these come into play. You have just returned to working in person and someone new has joined the team who you’ve never met or worked with. There are also team members with whom you are at the “mere contact” end of the continuum and others with whom you are a bit farther along. With some you are close. Maybe you have mixed feelings about some of these people. A couple of incidents during Zoom meetings annoyed you, which you didn’t raise. Time and performance pressures necessitate you move these relationships along the continuum to functional and robust quickly.

There are multiple ways to develop relationships and what is effective with one person might not be with another. With the new hire, you might start with sharing more of yourself as well as finding out how they like to get work done. For those where the relationship is not strong, talking about how each of you want to relate might help. In those cases where you’ve had negative interactions, it might be important to have an honest conversation about how to move past that and explore what there is to be learned.

People also differ in how they like to get work done. Some like to plan first, others like to take action to gather early data. Some are comfortable with risk, others more cautious, and so forth. Each of us has a strong preference for our style and yet organizations need them all.

In strong relationships we each leverage our style and work together productively. What do we do with conflict that arises when our styles differ? We learned firsthand when working together. David is a divergent thinker, always coming up with new ideas. Carole is more convergent and wants to “cut to the chase.” In discussing this openly, we realized we needed each other. If David was dominant, we might never have finished our book – if Carole’s was, our final product might not have been as good.

Returning to the office will require we double down on efforts to establish new relationships and reestablish previous ones. We can’t afford to “just let things develop.” We will have to make more intentional, conscious efforts. Doubling down requires paying even closer attention to how others get their work done and talking openly about preferences. We may need to be explicit and proactive. “I’m glad to respond to your requests, but it works better for me when I have advanced warning” could be all it takes.

Doubling down also means becoming aware of and willing to discuss entirely new issues, such as people’s preferences for in-person, hybrid or working at home for health reasons. We may need to be clearer about how tasks are to be divided up and handed off. Learning to empathize with someone whose pandemic experience (and post pandemic reality) is very different from ours will also matter.

We’ll need to respond differently to small annoyances, which are more likely when starting or reestablishing relationships. Your way of working bothers me a bit. But rather than just shoving my frustration under the rug and blaming you, this could be a sign we have something to work on and an opportunity for mutual learning and a better relationship.

To do this we will have to acknowledge the legitimacy of different approaches and further develop our problem-solving skills. It is less useful to try to convince the other and more useful to jointly explore what will work for both of us. That process, rather than distancing us, can further reestablish healthy work relationships and build even stronger ones.

Everything is unlikely to work out from the beginning, even with proactive outreach. Building and rebuilding relationships is a process that requires learning from what doesn’t work as much as from what does. It demands persistence, intention, and patience. But quickly building and rebuilding stronger relationships is well worth the effort.

David Bradford, Ph.D. is the Eugene O’Kelly II Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Leadership at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he helped develop Interpersonal Dynamics (aka “Touchy Feely”) as well as much of the school’s leadership curriculum. He is the author of numerous books, including Managing for Excellence, Influence Without Authority, and Power Up. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife of more than fifty years.



Carole Robin, Ph.D. was the Dorothy J. King Lecturer in Leadership and Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business before co-founding Leaders in Tech, which brings the principles and process of “Touchy Feely” to executives in Silicon Valley. Prior to coming to Stanford, she had careers in sales and marketing management and was a partner in two consulting firms. She lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband of 36 years.

A fuller description of these six hallmarks and how to use them to build relationships can be found in CONNECT: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues by co-authors David Bradford and Carole Robin. Crown Random House, New York. 2021. Their book also contains the lessons of “Touchy Feely” that thousands of students have consistently described for decades as life changing. Available in hardcover, audible and Kindle versions HERE.

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Grace Jamgochian: Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions, Shearman & Sterling

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Grace Jamgochian“Law professionals are not selling widgets. We’re selling thoughts. We’re selling our expertise. We’re selling relationships,” advises Grace Jamgochian. “So remembering the human nature of our business is so integral to what we do.”

Jamgochian speaks to why M&A is animating every single day, the pay-off of being goal-oriented and why it’s important to treat law as a service-oriented business.

Loving the Hub Responsibility of M&A

As a full-service Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP (Shearman), Jamgochian works across a broad general corporate practice — from public M&A, to private M&A, to private equity — gravitating towards the areas of tech, media, and telecom, infrastructure, and consumer products.

“M&A is a quasi-business and business strategy function. We advise our clients on more than just the technical aspects of the law. We partner with them to achieve their objectives, and we work closely with our internal specialists to make sure all bases are covered,” says Jamgochian. “As an M&A lawyer, you’re responsible for managing, coordinating and completing the entire deal. I love M&A because that responsibility fits well with my personality and drives me.”

Jamgochian thrives on the pace, breadth, variety and overview that M&A demands of her at Shearman.

“Every day is different. I have a general sense of my to-do list but M&A is often a series of fire drills,” she says, “Being on my toes is the type of practice that I’ve always wanted, and that’s why I’ve continued in M&A for more than a decade.”

Jamgochian also enjoys the teamwork needed for M&A transactions. “M&A is the central hub for a deal. My group handles the “corporate” pieces but we also collect the input of specialists such as in IP, Tax, Compensation, Real Estate, and Regulatory. I view a transaction agreement like a complex puzzle, and each person contributes a few pieces into the big puzzle that I’m ultimately 100% responsible for,” she says.

Jamgochian credits a year-ish long stint as an in-house attorney at Thomson Reuters, right after graduating from Cornell Law School, with immersing her into the business perspective of law from the very beginning.

“While others used the Shearman associate deferral year in 2010 for non-professional pursuits, I chose to work at a client handling M&A and securities matters so that I could get my feet wet right out of the gate. Having this opportunity set me up to be a practical, business-minded and solution-oriented attorney from the start,” Jamgochian reflects. “A deal needs business-minded lawyers. It can’t just be working in theory. You need to assess and advise on the risks, but you also need a good dose of reality and know what market practice is.”

Being Goal-Oriented As Her Key to Success

Though Jamgochian is newly elected to the Shearman partnership this year, it’s been in her sights since she first began her law career. Her journey to partner felt both intentional and linear.

“Always give yourself options. From Day 1, I tried to put myself in a position to be partner down the road, even if I couldn’t predict the future and would have been open to other paths. I volunteered for basically everything, from deals to extracurricular responsibilities like involvement in inclusion networks and bar associations. If you want to be a partner, you don’t wake up one day and suddenly have the skills. You should start thinking about business development early on and what technical and “soft” skills you’ll need to develop,” says Jamgochian.

She says her colleagues would most likely also remark on her efficiency, organization and ability to carry through a goal to completion.

“I’m a goal-oriented person. If we all have an idea in mind of what we think should be the finish line, let’s get there and let’s be efficient about it,” says Jamgochian. “In order to do that, you need to be organized, create processes, reduce any inefficiencies of people not knowing what their role is and communicate clearly. That’s me in a nutshell.”

When it comes to her next level goal, Jamgochian would love to continue to develop herself as an M&A lawyer to rank among the top of her field.

Law is Foremost About People

Early on, it was imparted on Jamgochian that law is a service-oriented industry in which the business is “people” and “our minds”.

“We’re getting paid to think. It’s about essentially our brains and our relationships: these intangibles. So the thing that lawyers need to focus on and remember throughout our careers is our clients and to develop those relationships with clients,” says Jamgochian. “Provide them with the best legal advice, which is essentially your thoughts and expertise, but then also don’t forget that everything is people-based in law firms, whether your clients or those you work with.”

When it comes to diversity, M&A as an industry is a more white male dominated area in particular.

“I have definitely had occasions where I’m the only woman in a room of thirty people. Once you already have a male-dominated industry, then you have the lack of mentorship, you have the lack of role models and it kind of snowballs from that,” observes Jamgochian. “But I think all firms, and the industry itself, are trying to pull the reins in. Shearman is really focused on D&I efforts, plus an increasing client focus on diversity is also helping to increase the law firm diversity focus as well.”

Busy Summer and Time for Family

As it’s only a block away from home, Jamgochian has been working out of the office this year, where her workload — focusing largely on tech, media, and telecom and infrastructure — has continued to boom when she might normally see a summer slowdown.

She notes that with the change of executive administration, as well as regulatory and tax changes in the air, many people and organizations are wanting to work through deals quickly. So these days, her expertise is a commodity in fast demand.

Jamgochian’s husband is also a Big Law lawyer, and with both of them having a high-intensity lifestyle, time with their five year old son is precious. They enjoy weekend picnics in Central Park and being surrounded by family in New York City and nearby.

With a background in dance history, Jamgochian turns to movement as part of keeping her balance, which may very well help in flowing with the pace of her work. She also loves learning instruments and reading music to stay sharp – along with piano and flute, she has recently also taken up ukelele.

By: Aimee Hansen

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