“Be Present and Be Bold” – Advice From Nicole Pullen Ross, PWM Partner, Goldman Sachs

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Nicole Pullen Ross“For two years in my bathroom, there was a post-it on my mirror that said “Partner,” shared Nicole Pullen Ross, region head of the New York Private Wealth Management (PWM) business at Goldman Sachs. She also leads the PWM Sports and Entertainment Solutions (SES) offering.

Ross, who was named partner in 2020, said of her experience being promoted: “My career has been focused on working hard for our clients and our business. To be named partner in 2020, and recognized and rewarded for my hard work and dedication to the firm, was an extraordinary accomplishment.”

Identifying a Need – and Founding a Specialty Offering

Ross, who joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 after a stint at JP Morgan and business school, was focused on advising individuals and families within PWM. Over the course of her career, she honed her skills as a Private Wealth Advisor (PWA). Ross now serves as region head of the New York PWM business, and in 2018, led the effort to found the PWM Sports and Entertainment Solutions offering.

“We founded the offering with the aim of supporting the complex financial needs of athletes, entertainers and those in the industry,” Ross said. “We were confident Goldman Sachs could provide differentiated services and advice to this unique client group.”

“I always remind myself what a privilege it is to be busy doing such extraordinary work with so many incredible clients,” Ross said.

The Importance of Being “Bold” and Investing in Women

As she gained seniority throughout her career, Ross became aware of what an important role being “bold and confident” has on an individual’s career. “When I began my career, like many women, my confidence was tied to how much I thought I knew about a topic,” she said. “Now, I appreciate that there is a combination of things that are important – you have to be excellent and be a content expert, but you also need confidence in your own voice, be present and be bold, in order to be seen as a leader.”

PWM’s launch of WRAP – or Women Reaching Accelerated Potential – was referenced by Ross as one way in which the business aims to support women’s career growth. “WRAP was founded by women within PWM, for women within PWM, with the goal of helping more women become successful PWAs,” Ross said. “By connecting participants with senior PWA mentors and other senior individuals across the firm, and equipping them with the skills to be successful, we’ve had great success.” She noted that “some of PWM’s most successful advisors” are WRAP alumnae.


Ross added that as a partner, she also serves as a mentor to a greater array of individuals across the firm. “The expectation from colleagues that they have access to leadership is one of the things that is special about Goldman Sachs,” Ross said. “The opportunity to engage with more junior members of the firm and provide advice and perspectives to more people is one of the most rewarding aspects of my transition to partner.”

Delivering One Goldman Sachs to Clients

Commenting on her team’s focus on delivering “One Goldman Sachs” to clients, Ross said: “I’m very excited about the work we’re doing across the firm tied to the One Goldman Sachs initiative. We aim to bring one firm to our clients, with a seamless approach in terms of how they receive advice and guidance.”

Within PWM, Ross also shared the business hopes to “extend a sense of familiarity and community among our clients” and cultivate “authentic, trusted relationships” in order to best serve them. She noted that PWM is doing this in several ways, including by developing tailored initiatives to target select client groups.

Ross referenced the recent launch of In the Lead, a platform providing insights, resources and advice to empower ultra-high net worth women to take the lead in their wealth, philanthropy and legacy as one such initiative. She also mentioned PWM’s focus on inclusive wealth, in which the firm aims to be the advisor of choice for diverse clients. “We want to ensure that our clients feel our platform and advice is aligned to and supports their diverse interests and needs,” Ross said.

Beyond the Day-to-Day

Ross also serves as the Americas head of the firm’s Black Network. She noted the network works alongside groups throughout the firm, including Human Capital Management. The Black Network “strives to accomplish important work related to the recruitment and retention of Black professionals at the firm,” Ross said. “I’m encouraged to continue this work, particularly as the firm just announced our most diverse managing director class ever – but there’s still more work to be done.”

Outside of the office, Ross prioritizes spending time with her family. “Our hobby is being together – my children are teenagers now, and I know they’ll be off to college in a few years,” she said. “Throughout the pandemic we were able to maximize our time together, which I really valued, and continue to do so even as things are opening back up again.”

In addition, Ross serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institute, Hampton University and the United Negro College Fund.

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Year In Review 2021: The Great Reckoning

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Year in Review 2021The great resignation has taken the main stage for big news for professionals and career path navigation in 2021. With the pandemic still raging, there has been a widespread re-evaluation with “what really matters?” being the theme for professional women and men alike. The great reckoning of “does this work, and work for me?” has emerged from a combination of elements that have brought people to a point where they want to look more deeply at their values and how those values align with their workplace and firm culture, beyond the paycheck alone.

Realities such as exhaustion or burnout effect are much higher in 2021 than 2020 due to the ongoing slog of Covid and the effects it has on all aspects of life and work. McKinsey/Lean In’s most recent report on Women in the Workplace 2021 states 42% of women feel burned out regularly in 2021 as opposed to a reported 32% in 2020 and more than men in both years.

Conversely, in the same report, progress is shown at between 6-24% for the pipeline of future female senior managers and leaders, with the most progress being at SVP and C-suite levels but still not surpassing a third of all leaders in these positions. However, as someone who has covered this topic deeply for the best part of fifteen years, I want to underline that 6% may not seem big, but it can be considered as progress finally after many stalled years. This is at least a trend in the right direction of progress and you can see the numbers and insights and analysis on them from theglasshammer.com from 2011 here in all Year in Reviews.

Active Listening- Feeling Heard is Important

Is the world changing for the better? As it pertains to not tolerating overt sexism and racism, yes clearly it is, as everyone is quicker to pour light on things that just don’t fly anymore.

In fact, men are starting to behaviorally show up as allies when they should and interestingly a new Catalyst study suggests this can be dependent on whether they feel they will be heard as humans, on many topics as well as this specific one. Manager openness to hearing inputs and suggestions, from how the job should be done to elements regarding culture such as inclusion, increases the chance of men speaking up against sexism from 35% to 62%.

Feeling heard is a human trait, no one likes to think they are talking to a brick wall or invisible, yet 80% of my leadership development assignment as an executive coach to senior Wall Street women and men involves delivering the bad news that peers and direct reports feel that managers don’t listen to them. Kate Murphy’s book You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters is a compelling journalistic exploration of what happens when people listen to each other, which can apply to any relationship, spouse, friend or child as well as to being a better executive or manager. Surely, now is the time for managers to listen?

Opportunity in Disruption

‘The Great Resignation’ doesn’t have to threaten diversity efforts, but rather isn’t it time to do things better and in some cases, differently?

Some people might want to go back to the office some or even all of the time, while others might want to stay working from home some, most or all of the time- and with most landing on the same preference of being given the choice to make their own decisions. What leaders seem to be missing is that it is about empowering people with choices to control their time, not mandating face time in the building.

In fact, this topic is very much about leadership development and mindset shift. Susan Ashford, Professor in the Management and Organizations group at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, explores the concept of flexing as a growth mindset for leaders. She discusses empowering people to know their needs and to be radical in their own “self management” in her new book about leadership learning called The Power of Flexing. This concept of letting employees get on with it on their terms in this Covid era world is backed up by research by Peter Capelli, Director of the Center for Human Resources at Wharton University, who suggests that in fact, many people are finding that they are thriving in a remote or a hybrid version of work. This study reveals that people are motivated when they are achieving their goals along with two very important things: feeling valued, which is the biggest driver, and being within a supported and inclusive environment. Capelli’s research also shows that getting tasks done to create a sense of purpose alone comes in last as a motivation driver, so endless piles of work in the wrong isolating conditions can lead to disengagement and quitting.

Adam Grant, Professor of Psychology at Wharton, researched back in 2007 how employee performance is increased when there is a feeling of helping an actual human by meeting with them to know about their issue and having the ability to try and help. Putting a face to a name seems to matter, and as face to face human contact has been reduced in the past eighteen months, it will be interesting when we see future research into videoconferencing (as a close second or even as a replacement?). It does seem like some major Fortune 500 companies are taking the leap of faith that remote work is the future with PwC announcing that it will allow all 40,000 of its US client services employees to work virtually and remotely, with the UK office following suit with an additional 22,000 people allowed to work remotely.

Aligning People and Technology

Getting leaders to understand the importance of aligning the human side with the operational and technological side is key to engage and retain talent – it’s futurism and that requires a lot of mental complexity as systems thinking will need to be applied. Are leaders up for the challenge?

To create the workplace of the future, it is key to start with the workforce of the future. Meryl Rosenthal, CEO of Flexpaths, has been pioneering remote and flex work for all since 2005. She sees the trend as here to stay and knows the role of leaders is crucial to success.

She comments, 
“As hybrid work increasingly becomes a reality across organizations, ensuring that alignment at the top doesn’t wane is key. At FlexPaths we are seeing more and more companies ill-prepared for the downstream impacts of poorly implemented hybrid work. With plummeting engagement, uncertain executives and ineffective communication, now is the time to focus on leaders on why it is important to get a plan as the future is now”.

People Want Acts not Ads

Finally, evolved employers must realize that employees want to see real acts, not just lip service and advertising around issues that are value-driven. Whether it is working remotely or responding to social or environmental issues, it is crucial that corporations understand that walking the talk and closing the identity gap between espoused and lived values happens. Data of both quantitative and qualitative nature is required to understand what people expect from their employer. If your company was a person, would you want to hang out with them?

We believe diversity and gender issues can be solved when companies finally understand that organizational development is important and that diversity is not about a Noah’s Ark approach but rather about lived experience. Behaviors matter as they all add up to create culture.

We wish everyone a happy, safe, peaceful and joyful festive season. See you in 2022.

By Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of theglasshammer.com

Nicki founded theglasshammer in 2007 to inspire, inform and empower professional women in their careers. We have been the leading and longest running career advice online and in person media company in the USA for professional women in financial services.

We also provide executive coaching services and organizational coaching under our sister brand evolvedpeople.com

Thank you to all readers, sponsors, supporters and contributors over the past 15 years. We couldn’t do it without you!

For the women by the women.

If you want to coached by Nicki in 2022, write to her nicki@theglasshammer – to find out more about the process. She works with VP level and above.

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Sara Coelho: Partner, Financial Restructuring & Insolvency, Shearman & Sterling LLP

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Sara Coelho“I’m open to things going in a lot of different directions and to seeing things in a different way than people expect,” says Sara Coelho. “I really try to foster that approach, because novel solutions bubble up.”

Coelho talks about why her practice is a jack-of-all-trades art, standing her ground as a woman and the creativity of receptivity within law.

The “Liberal Arts Area of Law”

With Shearman & Sterling since 2016, and promoted to partner this past July, Coelho has been in the insolvency practice for fifteen years.

“Any time you have an insolvency situation, by definition people can’t follow the law. When something isn’t working, you get to take a deep dive into why and have to figure out a way to make something of that, and the tools really vary depending on the business,” she says. “Every situation has its own dimensions, so you constantly get to learn something new. If you are a liberal arts major, you would like what I do.”

Coelho continues, “I’m often doing things I have no prior expertise in, for example, negotiating tax debt and tax statutes, because of the underlying needs of the situation,” she further explains. “Sometimes we litigate to get to a resolution of a dispute. Sometimes we create deals. We’ll use any field of law to construct a deal that takes the situation to a better place.”

Her area is so flexible that when students ask her about a typical day, Coelho tells them to give her a year and she’ll say what she was doing in that period of time. Collaboration with other lawyers and financial advisors is critical to her work: often part of the solution is bringing in the expert who knows the tried-and-true approach, and another is confronting an issue alien to anything she’s ever done. Hence, the sophistication of problems, quality of people and intellectual challenges have held her attention in this field.

The Creativity of Receptivity

Coelho feels persistence has served her. She has always been able to put her head down and commit to a project she’s taken on. She’s been called a “lawyer’s lawyer” in that she has an analytical curiosity and loves to go deep into a problem, which means encouraging a spaciousness for unexpected solutions.

“There’s often a real reluctance to bring forward something that is a little off the wall,” she observes, “but you could miss an opportunity that way.”

In law, creativity is often less conceiving of something new and bringing it into existence, but rather an artful receptivity to the hidden key that already exists that you’re not yet seeing.

“So much of law is a very set underlying body of concepts, and people lose track of a big percentage of it. So often there is just something lurking there, that’s pretty direct and obvious, but actually very hard to see if you don’t come at it with an open mindset,” she explains. “It’s a receptivity, an orientation of faith that there’s going to be useful things that emerge. It’s a melding of a creative mindset with the orthodox.”

Staking Her Ground As A Woman

While Coelho admits her field has an inadequate representation of women, especially senior partners, she also often finds there are more women than she realized. She also feels the reputation of being male-dominated deters women from considering a field they might thrive in: “There are women who are thriving in all of the difficult roles and more than you would think.”

At the same time, Coelho acknowledges that she does feels some pressure to be beyond perfect and tends to speak concisely, getting to her point quickly while she has the moment, whereas she witnesses men talk at length without the social pressure to be precise.

“I’m working on trying to take up more time and space, and defending the perimeter to be able to do that,” she notes, “because sometimes you can’t appropriately advocate otherwise.”

Coelho acknowledges that being a woman distinguishes you, but that advantage can backfire if you’re perceived as the woman lawyer and especially if there’s a general assumption of irrelevance.

For example, on a conference call for a major deal where both Coelho and another female counterpart lawyer represented different clients with predictably different perspectives, the opposing side confused their two arguments, because, she suspects, the woman lawyers’ voices were understood as interchangeable. Coelho finds it hard to imagine that same bewildering lack of differentiation occurring for a man.

“Things still go on, but at the same time, you’re just focused on the problem and the work,” says Coelho. She notes that self-validating verbal feedback from highly respected top lawyers has been a touchstone to measure her lawyering and has kept her from falling into an unproductive level of self-questioning, especially when she’s confronted with aggression or doubt.

Clarifying The “Stupid Questions“

In addition to helping associates become familiar with the essential craft of her “renaissance profession,” Coelho seeks to demystify some of the basics that challenged her. When she first began, she felt one of the hardest parts was just figuring out how things got done – down to how you frame an e-mail and how long you wait to chase up on it.

Coelho volunteers information and invites the conversation around questions she found perplexing when starting out, especially if the response she had was reactive or dismissive: “I try to ask, what would have been the most constructive response for me?”

“For example, as a lawyer, to say how much time should I spend on something is a very loaded question because obviously you should do the best job possible for the client. Well, the best job possible might mean thousands of hours or significant expense, and maybe the client doesn’t want that,” she notes. “So there’s always this judgment about how exactly to approach the problem, how much depth to go in and what are the optimal things to focus on. These are complex judgements people have to make, so I like to be transparent about that kind of process.”

Boiling down why inviting questions as a senior lawyer is important, Coelho says: “The stupid question is the most important one to ask because you definitely don’t want to make a stupid mistake.”

For women in particular, Coelho also emphasizes the importance of really stepping back to ask what you personally want, rather than letting the ongoing demands of your external environment, including simply keeping up with the work, dictate where you end up.

An Unforgettable Mentor

Coelho considers her grandmother the most mindful person she has ever met. As a child, Coelho would join her in hanging laundry, picking fruit or doing some other form of tending to ordinary things.

The most unforgettable moment that affected her was listening to her grandmother talk about one single lemon with such elaborate understanding and appreciation that it underlined a whole wisdom of her Grandmother’s way of living in the world: “Listening to her talk about this lemon and what it was, exactly why it had a different flavor than others and how you would use it, in such depth, crystallized for me her way of being and how wonderful that is. And how much better life is, if you can bring that sort of appreciation and experience to whatever it is you’re doing.”

Coelho adores her three and a half year old son, Caleb, and, in addition to being a prolific reader of social sciences “light” and economics, loves to garden – and as her grandmother, tend attentively to the small and sacred matters of the home.

By Aimee Hansen

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OP-Ed: The Economic Cost of the Menopause

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Lesley Tait - menopauseIs it just me or does anyone else see the revolving boardroom door contributing to the economic cost of menopause?

The conversation is warming up. It’s capturing media attention. Celebrities and even politicians are endorsing the movement to normalise the conversation. They’re shining a spotlight on the necessity to overtly acknowledge the menopause for the sake of womankind.

But there’s another angle here and that is the economic implications that are hiding in plain sight.

Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in the workplace, but worldwide, they’re sliding into perimenopause at an age when they’re at the peak of their careers.

According to the ‘Women in the Workplace 2021’ report by McKinsey, it’s women who are doing more to support their teams and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There’s a plethora of research suggesting that companies with a higher percentage of women in senior leadership positions, are more profitable because women bring a different mindset to the business world and their emotional intelligence is far more superior.

But this isn’t a case for supporting women in business, that’s a non-negotiable. The issue is whose supporting them in doing this critical work and to what cost if their emotional wellness is being tested, and they themselves feel under valued and isolated.

The statistics around this demonstrate the urgency. A 2021 survey conducted by Circle Health in conjunction with the Victorian Women’s Trust revealed some truths about what’s really going on in the workplace:

  • 83% of women said their work was negatively affected
  • 58% said managing their work was challenging
  • 48% struggled with a drop in confidence
  • 46% felt stressed by having to hide their experience
  • 45% considered retiring or taking a career break

The results go on to highlight the lack of support available for women in the workplace. Maybe this is due to the blissful ignorance of employers or maybe there’s an inherent embarrassment of poking around in a subject related the female reproductive system.

Another survey conducted by BUPA in conjunction with the CIPD found that three in five menopausal women, usually aged between 45 and 55 were ‘negatively affected at work’. And that ‘almost 900,000 women in the UK left their jobs over an undefined period of time because of menopausal symptoms’.

While the number of women representing board positions in FTSE 100 companies has increased there is another dimension we must consider if they’re to remain there. So what impact is menopause having on the talent pipeline?

Aside from the risk posed to the pool of talented and skilled female expertise there’s the wider impact on productivity, morale and diversity which all lead back to the bottom line. It’s estimated that 14 million working days are lost each year due to menopausal related symptoms, and in the last 3 years, menopausal related tribunal cases have tripled.

The prevalence of menopause policies is increasing but it’s not enough to just tick the menopause policy box, publish it on the intranet and assume it’s covered. It’s not, and it happens.

I worked for a FTSE 100 company for 17 years, and I know there is a policy lurking behind layers of web pages that nobody knows anything about. More importantly, it doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of supporting a woman during this transition. A menopause policy needs to be all encompassing, appeal to employees of all genders, and it needs to have a richness that really supports both the physical and mental impact on women and the ripple effect on colleagues. It needs to engage with stakeholders to understand what precisely that specific environment needs. It needs to weave into a programme that’s immersed so deeply in the culture that it creates a sense of normality. It needs to be quantifiable and the impact measurable.

But there is light on the horizon, and the world is slowly rising from its menopause slumber.

Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) to better understand the challenges faced by women going through the menopause transition at work, and how this impacts the talent pipeline across the UK’s financial services industry. In addition companies such as HSBC UK, Natwest Group and CMS have all been accredited as menopause friendly employers.

In one sense of the word the ‘change’ is here, and it couldn’t be further away in another. We live in an era of equality, diversity and inclusion and we all have a responsibility to play in cracking this taboo.

Look no further than the mirror. If we as women are not comfortable in saying ‘menopause’ how can we expect our husbands, partners, managers and colleagues to get on board with it. It’s easy for me, I’m immersed in my bubble of menopause. I live and breathe it day in and day out although, I admit, I wasn’t at first. What is clear to me is the more I talk about it, the more it’s accepted as the norm, so we need to lead from the front.

We are leaders, entrepreneurs, board members, and there’s no limit to our talent and capabilities. But the responsibility is twofold. As our bodies change, we have a responsibility to adapt. And while there is no legal requirement to introduce menopause policies, employers have a moral, ethical and financial obligation.

Lesley Tait is a Menopause Coach and an Emotional Wellbeing Coach. Lesley specialises in helping corporate women struggling with menopause symptoms resulting in loss of confidence, self esteem issues & performance issues, because of which life & career goals are getting derailed. Find her at: www.hersupremeself.com on LinkedIn, or write to her at lesley@hersupremeself.com

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Cheryl Akawie: Head of U.S. Investment Grade Research, PGIM Fixed Income

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“There’s still a notion that all paths in investing lead to investment banking, which dissuades many women from entering into a career in investing, but it’s definitely not the case,” says Cheryl Akawie.

Akawie speaks to holding to your values, the importance of curiosity and why you want to learn from and be the kind of leader you respect.

An Ever-Changing Context

Joining Prudential out of Lehigh University as a finance major, Akawie relatively quickly gravitated from investment auditing to working directly with investments, where she felt her skills and interest would be optimized.

For over 28 years, she’s been working in investments–covering some of the major sectors she began with, such as telecom and cable–and stretching into new sectors such as media and technology.

“Everything changes–the companies have changed, the industries change. Right now, the tech industry is going through tremendous change,” says Akawie. “I’m watching which companies will be winners and losers, so my job stays interesting even within the same sectors.”

Akawie calls herself a ‘credit geek’: “I like to dig into the details of companies and figure out what makes them tick and what they might do next. What will make them successful or not successful as things change–will the big names in linear television be successful when the world has moved to streaming?”


She appreciates how integrated the investment process is from start to finish at PGIM Fixed Income, with hand-in-hand collaboration between analysts and portfolio managers. Taking on a new position leading the U.S. investment grade research team a couple years back has allowed her to support experts across the various sectors, helping ensure the well-established investment process runs smoothly and her teams’ contributions are recognized.

Holding To Your Values

“To me, what has mattered in my success has been being true to myself and not compromising my beliefs. That applies in many different ways,” says Akawie. “For example, I could not be on the sell-side and push an investment idea if I didn’t believe in it. As an analyst, I analyze it and tell it like it is. I’m not going to hold back on my views. Being on the buy-side, we don’t have to buy everything, so it has always been a good natural home for me.”

Going further, she expresses: “I think that principle has stood through all aspects of my career and added to my leadership. You should never compromise your values and you should be willing to stand up for what’s right. You should be willing to stand up for your team.”

Moving into a leadership role has meant taking a more holistic view not only in looking comparatively across industries, but also putting herself in the shoes of others when making organizational decisions.

“If we’re trying to revamp a process, I have to consider what may work better for the team,” she says. “As a leader, it’s important to step out of my role and put myself as the team leader and the organizational leader to consider what is best for the team, regardless of whether it would negatively impact or be inconvenient for me.”

Choosing Your Leadership Approach

Akawie feels her promotion largely came down to her track record on training up more junior analysts across the years. She enjoys working with junior talent and imparting her skills to help develop their ability to analyze, especially appreciating the moment when it all “clicks,” which she argues only happens when the analyst learns to combine fundamental credit research analysis and the relative value decision around which bonds to own.

Her personal leadership approach is to be relatable and approachable, and she keeps an open door policy.

“I had to figure out what kind of leader I wanted to be, and I’ve had different kinds of managers over the years. I’ve had the micromanager, where they want to check over everything that you do. I’ve had the more hands-off manager that recognizes you are a professional,” she says. “I chose to emulate my style more from the latter, because I respected when I was on the other side. I’m here if you need me. I’ll be your coach and advocate. But to get from here to there, use your own style, as long as you get it done.”

Myth-busting: Not All Investment Careers are Investment Banking

In addition to running the investment grade credit research group, Akawie is actively involved in recruiting for the credit research team in addition to sitting on the Talent Council, so she has a special window into the underrepresentation of women.

“It really frustrates me that even now it’s still such a male-dominated industry and in any meeting, there are still noticeably fewer women in the room,” says Akawie, who feels a perception issue plays into this.

“There’s still this perception that all investment careers are investment banking, where you don’t have a life,” she says. “I really wish there was a way to get the message out to young women that there are plenty of fulfilling, lucrative careers that you can have in asset management that don’t involve working 18-hour days and weekends. You can actually live a balanced life while also being a successful investment professional.”

Passion And Curiosity Go A Long Way

Akawie feels that having a passion for investments, as well as a strong intellectual curiosity, is a cornerstone of being a successful credit analyst or portfolio manager.

“Your mind should always be open because you can find investment ideas anywhere. You hear something on the news, or you read an article in Barron’s–you see something not necessarily in your industry, but it could be related,” she notes. “It’s that intellectual curiosity and passion that matters, because it won’t seem like a job, and you’ll have a long and dynamic career.”

Akawie also presses that it’s a measure of intelligence to be honest about what you don’t know, and that it’s critical to remember that in the world of investments, you’re never going to get everything right.

“We’re investing in corporate bonds. They’re not guaranteed. You’re not going to be right 100% of the time,” she says. “One of the harder things when you’re trying to transition somebody from a junior analyst to a senior analyst is developing that willingness to stick your neck out, express your opinion and not be afraid to be wrong. And if you are wrong, admit and own it, don’t make excuses, simply learn and move on.”

She leverages her own curiosity to convert the occasional missed call into a learning experience: “I often review, and I’ll ask what did I miss? What could I have done differently? And, then you make a better investment decision next time because of what you learned this time.”

Being A Leader You Would Respect

Akawie has found informal mentorships are the most valuable kinds of mentoring, which comes back to being open and approachable.

“To be a mentor or to be a mentee, you have to open up and not be afraid to share parts of yourself–so that people actually get to know you and they’re willing to share their secret sauce,” she says. “And I think that comes from having personal relationships. If everything is just business, I think it makes it hard for that relationship to develop.”

When choosing who you wish to learn from, Akawie goes with whom she truly respects. For her, that’s someone who takes pride in their work and gives their full energy, earning the respect of their team, because this is what she values and wishes to do.

Akawie loves traveling the world and seeing new cultures, which have included Africa, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Currently, she’s steeped in her latest passion of home remodeling.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Women in Facilities Management: An Opportunity to Lead?

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women in facilities managementIn May 2020, CNBC celebrated how the number of women running Fortune 500 companies hit an all-time high, with 37 such female CEOs, compared to 33 the year before. The actual state of affairs remains that as a group most women continue to struggle to attain an equal footing in managerial and leadership positions across most industries at the same rate as men.

A 2020 report by the ILO painted a discouraging picture: the report found that only limited progress had been made for the full and effective participation and equal opportunities of women in leadership positions in the workplace.

The report, prepared for the Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (EMPOWER), found that was true of every country in the G20, which includes the United States, over the past 10 years.

It gets even worse for American working women regarding the gender-based quality of their working environment, with a 2018 survey placing the United States a lowly 20th out of 29 OECD countries in the so-called ‘Glass Ceiling Index.’

“Pink” vs “blue” jobs

In a 2019 report, The Economist concluded that, even with strides made by women in typically ‘male’ industries, the tendency in the U.S. was that men still tended to pick “blue jobs” while women still opted for “pink jobs”. This, unfortunately, seems to prevail in the facilities management industry.

Women in Facilities Management, the only professional organization in the U.S. focused solely on furthering the advancement of women in commercial facilities management, notes that “…even today, facilities management continues to be one of the most male-dominated career paths”. The same organization cites a recent study that found that men still outnumber women in facilities management leadership roles by an astounding nine to one.

For the record, male-dominated occupations are those that have 25% or fewer women in them, which could certainly describe the facilities management industry in the U.S.

Benefits of more women in facilities management

Generally, there are many benefits to having more women in management positions. A major survey of 745 female and male corporate leaders conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership found that workplaces with more women tended to be better to work for all employees, regardless of gender. Employees in those organizations also felt more dedication to their organization and found their work more meaningful work. Interestingly, they also suffered less from burnout.

Industry experts have asserted that women could actually be uniquely qualified for leadership roles in facilities management. How so? It mostly boils down to emotional intelligence (EQ). Women, who tend to have higher EQ rates than men, benefit from attributes such as self-awareness, self-management, strong social skills, and, very importantly, empathy.

Even for a mostly technical, ‘nuts and bolts’ industry such as facilities management, every one of those attributes can only be beneficial for employees, resulting in higher productivity rates and overall efficiency. This is backed by research specific to the industry that found that gender-diverse teams make better decisions and are better at complex problem-solving. It was also shown that having more female leadership resulted in improved work culture.

Case studies: successful women in FM

Fortunately, there is a growing number of American women who have risen to leadership positions within the FM industry. This only bodes well for the industry. Below are three such case studies:

Case study 1: Cheryl Carron

Cheryl Carron is the Global Operations Lead for Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) and Experience Services (ES) for JLL Work Dynamics. She leads a global team of experts that enable the delivery of IFM and ES products and services to the company’s clients worldwide. Charron has had a career spanning nearly 30 years in real estate and integrated facilities management. Prior to joining JLL Work Dynamics in May 2021, Cheryl served as President of IFM, North America, for Sodexo, the latter of which has won numerous quality workplace-related awards in recent years.

Case study 2: Elizabeth Vasek

Elizabeth Vasek is a facilities manager at the Ford Foundation in New York City. She has openly discussed how she encountered a lot of “mansplaining” early in her career, which included men explaining technical terms to her in a patronizing tone. She did find this intimidating but found that she could overcome these sexist obstacles by asserting herself and not being afraid to ask questions when needed. She found that having a mentor and being part of a network of fellow women professionals helped immensely in building her knowledge and growing her self-esteem.

Case study 3: Jill Frey

Jill Frey is the owner and president of Cummins Facility Services (CFS), a national multi-faceted facility management company based in Marion, Ohio, that services Fortune 500 companies across the US. CFS is a 100% female-owned enterprise that provides janitorial, landscaping, snow removal, HVAC, security, floor care, and light maintenance services to clients in various industries. Frey took over managing the family business in 1994 and turned it into the FM success story that it is today.

“Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor”

In the conclusion of this article, it’s worth noting what Michelle Bachelet, the former President of Chile, once said: “Educational equality doesn’t guarantee equality on the labor market. Even the most developed countries are not gender-equal. There are still glass ceilings and ‘leaky pipelines’ that prevent women from getting ahead in the workplace.”

Her analogy of glass ceilings and leaky pipelines seems tailor-made for the facilities management industry.

It’s an industry that will undoubtedly benefit from a growing and more equitable number of women in leadership roles. And every woman in the FM industry would do well to remember the words of the brilliant author, Aldous Huxley: “Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor.”

Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations.

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