Entries by The Glass Hammer

Futures Industry Gathers in Boca to Discuss Where Risk Management Ends and Gaming Begins

By Jessica Darmoni The Futures Industry Association (FIA) held their annual FIA Boca conference in Boca Raton, Florida March 8-11, 2026. The annual gathering brings together institutional investors and professionals in the listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets with an emergence of digital asset firms and retail brokers joining in the past few years. One of […]

Powering the Future: Joanna Fields, CEO, Aplomb Strategies Inc.

By Jessica Darmoni “Future leaders must not only understand technology but wield it responsibly to protect reputational integrity in a world where data breaches and automation carry profound consequences,” says Joanna Fields, a financial market veteran who remains focused on enterprise risk management. Fields has almost 30 years of experience spanning global asset classes such […]

,

The Return on Investment for Executive Retreats

By Jessica Darmoni Executive wellness retreats are often judged by their immediate costs: time away from work, financial investment, and short-term disruption. But their real return on investment shows up in longer-lasting gains such as clearer thinking, personal growth, and greater resilience. This makes them powerful tools for leaders operating in complex environments. Below are […]

,

Nancy Stern: Managing Director and General Counsel, Simplex Trading

By Jessica Darmoni “The (trading) industry is built on people working together,” explains Nancy Stern. “You have to think of your interactions as long-term relationships. Something that makes sense in the short term may not serve you—or others—over time. You always have to ask: what are the unintended consequences?” That long-term view has shaped Stern’s […]

Powering the Future: Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel, StarkWare

Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel of StarkWare, is excited about zero knowledge proof technology (ZKP), a revolutionary tool in cryptography. She explains that ZKP allows people to prove something is true without revealing underlying information. ZKPs enable verification without disclosure—complete, sound, and private. While often discussed in the context of blockchain scalability and transaction speed, […]

,

How Executive Coaching Works

In Part 1 of this series, we explored why executive coaching is a relevant development choice for leaders navigating complexity, rising expectations, and fewer built-in supports inside organizations as budgets are scrutinized in the learning function. We focused on what coaching can deliver: clarity, self-awareness, accountability, resilience, and a trusted thinking partnership. Understanding how coaching […]

,

Radical Self-Trust: Eight Ways to Build Embodied Leadership (Pt. 2)

As recently covered, the prerequisite to building trust as a leader is to cultivate a deep sense of self-trust. The most important (work) relationship you have is with yourself. Executive presence has nothing on embodied presence. When you trust yourself, you carry yourself differently. A real leader is embodied. Trusting yourself means you move with […]