Microfinance in the BRIC Countries

iStock_000005237614XSmallBy Kelly Tanner (New York City)

Audrey Choi, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Global Sustainable Finance, moderated a panel discussion last week entitled, “Will Microfinance Succeed in the BRIC countries? Does Regulation Matter?” The answer to both questions, according to panelists Hans Dellien, Chikako Kuno, and Elisabeth Rhyne, is yes.

The event, organized by Financial Women’s Association and sponsored by Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance and Women’s Initiative, focused on how regulation promotes and hinders microfinance institutions in Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively referred to as the BRIC countries. Though these countries are known as emerging opportunities for investors, they have “enormous potential and enormously different market dynamics,” says Choi.

She asked, “As we get to a real evolution of the field, where you have investors coming into microfinance with very different motivations, very different kinds of checkbooks…What happens? What is the right way to untangle mission and profit and fiduciary responsibility?”

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5 Ways to Keep Your Women’s Initiative on Track

iStock_000002096821XSmallBy Melanie H. Axman (Boston)

It’s no surprise that throughout the economic downturn, companies’ resources have become scarce, and issues of diversity and gender inclusion tend to take a backseat to shrinking profit margins. Despite these ever-increasing challenges, some businesses and organizations have managed to navigate these and other distractions. Keeping their women’s initiative at the forefront of their business growth and on the road to success, they share some of their insight through these 5 tips.

1. Form a long-term strategic plan. Similar to the market, companies face their own plethora of challenges that tend to take the focus away from many important issues and initiatives. However, having a strategic plan in place allows an organization to create a map of its resources, as well drive direction forward, despite a demanding and evolving landscape.

Nancy Calderon, chair of KPMG’s Women’s Advisory Board (WAB) attributes part of the success of women’s advancement in the firm to a far-sighted vision of an objective. She explains, “When we started, we developed a long-term strategy to support our objectives, and we’ve continued to evolve it over the years. That strategy includes the development and continuous improvement of programs that are relevant, and easily executed by the members of KPMG’s Network of Women, which has nearly 60 chapters in KPMG offices across the country.”

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Cross Gender Networking with the FWA – Business Strategy

iStock_000015551511XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week the Financial Women’s Association of New York held the inaugural event for its new Men’s Alliance – an initiative designed to promote cross-gender networking. The sold-out scotch and chocolate tasting event, “Single Malt Chocolate” took place at Debevoise & Plimpton LLC and included over 200 attendees and tasting advice from Vosges Chocolate and The Macallan.

What was made clear throughout the evening was that the purpose of the event was not simply about opening lines of communication between genders. The event was designed to promote client networking – using the cross-gender networking platform to enable members of the FWA to be more successful at their jobs.

FWA President Susan Ganz said, “How do we engage men in this dialogue? It’s about men and women being in business together.”

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LinkedIn Lessons: 10 Ways to Stand Out and Level the Playing Field

judylindenbergerContributed by Judy Lindenberger

I love LinkedIn. It’s one of the best networking tools out there to help you expand your reach. It’s “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” for the business world. But it can be a big, foreign maze. To stand out in the LinkedIn crowd, here are ten quick tips:

1. To increase your Google search rankings, make your LinkedIn profile 100% complete.
2. Brand yourself by using a professional headshot that’s also on your website.
3. In the “Specialties” box, list keywords that will help people find you.
4. Don’t just cut and paste your resume – use short sound-bites that get your readers’ attention.
5. Update your status regularly by adding articles and blog posts you have written, awards you have won, promotions you have earned, or, if you are looking for a job, let people know exactly what you are looking for so it’s easy for them to help you.
6. Include links to your website, blog and twitter account.
7. Put your phone number and email address in the “Summary” section at the top of your profile for quick contact.
8. Be open to invitations to connect with new people.
9. Get involved in groups and discussions by asking thought-provoking questions, answering questions, and sharing interesting information.
10. Get and give recommendations.

But speaking of recommendations – keep in mind that the words people choose to describe you could hurt your chances. Here’s why.

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Building Our Girls’ Club

iStock_000014130901XSmallBy Danielle Sonnenberg (New York City)

Everyone knows that men get a lot of their business through the “boys’ club.” Now women are getting in on the action. Yes, women are forming their own version – a girls’ club.

Building Women’s Networks

The numbers show that women have a lot of catching up to do. Only 3% of all women-owned firms have revenues of $1 million or more compared with 6% of men-owned firms according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.

Organizations like the Women Presidents’ Organization and Women’s Leadership Exchange are giving women lots of opportunities to meet women in similar positions of power to share resources, connections and advice.

At the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), women attend monthly chapter meetings with about 20 other women in non-competing industries to discuss business alongside personal issues, such as how having children affects the growth of a company. There are 90 chapters around the world. In order to be a member, product based companies must earn at least $2 million in gross annual sales or a $1 million for service based businesses and women must either be an owner or a senior manager.

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Why Negotiating and Networking Go Hand in Hand

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Group of Multiethnic Diverse Busy Business PeopleOn Tuesday, The Glass Hammer hosted our latest event on career management. Sponsored by Accenture, Bloomberg, and Sungard, the event discussed how women can build professional negotiation skills, and provided tips on networking and how to navigate tricky office politics.

Panelist Carol Frohlinger, Principal at Negotiating Women Inc. and co-author of Her Place at the Table, commented, “Women often suffer from the tiara syndrome – we work hard and wait for someone to place a tiara on our head.” But, she said, in today’s environment, we can not wait for someone to notice hard work or reward it appropriately.

“We must proactively negotiate for the conditions of our own success,” Frohlinger said.

The event’s panelists included Frohlinger, Anne Erni, Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity, Bloomberg; Camille Mirshokrai, Global Director of Leadership Development, Accenture; Linda Descano, President and CEO, Citi Women & Co.; and Kathleen Weslock, Chief Human Resources Officer, SunGard. The discussion was moderated by Selena Rezvani, co-founder of Women’s Roadmap, Washington Post columnist, and author of The Next Generation of Women Leaders.

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Networking: Why Even the Biggest Events Have Strategic Value

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Nicki HeadshotBy Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of The Glass Hammer

It has been a busy week at theglasshammer.com – as you can see from our coverage we have been attending several events: The Women’s Conference, the FWA’s event with PIMCO’s Mohamed El-Erian, and Deutsche Bank’s Women on Wall Street Conference.

What constitutes a good event, which ones should you go to, what should you expect to get out of the networking event? Good networking events can offer the following benefits:

1) Useful content delivered by an inspiring panel – You learn something that will help you in some way (it can be generic advice or a specific action you can take)
2) Good contacts – you actually swap cards with people who you can do business with at some point

Bad networking events usually offer very little content of value, and on the people side of things, there is no reason to write or call anyone whose card you swapped yours with.

No networking at all is the worst kind of event for women, as we traditionally have less access to networked business conversations where decisions are made. Therefore, we need to form our own connections. Where do you start in one room with two thousand women, like at the Deutsche Bank WOWS event? You start by reaching out to the female clients (not friends) that you want to do business with ahead of time, and ask them to meet you at the door going in. Use these events strategically. Small events are easier to navigate, and theglasshammer.com hosts 100-200 women only at a time at our events.

I enjoy big events if they have interesting panel speakers and I am constantly in awe of the what some of these senior women have to say about their experiences. My favorite panelist at WOWS this year was Alex Lebenthal, CEO of Lebenthal & Company, recounting her childhood visits to her grandmother, “Mrs. L,” in the Wall Street office she ran since 1925, with Lady Liberty standing in the distance. This memory of leadership by a women, through the eyes of a child, leaves quite an image in your head.

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The Value of Networking – Beyond the Quota

networkingBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

While visiting Norway last month, it became obvious that the country’s push for gender equality is about more than regulation, like quotas or parental leave legislation. In fact, various organizations outside the government work hard, with both women and men, to improve gender parity.

For example, in order to better prepare women for leadership positions in the financial services, one organization, Futura, has created a unique networking-mentoring program to guide women as they build their leadership skills. The organization believes that putting women in the leadership pipeline is just as important as the law requiring women to fill 40% of board positions in publicly traded companies – and will ultimately improve business performance in the future.

Formed in 2006, Futura pairs high performing women (“Talents”) in Norway’s financial services industry with senior leaders (“Agents”) in the field (not necessarily at their own company), based on interviews and psychological surveys. The women work closely with the Agents to solve problems and gain leadership skills, and benefit from the networking opportunities afforded by “being taken under someone’s wing.”

And it seems to be working. According to the program, “34% have gained positions at a higher organizational level, 53% have more responsibility for personnel, 45% have more budget responsibility, and 50% have greater operational responsibilities than before entering the program.” Keep in mind, the program is only 4 years old – for roughly half of these women to have been promoted already speaks to the value of organized networking – and the give and take relationships fostered by the program.

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When is an ERG not an ERG?

iStock_000014130873XSmallBy Dr. Eric Shoars, author of Women Under Glass: The Secret Nature of Glass Ceilings and the Steps to Overcome Them

Corporate America has seen the rise of ERGs – Employee Resource Groups – to help advance women and minorities in the workplace. Though this is a good trend, an employee resource group will do no good if there is not a definitive, concentrated effort toward getting women into clout title positions i.e. CEO, CFO, COO, Boards of Directors. An ERG group simply for the purpose of having one only increases the perception of how progressive the company seems to be rather than actually advancing women through the barriers keeping them from corner offices. A female colleague sent me an email the other day about an ERG in her company that seems to the former rather than the latter.

The Fortune 500 company – who I’ll refer to as Company X to protect my colleague who works there – has created an Employee Resource Group called “Women Our Way.” The stated mission of Women Our Way is to “fulfill our vision by encouraging inclusion in the workplace. We will provide a voice to our leadership regarding barriers and opportunities. We will encourage women to maximize their potential and advancement through education, leadership, networking, and mentoring.” The question this mission statement does not address is: “To what end?” The company says they will provide a voice to their leadership regarding barriers and opportunities… but through what barriers and to what opportunities? Advancement to where? Middle management? Senior management? As mission statements go this one is vague and creates more questions than it answers. Mission statements as a whole have been a pet peeve of mine for years because they usually contain a lot of warm, fuzzy phrases that are more slogan than substance. We only need look to Patrick Henry for the best mission statement ever – “Give me liberty or give me death!” No ambiguity there. A lot of companies could learn from Mr. Henry’s example.

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The Female Mastermind: Developing a Professional Women’s Network

iStock_000002762853XSmallContributed by Tanya Hall (Austin, Texas)

Achieving a successful career depends just as much on your network as it does on your skills, knowledge, and experience. Though any professional connection you make is important, nothing impacts your career or has as much influence on your success as a group of likeminded women vested in each other’s success. Referred to as a “mastermind group,” these women work together to help each other identify strengths and weaknesses, sets goals and hold each other accountable to them, and share resources and valuable personal experiences.

There are many reasons why it’s important to align yourself with other professional women. First of all, professional women share a common and unique perspective on what success looks like and how to achieve it. They understand the challenges specific to professional women—especially for those who are also mothers—and can share advice on how to balance family and work without sacrificing your ambitions. Also, by holding each other accountable, the group increases the likelihood of each individual achieving her goals and finding success.

I asked one of my clients, author and organization consultant Lorie Marrero, a few questions about the benefits of a mastermind group. She said, “I get to be in a supportive but challenging group of peers of my choosing and am accountable to them for my goals and results.” In fact, the group helped her write her first book by making her accountable for regularly producing material. Because of her success, she recently made a commitment to the group to write a second book.

When I asked her what the key to a successful mastermind group was, Marrero responded with a few important considerations: Start by “identifying the right people to join you.” Potential members should think similarly to you, “but not so similarly that they won’t have a valuable perspective to share.” She also recommended selecting people who are willing to put into the group as much as they take out of it and emphasized the importance of making sure that potential members are honestly and wholeheartedly committed to the group.

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