Voice of Experience: Brenda T. Dieck, Partner, White & Case

Dieck_BrendaBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I love the thrill of negotiating and the satisfaction of closing the deal,” said Brenda T. Dieck, Partner in the New York and Los Angeles Bank Finance Practice Group at the law firm of White & Case LLP. “There are so many interesting puzzles to solve,” she explained.

Currently charged with building the firm’s LA bank finance practice, Dieck said, “It’s a unique opportunity to be part of a well-established practice group in New York, and at the same time, have the opportunity to be somewhat of an entrepreneur in LA, building a complementary team on the West Coast.”

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Voice of Experience: Marie Wilson, Founder and President of the White House Project

marieBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A Special Election Day Message from Marie Wilson: “There are 107 reasons for you to vote. Why 107 reasons? This Tuesday, November 2nd, 107 alumnae of The White House Project’s signature political trainings will be on the ballot and running for political office.”

“The first job I applied for was at DuPont. I took a test, and the results came back saying I was a candidate for management. They didn’t hire me because as they said, ‘you’ll just get pregnant and have a child.’ This was 1962,” said Marie Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project.

Wilson, one of the honorary “Founding Mothers” of the Ms. Foundation and co-founder of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, has been advocating for women in leadership ever since.

“If you’re going to be a leader,” she said, “don’t rush to change yourself. The world is still mixed about ambitious women. You need people who will encourage you to dream big – and the world is often discouraging. You need a tough skin that is porous – slough off the critics, but listen.”

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Calling All Intrepid Women!

iStock_000010491842XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

The Glass Hammer is looking for more stories on Intrepid Women – professional women who have a flair for adventure, a love of the unknown, and the courage to step out of their comfort zone. Sound like you, or someone you know?

Previous Intrepid Women have included a lawyer / volunteer fire fighter, a marketing executive who scaled the Great Wall, and our former editor Pamela Weinsaft – who wrote about her expedition to Antarctica. We’ve also visited trapeze school, sky diving class, and even a Russian Bath House here in New York.

And now we want to know about your adventure.

How have you challenged yourself physically or emotionally lately? What was the outcome? What has your adventuresome, limit-pushing experience taught you about yourself, and how has it helped you professionally?

Are you an intrepid woman? Tell us why! Email me and tell me what you’d like to write about, and we’ll discuss the next steps.

Can’t wait to hear about your adventure!

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Voice of Experience: Pam Kiernan, Global Head of Business Development, Global Prime Finance, Deutsche Bank

kiernan_pam_colorBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“My advice is to be confident in what you do really well. Be open to taking risks, and to new opportunities, leveraging what you do really well,” advised Pam Kiernan, Managing Director and Global Head of Business Development for Deutsche Bank’s Global Prime Finance business.

She explained that when she heard women voicing frustration about their careers, it was usually “the result of an aversion to taking risks at a key inflection point.”

Kiernan said one of the things she’s most proud of in her own career has been her ability to take on new opportunities – moving from an infrastructure position early in her career, to a client facing role, and eventually holding COO roles for the Bank’s North American cash equities business and DB Advisors’ hedge fund business. And now she’s taken on a global role in the company’s prime brokerage business as Global Head of Business Development for Global Prime Finance.

“Be confident, and take the risk,” she said.

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Voice of Experience: Theresa S. Wilson, CIO/Operations and EVP Technical Services, Wells Fargo

Theresa WilsonBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Make sure you’re in front of the right leadership, that you’re sharing about the type of work you do,” advised Theresa S. Wilson, CIO of Operations and EVP of Technical Services at Wells Fargo. She continued, “You have to be vocal.”

Wilson, who has been with her company for 34 years, through several mergers and acquisitions, emphasized the importance of portraying one’s skills. She said, “It’s always good to step outside [your area] and help another group, so you can show your leadership style to others and build a wide breadth of your network.”

She continued, “Volunteer to do extra work. Demonstrate your leadership.”

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Voice of Experience: Camille Mirshokrai, Senior Executive and Director of Global Leadership Development, Accenture

camilleBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“We all have different definitions of success,” said Camille Mirshokrai, Director of Global Leadership Development at Accenture. She continued, “The only way we can define it so to truly know ourselves.”

After almost 17 years at Accenture, the majority of them working in leadership development and succession planning, Mirshokrai has helped design the fabric of the company’s leadership culture. She said, “We have to manage our career instead of the organization managing our career. Be in control of your destiny.”

Mirshokrai said, “It’s important to me, [when working with] groups of women, to urge them to be supportive networks to each other. We have to help the women in generations that come after us. Someone helped us climb the ladder, and we have to help them climb the ladder.

She continued, “The best way to retain women is to take on roles with responsibility for the next generation.”

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Voice of Experience: Anne Erni, Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity, Bloomberg LP

anne_erniBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“As my career on the trading floor progressed, I began noticing women disappearing all around me,” said Anne Erni, head of diversity at Bloomberg. Before moving to Bloomberg, Erni was one of the founders of WILL, Lehman Brothers‘ women’s network. After founding WILL, she said, “I really began to understand the importance of sisterhood in the workplace.”

Erni, who described her career as “non-linear,” began her career on the trading floor, eventually becoming SVP, Prime Brokerage at Lehman, before taking on the Chief Diversity Officer role there.

“I want to drive people to contribute their very best, so they can make the most of their careers,” she explained. “I am passionate about people feeling passionate about coming to work.”

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35 Under 35: Sara Grillo, CFA, Principal, Diamond Oak Capital Advisors

Sara_picture-1By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Lead with your heart and don’t be afraid of who you are,” said Sara Grillo, Principal at Diamond Oak Capital Advisors and Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College.

She continued, “If you’re a leader, a role model, a mentor, you have to live it. You have to breathe it.”

Grillo takes her duty as a leader seriously, working to mentor or teach as many women as possible that they can succeed if they believe in themselves. Why? Grillo says she is on a crusade to increase the number of female CFA Charter holders to 50% – currently only 19%.

While she serves as a mentor within the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA), Harvard, and the NYU Stern School of Business, Grillo explained, “Mentors are more in need for women who aren’t in programs – like the woman who gets picked on by her boss or who doesn’t quite fit in with the other girls at school.” From the subway to the schoolroom, Grillo does her best to inspire women to reach higher.

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Voice of Experience: Pamela J. Craig, Chief Financial Officer, Accenture

PamCraigBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Pamela J. Craig, Chief Financial Officer at Accenture, the best piece of advice she has to offer is: “Just go for it.”

“It sounds so simple,” she said. “That was particularly the case with my job as CFO… it just came up. And, my husband and co-workers were supportive and gave me the confidence that made a very big difference. It’s easy to lack confidence. It’s harder to have it. Go for it and make it all it can be. This a big deal for me.”

She continued, “Be open to stretch roles and go out of your comfort zone. It’s easy to say, ‘I’m not sure I can do that.’ You should say, ‘I bet I can do that.’”

Moving Up and Giving Back

“I graduated [from Smith College] in 1979 with a liberal arts degree – and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. So I entered an MBA program at NYU in Accounting,” Craig began. “After a couple of years, I realized I didn’t want to be an auditor all my life. I switched to consulting.”

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Next Generation Sustainability: WNSF’S Annual Summit

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Frances Hesselbein

Frances Hesselbein

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On Tuesday, the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future held its 7th annual summit, entitled “Sustainability, We Get it… Now What?”

Ann Goodman, Ph.D., Executive Director of WNSF, said, “By now the term sustainability has entered the vernacular. Now that everybody gets sustainability, how can we use it to drive [business].

Kathy Robb, Head of Environmental Practice at Hunton & Williams and a WNSF board member, explained explained that WNSF was founded around the belief that “women in business want to bolster sustainability efforts in their companies.”

She continued, “Caring about the environment allows companies to attract and retain women employees, customers, stockholders, and stakeholders – and create a better world for everyone.”

Dr. Goodman introduced the program’s keynote speaker, Frances Hesselbein as a personal “she-ro.” Hesselbein, Chair, Leader to Leader Institute; Chair, Study of Leadership, West Point Military Academy; former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA is someone who has accomplished much, including being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest civilian honor. Yet, in spite of her achievements, Goodman said, Hesselbein continues to be “generous, friendly, down to earth, straight forward, direct, [and] empathetic.”

Hesselbein opened her discussion on creating a sustainable society with a poem:

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character.
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.
– Anonymous

“Today is all about destiny,” she began.

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