Voice of Experience: Sarah Churchman, Talent, Inclusion and Wellbeing Leader, PwC UK

Sarah ChurchmanUnderstand what drives you and find your passion early on, advises Sarah Churchman, who has lived her own advice after embarking on an unexpected career in human resources.“I like to say I got a rookie start in human resources,” says Churchman, who had always thought she wanted to be a lawyer. After studying law and realizing it wasn’t for her, she took some time to travel and then embarked on a human resources career that she has maintained for almost 30 years. “It wasn’t the career I thought I’d have but I’ve been delighted to take this path,” she says, citing the huge variety of work she has done from rewards programs to recruiting.

Helping PwC Lead as a Diversity Champion

Introducing PwC to the idea of diversity and inclusion back in the early 2000s represents a highlight as one of the professional achievements of which she is most proud
“While we had always been an equal opportunity employer, we had never measured our level of success,” she says. Since the beginning, and through the various mergers the firm has undergone, Churchman has helped spearhead the initiative. Today its diversity strategy is a business priority and PwC UK is recognized as a leader for its work.

She helped the firm look at work/life balance in a practical way, realizing that the environment and culture, combined with policy, can make a difference. And she made sure that a diversity agenda was integral to the broader talent management agenda.
“It’s exciting to look at the values we want to promote and the culture we want to create and realize that inclusion is at the root,” she says.

Under her management, PwC became one of the first firms to experiment with unconscious bias in 2005. While commonplace today, at the time not many organizations were exploring its impact.

She also helped introduce the concept of sponsorship combined with mentorship as a way to drive diversity, and published a groundbreaking gender pay gap survey. “Our maturity in this area means we’ve been a step ahead of the curve, always aiming for the next big thing,” she says.

Establishing an Inclusive Talent Culture at PwC

Most people believe they are open-minded, and it’s only when they see data that shows the opposite that they become interested in changing their inclusion mindset, Churchman has found. That’s why a key part of the diversity and inclusion initiative has been to track solid data around talent management decisions. Showing who’s being promoted and hired by gender and ethnic background is critical and serves as a way to prove that very little of a company’s exclusion is intentional, but rather an unintended consequence. “Bringing diversity to the forefront is fundamental to moving an organization forward,” she says.
And that includes making it a societal issue as well. “Organizations are a microcosm of society and there shouldn’t be expectations on women that are different from men in terms of who should be a caregiver. We’re trying to evolve the workplace, but we have to evolve society as well,” she says.

Resilience as a Key to Female Career Success

Churchman has long championed resilience as a key component of PwC’s well-being strategy, emphasizing it as a core skill as part of PwC’s leadership development strategy.
She finds that most women tend to be resilient, because in many cases they are juggling two jobs – at work and at home. “Women and men need to maintain a razor-sharp focus on where they want to go, and realize the importance of bouncing back from setbacks,” she says.

Cultural issues, however, have historically gotten in the way; for example, stereotypes that assume some people don’t want to be leaders. “I see that women can hold themselves back by ruling themselves out and not believing they can do the job at the next level.”
She encourages women to share their ambitions with others who can help them on their journey, rather than just assuming they will know. And outside of work, she advises professionals to choose their long-term partner carefully. “Don’t be the one who tries to do everything,” she says.

Family Life Matters

Churchman has seen the benefits of an equal partnership play out in her own life, saying that her family is a real leveler for her. She has been able to combine her career with raising two children, who are now adults, ages 22 and 20. “I find it incredible; how did that happen?” she says, adding that they will always be her “little prince and princess,” fitting since they are called George and Charlotte.

They have always been part of her career as well; in fact, she says that they have always been her biggest critics. “They would give me honest – and occasionally brutal — feedback when they would hear me on the radio,” she laughs. Always up for a family trip, she is looking forward to a family holiday to the Amalfi coast in Italy.
She now shares her home with a labradoodle called Poppy, which means her relaxing and thinking time includes long walks. In addition, she makes time for charity work; she was a trustee for a breast cancer charity and is now looking forward to joining the board of another group, the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, which is working to support employers committed to driving the diversity agenda forward, an endeavor she anticipates will complement her work at PwC.

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Sheila Patel, CEO of International Goldman Sachs Asset Management

The common thread among the successful women Sheila Patel has mentored over the years is their willingness to engage their networks, mentors, sponsors and managers in their ambitions and their journey.

“Two-way communications holds both women and their stakeholders accountable for their progress, and accountability is the key to advancement in the years ahead,” she says.

Moving Around, Moving Up

Sheila PatelPatel has employed that strategy throughout her career. She feels fortunate that her career has taken her to three different regions, allowing her to work in multiple areas of finance throughout the last 24 years. “The constants of deep client relationships and rewarding partnerships with colleagues have paved the way for many transitions, as new opportunities emerged and Goldman Sachs has provided me with the room to grow,” she says.

She began her career as an analyst in investment banking at a different firm in New York, and then took a hiatus from the industry to explore retail, where she worked for one of the few women CEOs at the time. She soon realized she missed the fast pace of finance and earned her MBA at Columbia, while simultaneously working in derivatives sales and trading.

In 2003, she joined Goldman Sachs, where she has worked in both Asia and London. Over the years, Patel held a variety of roles in the Securities Division, culminating in becoming co-head of Asia Equities Distribution, before moving to London to join the Investment Management Division in 2009.

For Patel, this internal mobility represents the professional achievement she is most proud of – the transition from the “sell-side” to the “buy-side.” During this time, she moved from Singapore to London and undertook a major change in role and responsibilities following the financial crisis.

“It was a great opportunity to identify the skills I had that transcended divisions, such as strong relationships with clients, strategic management capacity and broad market experience,” Patel says. “The firm empowered me to expand my business and focus on investment performance despite the difficult market conditions. That allowed me to help grow the team while retaining our culture, our client base and assets over the following years,” she says.

Today, as CEO of International Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Patel works with clients across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific Ex-Japan to identify a broad range of investment opportunities around the world. Regular travel throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe offers her an unparalleled vantage point to understand global capital flows and investor views.

New Developments Transform The Industry

Patel is particularly intrigued by recent efforts in two spaces – ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and Smart or Active Beta. “As with any new concept, part of the excitement is seeing the diverse ways our clients take and use these ideas and tools,” she notes. For example, there is widespread debate on whether the purpose of ESG is to drive better returns or better societies, but success over the past few years indicates it can be both.

Active Beta, which explores factor-based investing and indexing away from traditional market cap weighted benchmarks is a concept that offers a new dimension to passive index investing and could be transformative in the years ahead.

Patel notes that the ongoing technological transformation of the industry is a fascinating trend. She highlights the advent of technologies such as artificial intelligence, algorithmic or “robo”-based advice, and blockchain transactions as new concepts that will likely dramatically change the industry.

The Skills That Define a Successful Career

As many professionals can attest, it’s easy to assume early in a career that intellectual ability and business-relevant education are the main keys to success. But Patel has found that as you gain experience and insight, “you realize there are many smart people in our industry and the world, but not all of them can communicate complex ideas or develop long-term relationships.”

Since her first year as an analyst, she has saved all of her reviews, which have provided enlightening reading as she progressed through her career. One of her first analyst reviews suggested she should focus on client relationships and communication abilities, as they would be the key to her success.

“I discounted that feedback in my youth, when compared with the quantitative and analytical successes I felt myself achieving, but as I matured at work I realized the truth of the advice I received. Businesses of all kinds are about people – your colleagues and your clients – and fostering those relationships and networks are the foundation of any successful career.”

Success Is Built Through Curiosity and Relationships

Her advice to women is to continually focus on expanding horizons and goals and remain curious to the elements of the industry that are constantly changing, from market conditions to technology and client needs. New developments that drive the industry can also create personal opportunities, from new financial applications to technologies to evolving client bases, where women can make their mark.

“What makes finance evolve is the intersection of people, capital and ideas, and women at all stages of their careers need to drive that evolution,” she says.

Patel has found her role as a partner sponsor of the Asia Women MD’s Network particularly rewarding. The group focuses on providing support and advice for women aspiring to grow and advance within the firm. Many of the women MDs who are now part of the network have that group to thank for their mentoring and support to reach the MD level, she says.

In addition, she finds that the group has also had a tremendous impact on clients, who appreciate the unique panels and discussions the network organizes, especially if their own organizations don’t offer a robust women’s network. She finds that the geographical spread and diverse market environments of Asia make it especially important to develop a broad network, and she is proud that this group can offer a unique blend of commercial and personal empowerment for the women of the region.

A Traveler’s Eye

An avid traveler, Patel appreciates that living in Europe and Asia has given her family unique opportunities to visit a wide variety of far-flung places.

“Chances are you will find our family somewhere off-the-grid, where mobile phones don’t work very well,” she says, adding that it is both stressful but ultimately relaxing for her type-A personality.

Patel’s entire family loves safaris and remote fly fishing adventures, and she uses these adventures as an avenue to indulge her amateur photography hobby. “The great thing about my work is that my camera can always come along too, and if I get a spare minute, there is always something beautiful to capture, whether I’m in Muscat, Mumbai or Milan.”

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Voice Of Experience: Beth Campbell, Senior Vice President, Citadel Securities

Voice Of Experience- Beth Campbell, Senior Vice President, Citadel SecuritiesBeth Campbell has spent her career listening, learning and leading. She has built a strong track record of results in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and has done so through hard work and a disciplined focus on building expertise in her field. In addition, one of the keys to her success has been developing as many relationships and connections as possible, and then focusing on both learning from them and keeping them close as part of her personal network. “Whatever role you’re in, you can find people at all levels — managers, peers, direct reports and clients, who will be integral to your journey.” As she has seen firsthand, these connections will help open doors throughout your career and can ultimately lead you to the perfect role.

Building a Career of Entrepreneurial Ventures within Established Firms

After graduating from NYU Stern, Campbell began her career at Bank of America, handling prime brokerage multi-strategy accounts, a new business for the bank at the time. One of her accounts was Citadel, and her efforts and dedication contributed to the firm inviting her to help launch the sales effort for a new hedge fund administration platform in 2007.

“It was a unique and exciting opportunity to build a new business for such a reputable, respected firm,” Campbell says, and the beginning of an interesting career working for “start-up” divisions within the larger firm.
She worked in that business for four years before it ultimately was sold to Northern Trust.
She then worked briefly in business development at another hedge fund, but a year later returned to Citadel as Head of Sales for a technology business within Citadel.
“I had loved working at Citadel and helping to build a business for the firm before, and because I kept the relationships strong and doors open, Citadel invited me back to lead the sales effort for its technology business at the time,” she says, ultimately handling it for over three years.

In 2015 Campbell was internally recruited to work on the FICC Sales and Relationship Management team at Citadel Securities, the firm’s market-making business, which was another new venture for the firm. Launched in late 2014, it rapidly ascended to top market share, becoming a top 3 dealer of USD interest rate swaps on the Bloomberg SEF (the largest trading platform for those products) in under a year. Campbell needed to learn the business in short order to make immediate inroads with clients and prospects.

Skyrocketing Growth

Citadel Securities’ fixed income business has seen tremendous growth in the past 18 months. In response to client demand, in less than two years the division has expanded from a single product – vanilla U.S. dollar interest rate swaps (IRS) – to a fuller fixed income offering, including an array of USD IRS products, EUR IRS, U.S. Treasuries and CDX. The team continues to aggressively roll out new products, including a comprehensive product pipeline for the year ahead. “Our greatest successes come from listening to our clients, which helps us develop products that meet their liquidity needs,” Campbell said.

The FICC market making business brought on hundreds of clients in what she calls an “intense, challenging, but successful first two years.” Its efforts were recognized when Citadel Securities was named “Interest Rate Derivatives House of the Year” by both IFR and Risk Magazine, the first time that these prestigious honors have been awarded to one firm in the same year. “It’s exhilarating to be part of the team that has earned such notable recognition in such a short period of time,” she says, adding that she feels proud to work with a team comprised of several women in senior roles and benefits extensively from their experience.

The industry as a whole is evolving, as fixed income markets continue to transition to electronic trading. This trend plays to Citadel Securities’ “sweet spot,” she says, giving the firm an edge over traditional market participants.

Confidence That Comes with Experience

Looking back on her career, Campbell says she wishes she had always been as confident as she is now, though she realizes that comes with time, as you hone your expertise.

In a traditionally male-dominated industry, women have to learn to find their voices and expect to be treated as equals from the outset. According to Campbell, one of the keys to professional growth is conducting yourself with honesty, integrity and passion.
“The key is to find something you really care about so you can be authentically passionate,” she says. “Think long and hard about the roles you take and leverage mentors who can help you make the career choices that are the best fit for you.”

A Satisfying Life Involves Interests Outside of Work

Campbell says it is important to find a firm that supports you both inside and outside of the office. Whether training for a marathon or planning a wedding, she appreciates the flexibility that Citadel has always provided. “Ahead of my wedding last year, I was juggling hundreds of new clients and looming projects, but the firm still gave me the time I needed,” she said.

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Voice of Experience: Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions

Experience- Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions“Self-learning is a key path to growth,” says Voya’s Barbara Reinhard, “whether you’re learning something big that will change your career or something small that will make your day-to-day life easier.”

For example, Reinhard taught herself time-saving Excel tricks such as using shortcuts to manage big data sets. “You can participate in an Excel class, but until you’re playing around with it yourself, you won’t know what you need to. It’s the difference between reading about a vacation and actually taking one,” she says. “If you can teach yourself, you can learn anything.”

That skill came in handy when she first started out as a fixed income analyst. When Reinhard saw challenging bond markets on the horizon, she looked beyond fixed income and learned what she could about equities to expand her skill set and opportunities. “It’s easy to become very specialized, but your intellectual curiosity trumps all.”

A Career In Asset Allocation

During her 20 years at Morgan Stanley, Reinhard worked in the Fixed Income, Institutional Investment Management areas and eventually became deputy Chief Investment Strategist. Advancing from an analyst to a managing director was an unusual path, she acknowledges, but one that beckoned because of the ongoing opportunities she sought.

In 2011 she joined Credit Suisse as Chief Investment Officer for private banking in the Americas, running discretionary asset allocation portfolios. Five years later, in April 2016, Reinhard joined Voya.

Of her professional achievements, she’s most proud of becoming a managing director, earning her Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and being hired by Voya: she set her sights on the position as soon as she met the Multi- Asset team.

Not only does Reinhard appreciate the challenging work at Voya, she finds it particularly rewarding because of the firm’s mission to be “America’s Retirement Company.”

“Every individual in America at all wealth levels — from a Rockefeller to a Reinhard — will face retirement,” she says. “At Voya, we can touch every American’s life, and it’s a powerful investment mission when you realize that the decisions we make will help someone realize their lifelong goals.”

To help make smart decisions, Voya completes an annual exercise in October where they develop 10-year asset class forecasts and anticipate the peaks and troughs that markets might see over the next decade. This becomes the foundation for their future asset class strategic investment recommendations.

Reinhard worries that the finance and analytical elements of a career similar to hers might be off-putting to women, especially those who specialized in liberal arts and think that they need to be more mathematically and quantitatively inclined. But the truth, Reinhard says, is that statistics and quantitative theories are actually relatively easy to learn, as they are very finite. “Once you’ve done it once, you can do it 100 times. Don’t be put off by the quantitative aspects of the industry,” she says.

Urging a Savings Mentality From a Young Age

Reinhard sees one of the industry’s biggest struggles as trying to help Americans think about retirement. “It’s difficult when you’re 25 to save for that long-term goal; you can’t even intellectuality conceptualize it,” she notes. But she has seen the importance of starting early. The youngest of five children and raised by parents who were products of the Great Depression, she started saving for retirement with her first paycheck.

“The most important contributor to my retirement account hasn’t been an investment decision I made, but rather letting my asset base compound year in and year out. Compounding interest is one of the best mathematical advantages you can give yourself,” she says, stressing that the one thing young adults should do is put money toward their retirement as early as possible.

The Career-Changing Influence of Mentors and Sponsors

Reinhard credits some of her success with two sponsors who paved the road for her based on her goals, helping her acquire the skills she needed to earn subsequent promotions.

She advises that whether your mentors and sponsors are formal or informal, neither of these people should be your boss. A sponsor is typically far more senior in the organization, someone who sees your value add and will champion you. By cultivating these relationships, and making sure that the leadership team in the organization knows you, opportunities and connections will happen that can change your career path.

The best way to gain that visibility is to be ready for unexpected opportunities that might present themselves, the quintessential “elevator experience.” Reinhard is always ready with a two-minute anecdote in her back pocket about a recent significant business win or something material to the investment strategy she is working on. For example, when the S&P finally broke new highs, she ran into Voya’s CEO and was able to give him a quick analysis and recommend he use the information when he met with important shareholders over the next couple weeks as a proof point for why active management still works.

The key, she says, is to adapt your ideas over the years as your career expands so you always have something ready for your two-minute speech.

And for women who are more senior, she urges them to sponsor a younger professional. For her part, she’s always found someone to watch out for, maybe someone who volunteered to help with an unpopular or time-consuming project, which she says is a smart strategy to gain a champion. “I’ve gotten the most bang for my buck by fixing things that were broken when others said it couldn’t be done.”

Family, Running and Volunteer Work Balance Her Work Life

A former marathon runner, Reinhard says that physical fitness tops her priority list as a calming influence that can help control how she reacts to markets. While she devotes most of her non-work hours to her husband and young son — “they are the most important people in my life” — she makes time for non-profit work as well, serving on the finance committee for the Jerome Green Foundation, a group involved in activities related to education advancement, social justice, arts, health and human services.

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Mover and Shaker: Nupur Sharma, Manager, Accenture Consulting

Nupur Sharma“If you want something changed, you have to speak up and let people know. If you want to get involved in something new, or you’re looking to be more challenged, ask!” advises Accenture’s Nupur Sharma.“Great supervisors, mentors and counselors should ask if you are satisfied, challenged and maintaining balance in your career – however your leadership might not know what your career goals are unless you speak up, share them and ask to be involved.”

Sharma first learned about Accenture through a friend, who had joined the now more than 375,000 person company in the Midwest. She sold her on joining. “What hooked me with Accenture is its breadth of clients across industries and their work in the non-profit space. I was also attracted to the idea that there is no “typical” work day. You’re never bored at Accenture.

For Sharma, the diversity of work that Accenture affords its people differentiates a career there from “any other job I know.” According to Sharma, part of Accenture’s DNA is to “support its people in exploring their interests and opportunities and where they can excel within the company.”

Diversity of Career and Colleagues

Sharma began her career at Accenture nine years ago and she has been able to drastically change her job, the industry she focused on and the clients she served all whilst remaining at the same company. “Personally, I was drawn to Accenture because there is no typical work day here – it’s hard to be bored. The diversity of work you can do here differentiates itself from other careers. Accenture is very supportive in its people exploring different roles and pursuing personal interests and passions within the company,” she states.

She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people at Accenture, such as Olympic athletes, authors, people who have run for office and those that have served our country and comments, “I’m constantly impressed with the caliber and diversity of people that our company attracts.” Plus, she notes, her sense of the company’s commitment to gender diversity has become stronger. The fact that Accenture was the first big consulting firm to publish its diversity demographics speaks volumes to its commitment to inclusion and diversity.”

Most recently Sharma worked with a major tech company to help them transform the way they do business by helping them improve their time to configure, price and quote.

“It’s really exciting. We are enabling companies to interact faster and more seamlessly with their customers and partners than ever before. More and more very established companies are willing to take leaps with us and innovate from their status quo.”

At Work, a Personal Passion

Sharma is passionate about the work she does at Accenture and is fortunate as the company always encourages her to pursue projects that excite her, in addition to the innovative projects she works on for clients. A great example of this is Sharma’s recent project to create the company’s new Augmented Reality App.

“Essentially, I was able to form a ‘mini-start up’ within Accenture by working to develop the company’s new Augmented Reality App. You point your phone at a specific item (a billboard, a t-shirt, a monument, etc.) that has been set up as a trigger and the photo/image comes alive with videos, interactive elements, links to websites, etc. I was able to get funding from my leadership team, find awesome developers, and build the app. I was really proud when the app was published in the Apple App Store and on Google play.”

She describes Augmented and Virtual Reality as among the top trends in consumer technology and that besides gaming and entertainment (such as Pokémon Go) she suggests that we will be seeing more AR in training, professional development, troubleshooting, geographical exploration, marketing and more. Sharma is proud of the work she has done at Accenture and comments, “I love that Accenture is not only experimenting with AR itself, but is on the leading edge by the work we’re doing for our clients to help them stay ahead. My goal is to one day be the company’s AR lead.”

Sharma is proud of her many professional achievements at Accenture but also of her involvement in Accenture’s non-profit work.
“One of the main reasons I joined Accenture nearly a decade ago was to eventually participate in Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), which delivers the power of Accenture’s global capabilities and experience to positively impact the lives of people in the developing world. Essentially, ADP applies the same expertise and capability that we employ at our clients, to non-profits and NGOs. It was amazing to work for the Catholic Relief Services NGO and implement an online financial system to replace their manual work. I’m thankful that Accenture supports non-profit work.”

Women in Technology

Sharma has always had an interest in technology and describes WIRED Magazine and TechCrunch as her bedtime reads. She is drawn to consumer technology as it has the biggest and most tangible impact on the lives of the average Jane/Joes and describes being able to influence that impact as being, “incredible.”

She believes it’s important to have more women in tech for the diversity of ideas that come from women being part of the conversation. “We bring different, fresh perspectives to the table and maybe even different ways of getting the job done. But I think it’s important to have diversity period, beyond gender. I see this at Accenture, working alongside people of many different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, and how that diversity in people helps us deliver innovation.” says Sharma.

The Importance of Mentorship

Sponsorship and mentoring have played a very important role in Sharma’s career. She has benefitted from a ‘Career Counselor’, that all Accenture’s employees have access to, “I’ve had some great Career Counselors throughout my time at Accenture that have been my guiding light to help me advance and make the career choices that are best for me,” she states.

Sharma has also benefitted from organic mentors she has met along her journey and describes her mom as her biggest professional role model, “She emigrated from another country and maintained a work-life balance while raising three kids with my dad.”

Outside of Work

Outside of work Sharma loves being active, “I’ll do everything from yoga and dance to snowboarding and biking. I’m a certified yoga instructor and love teaching yoga to both coworkers and my students,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Xing Zhou, Diversity & Inclusion Leader, PwC China

You can fulfill your dreams in your work life and also enjoy your family life.

Voice of Experience- Xing Zhou, Diversity & Inclusion Leader, PwCThat’s the message that PwC China’s Xing Zhou works hard to impart to her female staff members. “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,” she says.

Zhou began her career with the Central Bank of China where she spent three years before deciding on a career change that took her to PwC in Shanghai. She soon was offered the opportunity to work in the New York office where she was promoted to manager before returning to her hometown of Beijing.

For the past 14 years she has worked with PwC in Beijing. Zhou is currently the insurance industry leader for PwC China where she oversees all the services they provide to the insurance industry, including audit, consulting and tax.

Since insurance is a relatively new industry in China, Zhou says it has been gratifying to watch the discipline mature over the past 14 years and see the contributions that PwC’s team has made to its growth, as they work with regulators and key market players to introduce best practices from the firm’s expertise overseas.

Going for the Gold

Recently, Zhou participated in one of her most exciting professional obligations to date: She was chosen to be part of the eight-person delegation that represented Beijing’s winning bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. She participated as the financial expert on the committee, collaborating with many top dignitaries, including the Vice Prime Minister of China and Mayor of Beijing.

“To have all these accomplished people respect my professional expertise in finance provided an incredible amount of satisfaction, to have my many years of hard work acknowledged,” she says.

Participating in the committee was also rewarding because it reinforced that she was able to take on any challenge, even something outside of her comfort zone. “Each success like this builds your confidence,” she notes.

Promoting Diversity from Different Angles

Zhou says that the concept of diversity is newer in China and Hong Kong than in the western world, and was largely introduced by global companies such as PwC. While gender diversity is important to ensure that female employees have equal opportunities for promotions and upward mobility, she says that China’s culture, which encourages women to work outside the home, makes it easier to balance men’s and women’s roles.

However, there are two new areas where they are shining the diversity spotlight. The first is on cultural diversity, where teams of people from mainland China, Hong Kong and expatriates are learning to work together and value the viewpoints and contributions of disparate groups.

In addition, they are increasingly encountering generational diversity from younger colleagues, as well as younger clients due to the many new start-up firms that seek their services.

As Diversity Leader for PwC China/HK, Zhou’s core focus is to create an inclusive working environment. She acknowledges that’s easier to talk about than to create, so she says that it’s important to make sure that diversity is part of the strategy of the firm.

One way they encourage diversity is through recruiting, by intentionally making sure that they seek a diverse pool of candidates, which includes bringing folks together from mainland China and Hong Kong as well as expatriates. As a consequence, the advisory team stands to benefit from a plurality of talent.

Then they have a three-pronged strategy to ensure the concept infiltrates throughout the firm.

First, PwC makes sure everyone understands the issue by providing mandatory training to leaders on unconscious bias; then they share those lessons with the rest of the workforce; and finally they intentionally monitor it via KPIs.

Work/Life Balance Challenges

The biggest challenge that Zhou finds Chinese women face is pressure from their families – from husbands through in-laws – to work less. She feels part of that stems from the traditional one-child policy, which put the sole family focus on caring for one baby.

She hears from her employees that sometimes their families assume their focus will shift from their work to their child when they become mothers.

“When my staff members come to me and say that they feel pressured, I ask them, ‘What do you want?’ I remind them that being a mother brings life changes, but that they remain the same person they always have been,” she says, adding that everyone has their own specific goals; some may choose to dedicate most of their time at home, while others may elect to continue working.

“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,” she asserts.

She also finds that global mobility for women is a growing area of focus. While PwC has a mature global mobility strategy, it’s become a hot topic for many Chinese companies that have started to globalize their businesses, but don’t yet have policies in place. PwC has been instrumental in sharing best practices, having recently published a thought leadership paper on moving women with purpose.

Part of the reason that women don’t go overseas from China as frequently is that few companies have formal policies in place, and often there is no mechanism to survey them to assess their interest. Interestingly, she says that when PwC surveys its employees, 70 percent of them express interest in an overseas assignment. From there, the key concern is the career path after they return.

Maintaining Work/Life Balance in Her Own Life

Zhou values her work/life balance and appreciates the support she receives from her parents and in-laws, but most of all her husband. As a doctor, he understands the professional challenges she faces and the two of them are able to support one another’s struggles and schedules.

Weekends are family time – even when there is work to be done. Her children love to join her at the office, where they can draw on the whiteboards and find other ways to amuse themselves. She encourage her staff to bring their children in as needed, also.

Finally, her family plans plenty of outside activities from skiing to weekly art lessons they take together. And, she adds, she loves to cook, a hobby that her family can enjoy also.

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Voice of Experience Ay Wen Lie, Partner M&A Advisory PwC Singapore

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Voice of Experience Ay Wen Lie, Partner M&A Advisory PwC Singapore (F)Ay Wen Lie began her career with KLM Airlines as a business manager working on restructuring and growing the business via joint ventures and mergers.

KLM had a joint venture with Northwest and was considering the option to merge with the airline Alitalia.

However, the merger with Alitalia did not go ahead and instead of growing the business, the focus shifted to cost savings and selling off non-core businesses. After a few years of continuous downsizing, she wanted to turn her attention to the act of building something, focusing on business growth and exploring her entrepreneurial capabilities. She started her own company together with her sister, focusing on interior lighting with products made from natural materials and the use of traditional handcraft in modern designs.

For several years, they built the business, refining the concept and expanding the business, primarily through selling B2B at trade shows. Although it was challenging, she appreciated the sense of control and excitement of building something from scratch. However, in a small company, at some point the business cycle remains the same — constant travelling in search of new producers, developing new products, quality control, tradeshows, shipping and designing new products. She decided it was time to turn to something new, where she could develop new skills and explore other opportunities with more variety. That’s when she joined PwC in the Netherlands.

“Even though the company was doing well I wanted to see what else was out there” Lie says.

“I didn’t see new opportunities for my personal development that I could get excited about. My sister, who loves creating new designs understood, and she has continued the business together with her husband”.

Although she grew up in the Netherlands, her family is Chinese-Indonesian and it had always been her ambition to live abroad with her husband and children. After a few years at PwC Netherlands, they offered her an international assignment opportunity abroad: The United States, China or Singapore.

Location, Location, Location

The couple chose Singapore because of its location as the central hub in South East Asia that was close to family, the opportunities that came with a booming Asian economy, and the fact that Singapore is one of the world’s leading financial centers.

The relocation to PwC Singapore also offered Lie the unique opportunity to build a Mergers & Acquisitions Operations practice for PwC Singapore’s Financial Services Industry Practice. “This was a great opportunity and I really enjoyed the challenge,” she says.

After three years, Lie decided to make her move to PwC Singapore permanent. “There was still such great opportunity to grow the practice further, and I was so proud of what we had built – it would have been hard to let go.”

PwC Singapore acts as a center of excellence in many areas for the region, as many international companies base their regional headquarters in Singapore, and the firm had invested early in developing a strong deals practice. The result is one of the most advanced deals practices in the region, supporting clients along all aspects of the deal continuum. “Singapore remains a very exciting location to me as we continue to develop our deals practice,” comments Lie.

Succeeding by Making Clear Choices

She says one of her biggest learnings has been to not be afraid of making choices and being clear about what you want, what you believe in and what you stand for. “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,” Lie states.

She had what she calls her “breakthrough moment” on the wisdom of this philosophy when the company she was running made a clear choice that they should focus only on their own products. “It was a scary moment taking out half of the product line up, but all of a sudden we were being courted by top magazines. It was clear what we stood for and believed in.”

She encountered the same when she moved to PwC Singapore. In the beginning she took on a lot of different things, trying to be useful to everyone. She found, however, that by doing that you don’t stand out, as it is not clear to others what you are really good at and passionate about, and therefore where you can add most value. She had to figure out what she wanted to do and build her own personal brand. “Don’t be afraid to make choices, play to your strengths and focus your energy on where you can best add value,” she says.

An Exciting Industry

At work these days, Lie finds her position constantly evolving as she supports clients with their regional integrations and/or divestments. She appreciates that these programs give her a view into a company’s whole ecosystem, addressing strategic, tactical and operational issues. It is a challenge creating a new business under tight timelines, with lots of uncertainty, bringing people and businesses together and motivating them to buy into a new future. It is often difficult for people to let go of what they have been part of for many years.

“I enjoy thinking through the complexities with a diverse range of people, finding the best solutions given the circumstances and keeping an eye out for what this means in the long run.”

She says it’s an exciting time to be in the financial services industry as a whole. “It’s crucial to have a stable financial system, and yet so much is happening. There is uncertainty in the markets, and regulators are constantly implementing new regulations which make it difficult for banks to be agile and focus on client needs. There is a lot of competition and cost pressure. On top of all that, blockchain or more general fintech will rapidly change the traditional operating models.”

She has been a member of the board of the Association of Dutch Business People in Singapore and also participates in the ‘Women in Finance’ Network which brings together women (and men) from all the industry layers and fosters networking.

A Family Affair

With two children, ages 9 and 11, Lie loves to spend time watching their sports, but also being active together — hiking, skiing or riding horses. “Outdoor sports allow you to be connected with yourselves, each other and nature.”

She believes for women to successfully combine family and career a lot depends on a woman’s partner. “In my experience it’s important to discuss and agree with your partner what both your ambitions in life are. What do you want to achieve; what kind of family life do you want; and how do you want to raise your children?”

While circumstances can change and priorities will shift, couples should reach an understanding of what is important to each and discuss how they can achieve that together, by supporting one other’s ambitions and accepting and acknowledging what the impact will be in terms of lifestyle or timing of career choices.

“Sometimes that means taking a step back in one area to move forward in another,” Lie says, “and this goes both ways between partners.”

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Voice of Experience: Marina Lui, Regional Market Manager for the China International Team UBS

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Marina LuiMarina Lui believes a strong team brings success, and that companies need to create an atmosphere that will attract and retain those solid performers.

As one of the early immigrants to Hong Kong from China, Lui says she appreciated the opportunity to receive the education that she did, both in Hong Kong and then attending the University of Texas at Austin in the United States.

She began her career as a branch manager in consumer banking, but wasn’t sure she was cut out for managing – ironic, given her current success in that arena. She joined UBS in 1995 as a client-facing relationship manager, spending 10 years covering the Hong Kong domestic market, and then once again moving into managerial positions.

At the time, the Hong Kong domestic market was quite established so she appreciated the opportunity she was given in 2011 when she was appointed as one of the team heads serving ultra-high worth clients in China and Taiwan. That allowed her to work in a sophisticated new market with a team of 50 experienced staff.

Soon she honed her focus solely on China, where she became regional market manager for the China International Team with a staff of 150. “I was very proud of being named regional market manager and subsequently building the team. In less than two years we have doubled the size of the business.”

Winning Because of the Team

Lui credits her team with that feat, but much of the acknowledgement surely should be given to her leadership style. “I want to be the team of choice and feel I have achieved that goal with the high morale we have. I want my team to be proud of what they do, and know that they have collectively contributed to our accomplishments,” she says.

Not only is she focused on success, but on developing the next generation of leaders. She admits it’s challenging sometimes when you can’t see quick results since talent development is a long process. However, she enjoys the role she plays in nurturing employees to help support the success of the firm.

Changing Demographics Mean A Changing Industry

The industry is currently in the midst of wealth transfer from one generation to another, and they need to accommodate the different way that the next generation thinks. Since many of her relationship managers are relatively young, they are in a position to relate to, and therefore confidently meet, the needs of this next generation.

And the changing demographics brings internal challenges as well, as companies grapple with providing employees with the diverse experiences they increasingly seek. “We have to question whether employees who are in their late 20s will want to work for the bank for 20 years, given their mindset that they don’t want to be in one place too long.” She says that they are addressing that through encouraging millennial employees to seek additional opportunities in other divisions of the bank, so they can have those varied experiences without leaving.

Growing the Next Generation of Leaders

Younger employees today also have the benefit of being able to research an industry before they join, and she encourages them to do their homework, to find out what exactly a banking position entails and confirm that it suits their interests and skills. But, it also has to be something they enjoy.

“When you join an industry or company, you have to be passionate or you won’t last long,” she says. She advises them to trust their gut feeling when determining a career path, but then to realize that success may be delayed. “The younger generation tends to want immediate gratification but often you have to be patient as you climb the ladder. Learn what you need to know on each rung.”
She encourages wealth management as an industry where women can be particularly successful, because it’s a people business, and women naturally exhibit interpersonal skills that allow them to excel at networking and building relationships with clients.

Within UBS, Lui is involved in the Global Key Talent Program, which helps develop high-performing talent. The group brings together emerging professionals and senior leaders to encourage mentoring and exposure. “It’s important to offer this opportunity for younger professionals to engage with senior leadership, both men and women, and show their capabilities.”

She also is involved with a group called “Half the Sky” that helps the bank better understand the needs of female clients who are becoming a larger part of their portfolio, as entrepreneurs and decision makers.

Work/Life Balance as an Imperative

Lui counsels her peers that it’s important to leave your stress at work and develop a healthy work/life balance that allows you to perform and focus better on the job. For her, exercise is a stress reliever, but she encourages women to find what works for them.

She loves traveling and spending time with her family but also believes in the importance of giving back through philanthropy. Two causes she is particularly passionate about are elder care and children. Recently she instigated a team project where they visited the elderly. “We need them to know they are important and not forgotten.” On the other end of the spectrum, she is involved with the group “Pencil of Promise,” which is working to build schools in Laos.

“I know that I am fortunate to work in the banking industry and make a good living compared to many families who struggle on a daily basis. We all need to make giving a part of our lives, to remember to reach out and support those in need. “

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Voice of Experience: Jacqueline Arthur, Chief of Staff to the Co-heads of the Investment Management Division (IMD), Goldman Sachs

Jacqueline Arthur“Change doesn’t always happen when you expect, but it has altered my career and outlook for the better. Even when I have had second thoughts about past decisions, those have been my best learning moments. Taking risks throughout my career has made me more confident and resilient,” says Goldman Sachs’ Jacqueline Arthur.

From Law to Investment Management

Arthur attended law school at George Washington University after earning her undergraduate degree at Duke University. She began her career as a corporate attorney advising private equity (PE) clients, and five years later joined Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division (IMD), parlaying her PE experience into her new position.

Arthur noted that even though she was in a similar industry, she was looking at it through a different vantage point and in some ways felt like she was starting from the beginning. “When I started my career as a corporate attorney, I never would have envisioned this trajectory,” said Arthur. “I’m proud of risks I’ve taken to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve become open to trusting my instincts and leveraging my network and mentors, which has allowed me to be more confident in taking on new opportunities.”

One particularly exciting challenge was when she joined the Global Portfolio Solutions team in 2008, focusing on multi-asset class solutions for clients. “Our clients were relying on us to ensure their portfolios were in safe hands during a volatile time,” Arthur says. As part of the move, she was given the opportunity to broaden her responsibilities as the group focused on expanding its capabilities. “This was a terrific growth opportunity and gave me a chance to stretch beyond a pure client role to focus on management and strategy. While I had always enjoyed advising clients, I found that I also really loved thinking about how to grow our business and to ensure we are best positioned to serve our clients.”

When a position opened in 2011 to work with the chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, she says she leapt at the opportunity. Her role has grown significantly in the last several years, and she currently serves as chief of staff to the heads of IMD, where she focuses on a broad spectrum of initiatives across IMD’s businesses.

“Our clients come to us for comprehensive solutions, and one aspect of my role that I have found particularly rewarding is focusing on our efforts to tap into not only the intellectual capital of the people in IMD, but also the expertise of the rest of the firm. This is a powerful tool for clients, and one that differentiates us,” she says.

“I love the diversity of my work and the people I get to interact with across the firm. Every day I am reminded that I work with such a talented group of people.” Arthur says a priority for her is to identify junior talent who have the potential to excel at leadership roles within the firm.

Viewing Your Career With a Long-Term Perspective

Approach your career as a marathon not a sprint, Arthur advises, wisdom she received from a managing director when she first began working at Goldman Sachs.

“This mindset ensures you avoid burnout and retain resilience for speedbumps you might experience during your career,” she notes. “Staying the course and having a long-term perspective has served me well in the ups and downs of work-life balance.” Arthur, who is the mother of two young children, notes that while she was initially anxious to be out of the office for maternity leave, the culture at the firm is collaborative and team-focused, and she was able to resume her role seamlessly following her return to the office.

She appreciates that Goldman Sachs has a “mentorship culture.” Arthur serves as an advisor to the IMD Women’s Network on its community engagement efforts and has found the network to be a very impactful resource. She says she has also received terrific support from mentors and sponsors at key moments. “The relationships I’ve created at the firm and in the industry enable me to tap into resources that make me better at my job and have made my career more meaningful,” Arthur says.

“The Best Part of My Day”

Arthur looks forward every day to the moment when she returns home from work and her kids run to the door to greet her. “It can be hard to maintain a work-life balance, and before having children I couldn’t envision how I would be the mother I wanted to be.” But, she says that being a mom has made her more focused at work, and she believes working has also made her a better mom. “When I am with my children, I focus on being very present and engaged. They also love coming to work with me and asking me questions about my job.”

Her family loves traveling and Arthur thrives on seeing the world through her kids’ eyes and learning about different cultures with them. Closer to home, they appreciate the access they have to restaurants and the arts in New York City. “Having grown up in a small town, the experiences we can have locally constantly amaze me, and we really try to make the most of it as a family.”

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Men Who Get It: Joe Sieczkowski, Senior Managing Director, CTO, Chief Architect/Engineer, TIAA

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“Being a leader who is open to diversity requires a number of qualities, but a key one is being a good listener,” says TIAA’s Joe Sieczkowski.

“So many people listen just so that they can respond, rather than internalizing what’s being said to see if there’s another issue at play. You have to be willing to have your beliefs turned around in the face of evidence,” he says, citing a quote that has been attributed to Mark Twain: “It isn’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just isn’t so.”

A Tech Career Born on Wall Street

joe-sieczkowskiSieczkowski graduated in a short 3.5 years from Lehigh University in the top 10% of his class with a degree in computer engineering and began pursuing a career in finance. As he describes it, “It was ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ on Wall Street where they were realizing it was easier to teach a math guy about bonds than vice versa.”

He began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he took on a series of roles of increasing responsibilities. One characteristic that differentiated Sieczkowski from his peers was his drive to understand the nuances and complexities of each business, even as a technologist. For example, if he was delivering technology for derivative traders, it was important for him to understand how options were priced and how factors such as volatility would affect them. He subsequently held technology leadership roles at Deutsche Bank and then Bear Stearns. At Bear, Sieczkowski worked in the global clearing services division, where they were developing white labeled trading websites for their institutional clients.

With a desire to earn his MBA always in the back of his mind, Sieczkowski took the opportunity to do so during the market turmoil of 2008. During this time, he did advisory work and subsequently joined TIAA in 2011 as Chief Architect/Engineer where he currently leads a cross-functional team of technology leaders in strategy, architecture and enterprise data.

Lifelong Diversity Champion

Beginning with his mom, and leading up to a female CIO at TIAA, Sieczkowski has had a series of women role models who instilled the importance of diversity. He was proud watching his mom as he grew up: She juggled three kids while working and going to school where she graduated summa cum laude. Her career progressed from being a nurse to head nurse to nurse manager and also president of the New Jersey State Nurses Association. With that upbringing, he never doubted the capabilities of women, who have been his colleagues and managers ever since.

That’s why he champions diversity throughout TIAA, realizing that the department’s success depends on the skills of his team. With a proven correlation between innovative teams, success and diversity, he embraces the need to seek diverse points of view to challenge the status quo and ultimately reach better conclusions. “My teams are known for highlighting diversity, and I believe that’s one of the reasons we consistently outperform norms,” he says. “When an employee takes pride in their differences, they are more apt to seek out opportunities that showcase their skills, which in turn helps us perform.”

Groom and Let Go

Sieczkowski takes pride in the leaders he has helped develop, explaining that it’s a four-part process that involves mentoring, grooming, promoting and releasing. “Often that fourth step can be the hardest, but you have to do all four,” he asserts.

“If you insist that you need a certain person on your team, you are holding them back. When you develop talent, it’s in the best interest of the firm to let them fly.” He has taken that to heart, and prides himself on leading a development-focused organization that constantly works to promote people into larger roles.

Part of that evolution in driving female success is bringing in entry-level talent and then making sure they have opportunities to be in front of senior leaders. “When you have outstanding people, you want to make sure they are visible,” he says. “Effectively sponsoring people entails identifying potential and spotlighting and nurturing talent.”

He also encourages his female employees to pursue continuing education, whether formally through a master’s program or informally through the many training opportunities TIAA provides.

Failing Fast and Focusing on Output

While he is an official sponsor of a group mentoring program, he also believes it’s in the informal actions where he can make a difference, and that supporting emerging talent through stretch assignments should be part of each leader’s job. “You have to let them know that it’s ok to fail,” he says, adding that his department understands the value of “failing fast.” When they undertake an innovative initiative, they’ll term it a “fast fail pilot,” knowing that they have the chance to watch it for four to six weeks to see if it will be effective and move on if not.

As leaders consider opportunities for women, there is one key area where they should be focused: output. “We have to remember that flexibility thrives when we focus on the outputs of performance and effectiveness, rather than time. It yields a better work environment and a better work product.”

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