“If you’re surrounded by inspiring people, junior or senior, you’ll be able to work through complex problems,” says Marie Louise Kirk. “They become your source of energy and creativity.” She recommends that professionals develop friendships with the colleagues around them and notes that the relationships she has cultivated throughout her career at Goldman Sachs have helped her succeed. “We all have tough days once in a while, but you have to move on and not let those frustrations inhibit your success. My office friends always help me do that,” Kirk advises.
As Kirk puts it, she is “Goldman Sachs born and bred,” initially joining the firm as an intern. She is now head of FICC Client-facing Engineers for the Americas, responsible for client strategies and solutions. Kirk also serves on the Firmwide Technology Risk Committee and the Securities Division Client and Business Standards Committee.
Originally from Denmark, she was the first in her family to attend university abroad, after being accepted to Harvard. “I come from many generations of Vikings so it was a huge deal when I got a scholarship to attend Harvard from the Crown Prince of Denmark.” She also ended up meeting her now-husband as a classmate at Harvard University.
She describes her experience at Harvard as “eye opening and life changing,” and now serves as a trustee on the board of the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark Fund for Harvard University.
Although many companies came on campus to recruit, Kirk says that she was won over at her first Goldman event hosted on campus, because of a connection she made with a senior female professional at the firm. “She was so relatable and passionate about her work,” Kirk said. After interviews in Boston and London, Kirk was offered an internship in London on the trading floor. She began working full time as an interest rate derivative trader following graduation. “Trading was at the heart of where things were happening,” she says, describing it as very dynamic, though with a steep learning curve, where she received lots of opportunities to learn.
Data Shows the Way
After several years on the trading desk, Kirk realized that she wanted to become a financial engineer because she enjoyed the quant work, but also wanted to work with clients. Reflecting on this role Kirk says, “This is what I’m passionate about.”
In 2006, Kirk transitioned to the engineering team, and in 2008 she was asked to move to New York to lend her expertise. She arrived in New York two weeks before Lehman Brothers went under and at the time there was a need for her derivative skill set: “Quant skills come in especially handy in tough times,” she says.
In her current job, she appreciates that the role allows her to find solutions for clients – she says she does her best to help clients make money and manage risk and their businesses better.
The advancements in data science and machine learning for how the firm services its clients better are exciting aspects of her work. “We are really figuring out how we can be more relevant to our clients at the right time with the right content.” Kirk notes that her team lets “data be a leading indicator to help guide us and give clients the best and most relevant service possible.”
Although the firm’s risk-management activities have always been driven by data, Goldman Sachs is now starting to apply data to a much larger extent in other areas. Data can create huge efficiency improvements, Kirk says, as well as smarter, more scientific decision-making in areas that were previously driven by more subjective analysis, anecdotes and gut-feeling.
“The change that has taken place in the last couple of years and what’s predicted for the near-term is mind blowing,” she says. “Through data and technology there will increasingly be ways that machines can perform the more manual functions that humans have had to do. It will allow all of us to focus more on the high-value activities in our business.”
Proudest Achievement is Facilitating Success for Next Generation
Kirk says she was proud to be named a managing director in 2009 and partner in 2012, but that she’s most proud of her role in building next generation. “Recruiting talented people, coaching them with the right mix of support and push and ultimately seeing them flourish is wonderful,” Kirk says. “Helping create the next generation of successful leaders is a true legacy. And now seeing them naturally turn around and start supporting and pulling up the generation behind them makes me even prouder and, frankly, quite emotional.”
As Kirk says, “It’s gratifying to know there is a virtuous cycle that will benefit generations that will last way past any one person’s time at Goldman Sachs.”
Savvy Advice on Perfectionism
When asked what advice she wishes she’d known earlier in her career, Kirk notes that no great advice can replace the personal growth that comes from a journey of ups and downs. “No life is perfect. No career is perfect. The sooner you find peace with that truth, the sooner you will find your path to success.” She cites Winston Churchill’s quote: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.”
She sees that many people in the workforce, especially those of us with Type A tendencies, become obsessed with perfection and the perception of perfection, but she advises peers and junior employees to be comfortable with not always trying to be perfect.
“To be really creative and innovative, you have to push boundaries and give it your all,” she says. “You have to keep the right balance between being on your toes, but not so obsessed with perfection or fear of failure that you become scared of your own shadow.” Managers are critical in providing the psychological safety to help overcome some of these issues and create an environment of authenticity and ability to be your own diverse self, she says.
Kirk warns that when you apply that same standard of perfectionism to marriage, kids and friends on top of work, you will break.
“If you aim for perfection, you may feel you have to choose between being the best at work and in your personal life and that you can’t do both. But if you change your attitude and approach, you may end up doing both better.”
Throughout her years at Goldman Sachs, Kirk has been involved in many of the firm’s internal programs, and she has found that one element they have all had in common is the social glue of community and connectivity, which have helped her remain excited to go to work every day.
A Full Life Outside of Work
Currently expecting her third daughter, Kirk says she has her hands full with two other girls, ages 10 and 5, and a husband with a thriving career of his own.
Yet she still finds time to nurture girls on the path to STEM careers. “It’s upsetting when I see them lean out, and often at such a young age, all because of stereotypes,” she says. “It’s fine to make a conscious choice at 16, but sometimes they start opting out at age 6 before they understand their true talent and interests.”
In her family, it’s easy to focus on women who are successful at math. “We good-naturedly ridicule dad, who’s not a math guy,” she laughs. “For now my daughters think math is a girl thing.”
To Telecommute or Work in an Office: That is the Question
News, Office PoliticsSo are they?
Technology now enables workers to access work servers, email, employee instant messenger services, shared folders, and more, practically allowing them to simulate an office environment. ‘Face-time’ can also be achieved by free services such as Skype.
Yahoo! imposed a ban on working remotely with the entry of Marissa Mayer as CEO, this move was not without criticism. As commented upon in an article in American Banker.
“Giving employees the flexibility to choose where they work is an endeavor far too nuanced for a simplistic approach.” Yahoo! may be one of the only companies, however, who are making such drastic decisions. American Express, Citigroup and Capital One are just a few of the large companies who are growing their work-from-home programs in the roles of field sales representatives and technology.
In fact, Citi has been exemplary in creating a hot desk system in their offices in Long Island, NYC and employees seem to be reaping the benefits of such flexibility.
Karyn Likerman, Head of Inclusion Programs and Work-Life Strategy at Citi Bank says she could virtually do her job offsite. “Most of my meetings are with others that work across the US and around the world,” she says. “I have a proper work space at home and can function fully from there, seamless to those that I work with.”
Averting the traditional office setup also undeniably cuts costs, and allows companies to maintain low overhead. When budget makers find themselves under earnings constraints, they often turn to telecommuting as a solution to cutting down on business real estate.
Those in favor of working remotely also argue that workers with strong creative minds can more likely come up with strategic and innovative ideas when they are in a more relaxed and comfortable environment. Depending on a company’s office culture, a stiff and conservative ambiance can stifle such productivity.
Forbes contributor Jacob Morgan argues against corporate office spaces, citing the 2013 Regus Global Economic Indicator, which states that “out of 26,000 business managers across 90 countries, 48% of them are now working remotely for at least half of their work-week.”
There is also the question of the worker’s daily commute, which can be quite lengthy for many around the world. The United States Census Bureau reports that 600,000 employees in the U.S. alone travel 90 minutes and 50 miles to work (each way) whereas 10.8 million of us travel 60 minutes each way. This is significant travel time that can be used to improve productivity and company growth.
Is it generational? Forbes contributor Morgan believes it is. On the topic of Millennials, he reminds us that by the year 2020, the majority of those in the workplace will be from their generation. “This is a generation that is used to being connected,” he writes. “Millennials grew up with social platforms…this is a generation that doesn’t know what it’s like to get 200 emails a day while sitting in a cubicle. Organizations need to adapt to this employee.”
Offices, however, still serve a number of useful functions and perhaps a balance of the two options is the answer. Citi’s Likerman can complete most of her tasks remotely; she admittedly enjoys “the in-person collaboration when working in the office.”
Likerman notes that, “Technology in meeting rooms (video conferencing, access to the internet and my desktop), dual monitors, higher quality video conferencing” are all reasons why an office environment still proves beneficial. She also notes that because she works for a bank, “we have certain systems that are not accessible outside of our firewalls so those employees must work in an office.”
She notes, most importantly perhaps, that customer facing employees can’t get around working from their place of employment. The need for people to connect directly with other people will never go away. Working physically among fellow employees can form important foundational relationships that telecommuting cannot achieve.
The spontaneity factor is also huge when arguing for the traditional office environment. A chance encounter with a colleague from another department while getting coffee, for example, leading to a new collaboration, could never happen outside the office.
A research study called the “Allen Curve,” which is named after MIT management/engineering professor Thomas J. Allen, began in the 1970s, which found that “the probability for frequent communications among engineers is greatest when they’re located within about 100 feet of one another.” Proximity tends to lead to speedier decision-making, some argue.
In truth, proper research has yet to hit the public on whether or not productivity increases or decreases due to telecommuting. And it is still tricky to ensure workers are being as productive as required when working from home, or outside the office. So this debate will likely continue. However, telecommuting will likely continue to grow because not only is it desirable to the employee, but to the company’s numbers.
By Gina Scanlon
OP-ED: Employers must meet unprecedented female demand for international mobility – or face losing the war for talent
Featured, International Womens Day, Op-EdDid you know that we are experiencing a time of unprecedented – and as yet unmet –demand from female employees for international mobility?
Across the world, forward-thinking organisations are using international mobility experiences to develop future leaders and advance the careers of key talent. Yet despite unprecedented female demand for these assignments, women currently only account for 20% of international assignees.To boost awareness of this shortfall, celebrate the international career aspirations of women and shine a light on what organisations can do to help make these aspirations a reality, PwC is marking this year’s International Women’s Day by launching a new research-based report called Moving women with purpose.
The report highlights a number of other critical diversity disconnects beyond the wide gap mentioned above between female demand for mobility and the reality in the workplace. For example, the overwhelming majority of multinationals in our study told us that global acumen skills were a critical requirement for advancement into leadership positions at their organisations (77%) – and 67% of large multinationals said they use global mobility to develop their succession pipeline of future leaders. Yet only 16% confirmed that the number of female international assignees in their organisation was proportionate to their overall percentage of female employees.
Furthermore, only 22% of global mobility executives stated that their organisations’ diversity and mobility strategies were aligned. Even more worryingly, the same small proportion – 22% – said they were actively trying to increase their levels of internationally mobile women.
So it’s clear that organisations are using international exposure and experiences to develop and advance their key talent. But it’s equally clear that more action is urgently needed to close a significant mobility gender gap. To do this, CEOs must drive an agenda where women are both aware of – and also actively provided with – the critical experiences they need to progress their careers, including international assignment opportunities. Also, to respond to and capitalise on the demographics of the modern workforce mobility, mobility programmes can simply not be operated in a silo. Global mobility, diversity and talent management strategies need to be connected and coordinated to support companies’ successful realisation of their international business and people strategies.
Another disconnect that PwC’s research report highlights is a glaring lack of role models for female mobility. Less than half of the women we interviewed agreed that their organisation has enough female role models with successful international assignment experiences. And this shortcoming is negatively impacting companies’ wider female talent and global mobility programmes. In fact, both women and global mobility executives identified it as the second highest barrier inhibiting more women from undertaking international assignments.
To close this role model gap, international employers need to use the mantra ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ as a catalyst to drive more gender-inclusive mobility. The 71% of female millennials who actively desire international mobility want to be able to look up and around them to see women who have already had such experiences at their organisation, and who have seen their careers benefit as result. If women can’t see such role models, then organisations will struggle to attract or retain female talent, who will look to other employers to provide them with the international opportunities they crave.
Speaking personally, I was very lucky to undertake a mobility experience at the age of 25 to PwC’s Boston office – and for the near-decade since then I’ve worked with an international mandate. So I know just how life-changing a mobility experience can be. I can’t imagine any other way that I could have benefited from such rapid and profound personal and profession development in a relatively short space of time. This is one of the reasons why our report includes profiles of several female role models from PwC and other international businesses.
We’d also like to share with you our Moving women with purpose role model video, which showcases a diverse range of PwC women talking about their international mobility experiences. If you are a woman considering undertaking an international experience, or perhaps hesitating about taking the plunge, it’s definitely worth a watch.
Voice of Experience: Marie Louise Kirk, Partner, Goldman Sachs
Voices of ExperienceAs Kirk puts it, she is “Goldman Sachs born and bred,” initially joining the firm as an intern. She is now head of FICC Client-facing Engineers for the Americas, responsible for client strategies and solutions. Kirk also serves on the Firmwide Technology Risk Committee and the Securities Division Client and Business Standards Committee.
Originally from Denmark, she was the first in her family to attend university abroad, after being accepted to Harvard. “I come from many generations of Vikings so it was a huge deal when I got a scholarship to attend Harvard from the Crown Prince of Denmark.” She also ended up meeting her now-husband as a classmate at Harvard University.
She describes her experience at Harvard as “eye opening and life changing,” and now serves as a trustee on the board of the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark Fund for Harvard University.
Although many companies came on campus to recruit, Kirk says that she was won over at her first Goldman event hosted on campus, because of a connection she made with a senior female professional at the firm. “She was so relatable and passionate about her work,” Kirk said. After interviews in Boston and London, Kirk was offered an internship in London on the trading floor. She began working full time as an interest rate derivative trader following graduation. “Trading was at the heart of where things were happening,” she says, describing it as very dynamic, though with a steep learning curve, where she received lots of opportunities to learn.
Data Shows the Way
After several years on the trading desk, Kirk realized that she wanted to become a financial engineer because she enjoyed the quant work, but also wanted to work with clients. Reflecting on this role Kirk says, “This is what I’m passionate about.”
In 2006, Kirk transitioned to the engineering team, and in 2008 she was asked to move to New York to lend her expertise. She arrived in New York two weeks before Lehman Brothers went under and at the time there was a need for her derivative skill set: “Quant skills come in especially handy in tough times,” she says.
In her current job, she appreciates that the role allows her to find solutions for clients – she says she does her best to help clients make money and manage risk and their businesses better.
The advancements in data science and machine learning for how the firm services its clients better are exciting aspects of her work. “We are really figuring out how we can be more relevant to our clients at the right time with the right content.” Kirk notes that her team lets “data be a leading indicator to help guide us and give clients the best and most relevant service possible.”
Although the firm’s risk-management activities have always been driven by data, Goldman Sachs is now starting to apply data to a much larger extent in other areas. Data can create huge efficiency improvements, Kirk says, as well as smarter, more scientific decision-making in areas that were previously driven by more subjective analysis, anecdotes and gut-feeling.
“The change that has taken place in the last couple of years and what’s predicted for the near-term is mind blowing,” she says. “Through data and technology there will increasingly be ways that machines can perform the more manual functions that humans have had to do. It will allow all of us to focus more on the high-value activities in our business.”
Proudest Achievement is Facilitating Success for Next Generation
Kirk says she was proud to be named a managing director in 2009 and partner in 2012, but that she’s most proud of her role in building next generation. “Recruiting talented people, coaching them with the right mix of support and push and ultimately seeing them flourish is wonderful,” Kirk says. “Helping create the next generation of successful leaders is a true legacy. And now seeing them naturally turn around and start supporting and pulling up the generation behind them makes me even prouder and, frankly, quite emotional.”
As Kirk says, “It’s gratifying to know there is a virtuous cycle that will benefit generations that will last way past any one person’s time at Goldman Sachs.”
Savvy Advice on Perfectionism
When asked what advice she wishes she’d known earlier in her career, Kirk notes that no great advice can replace the personal growth that comes from a journey of ups and downs. “No life is perfect. No career is perfect. The sooner you find peace with that truth, the sooner you will find your path to success.” She cites Winston Churchill’s quote: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.”
She sees that many people in the workforce, especially those of us with Type A tendencies, become obsessed with perfection and the perception of perfection, but she advises peers and junior employees to be comfortable with not always trying to be perfect.
“To be really creative and innovative, you have to push boundaries and give it your all,” she says. “You have to keep the right balance between being on your toes, but not so obsessed with perfection or fear of failure that you become scared of your own shadow.” Managers are critical in providing the psychological safety to help overcome some of these issues and create an environment of authenticity and ability to be your own diverse self, she says.
Kirk warns that when you apply that same standard of perfectionism to marriage, kids and friends on top of work, you will break.
“If you aim for perfection, you may feel you have to choose between being the best at work and in your personal life and that you can’t do both. But if you change your attitude and approach, you may end up doing both better.”
Throughout her years at Goldman Sachs, Kirk has been involved in many of the firm’s internal programs, and she has found that one element they have all had in common is the social glue of community and connectivity, which have helped her remain excited to go to work every day.
A Full Life Outside of Work
Currently expecting her third daughter, Kirk says she has her hands full with two other girls, ages 10 and 5, and a husband with a thriving career of his own.
Yet she still finds time to nurture girls on the path to STEM careers. “It’s upsetting when I see them lean out, and often at such a young age, all because of stereotypes,” she says. “It’s fine to make a conscious choice at 16, but sometimes they start opting out at age 6 before they understand their true talent and interests.”
In her family, it’s easy to focus on women who are successful at math. “We good-naturedly ridicule dad, who’s not a math guy,” she laughs. “For now my daughters think math is a girl thing.”
International Women’s Day: It’s About Every Day
Featured, International Womens DayAs United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states, “Let us devote solid funding, courageous advocacy and unbending political will to achieving gender equality around the world. There is no greater investment in our common future.”
Women…Just One Day?
Wait. Is having one day designated to over half of the planet’s population itself a barrier to ever achieving gender equality?
We asked Morra Aarons-Mele, blogger, former political consultant, and founder of Woman Online what she thought. “Whenever we focus our attention on a particular issue for a day, we run the risk of thinking and acting for one 24-hour period, patting ourselves on the back, and then putting the issue on the back burner for the rest of the year. The positive change I see is that an increasing number of individuals, governments, businesses, and organizations are considering and working towards gender equality every day. I like to think of IWD as a day where those actors can share their good work and where we can all put focused efforts toward advancing the cause.”
Stepping It Up
This year, with the theme “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it Up for Gender Equality”, the UN is focusing on accelerating progress towards sustainable development, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Many of the goals have heightened significance for women, with “quality education” as goal 4 and “gender equality”as goal 5.
The UN recognizes that sustainable development depends on gender equality. Turned another way, until global society achieves gender equality, including gender equality at key levels of decision making, society will perpetuate an unsustainable world.
On September 27th, 2015, 80 world leaders met in New York to kick-start changes to end discrimination against women, with each country being called to make commitments and pledges focusing on “increasing investment in gender equality, reaching parity for women at all levels of decision-making, eliminating discriminatory legislation, and addressing social norms that perpetuate discrimination and violence against women.”
In the spirit of HeForShe, anyone attending the International Women’s Day Forum in New York, co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and focusing on the business community, is granted a two-for-one registration when they bring a male colleague. It’s not just a women’s issue.
#PledgeforParity
An acceleration to gender equality is necessary, since the World Economic Forum’s most recent prediction indicates that the global gender gap won’t close until 2133, which was a big slowdown from their 2014 prediction of 2095.
The IWD #PledgeforParity campaign, whose partners include EY and Accenture among others, focuses on prompting individuals, both men and women, to “move from talk to purposeful action”in one of five areas: helping women and girls achieve their ambitions; challenging conscious and unconscious bias; calling for gender-balanced leadership; valuing women’s and men’s contribution equally; creating inclusive, flexible cultures.
Accenture is also holding their annual celebration, with live broadcasts around the world, which will focus on “Being Greater Than: It’s about going beyond boundaries and expectations. It’s about raising our voices and our sights to advance the women, the ideas and the goals that will drive the next generation of leaders.”
Walking the walk, Accenture’s annual event is substantiated by every day action with hiring goals and retention practices in place to create accountable change.
It’s About Every Day.
The biggest thing we can take from IWD is that gender equality is about every single day. It’s not only about the special initiative, or the big event, or the dedicated task force. These things only exist to redirect our attention and energies to the prevalent imbalances that current organizational operations too often stem from and collude with.
According to our CEO and resident organizational psychologist Nicki Gilmour, “Action is what is needed, because I’ve witnessed thattoo often companies stop at lip service.Even when they pay for consultation andsolutions, they often take none of the steps outlined; theypull none of the levers available to them to createequity in the system.Instead many firms throw a party on International Women’s Day and feel that the mission is somehow accomplished whilst talent processes and management practices remain untouched.”
IWD is about what happens every day.
As Aarons-Mele puts it, “IWD gives us all the chance to think about how we address rights and equality all other 364 days each year (or 365 days, this year). How can we move beyond thinking and acting on one day to make equality part of the bones of our organizations? How can we make operational and systemic changes so that we don’t have to take “extra” actions that improve the lives of women. How can we improve our systems to have advancing equality baked right in to our missions? We can all benefit from treating IWD as less a be-all, end-all day for women and more as a jumping off point to use each day of the year to advance women’s rights.”
With that, The Glass Hammer will keep talking about gender equality andacting to create real change today,tomorrow, and each day after that.
Stereotypes at work: Do women buy into them just as much as the next guy?
Office PoliticsThese are the labels we are given but are they justified? Catalyst’s study – Women “take care”, men “take charge” – found that stereotypic biases are often inaccurate and leave women in a weak position; undermined by their followers and seen by their leaders as less effective leaders compared to their male peers by both men and women in their firm. Do we therefore have the right to peel off these labels, shake off the stereotypes and define who we really are ourselves?
Read more
International Women’s Day
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!, International Womens DayThe career tip of the week has a distinct hint of counting our blessings as we look at the broader scope of women everywhere. My advice today is to get out of the weeds and do some big picture perspective taking today. Never mind the nitty gritty at work, list the 3 regular tasks that you enjoy most at work currently. Now look ahead at what you want to achieve in the next 18 months. Are you on track to increase the number of things that you enjoy doing? If so, excellent! if not, time to think about what is your next move to improve your work life and while you are at it, take a look at the big picture also. What can you commit to doing to make your life overall better and more fulfilling?
Check theglasshammer.com all month for our International Women’s Day coverage and our usual selection of excellent profiles.
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Voice of Experience: Nikki Darden, Program Director for Global Rewards, Citi
Voices of Experience“I’m a Southerner; I’m a woman; and I’m a minority. I used to water it down, but now I embrace those traits that make me who I am.”
Finding a Career Path That Resonated
Darden has spent her entire career in financial services, although not as a banker. She started with NationsBank in Charlotte (now Bank of America) as a marketing analyst and then moved into the team that was focused on what was then called “PC banking.” As the predecessor to internet banking, customers would receive floppy disks to do banking on their home computers, a very advanced service at the time.
While involved with planning and launching new products, she became frustrated with what seemed to be a lack of customer focus, mainly an understanding of the impact of initiatives on customers. She requested a move to a branch management leadership program where she rotated through four branches over a year to learn how to run a branch. It was a critical juncture in her career as it changed her trajectory. She realized that she didn’t want to be in sales, but rather that she was more interested in how customers consumed and interacted with products and services.
For the following few years, she worked for a strategic research firm in Washington, D.C., that was focused on financial services, followed by 12 years at American Express focused on loyalty and engagement.
For five years she has performed a similar function at Citi, expanding to include a strategic focus on rewards. “I enjoy my work that puts the customer first and creates solutions that enrich their lives, while growing revenue for the business,” she says.
Constant Challenges, Constant Learning
Each day is full of new challenges, none more so than what she’s currently working on, “this baby I’ve recently birthed and now am bringing up through toddlerhood,” she says.
And that is launching a consistent rewards program on a global scale. Initially they intended to roll out the same program everywhere, but soon found that it needed to be localized to deliver consistent value across markets. “My role is constantly challenging and I learn something new every single day. I’m confident that has never happened in my previous positions,” she says.
The loyalty industry is always growing, with the challenge of taking advantage of innovations without watering down the value proposition and making loyalty programs a commodity. “We want our customers to engage with Citi in a meaningful manner and feel emotionally connected to the brand and what it offers,” she says.
Embracing the Value You Bring
Darden finds it energizing to see the ways women are revolutionizing the loyalty industry. “There are some incredibly inspiring women who are bringing unique perspectives to the table,” she says, citing their value in creating the emotional connection that drives revenues.
She believes mentors can help drive career success; she herself has leveraged several mentors and created champions to help position herself throughout her career. At Citi she now finds herself as a mentor, both formally and informally, to several younger women across the organization. “It’s important to help them think strategically about their long-term careers as well as gaining valuable insight on day-to-day interactions – to have someone with more experience to bounce ideas off of,” she says.
And for both younger women and men, she urges them to be their authentic selves, but also to remember that their boss is not a millennial. The great energy and ways you challenge traditional thinking is absolutely needed, she tells them, while also reminding them to understand their audience. “Try to communicate in a way that brings them in instead of shutting them out. In a large company you are dealing with superiors who are not necessarily like you so you need to respect that.”
At the same time, she is enjoying learning from others around her about both the global arena and the digital experience, two areas of rapid growth that are relatively new to her. “Those of us who are more established need to push the boundaries and engage with whatever trend is next. That’s how we stay sharp and show value,” she says.
A Travel Bug
Darden recently developed a passion for travel, now taking the time to explore with colleagues when on a work trip. Through Citi’s Global Talent Development program, where employees spend six months abroad, she visited Brazil, which she says was her turning point to becoming someone who wanted to explore new cultures rather than just take a vacation. “I’m more interested in learning about cultures and consumers in a different place,” she says. “The best part is that it is also relevant to my job.”
Men Who Get It: Jamie Broderick, CEO, UBS Wealth Management, UK Jersey
Men Who "Get It", People“When considered as a business issue, it illuminates diversity and inclusion as a topic that everyone should be concerned about, not just those with a personal passion,” he says. “When framed as a business imperative, it enfranchises everyone, including men. You don’t have to be PC, progressive or female; you just have to be a business person.”
Broderick joined the firm three years ago, previously, serving as CEO for JP Morgan Asset Management Europe where he worked for 19 years.
“You can’t create a successful business unless you have an inclusive culture, which encourages a workplace where people can thrive,” Broderick says. And when he talks about diversity and inclusion, he doesn’t just think about gender, but other areas such as LGBT, disability or ethnicity.
He speaks from experience, having transferred to the financial industry from academia 30 years ago. “Not that many people would have looked past the mainstream qualification profile to hire me,” he acknowledges. “It’s probably not a coincidence that the team I moved to was led by women. In an industry dominated by men, they were able to see the potential in a non-mainstream profile.”
Diversity as a Business Issue
Broderick points out that by creating the business case, companies will start to track progress and create targets, just as they treat all other business challenges. “There is no other business issue that people would have let drift for 10 years,” he says.
“You must involve men, as they are half the workforce and most of senior management,” Broderick says. “Diversity and inclusion has an impact on the ability to create a high-performing organization where people remain, thrive and grow, but to shift the dial, you must involve men.
One key way to address the issue is to raise awareness through training in unconscious bias, which he believes should be a component of all line manager training.
He says that most workplaces won’t find overt examples of disparaging remarks or the like, but that biases can creep into everything we do, which offers frequent opportunities to challenge one another.
“Unconscious bias training shows you the extent to which the behaviors that hold people back are pervasive,” he says. “We need to have a broader understanding of diversity of styles and constant support to think about how we do things and how we can improve. There are plenty of opportunities for introspection.”
For example, he suggests texting a meeting leader to ask them to consider the dynamics in the meeting they are holding. He says that meetings need to be constructed so that everyone gets a chance to voice their views, even those who aren’t naturally assertive.
He explains that there are always those who are just as smart and have ideas just as good, but they prefer to hold back and not grab the podium. They may be waiting for entry points that never arrive, and meeting chairs who are sensitive to this dynamic can help create those points of entry.
Extending Diversity to Mentoring
Broderick highlighted the female mentoring program he runs which takes a reciprocal approach, requiring senior women mentees to also act as mentors for more junior colleagues, thus driving the culture of coaching deeper into the organization. This intergenerational approach ensures those who receive also give.
He also recognizes the mutual benefit for mentors. “When I act as a mentor to a female colleague, I help one person progress better. But if she reverse mentors and gives me insights, as a senior manager, that ends up affecting hundreds of people who are now being managed in a different way.”
This is just one component of the Diversity and Inclusion program he sponsors in his UK business. A Women in Wealth networking program was created to focus additional attention on the benefits of connecting women and helping to network more effectively.
“Leaders need to provide more than emotional and moral support. They must incorporate diversity into their business and make sure the business takes it seriously.”
Broderick’s perspective and support for diversity and inclusion was recognized recently when he was named “Champion of the Year” in the CityWealth PowerWomen Awards 2016.
Why You Should Avoid Overwork To Be Effective In Your Job
Career Advice, Office PoliticsProfessor Robin Ely of Harvard Business School has said the 24/7 work culture “locks gender inequality in place.”
But this is not an article about gender. The chronic overwork culture doesn’t need to change only because it works against women: it needs to change because it’s not working.
Sarah Green Carmichael, senior associate editor of Harvard Business Review (HBR), posed in a recent article that the bigger question is not what has driven us to a 24/7 work culture, or who is to blame, but rather, “Does it work?”
The answer, according to many studies related to employee effectiveness, is no. Within her article, Carmichael highlights that a culture of chronic overwork backfires on employees and companies. Yet the number of hours worked has increased by 9% in the last 30 years. It seems Corporate America is clinging detrimentally tight to the false truth that overwork is a requirement for effective employees and driving company-level success: overwork is overvalued.
Here are four solid reasons why you shouldn’t chronically overwork if you wish to remain engaged and effective in your job and why your firm shouldn’t want you to, either. May this provide insight both for you and the men and women you manage.
1) Overwork may lower your engagement with work.
According to Gallup, nearly 61% of college graduates feel disengaged at work – meaning not “intellectually and emotionally connected,” even when they are physically present in the office, resulting in a major ROI loss for companies.
Data shows that 2/3 of employees feel overwhelmed and 80% would like to work fewer hours. The 24/7 work culture and feeling overwhelmed are major contributors to disengagement. While an “always on” expectation makes it difficult to mentally switch-off, research has suggested that being able to psychologically switch-off from work protects both well-being and work engagement.
If you feel you can never turn off, it would seem you begin to tune out. To stay engaged at work, it’s important not to give into the expectation to live it.
2) Overwork may hurt your productivity.
Research showed that a company couldn’t tell the difference in performance if an effective employee was working 80 hours or just pretending to, so working longer hours may not mean accomplishing more, career-wise too. As graphed in The Economist, longer hours are correlated with decreased productivity. In fact, research has even shown that when working hours are excessive, cutting hours back can actually increase your productivity.
Also, in research with a consultancy firm, required and predictable time-off from work including being digitally switched-off, increased productivity – even if time completely off had to be strictly enforced because employees were in the habit of being constantly switched on. Not only did it improve communication, learning and the client product, but it also resulted in greater job satisfaction, sense of work/life balance, and commitment to managing a career at the firm.
3) Overwork may hinder your ability to lead effectively.
As Ron Friedman writes in an HBR article, while putting in the excessive hours may have marked you as motivated and helped your “early career advancement,” maintaining overwork as part of your work identity once you’ve already arrived to a position of leadership can significantly damage your career prospects.
Leaders need to disconnect to optimize the interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and visionary skills important to their roles. Overwork contributes to mis-reading others (often negatively) and emotional reactivity such as lashing out. Management performance also depends upon judgement, and being tired from overwork impairs your decision-making abilities and clarity of perspective when it comes to identifying problems and creative solutions.
An overworked leader, concentrating to the point of fatigue, is often a cloudy leader, who is also more vulnerable to technology distractions, such as the 3pm workplace Facebook rush.
As Reid writes, overworking also models the behavior as an expectation for those you manage, and there’s enough evidence in this article alone to illustrate why that’s a questionable management practice.
4) Overwork may harm your health.
On top of compromising your job effectiveness, overwork compromises your well-being, a major component of feeling satisfyingly engaged in your work. Studies have shown that overwork is associated with emotional exhaustion and impaired sleep, which is a massive performance killer in addition to compromising health.
It’s also associated with depressive symptoms, heavy drinking, and long-term with heart disease and impairment of brain function when it comes to reasoning. Nothing about this says top management potential. If you’re to be a thriving executive, it’s probably best to start as a thriving human.
What Can You Do To Be More Effective?
But you’re still surrounded with a culture of overwork, so what can you do?
Friedman recommends starting with these small behavior changes:
Find a way not to have your smartphone at your side constantly when away from work, interrupting your present – instead check it with intention. Program evening emails to arrive in the morning, so they don’t catalyze a back and forth conversation after hours. Discern when a response is necessary immediately from when it’s not. Find an activity that you’re excited to leave work for, something else that will give you a sense of gain. While at work, schedule a few breaks in your day so that you can step away, clear your head, and refresh both your energy and perspective.
It’s clear that when you chronically over-extend yourself at work, you may still be there or still be on, but you stop being the same employee. Being an effective leader means managing the asset of your leadership effectiveness, not working until it’s lost to diminishing returns or worse.
By Aimee Hansen
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