By Sara Canaday
In July, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech to 500 incredibly talented professionals at Working Mother Media’s annual Multicultural Women’s National Conference in New York City. As I took the stage on the first morning and began to share my story, I was struck by the remarkable vibe in the room. These women weren’t just present; they were fully engaged. I was surrounded by current and emerging leaders representing a wide range of industries, ages and cultures, and they were all totally plugged in. The message was genuinely resonating with them.
The theme of the conference was “Vision & Impact: Charting What’s Next.” My work in the area of leadership and development has always focused on the importance of our impact in the workplace. Credentials and years of experience aside, our real career success is driven by how we work with and through other people – how we lead them, collaborate with them, interact with them, and react to them. When we manage that impact and ensure that others experience us in the way we intend, we can accelerate the pace of our professional trajectories.
Here’s the problem… Many times, there’s a hidden gap between what we see and what those around us see. When there’s an impact disconnect (even a very subtle one), our careers can be inadvertently derailed while we are left wondering what went wrong. I call those disconnects professional blind spots. Despite our best intentions, these blind spots may be holding us back or preventing us from reaching our full potential.
Think about your co-workers. Do you know someone who is generally smart, hard working and well intentioned, but still manages to rub people the wrong way? There’s a fine line between decisive and abrupt. Between passionate and overzealous. Between meticulous and annoyingly nit-picky. Between innovative and rebellious. These people might have great resumes, but blind spots are likely the reason they are getting overlooked for promotions or high-visibility assignments. Their intended impact on others doesn’t match up with the actual impact they deliver. Subtle behaviors and unconscious habits are sabotaging their success, and they simply can’t see it.
Quite a few women approached me after my presentation to recount fascinating stories about people in their organizations who were clearly struggling with professional blind spots. Surprisingly, quite a few of these people were bold enough to describe their own “a-ha! moments,” identifying blind spots they never before acknowledged but now see as the culprit behind some of their past career missteps. These women all seemed to understand that everyone suffers from blind spots, but those who end up in the boardroom or the corner office have just learned how to manage them better.
I challenged the conference attendees that day to move beyond their resumes as they thought about achieving their professional goals. I asked them to focus on the impact they have on others, ensuring their intentions were translating into reality. I gave them three ways to do that, and I’d like to share those with you as well.
First, increase your self-awareness. Be honest about your natural tendencies and habits when you interact with others. How do your colleagues feel about working with you? Ideally, how would you like them to feel? Eliminating blind spots certainly isn’t about changing who you are, but about understanding yourself and making conscious adjustments to improve your impact on others.
Second, get specific feedback from your co-workers to find out how you are really perceived. This process might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s absolutely critical to help uncover any blind spots that could be slowing down your career progress. Besides that, getting feedback will also point out your strengths and the distinguishing qualities that set you apart. If you’ve had trouble defining your value proposition, this exercise can give you amazing clarity. You can gather feedback using a wide range of methods, from formal reviews with your manager to casual conversations with peers. Online surveys are another excellent option. For corporate clients and students in my virtual Career Acceleration Academy, I provide access to my Brand 360 Survey. This easy, online tool allows them to gather rich, anonymous feedback from a select group of colleagues.
Third, compare your ideal impact with the actual impact you discovered by gathering feedback. Look closely at the areas where you are right on target for strengths you can further leverage. Any areas with gaps represent your own professional blind spots. Armed with that knowledge, you can work to close those gaps and actively improve the impact you have on others. Simply being aware of your blind spots and unique differentiators will help you make the small changes that can make a big difference in your career success.
As women, many of us have an innate gift for intuition and emotional intelligence. Research proves that we are “wired” over several thousand years for greater empathy and stronger communication skills. I firmly believe these qualities give us a huge advantage in the workplace when it comes to uncovering and eliminating our professional blind spots. We can use that capacity to improve the way we impact others, to fuel our career progress, and to create greater business success. This nugget of insight truly resonated with the women attending the recent conference, and I sincerely hope it does the same for you.
Sara Canaday (www.SaraCanaday.com) is a nationally recognized leadership expert, corporate speaker and owner of Sara Canaday & Associates, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. Sara is also a resource partner of www.theglasshammer.com and to help conference attendees use a systematic, quantifiable approach to improving their business impact, Sara offered an exclusive discount on her popular online course, the Career Acceleration Academy, including her Brand 360 Survey. For a limited time, Sara wants to extend that same offer to Glass Hammer readers. To register and get more details, please visit CareerAccelerationAcademy.com. Use Code GH001.
Voice of Experience: Deborah Ong, Partner, Risk & Quality Leader, Corporate Responsibility Leader, PwC Singapore
Voices of ExperienceWelcome the The Glass Hammer’s “Spotlight on Asia” week! We will be highlighting successful women working in Asia all week long!
Deborah Ong believes that enjoying what you do will help you work efficiently, gain opportunities and rise up the ladder. “I’m very fortunate that I enjoy my line of work, and so I’m still in the same company I first joined as a graduate!”
“I joined the firm on graduation as a trainee and was fortunate to receive many opportunities during my early years to gain exposure and experience in the whole gamut of development – from general audit to more specialized internal and IPO-related audit, to liquidation, insolvency and investigation,” she explains.
“I am very happy I got to contribute significantly to the People journey at the firm. As Human Capital Leader for ten years, my team and I worked very closely with the business to identify and retain talent, train and develop them to the future leaders of the organization. Personally, I am a strong believer in nurturing talent through a coaching culture and I’m proud to say that our mentorship programme is still going strong today.”
Another leadership role she has acquired is PwC Singapore’s Risk & Quality Leader. She still holds this role, which gives her the responsibility to understand and assess the risks associated with each of their service offerings.
Ong describes her journey as colorful. “During my time as the firm’s Human Capital Leader, the firm saw significant shifts in managing the people agenda. I’m glad that I was able to champion the firm’s training and development programmes, and to personally facilitate and share my experience on how to deal with some of the practical challenges of being in the profession with managers and senior managers. I’m a firm believer of nurturing talent through coaching, and I hope that I was able to encourage ongoing growth and development.”
“Being the firm’s Risk & Quality Leader, it is my job to understand and assess the risks associated with each of our service offerings, and with each of our clients. This involves judgment, which is not an exact science but which requires a mix of technical skill and practical experience,” she explains. She has the opportunity to interact with clients and to learn how they view and assess risk, and how they help their businesses solve difficult scenarios.
Career Challenges
Ong believes that most of women’s challenges in this industry are based on time management because their work is organized in projects, which creates tight deadlines and time pressure. “At a certain stage, some women may feel the need to make a choice between career and other aspects of their life, such as family or children, and select to give up their careers.”
To overcome this challenge, Ong advises women to “have the right conversations within the organization with the right people, exploring alternative roles and/or work arrangements and for each person to be aware of the value they bring to the profession.”
She advises young women who are entering the industry to learn developing project management and people management skills. “In order to progress up the career ladder, the support of your team is crucial,” she explains. “You need talented people who can deliver results in a timely manner, and this involves significant investment into their development.”
Read more
Intrepid Woman: Dayle Haddon, Founder, WomenOne
Intrepid Women SeriesDayle Haddon is working to change the world, one woman at a time. The former model, of the 1970s and ‘80s L’Oréal and Estée Lauder fame, began with her own sovereign growth. An act that has helped reshape the cosmetic industry standards, challenged society-based definitions of ageless beauty, and culminated in a redefined commitment to active gratitude.
Haddon’s intrepid story of personal development began in Canada, where the Québécoise began her career with the ballet. She began modeling during her teenage years to help pay for her dance lessons and was soon discovered by Eileen Ford. The young Haddon pursued her modeling career in New York – even though her 5’7’’ frame and curly brunette look were starkly dissimilar from the early 1970s tall-blond beauty standards.
“I was always looking for ways to support myself, and it took me a long time to be successful,” explained Haddon, who was recently honored by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York as an extraordinary leader and role model. “However, at the height of my career, I was working with top magazines, top photographers, and had four major cosmetic contracts.”
While Haddon’s career wove through a variety of high-profile professions, including small acting roles for French and American films, she eventually settled in Paris with her husband and their young daughter. Then, unexpectedly in 1986 Haddon’s husband died, leaving her with little money or support. She returned to Los Angeles desperate to find work to support her teenage daughter.
“This was a life-changing event; losing someone close to me was a painful experience,” Haddon recalled. “But it was transformative. Challenges make you more than you are. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you handle it.”
Redefining Beauty
Starting over, Haddon found herself at the bottom of the ladder. At the age of 38, she was considered “over the hill,” and not desirable to modeling agencies or her former cosmetic employers. After having worked as a top model, only to be rejected by her profession, forced Haddon into a desk job as an office receptionist – an unexpected but didactic situation.
“It was good for me to recognize at the time that this was a humbling experience. I knew I wouldn’t stay there. If you give me an opportunity, I will work it. Challenges are there to build character and to grow.”
Haddon’s passion for women’s advocacy began as she struggled to climb the “glass walls” back into the beauty and fashion industry. She longed to break down the stereotypical age-image barriers and change the perception of “older woman” from inside the industry. She formulated a campaign and pitched major cosmetic labels the image of evolving, age-defying beauty. After many rejections Haddon landed a job as the face of Estée Lauder’s new anti-aging line and later became the spokeswoman for L’Oréal’s Age-Perfect skin care. The career move, the New York Times later quoted, “shattered age taboos,” and helped to launch the careers of models over 40.
“We were on the forefront of something different, and (at the time) most beauty companies hadn’t caught up yet,” Haddon explained of the early 1990’s beauty-from-within movement. “I researched in libraries and found information that explained that the 43 million female Baby Boomers felt they were more vital than generations before. So I started my own company, Dayle Haddon Concepts.”
For the next 20 years Haddon continued her work in the beauty industry, bringing progressive change to the industry and promoting awareness of the inner and outer beauty of all women. Through her personal company, her contributions to CBS’s The Early Show, the Huffington Post and many other publications, and with her two books, “Ageless Beauty” and “The 5 Principles of Ageless Living,” she has provided women an outlet to explore a balance between their health, beauty, and overall well-being.
A Model Activist
However, central to Haddon’s upbringing was the reinforced message to “give back,” and with her high visibility providing a public forum to elicit change, Haddon seized the opportunity to express her gratitude by pursuing a social justice agenda. She became a UNICEF Ambassador in 2008 and traveled to Darfur to interview women in the camps, visited earthquake-ravaged Haiti to vaccinate newborns, and brought home stories from Angola about the lack of medical equipment in rural clinics. She shared this information in lectures, wrote articles for publications, and helped to raise money for children’s issues worldwide.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Teo Lay Lim, Country Managing Director for Singapore, Accenture
Voices of ExperienceTeo Lay Lim has been working at Accenture for 26 years, and she loves what she does. One lesson she has learned throughout her experience is the importance of networking which, she finds, women are naturally good at because they collaborate and communicate well.
“For women at all levels of their careers, constantly building your personal network both internally and externally is extremely valuable,” she said. “Building personal networks helps you to draw on others to augment your own insights [and] perspectives,” she added. This is especially important for leaders because they need experience, perspective and insight.
Accenture has more than 85 local women’s networking groups in 32 countries which, as she explained, “help them build strong networks.” Lay Lim added that “our global women’s theme, Defining Success. Your Way., demonstrates our commitment to supporting women’s professional goals and aspirations. It’s all a part of our overall commitment to attracting, retaining and advancing women, which supports our broader commitment to an inclusive and diverse workplace.”
Lay Lim encourages women to look for careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). “STEM skills are a business imperative and I believe that women are key in this area,” she said. “We need the intelligence, talent and ability of women to help fill the growing number of STEM jobs and this means encouraging young women to pursue careers in these fields and enabling them to succeed.”
“At Accenture, for example, STEM skills are critical. Technology-led innovation is at the heart of our business – a business in which women comprise almost half of the workforce,” she said.
Working in Accenture
She currently works as the geographic unit senior managing director for Accenture’s offices in ASEAN (South East Asia), and she is also the Country Managing Director of Accenture in Singapore. Prior to this position, she worked as the Asia Pacific managing director for the company’s Analytics and Sustainability Services, and during 11 years (two of them spent in Shanghai) she worked as the managing director of Customer Relationship Management in Accenture’s former Management Consulting practice.
Working in the services industry, she has learned about the importance of showing talent and relevance, which she believes “is a challenge because even though our competitors have changed over time, our client and customer expectations are consistent and ongoing.”
Being different helps a company be more successful than its competition and she offers two pieces of advice that can help companies reach this goal: “Be relevant to what [your] clients and customers need, and be a talent magnet for the best people with the right potential to be developed.” These best people, she explained, learn quickly, are committed to the company and their jobs, and have the character and values that the company is looking for.
Improving the Country
“I love what I do at Accenture and the work I take on in my roles, both past and present, has always kept me on my toes,” she said, “but I’m also excited about the work I’m doing externally, to help my country. I am a steering committee member of the Infocom Media Masterplan, led by Singapore’s Ministry of Communications & Information, which aims to spearhead the development of a single, integrated plan to guide Singapore’s Infocomm & Media sectors up to 2025 in a holistic manner.”
Read more
Change Your Impact, Accelerate Your Career
Guest ContributionIn July, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech to 500 incredibly talented professionals at Working Mother Media’s annual Multicultural Women’s National Conference in New York City. As I took the stage on the first morning and began to share my story, I was struck by the remarkable vibe in the room. These women weren’t just present; they were fully engaged. I was surrounded by current and emerging leaders representing a wide range of industries, ages and cultures, and they were all totally plugged in. The message was genuinely resonating with them.
The theme of the conference was “Vision & Impact: Charting What’s Next.” My work in the area of leadership and development has always focused on the importance of our impact in the workplace. Credentials and years of experience aside, our real career success is driven by how we work with and through other people – how we lead them, collaborate with them, interact with them, and react to them. When we manage that impact and ensure that others experience us in the way we intend, we can accelerate the pace of our professional trajectories.
Here’s the problem… Many times, there’s a hidden gap between what we see and what those around us see. When there’s an impact disconnect (even a very subtle one), our careers can be inadvertently derailed while we are left wondering what went wrong. I call those disconnects professional blind spots. Despite our best intentions, these blind spots may be holding us back or preventing us from reaching our full potential.
Think about your co-workers. Do you know someone who is generally smart, hard working and well intentioned, but still manages to rub people the wrong way? There’s a fine line between decisive and abrupt. Between passionate and overzealous. Between meticulous and annoyingly nit-picky. Between innovative and rebellious. These people might have great resumes, but blind spots are likely the reason they are getting overlooked for promotions or high-visibility assignments. Their intended impact on others doesn’t match up with the actual impact they deliver. Subtle behaviors and unconscious habits are sabotaging their success, and they simply can’t see it.
Quite a few women approached me after my presentation to recount fascinating stories about people in their organizations who were clearly struggling with professional blind spots. Surprisingly, quite a few of these people were bold enough to describe their own “a-ha! moments,” identifying blind spots they never before acknowledged but now see as the culprit behind some of their past career missteps. These women all seemed to understand that everyone suffers from blind spots, but those who end up in the boardroom or the corner office have just learned how to manage them better.
I challenged the conference attendees that day to move beyond their resumes as they thought about achieving their professional goals. I asked them to focus on the impact they have on others, ensuring their intentions were translating into reality. I gave them three ways to do that, and I’d like to share those with you as well.
First, increase your self-awareness. Be honest about your natural tendencies and habits when you interact with others. How do your colleagues feel about working with you? Ideally, how would you like them to feel? Eliminating blind spots certainly isn’t about changing who you are, but about understanding yourself and making conscious adjustments to improve your impact on others.
Second, get specific feedback from your co-workers to find out how you are really perceived. This process might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s absolutely critical to help uncover any blind spots that could be slowing down your career progress. Besides that, getting feedback will also point out your strengths and the distinguishing qualities that set you apart. If you’ve had trouble defining your value proposition, this exercise can give you amazing clarity. You can gather feedback using a wide range of methods, from formal reviews with your manager to casual conversations with peers. Online surveys are another excellent option. For corporate clients and students in my virtual Career Acceleration Academy, I provide access to my Brand 360 Survey. This easy, online tool allows them to gather rich, anonymous feedback from a select group of colleagues.
Third, compare your ideal impact with the actual impact you discovered by gathering feedback. Look closely at the areas where you are right on target for strengths you can further leverage. Any areas with gaps represent your own professional blind spots. Armed with that knowledge, you can work to close those gaps and actively improve the impact you have on others. Simply being aware of your blind spots and unique differentiators will help you make the small changes that can make a big difference in your career success.
As women, many of us have an innate gift for intuition and emotional intelligence. Research proves that we are “wired” over several thousand years for greater empathy and stronger communication skills. I firmly believe these qualities give us a huge advantage in the workplace when it comes to uncovering and eliminating our professional blind spots. We can use that capacity to improve the way we impact others, to fuel our career progress, and to create greater business success. This nugget of insight truly resonated with the women attending the recent conference, and I sincerely hope it does the same for you.
Sara Canaday (www.SaraCanaday.com) is a nationally recognized leadership expert, corporate speaker and owner of Sara Canaday & Associates, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. Sara is also a resource partner of www.theglasshammer.com and to help conference attendees use a systematic, quantifiable approach to improving their business impact, Sara offered an exclusive discount on her popular online course, the Career Acceleration Academy, including her Brand 360 Survey. For a limited time, Sara wants to extend that same offer to Glass Hammer readers. To register and get more details, please visit CareerAccelerationAcademy.com. Use Code GH001.
Thought Leader: Alison Maitland, Future Work – Moving to an Output-Oriented Work Culture
Thought LeadersThe Glass Hammer: How is future work different to flexible working?
Alison Maitland: Flexible work arrangements tend to be tactical initiatives by HR, targeted at individuals and disconnected from any strategy being pursued by the organisation’s leadership. They do not fundamentally alter the current work model.
What we call “future work” is a business strategy to move away from focusing on inputs to viewing work as an activity that produces desired results. The focus is on performance and outcomes, not hours spent in the office, and people have much greater autonomy and choice about how, where and when they carry out their tasks.
Communications technology is of course the great enabler of this. Future work is about giving everyone the tools, information and objectives they need and then letting them get on with the job in the way that works best. To become a core part of a company’s culture, it needs to be driven by leaders across the organisation – IT, finance, communications and real estate as well as HR and leadership development.
TGH: Why is future work important now?
AM: The new workforce is looking for something very different from the traditional career and work model. The International Women’s Forum UK recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with a survey asking current and emerging female leaders about success, including what they would do differently if starting again. While many of the senior women said they would not do anything differently, some wished they had said “no” more often during their careers or been less hard on themselves. One said “We have to change the concept of work to make it more relevant to a woman’s life.” The responses from the younger women placed strong value on balance, happiness, fulfilment, and the need to pace and prioritise carefully. These trends are supported by a global ACCA/Mercer survey, which we reference in Future Work. The survey asked over 3,200 millennial finance professionals how they felt about their jobs. It found that this generation wants a much broader range of benefits from working life and that making more money is a less important factor in career success than it was to previous generations.
What does this mean for organisations? Employers can no longer assume that employees will put up with having to work at rigid times in a fixed location if it does not make sense to do so. If employers don’t offer greater autonomy and choice, they will struggle to attract top talent. Future work also allows companies to draw from a broader and more diverse talent pool, which in turn should lead to more innovative organisations. Future work is not a nice-to-have – it should be a viewed as a priority by leaders looking to deliver sustainable success.
TGH: Are leaders really convinced about the benefits of future work?
AM: Those we feature in the book definitely are! But many managers still fear that people won’t work if they can’t see them sitting at their desks around them – hence the jacket-on-chair syndrome. In reality, most people are more productive and motivated when they feel empowered and trusted by their managers to get the work done, regardless of time or place. Through a combination of surveys and case studies, we’ve shown that there is a wide range of benefits for business, including increased productivity, more reliable business continuity, faster access to market, and reduced costs. Organisations need to do a better job of measuring these benefits to see what a difference future work can make.
Read more
Happy Labor Day!
NewsIn the mean time, enjoy some of the most interesting articles of the past month:
Don’t want to miss this great content when it’s published? Sign up for our weekly newsletter!
Or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
Enjoy your long weekend!
Summer Fridays!
NewsHappy Summer Friday from The Glass Hammer Team!
You can catch up on this week’s content here:
Want to get these stories in your inbox? Sign up here for our weekly newsletter.
Enjoy your weekend!
Voice of Experience: Karen Loon, Banking and Capital Markets Leader, PwC Singapore
Voices of ExperienceKaren Loon, recently appointed as PwC Singapore’s Banking and Capital Markets Leader, knows that making assumptions based on someone’s gender is a mistake. Assumptions based on appearance are often equally misleading. That’s because while some might assume that Loon was born in Asia, she’s actually a fourth-generation, Australian-born Chinese.
That’s why her interest in diversity runs deeper than just gender. “I am passionate about ensuring that both women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds are given the right opportunities to thrive within their organizations,” she says, which makes her the ideal fit to be PwC Singapore’s Territory Diversity Leader.
A Career in Accounting Added up for Loon
Loon began her career after graduating from Sydney University. Her parents were business owners who had business acquaintances who were accountants and encouraged her to consider it as a career.
She participated in vacation internships with other accounting firms, and decided she liked the culture of PwC, which she joined in 1990. She was seconded to PwC Singapore in 1994 when a one-week training in the Netherlands opened her eyes to the possibility of working outside of Australia, coupled with her growing conviction that Singapore was ripe for a booming economy, and decided to stay for the longer term.
The move was less conventional than one would guess, because as Loon says, “Most Australians have a strong affinity for the U.K.” Furthermore, though she is ethnically Chinese, Loon doesn’t speak Chinese. “It’s very difficult to feel like an outsider. I was fortunate to be coached and mentored by supportive people.”
Climbing the Ladder as a Woman
Becoming a partner was not easy to achieve and certainly ranks as one of her proudest professional achievements. In fact she says that though she didn’t realize it at the time, she had never met a female audit partner when she started in Sydney.
“Women partners were few and far between in Sydney,” she says, adding that Singapore was more progressive in this area with some of the women partners having kids. “There is more family support in Asia. The values in Sydney tend toward mothers staying home.”
During a recent two-year return to Australia, Loon reflected on her values and how she had changed — and how other aspects of the firm had changed. “There are now more women partners, but we are still clearly the minority. It made me more passionate about making sure there are opportunities for everyone.”
Diversity Committee Feeds Her Passion
That’s why she finds her work with her Singapore diversity committee to be so satisfying. In addition to her recent appointment as a Territory Diversity Leader, she is also the East Cluster Financial Services People Leader, East Cluster Diversity Coordinator and a member of the Global Financial Services Diversity Steering Committee.
“Being open to diversity is how businesses can retain talent,” she says, adding that the broader issue facing all organizations is how cultural diversity, not just gender diversity, will continue to dominate the discussion.
“Companies have to be cognizant of culture and open to accepting that people come with different values and backgrounds. Companies that continue to focus with a just a western lens will be at a disadvantage. Those who understand different types of clients and environments will be the successful ones. Otherwise it’s so easy to offend someone without even realizing it.”
Read more
Voice of Experience: Nora Wu, PwC Global Vice Chairwoman, PwC Global Human Capital Leader
Voices of ExperienceNora Wu believes that achievements do not determine success, but that success is determined by the obstacles that have been overcome. She herself has faced numerous challenges and barriers on her journey to being appointed PwC Global Vice Chairwoman and Global Human Capital Leader in July. “My professional career got off to a late start,” she recounts. “I started my family before I began to focus on my career and by the time I joined the accounting profession in 1988, my daughter was already two years old.”
As she recalls, she was the only female staff member from mainland China to be hired by one of the then-Big Eight accounting firms in San Francisco. “I was born and raised in China, which back then had yet to open itself up to the rest of the world. The US work culture was completely different and it was tough for me to immerse myself in such a highly competitive and demanding environment,” she explains.
Her new job required that she learn new professional skills and improve her English, but it also prompted her to appreciate cultural differences and new communication styles, while learning the importance of work-life balance. After her son was born, she took two years off to focus on her young family. “When I came back to work, I was competing with much younger colleagues who did not have the same challenges as me,” she says. “Becoming a partner at the firm did not even feature in my wildest dreams.”
In 1995, she moved back to China and became the only female manager in the Arthur Andersen Shanghai office. Five years later, she would become the first female partner. “Although my career got off to a later start, I never let that become a disadvantage,” she recalls. “I had the opportunity to see my kids grow and be there when they needed me but I was still able to dedicate myself to my career. Most importantly, I learned to focus on what I wanted to achieve in life and how to strike a balance between being a mother, wife, daughter and respected professional and leader.”
Women in Leadership
The challenges Wu has faced in her career have made her a better, more effective leader. When she was appointed PwC China’s Shanghai Office Lead Partner in 2006, she faced difficulties garnering support, especially among her predominantly male colleagues with more experience. “Giving up was never an option,” she remembers. “Instead, I reached out and found areas where I could add value as a leader, and slowly I began to earn the trust and respect of my partners and team. It was a rocky start but I’m proud to say that the mindset has since changed.”
Women face several barriers in the industry and Wu highlights two: fear and self-doubt. “Women tend to underestimate their capabilities,” she admits. “This is something that we can learn from our male counterparts. In many cases, even if they doubt themselves, men will still grab an opportunity and embrace it. Organizations can do more to help women, but ultimately, it’s up to us to take on new challenges and show we can lead.”
She advises women to let go of their fears and inhibitions, take advantage of opportunities and treat every challenge as a learning opportunity. “You never know where one opportunity or interaction will lead you and you only can find out if you give it your best shot,” she says. “You should never be afraid to work hard or put in the long hours. Work-life balance is indeed possible, especially if you do not separate your work and your life. By aligning your purpose, personality, and aspirations, it will be easier to create a balance. I’ve personally seen the transformation in our young associates who have risen to become very successful.”
But it can be hard to know your purpose in life when you are young and just starting your career, so Wu advises people to ask themselves what they want in life and what will bring them meaning and fulfillment. “To begin finding out what your purpose in life is, imagine looking back forty years from now and asking yourself what would make you proud, or if you would be able to admit to having lived a full and meaningful life,” she suggests. “The answers will give you a good indication of what you want, or should, aim for in life.” Wu also encourages the development of peer groups that are both trustworthy and supportive, as this enables sharing and mutual learning from different challenges and experiences.
Working in PwC
In her new role overseeing the development and execution of PwC’s global human capital strategy, Wu is very excited about the opportunities for the 184,000 people throughout the global network of firms. “We want to see how we can move the network’s people agenda forward,” she says. “The digital revolution is changing the world at a rapid pace and each year, PwC firms around the world hire about 20,000 graduate millennials. These future leaders grew up with technology, smartphones, tablets and cloud computing.”
Read more
Voice of Experience: Paloma Wang, Partner, Capital Markets Group, Shearman & Sterling
Voices of ExperienceAt just 37 years old, Paloma Wang’s rapid ascension to the partnership at global law firm Shearman & Sterling, where she specializes in initial public offerings (IPOs) and other corporate finance transactions in the firm’s Hong Kong office, is a tale worth telling. Her career achievements are a testament to the value of establishing a long-term vision and having the drive to make it a reality.
“You need to determine your own path and carve out your own unique identity,” Wang advises when reflecting on her career to date. “Don’t let anyone else dictate who you are as a professional or as a person.”
She adds, “By establishing your own priorities and doing the things that truly make you happy, you will drive your career path in the right direction. Don’t make concessions because you are junior or because you are a woman. Plant your feet firmly and set your sights on achieving everything you want.”
Career in Law
Born and raised in China, Wang graduated from a top law school and afterwards was offered a three-year, fully-funded scholarship to study law at Oxford. Wang received her training at a UK law firm in Hong Kong and in December 2005 she became qualified to practice law in Hong Kong.
Traditionally, the legal market in Hong Kong has been dominated by UK firms, but over the last five years, Wang explained, more and more US-based law firms are opening Hong Kong practices. Wang joined the team at Shearman & Sterling when the firm launched its Hong Kong law practice in January 2010. Currently, her practice focuses primarily on capital markets, representing both issuers and underwriters in IPOs. She also advises investors and corporates on private equity investments and listed issuers on compliance, general corporate and regulatory matters.
Although the majority of her practice is focused on Hong Kong, Wang noted that there is definitely an increase in large deals that require a lot of cross-border work and coordination with institutions in foreign jurisdictions, particularly the United States. “The integration of US law and Hong Kong law has been hugely successful at the firm’s Hong Kong office since many of the IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have a US component as well,” she explains.
Changing Regulatory Landscape
According to Wang, the regulatory landscape in Hong Kong is very different from that of the US, but one of the most exciting aspects of her job recently has been witnessing the transformation of the Hong Kong regulatory regime.
Read more