Guest contribution by Liz Cornish
What separates those women who figuratively hit it “out of the park” from others who plateau earlier in their careers? Surprisingly, not much. They still worry about their kids, lose their keys, and suffer gut-wrenching setbacks. Below are four pieces of advice gleaned from literally hundreds of interviews with highly successful females like Margot Fraser of Birkenstock and Billie Williamson whose service includes board member of Ernst and Young Americas and US Executive Boards
Who knows you?
Susie Selby owns a small, but successful winery. Imagine her delight when her wine, of the over 6500 wineries in the country, was selected by the White House. Asking the Usher (who purchases the wine) how her wine was selected, he responded, “Years ago, I was traveling through the wine country. No one knew me. I visited your tasting room and told you I had just landed my dream job. Without asking me what that job was, you replied, ‘Well, that calls for a celebration!’ You then took me to conduct a special barrel tasting. It was the single most unsolicited act of hospitality I’ve ever received, and I’ve never forgotten it.” That once tiny winery in Sonoma County has now served several presidents, Tony Blair, Sheryl Crow, Robert Redford and Alicia Keyes.
Never Underestimate the Power of the Third Party Endorsement:
Which is more convincing? “I’m awesome.” or, “Liz is awesome.” Make it as easy as possible for others to support you. For example: You get an email from another department thanking you for the great job you did speaking at their brown bag luncheon. Thank them for their kind words and ask if it is ok to forward that email to your boss.
Keep Your Pitch Perfect:
You never know who links to whom, so be ready to “pitch” anytime. If it can save you time or money, it’s worth being ready with your request or message. You might find the answer in the elevator, at the barista or on the side of soccer field.
For example, Jaqui Zwick shared a dream of creating a Children’s Village — a foster-care community in California that keeps siblings together and raises children in a multi-generational, enriched environment. She joined a group of committed individuals determined to bring that vision to life.
Jaqui attended a yoga class and sometimes joined the group members and instructor for lunch afterwards. One day, while waiting for their Bistro meal to be served, Jaqui mentioned her dream and work for the Children’s Village. The Yoga teacher, Audrey, paused and said, “My sister is interested in getting her children involved in a effort likes yours. Imagine Jaqui’s thrill when she learned that the Yoga instructor’s sister, Jennifer, is married to football superstar, Joe Montana, one of the most popular sports figure of all time. That casual post-Yoga conversation ultimately led to highly visible and extremely generous sponsorship for the Children’s Village.
Take Hits With Humor:
Madeleine Albright was the US Ambassador to the United Nations when Iraq invaded Kuwait. When she criticized Saddam Hussein’s actions, a poem appeared in the Iraqi press calling her “an unparalleled serpent”. Taking the hit with humor, she chose to wear a vintage snake pin to the next meeting with Iraqi officials.
There isn’t a single very successful female in my hundreds of interviews who didn’t suffer some kind of setback: an unfair lousy performance appraisal, passed over for promotion, public relations nightmare, or highly visible project failure. What happens matters. What’s even more critical is how you respond. Those who can’t recover from a setback with humor will ultimately become whiny, cynical or fearful. Those who can, get results. You don’t need to be Zooey Deschanel or Melissa McCarthy. It does mean you need to put the setback into perspective and put on an emotional band-aid. Give yourself a finite amount of time to be miserable, and then get back into the action.
Whether leading in a crisis or interacting with a demeaning jerk, top female executives find the lighter side of otherwise dark and stressful circumstances. They can laugh at themselves and manage to keep things in perspective. If you find yourself losing your sense of humor, take a break before your stress fractures your relationships.
Author of newly launched Pass It On: Priceless Advice from Highly Successful Women, Liz Cornish is a leading expert in coaching women from middle management through executive levels to create and sustain top performance. She has trained thousands of women individuals and groups on leadership effectiveness with clients including Fortune Brand, Nestle, Ernst and Young, AAA, eBay, Yahoo! and numerous financial institutions.
Voice of Experience: Grace Wang, Chief Financial Officer, Green Dot Corporation
Voices of Experience“Early on in your career, the quality of your work will get you noticed.” said Grace Wang, Chief Financial Officer at Green Dot Corporation, “But as you grow older and move up the scale, you have to be cognizant of how you partner, how you are perceived, and how you are helpful to others around you.”
Sharing experiences and giving back to the upcoming generation of women is extremely important to Wang, and she encourages women at all career levels to make sure they are supporting other women along the way.
Making a Difference in Her Career
Currently, Grace Wang serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Green Dot, the top provider of prepaid debit card products and prepaid card reloading services in the United States, and creator of the award winning mobile bank account, GoBank. “Throughout my career, I have always been drawn to roles where I am part of a team that is driving both innovation and change,” said Wang.
Wang began her professional career in management consulting working for A.T. Kearney, and later Booz, where she focused on financial services, telecomm, media, and technology companies. For the last nine+ years, Wang worked at JP Morgan, where she started as the Head of International Strategy and Business Development. In this role, she ran teams in EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America for their $8 billion Treasury and Security Services business.
After this role, Wang advanced to become CFO for Europe, Middle East and Africa for the same business where she was responsible for managing several hundred people primarily based in London. Wang continued to grow with JP Morgan, eventually becoming CFO for their Investor Services business.
“At the beginning of my career with A.T. Kearney, I had the opportunity to help build out the financial services practice,” said Wang. “This experience sparked my passion for building businesses in addition to doing my day job of analysis and advising large banks and corporations.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of working for Green Dot is the mission and purpose driven environment, according to Wang. “This is a company that believes in existing for the consumers, especially those who are unbanked –which is an astonishing 50 million people in the U.S. alone –and need a way to make purchases,” she explained. “The Green Dot product suite gives people that capability.”
For example, Green Dot is currently partnering with the Steve Harvey Show to provide pre-loaded Green Dot prepaid debit cards to individuals who have made an impact in their community. “It is our way to say ‘thank you’ and recognize people making a difference who could use a hand themselves,” said Wang.
She continued, “It’s about launching, promoting, and building new products that are transforming the financial services landscape for the future in a way that is helpful to the people who need it the most.”
An Advocate for Women in the Workplace
A key moment in Wang’s career came when she was nominated for the Asian Women of Achievement Award in the business category while working in London, where she was based for 15 years. “The award was for sponsoring and supporting diversity in the workplace,” said Wang, who founded and led JP Morgan’s Women MDs committee in EMEA along with two other senior women at the firm.
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Women in Venture Capital: Is There Progress on Both Sides of the Deal?
Money TalksAccording to recent data from PitchBook, more women-founded companies are receiving venture funding than ever before. Specifically, 13 percent of venture capital deals favored women-founded companies in the first half of 2013, compared to only 4 percent in 2004. While this growth signals a step in the right direction, it is undoubtedly a slower rate of growth than we would expect.
In that same period, the percentage of women earning MBAs increased slightly from 34.8 percent in 2004 to 35.9 percent in 2011-2012. These numbers are an improvement considering that in 1990, 33.9 percent of women graduated with MBAs. Women continue to make up a larger percentage of MBA graduates in the United States, so this makes us question just how much change is occurring when it comes to start ups and funding new ventures. Is it really still such a strongly male-dominated landscape? Where are the women?
Furthermore, PitchBook’s data reflects all industries and sectors and interestingly almost half (40 percent) of the distribution of money was allocated to women-founded companies in the retail sector in the first half of 2013.
However, when you put the industries –such as technology where women continue to be underrepresented–under the microscope, it is clear that there still a lot of progress to be made.
Looking at this from the lens of women on boards and in decision making executive roles, technology companies with at least one woman founder comprised just 10 percent of the venture capital deals through the first half of 2013.
Addressing and Overcoming the Underlying Issues
A research report entitled, “Women Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital: Managing the Shadow Negotiation,” released by the Simmons School of Management explored how gender constructs impact the male and female entrepreneurs, as well as the investors responsible for providing the capital. Simmons’ researchers claim that in addition to the overt business procedures taking place in a venture deal, there is also a very important underlying interaction occurring simultaneously: the shadow negotiation.
They write, “As Kolb and Williams suggest (2000), women in negotiation face additional issues both on and off the table as hidden agendas and masked assumptions play out as a result of often unintentional, but still powerful gendered biases and assumptions.” That being said, the researchers suggest several things that successful female entrepreneurs do in order to gain access to funding.
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Voice of Experience: Amy Tsui Luke, Managing Director, Accenture
People, Voices of Experience“Find your mentors,” advises Amy Tsui Luke, Managing Director at Accenture.
“They have taught me, shared their networks with me and most importantly, stepped in with encouragement when I doubted myself.” According to Luke, the right mentors can help you find confidence within yourself, open doors that lead to career advancement opportunities and offer advice during critical transition points in your career.
Making a Difference at Work and Beyond
After graduating from Wellesley College, Luke began her career in investment banking before attending Harvard Business School to earn her MBA. Now, as a managing director at Accenture, Luke has the opportunity to do what she loves each day.
Luke has always believed in having a clear and direct voice, even if it means occasionally deviating from the status quo. “Early in my career, I found myself in situations in which I felt I needed to make my points of view known,” says Luke. “I decided that if I wanted to be a leader, I needed to speak my mind and have the strength to make tough decisions.” Displaying courage and confidence have been instrumental in making Luke the influential leader she is today.
Not only does Luke find it gratifying to provide her clients with practical business solutions, she also is very active in her community through Accenture’s corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed. “Education was the gateway to opportunity for my family,” explains Luke, whose grandfather emigrated from China on a scholarship. “He was skilled in engineering but he didn’t speak English and struggled to communicate and fit in. Despite these challenges, he persevered, acquired skills and created a new trajectory for all of us who followed.”
Her grandfather’s experiences inspired Luke to become the executive sponsor of a recently launched LaGuardia Community College program that helps non-native English speakers who hold an advanced degree in accounting or bookkeeping from their home country find jobs in this field in the US. “We provide these students –who typically range in age from 29 to 41 years old –with both hard and soft skills to enable them to pursue jobs with strong career growth opportunities,” she notes.
Inspiring Professional Women
According to Luke, giving back through mentoring is one of the most rewarding aspects of her role at Accenture. She underscores the importance of creating a diverse network that includes many different types of mentors. “Often, I find that people look for a mentor to be an ideal role model across the many dimensions of their lives – professional, personal, etc. This expectation is unrealistic; I advise people to have a variety of mentors along many dimensions with varying skills – a personal ‘Board of Directors’ so to speak. You never know the type of advice and help you may need in life. ” explains Luke.
“I am always ready to help others, lend a supportive ear or provide words of advice. I try to create an inclusive environment, with my team and with my mentees, so they can feel comfortable to try new things, take chances and even make mistakes. It is this combination of exposure and encouragement that builds resilience and confidence.”
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It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!
Expert AnswersWhat separates those women who figuratively hit it “out of the park” from others who plateau earlier in their careers? Surprisingly, not much. They still worry about their kids, lose their keys, and suffer gut-wrenching setbacks. Below are four pieces of advice gleaned from literally hundreds of interviews with highly successful females like Margot Fraser of Birkenstock and Billie Williamson whose service includes board member of Ernst and Young Americas and US Executive Boards
Who knows you?
Susie Selby owns a small, but successful winery. Imagine her delight when her wine, of the over 6500 wineries in the country, was selected by the White House. Asking the Usher (who purchases the wine) how her wine was selected, he responded, “Years ago, I was traveling through the wine country. No one knew me. I visited your tasting room and told you I had just landed my dream job. Without asking me what that job was, you replied, ‘Well, that calls for a celebration!’ You then took me to conduct a special barrel tasting. It was the single most unsolicited act of hospitality I’ve ever received, and I’ve never forgotten it.” That once tiny winery in Sonoma County has now served several presidents, Tony Blair, Sheryl Crow, Robert Redford and Alicia Keyes.
Never Underestimate the Power of the Third Party Endorsement:
Which is more convincing? “I’m awesome.” or, “Liz is awesome.” Make it as easy as possible for others to support you. For example: You get an email from another department thanking you for the great job you did speaking at their brown bag luncheon. Thank them for their kind words and ask if it is ok to forward that email to your boss.
Keep Your Pitch Perfect:
You never know who links to whom, so be ready to “pitch” anytime. If it can save you time or money, it’s worth being ready with your request or message. You might find the answer in the elevator, at the barista or on the side of soccer field.
For example, Jaqui Zwick shared a dream of creating a Children’s Village — a foster-care community in California that keeps siblings together and raises children in a multi-generational, enriched environment. She joined a group of committed individuals determined to bring that vision to life.
Jaqui attended a yoga class and sometimes joined the group members and instructor for lunch afterwards. One day, while waiting for their Bistro meal to be served, Jaqui mentioned her dream and work for the Children’s Village. The Yoga teacher, Audrey, paused and said, “My sister is interested in getting her children involved in a effort likes yours. Imagine Jaqui’s thrill when she learned that the Yoga instructor’s sister, Jennifer, is married to football superstar, Joe Montana, one of the most popular sports figure of all time. That casual post-Yoga conversation ultimately led to highly visible and extremely generous sponsorship for the Children’s Village.
Take Hits With Humor:
Madeleine Albright was the US Ambassador to the United Nations when Iraq invaded Kuwait. When she criticized Saddam Hussein’s actions, a poem appeared in the Iraqi press calling her “an unparalleled serpent”. Taking the hit with humor, she chose to wear a vintage snake pin to the next meeting with Iraqi officials.
There isn’t a single very successful female in my hundreds of interviews who didn’t suffer some kind of setback: an unfair lousy performance appraisal, passed over for promotion, public relations nightmare, or highly visible project failure. What happens matters. What’s even more critical is how you respond. Those who can’t recover from a setback with humor will ultimately become whiny, cynical or fearful. Those who can, get results. You don’t need to be Zooey Deschanel or Melissa McCarthy. It does mean you need to put the setback into perspective and put on an emotional band-aid. Give yourself a finite amount of time to be miserable, and then get back into the action.
Whether leading in a crisis or interacting with a demeaning jerk, top female executives find the lighter side of otherwise dark and stressful circumstances. They can laugh at themselves and manage to keep things in perspective. If you find yourself losing your sense of humor, take a break before your stress fractures your relationships.
Author of newly launched Pass It On: Priceless Advice from Highly Successful Women, Liz Cornish is a leading expert in coaching women from middle management through executive levels to create and sustain top performance. She has trained thousands of women individuals and groups on leadership effectiveness with clients including Fortune Brand, Nestle, Ernst and Young, AAA, eBay, Yahoo! and numerous financial institutions.
Intuition: How to Cultivate Your Instincts as Part of Your Skill Set
Leadership, Pipeline, What's OnAccording to a conversation between Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and psychologist Gary Klein, one of the ways we define leaders is by their ability to make decisions and trust their instincts. In an era of technology and information overload, how can you listen to your intuition with confidence? Below is an explanation of how to find your intuition, strengthen it and use it like a skill.
The Science of Leadership
“Really great leaders have very high emotional intelligence. It’s not about IQ, but more about self-awareness of strengths and limitations,” said Robin Ross, founder of RSR Advisory LLC, a coaching and consulting firm, which enables her to explore the neurology of leadership. “In regard to intuition, leaders have honed in on their self-awareness and can listen to that voice coming from within.”
Ross explains that your intuition comes from the oldest part of the brain.
“True intuition taps into the subconscious part of the brain, the basal ganglia. It’s the same part of the brain that remembers patterns and memory,” said Ross. “What’s interesting is that the basal ganglia is also connected to the intestines so a gut instinct really is a gut instinct.”
One part of the brain that Ross says is not directly connected to the basal ganglia is the language center, or the area known as the prefrontal cortex.
“There is no direct connectivity to the verbal cortex so when someone says they have a gut feeling but can’t put it into words, there is a reason why.”
Ross explains that there are times when you have to question your intuition.
“If you have past situations that are bubbling up and you know the correlation is wrong,” explained Ross, “this would be a good example of a time to listen to your intelligence, not your intuition.”
She said another example where questioning your intuition might be necessary would be when you are in a completely new situation and past experiences would not bear any resemblance to the outcome of the new event.
“When in highly volatile situations women should look at all the factors, not just their gut reactions. However if they have looked at all the data and it still doesn’t add up, trust your gut,” said Ross.
According to Ross, one way to benefit from a strong intuition is to bring it up in job interviews.
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Voice of Experience: Karen Fang, Managing Director and Head of Cross Asset Solutions & Strategies, Global Banking & Markets Division, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Voices of Experience“I have been very lucky in my sixteen-year career to have always been involved with the things that I am passionate about,” said Karen Fang, Managing Director and Head of Cross Asset Solutions & Strategies, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Career in Banking
Originally from China, Fang attended college at the University of Tokyo in Japan, where she gained a lot of exposure to the world of Investment Banking and Capital Markets as an Economics major. “My fascination with Finance began when I was a sophomore in college and had multiple internships at different investment banks.” said Fang. She spent the majority of her time interning at Merrill Lynch, and ultimately decided to accept an offer as a derivatives structurer from Merrill Lynch in Tokyo after graduating in 1998.
“Because I was trilingual, I was fortunate enough to be transferred to the London office to work on our cross-border structured products business and then eventually relocated to New York,” explained Fang. She worked for a couple of different firms including Goldman Sachs before returning to Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York where she is now the Head of Cross Asset Solutions & Strategies in the Global Banking & Markets division. According to Fang, learning as much as possible about every single asset class, whether it is fixed income, equities, or commodities, as well as the various client industries, to be able to truly understand clients’ strategic issues before responding with effective solutions, is one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of her role.
“Using technical knowledge to provide C-Suite clients with a complex set of solutions, help them navigate our firm, and deliver the firm’s strengths is very fulfilling,” explained Fang. “I am proud of running a business –and managing a team –that is truly cross asset and cross industry. Given that the banking industry is going through a major transformation as a result of the new regulatory environment post financial crisis, our business model is changing very rapidly,” said Fang, “and a major focus for our team right now is to figure out how to optimize our balance sheet in a way that creates a win-win situation for the clients and our firm.”
This creates a lot of opportunities for Fang and her team to think outside the box and get innovative. “We shine when the problems are complex and the solutions require collaboration of multiple divisions and teams,” she said.
Women in Banking: Embrace Being Different
One of the biggest obstacles that Fang identified for women in banking is the limited amount of networking opportunities that can help foster relationship building and career development. “We need more senior level women leaders in sales and trading, and banking,” said Fang. She applauded the efforts of the industry as a whole to become more diverse, she cited many efforts that Bank of America Merrill Lynch put in over the years to increase Diversity & Inclusion and noted the positive changes that she has witnessed throughout her career in the industry. “Things are very different now, not just in policy, but on people’s minds and in their day to day behavior. More diversity is good for our business.”
“You don’t have to act like a man in order to thrive in a male-dominated industry,” she advised. This is something that Fang wishes she had realized earlier on in her career. “Many women that I coach and mentor have this notion that emulating the behavior of a man will help them go farther in their career, when in fact, that may not be true,” said Fang.
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Avoiding Leadership Burnout: How We Can Pass the Torch to the Next Generation
LeadershipAre you no longer motivated by the work you were once very passionate about? Are you experiencing shortness of breath? Has managing your work-life balance become an impossible task? According to psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter, if you answered yes to the above questions, you are likely to be on the road to burnout or already burned out.
Dr. Bourg Carter groups the signs of burnout into three main categories: physical, psychological and behavioral. Heart palpitations, increased anxiety and reduced appetite as a result of high stress environments are all signs that we might have pushed passed our physical limit.
Why is this important in the women’s leadership discussion?
Harvard researchers found that women in highly stressful jobs are at a 40 percent increased risk of heart disease. Arianna Huffington recently cited a study which found that women in stressful jobs were at 60 percent greater risk of Type 2 diabetes compared to their peers in less stressful professions. This correlation was not found in men, only women – not positive news for our female talent pipeline.
While burnout is not a female-only experience, high achieving women tend to have more expectations placed on them at work, home and in their communities. Already in high pressure jobs, the additional pressure women experience means that they struggle to balance demands and tend to burnout. Captivate Network also showed that women are less likely to address the factors leading to burnout compared to their male counterparts: “[m]en are 25% more likely to take breaks throughout the day for personal activities, 7% more likely to take a walk, 5% more likely to go out to lunch, and 35% more likely to take breaks ‘just to relax.’”
Why should leaders of our organisations take burnout seriously?
On an individual level, the impact of burnout can be devastating. Even more concerning, however, is the significant impact leadership burnout can have on organisations and economies. One of the key consequences of burnout is reduced engagement and in extreme cases, constant dread of going to work. Gallup’s 2013 State of the Global Workplace found that only 13 percent of the global workforce was either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.” Actively disengaged employees cost economies $450-$550 billion in the US and £52-£70 billion in the UK annually. Of course burnout is not the only contributor to this drain on economies, but if individuals and organisations can mitigate the risk of disengagement by avoiding burnout, it is worth addressing.
Passing the torch to the next generation
By exhibiting the behaviours that lead to burnout, female leaders are setting the wrong example for the next generation. Working to the point where health is sacrificed sends the message that to succeed young women need to “work harder” rather than “work smarter.” The danger in female leaders burning out is twofold; firstly, fewer women remain in leadership positions and therefore fewer role models are available, and the second issue is that young women reflect the behaviours they see in their female role models, including those who exhibit signs of burnout.
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Stereotyping in Silicon Valley Explains the Lack of Women at the Top
Women in TechnologyA report released last year by the AAUW asked a very simple and direct question about women in STEM: Why So Few? A question this straightforward should have a clear answer, yet when it comes to women in technology the answers are numerous and complex, and tend to lead to even deeper questions such as:
What is preventing women from reaching the C-Suite in Silicon Valley? (6 percent represents the number of female CEOs at the top 100 technology companies)
How can we attract more women to technology careers? (5.7 percent represents the number of women in high tech occupations in the US)
Why do many women leave the technology field mid-career? (50 percent represents the number of women in STEM who leave the field in favor of a different profession within the first 12 years of their career)
Now, new light is being shed on the fact that women in technology continue to face gender bias, which could be the underlying factor contributing to the scarce representation of women in high technology.
New Research Indicates Stereotyping Still an Issue for Women in Tech
The culture of Silicon Valley is touted by insiders as a true meritocracy, where innovation trumps gender, race, or economic status. However, new research suggests that stereotypes –especially against women –are still creating barriers for women in technology. The paper, written by professors Ernesto Reuben of Columbia Business School, Paola Sapienza of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and Luigi Zingales of the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, presents the findings of a lab experiment in which managers assess, and ultimately hire, people who have been tasked with completing math problems.
Despite the fact that men and women historically performed equally well on the assigned math problems, the managers were twice as likely to hire a man over a woman when only one attribute of the applicants was made known: appearance.
Furthermore, the experiment revealed that managers were still more likely to choose a man over a woman even when they had more information about each applicant’s ability. Perhaps the most alarming revelation from the study came when two-thirds of managers selected male applicants even when they did not perform as well on the math problem as a woman.
The researchers determined that these managers were unable to see beyond their implicit bias based on the overarching stereotype that women are not as skilled at math as men, regardless of how well women performed in that isolated situation.
Do the results of this lab experiment explain the meritocracy myth plaguing the technology industry?
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Movers and Shakers: Lei Chen, Vice President and Head of Enterprise Growth Risk and Information Management, American Express
Movers and Shakers“One of the things I am most proud of in my career at American Express is my involvement with the Executive Women’s Interest Network,” said Chen, who led the employee network, and has been instrumental in building it up as a critical platform to help advance and retain women talent through various activities including workshops, guest speaker series, roundtable discussions, mentoring programs and networking events.
“I think it is so important to reach out and help others develop their potential,” added Chen, “and one of the most effective ways to do this is by gathering together, sharing our experiences, learning best practices, and paying it forward.”
Career at American Express
After graduating from Michigan State University with a Ph.D. in Statistics, Chen joined the Risk and Information Management group at American Express where she had the opportunity to develop expertise in almost all areas of Risk Management and across multiple business units.
Currently, Chen serves as Vice President and Head of Enterprise Growth Risk and Information Management where her primary role is to develop risk management strategies and drive growth in the area of non-traditional payment products.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is that I am directly involved in redefining our company’s brand by making our products more accessible and inclusive,” said Chen. “Enterprise Growth group is like a start up inside of American Express. With the launch of Bluebird, a checking & debit alternative, we use emerging technologies to expand our customer segment beyond our premium base, and to enable “financial inclusion” for the underserved population by traditional financial services.”
One of the challenges Chen acknowledged is delivering the brand’s promise for world class customer experience, trust, and security while achieving industry best risk performance.
According to Chen, the leadership support she has received from American Express has played a key role in her personal career development. One of the most notable programs Chen was selected to participate in was the Compass 45 Leadership Program, of which she was a participant in 2006. This was a twelve month program designed to help high potential and high performing leaders further develop their leadership skills through focused training and working on real projects that solve real business problems within the company.
“In addition to strengthening my leadership skills, I built strong connections and network among my peers,” explained Chen. She continued, “Before the program, I used to be a workaholic. Hearing and observing how my peers balanced their work and life, I had my ‘aha moment.’ I was inspired and realized that I can also have it all.”
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Our Internal Relationships Lead to Success
Expert AnswersThe better our relationships, the more effectively and efficiently we can achieve our desired outcomes.
The paradox is that the quality of our relationships is best established without a motive – not because this person can help me, but rather because I am genuinely interested in this person, I want to learn what she does, and perhaps how I can help her.
One of my very favorite books, The 100/0 Principle by Al Ritter proposes that a relationship should not be 50/50; we should offer our whole self to it. There should be no judgment, no qualification. This means, I want to be your colleague, teammate or friend regardless of what kind of car you drive or whether you can help me in my business.
Why is this important? When two people connect because of mutual respect and admiration, they form a genuine bond that opens the door to trust. They can share ideas and simply enjoy each other – not trying to one-up the other, just asking questions to understand and learn. By exchanging stories, they discover, hey, I have something that might help you. This is exactly what good business relationships are about. These conversations are way more important than emails, newsletters, videos or conference calls.
Too often, though, top executives spend the vast majority of their time together.
We must realize that the work of our company is done at all levels and out in the field, working with our clients and customers, and behind the scenes. Every member of our team is important and makes a difference.
We need to reach out to the people doing the work of the company! When we do, and we ask them for advice, feedback and help, we show humility and quiet confidence. These are very attractive qualities in a leader. This is how we build trust and inspire mutual success.
This is an area where men could learn from women. Women tend to connect with people regardless of whether they are in their immediate circle, and that is good for organizational culture and morale.
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