By Hadley Catalano (Boston)
After a successful managerial climb at State Street, a large global financial services company in Boston, Michelle Figueiredo made the most difficult decision of her professional career. She had her first conversation with the company’s human resources department about her true identity.
“I spoke for three hours with the woman in HR,” Figueiredo, who was professionally known as Michael before she transitioned, recalled. “She said to me, ‘we have never had this happen before, we’ll work with you. We support you 100 percent.”
A similar conversation occurred a year later at the Boston office of the large multi-national law firm Edwards Wildman where Sara Schnorr had been a lawyer for 30 plus years (Edwards Wildman is the successor to Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge). Schnorr, who was named partner at the Boston office in 1987, had made the decision in 2009, at the age of 61, to professionally acknowledge her true identity. The law firm’s senior management, having known Sara as Tom – her given birth name – as an invaluable partner, told her, “of course we’ll support you.”
These two stories of male-to-female transition (MTF) are becoming more frequent in working environments throughout the state of Massachusetts, where the state legislature and local businesses are widening their anti-discrimination clauses. A 2011 law called An Act Relative to Gender Identity prohibits discrimination in several key areas and defines gender identity as “a person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.”
Even before the Massachusetts legislature enacted the law and the Governor signed it effective as of July 2012, employers across the state, both locally and those with global partners, were breaking barriers through the implementation of diversity policies, including the freedom for employees to self-identify. It’s a trend that, while not federally mandated, has been included in anti-discrimination polices for many private businesses across the country.
According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) this year has seen 54 new businesses adjust their corporate policies as they relate to LGBT employees, 42 percent of the CEI-rated employers have distinct global codes of conduct or employment standards that are inclusive of both sexual orientation and gender identity, and of those same rated employers 83 percent have a LGBT Employee Resources Group or Diversity Council (as compared to 40 Percent in 2002).
State Street, where roughly 28,000 employees are spread out over 100 geographic markets worldwide, has a similar distinct global code and Figueiredo became the company’s first transgender women to transition MTF on the job. Her journey began by first explaining her true identity to family and friends. With the encouragement of her closest supporters she inquired with her company’s human resources department and was surprised and delighted to hear about their progressive diversity policy and support of her decision.
“I wanted to tell my co-workers personally,” Figueiredo explained, noting that the pivotal point in her determination to live her life as her true self was based on a promotion to a new managerial position. “I was nervous, but I wanted them to know that I was confident and proud of who I was.”
Negotiate with Precision: Using Round Numbers May Get You a Lower Offer
Money TalksWhen it’s time to negotiate a salary or raise, what kind of number do you throw out as a first offer? According to a Columbia Business School study [PDF] published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, it may be better to avoid using round numbers – for example, you may be better off asking for $98, 650 instead of a nice round $100k.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Quartz, and NPR, the researchers found that using a round number often leads to a lower counter-offer than if the number had been more precise. The reason why, though, is intriguing. It could change the way you talk about what you know, and negotiate for other benefits, opportunities, and everyday tasks.
The writers, Malia F. Mason, Alice J. Lee, Elizabeth A. Wile, and Daniel R. Ames, all of Columbia University, write, “First-offer recipients appear to make assumptions about their counterpart’s language and infer meanings that are not explicitly conveyed. Precise numerical expressions imply a greater level of knowledge than round numerical expressions and are therefore assumed by recipients to be more informative than the true value of the good being negotiated.”
Simply put, using precision in your offer makes you sound like you know what you’re talking about and deserve what you’re asking for.
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Does Mobility Affect the Wage Gap?
Money TalksAccording to a recent Yale working paper, when married men and women relocate, men make more money, and women make less. The study is based on an analysis of population data from Denmark, and revealed that couples “chose locations with higher expected wages for the man than the woman.”
In this paper, “Geography, joint choices and the reproduction of gender inequality,” researchers Olav Sorenson, Yale University, and Michael S. Dahl, Aalborg University, set out to determine why.
“We call attention to another allocative process that contributes to the wage gap: the sorting of people to places. Workers earn more when they reside in regions with employers that value their abilities and attributes,” they write.
“In dual-earner households, however, husbands and wives often match best with employers in different regions. When couples live in places better suited for the husbands’ than the wives’ career prospects, men earn more than women.”
Studies have shown that dual-earner couples relocate less frequently than couples with one earner. Research has also shown that after dual-earner couples move, men tend to make more money, and women tend to make less.
Based on detailed calculations, Sorenson and Dahl determined that geography could account for 36 percent of the gender wage gap. “In other words, if couples split and behaved as singles (independently choosing their places of residence) one would expect the gender wage gap to narrow by roughly one-third.”
Here’s why the gap exists.
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Voice of Experience: Heidi Levine, Co-Managing Partner, New York Office, DLA Piper
Voices of ExperienceBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“My advice for young female lawyers is to concentrate on doing excellent work that gets noticed by senior practitioners, rather than overly focusing on managing their careers,” said Heidi Levine, Co-Managing Partner of DLA Piper’s New York office.
Levine benefited from this strategy as a senior associate, with the support of a powerful sponsor who helped advance her career. Today Levine is also a member of DLA Piper’s Executive Committee, Co-Chair of the firm’s New York Mass Torts Practice, Co-Chair of DLA Piper’s women’s initiative called LAW (Leadership Alliance for Women), Co-Managing Partner of the firm’s New York office, all in addition to a thriving litigation practice.
She added, “Always be reliable and concentrate on being the best – it will lead to great things. Keep your eyes open and seek out mentors. But don’t think you’re entitled to one – you have to earn it.”
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Publisher’s note: Happy Summer
NewsSummer is here and we are taking a publishing break this week to work on our editorial calendar for the rest of the year and to have a few days off for the 4th July!
Next week, we will return with more great career articles, as we continue to follow our mantra of “Inform, Inspire and Empower” professional women. We also some amazing career events lined up for the early Fall starting with our 4th annual women in technology event sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Thomson Reuters, American Express and Sungard – registration is now open for this event!
Also, if you have not had a chance to read our recent women in tech research, you can check it out here.
We also have an announcement to make — after four years of excellent editorial and marketing expertise, Melissa Anderson is moving on. She has done an amazing job and has been entirely foundational to the growth and success of the site and I personally want to thank her for being such a great Editor and team member.
Melissa is one to watch and we are honored to see her continue her career journey and still write for us from time to time!
A big welcome to Michelle Hendelman who is our new editor and content manager. Michelle has been writing for us for several months now and is ready to take on a bigger role with theglasshammer.com. You can contact Michelle at michelle@theglasshammer.com.
We look forward to the next chapter of theglasshammer.com’s history and thank you for being a part of the community!
Yours Sincerely,
Nicki Gilmour
Publisher and Founder
www.theglasshammer.com – smart women in numbers
Transgender Professional Women: Authenticity and Transitioning in the Workplace
Intrepid Women SeriesAfter a successful managerial climb at State Street, a large global financial services company in Boston, Michelle Figueiredo made the most difficult decision of her professional career. She had her first conversation with the company’s human resources department about her true identity.
“I spoke for three hours with the woman in HR,” Figueiredo, who was professionally known as Michael before she transitioned, recalled. “She said to me, ‘we have never had this happen before, we’ll work with you. We support you 100 percent.”
A similar conversation occurred a year later at the Boston office of the large multi-national law firm Edwards Wildman where Sara Schnorr had been a lawyer for 30 plus years (Edwards Wildman is the successor to Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge). Schnorr, who was named partner at the Boston office in 1987, had made the decision in 2009, at the age of 61, to professionally acknowledge her true identity. The law firm’s senior management, having known Sara as Tom – her given birth name – as an invaluable partner, told her, “of course we’ll support you.”
These two stories of male-to-female transition (MTF) are becoming more frequent in working environments throughout the state of Massachusetts, where the state legislature and local businesses are widening their anti-discrimination clauses. A 2011 law called An Act Relative to Gender Identity prohibits discrimination in several key areas and defines gender identity as “a person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.”
Even before the Massachusetts legislature enacted the law and the Governor signed it effective as of July 2012, employers across the state, both locally and those with global partners, were breaking barriers through the implementation of diversity policies, including the freedom for employees to self-identify. It’s a trend that, while not federally mandated, has been included in anti-discrimination polices for many private businesses across the country.
According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) this year has seen 54 new businesses adjust their corporate policies as they relate to LGBT employees, 42 percent of the CEI-rated employers have distinct global codes of conduct or employment standards that are inclusive of both sexual orientation and gender identity, and of those same rated employers 83 percent have a LGBT Employee Resources Group or Diversity Council (as compared to 40 Percent in 2002).
State Street, where roughly 28,000 employees are spread out over 100 geographic markets worldwide, has a similar distinct global code and Figueiredo became the company’s first transgender women to transition MTF on the job. Her journey began by first explaining her true identity to family and friends. With the encouragement of her closest supporters she inquired with her company’s human resources department and was surprised and delighted to hear about their progressive diversity policy and support of her decision.
“I wanted to tell my co-workers personally,” Figueiredo explained, noting that the pivotal point in her determination to live her life as her true self was based on a promotion to a new managerial position. “I was nervous, but I wanted them to know that I was confident and proud of who I was.”
Read more
A Deeper Layer of Diversity: Exploring Multicultural LGBT Identity at Work
Managing ChangeBeing out at work has shown to be good for business, good for team performance and good for the individual’s own sense of wellbeing. Furthermore, leaders are starting to recognize the power of creating open and honest work environments.
At The Glass Hammer, we try to always take the conversation further and this week as part of our Pride series, we explore what it means to be female and multicultural and LGBT working in financial or professional services or in the Fortune 500.
Compounded identities around gender, ethnicity, and LGBT and their effect on career advancement is most evident when we look at LGBT CEOs –a quick analysis suggests that white LGBT men, like white straight men are more likely to run Fortune 500 firms, while LGBT women are seen in charge of more entrepreneurial firms.
Last year our research arm, Evolved Employer, specifically focused on LGBT women in the workplace polling LGBT women who attended our Managing Identities at work career events in both the US and the UK. Our findings suggested that gender trumps LGBT status when it comes to how women feel about career advancement opportunities, how they network, and how they feel they are perceived at work. We will explore this topic more in our Multicultural women at work series scheduled to be released later this year.
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Voice of Experience: Julie Harris, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Voices of ExperienceJulie Harris, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, had a master plan when she entered college – or so she thought. “I come from a blue collar family,” said Harris, “and while my parents have always been incredibly supportive, they did not have a lot of advice on career choices, so I picked a major that seemed challenging and figured I would get a good job. That was my mental model.”
Harris decided that she was going to major in Computer Science and get a job programming. This trajectory probably would have served Harris very well had she not determined in her senior year of college that while she was very interested in applying technology to business problems, she did not love programming.
It was at this juncture that Harris first tapped into a bit of profound professional wisdom. Harris said, “It was the first time I made the distinction between knowing what you can do and are good at, versus knowing what you love doing.” She adds, “This is something I have thought a lot about throughout my career when making choices. When you follow passions instead of just capabilities, it can be the difference between good and great.”
Although Harris had just spent four years preparing to graduate with a Computer Science major and enter the workforce as a top notch programmer, she was unwilling to settle. So, instead of heading to a traditional programming job, Harris decided to apply her technology background in a burgeoning industry at the time known as consulting.
“All the big accounting firms started building consulting arms because clients wanted total solutions.” Harris continued, “I started working at what was then known as Arthur Andersen, which became Andersen Consulting, and is now Accenture, in the Management Information Consulting division.” Out of the nine years Harris spent there, she only focused on programming for two of those years, ultimately moving to business analysis roles which focused more on application of technology to business problems .
Even though this experience formed the foundation for Harris’ professional career, she gleaned much more from her time as a consultant. Harris explained, “The great thing about a firm like that is that it taught someone who didn’t have professional experience how to be structured and disciplined, essentially how to be a professional.”
If Harris was going to continue to be a key player in the corporate arena she knew she had to familiarize herself with the business landscape in order to successfully navigate it. Although her knowledge of business, particularly in the financial services sector, was limited, Harris was not deterred. Instead, this motivated her to enroll in the MBA program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.
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Relationships are Everything in Businesses
Expert AnswersRelationships matter. If someone trusts us, respects us, has confidence in us and wants to work with us, that can go a very long way to ensure our success. And we must realize that we must earn and continue to earn that trusting relationship, every day.
My experience as an executive in the corporate world and now leadership consultant and coach to CEOs and senior executives in businesses and nonprofit institutions, is that too few in senior management realize that relationships with those who choose to do business with us, our external clients, are vitally important, of course – and so are our relationships with the people within our organization.
Our relationships with our people are every bit as important! They both are top priorities! As the renowned management professor and expert Tom Peters said some time back, “Take good care of your people and they will take good care of your clients.”
The business world is so demanding today. When I was growing up, my father got to his office 8:30 and left at 5:30 and did not bring home hours of work each night and each weekend, as most of us do today. We work in a super competitive environment with pressure on fees charged and profit margins. In the past, companies dictated to clients what their fees would be. Those days are long gone.
And today we have to do more with fewer people.
As managers, hopefully as leaders, we have to drive for results. Absolutely. That is certainly true if we are with a publicly owned company and have to meet 90-day financial targets. And if we’re with a privately owned company, the pressure is still there. Certainly, there are the needs to focus on numbers and also our relationships with our clients, or we risk losing them.
What some senior managers fail to realize is that we must also focus on our internal relationships – and not just with our chief executive, operating, financial, technology, marketing, talent management, human resource and other chief officers.
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Thought Leaders: Chris Crespo, Inclusiveness Director, Ernst & Young LLP
Thought LeadersWhen Chris Crespo was applying for her first job out of college, professional services firms hadn’t yet taken many steps to address diversity challenges. “When I started in the industry, we didn’t talk about diversity and inclusion. They made an effort to have a woman interviewer, if you were a woman. And that was it,” she recalled.
“Now we see diversity and inclusion as part of what we do to brand ourselves as leaders in the industry in terms of meeting client needs, learning new things, and doing everything we can to be as strong as we can in this area,” she explained.
Crespo has had a lot to do with that change. In addition to working as Inclusiveness Director at Ernst & Young LLP, she was the catalyst behind the firm’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) professional network, Beyond.
“The biggest way I’ve changed over the course of my career is listening more and figuring out what it is that I don’t know. It used to be very easy for me to argue with people,” she reflected. “It’s been an important lesson for me along the way that sometimes what seems so obvious to me is not obvious to other people. I needed to learn to ask more questions and find out the reasons behind why people were seeing something differently from me.”
She continued, “There were times on the LGBT side where it was easy for me to get angry – for example, ‘why don’t we have partner benefits?’ And more often than not it was a lack of other people’s understanding. It became evident to me that there are some things other people had never thought of. The Beyond network is a good example of that. We had a women’s network, a few ethnic minority networks, and I said, ‘Why don’t we have an LGBT network?’”
“And the next thing I know, I’m leading one,” she said with a laugh. “That’s the other thing – when you ask questions, be prepared to follow up on them.”
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Movers and Shakers: Lanaya Irvin, Vice President, Global Banking and Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Movers and ShakersLanaya Irvin, Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, believes the financial services industry can only serve to benefit by moving toward greater diversity and inclusion.
“The glass ceiling is still very much a real thing. The industry continues to be male dominated at senior leadership levels. Sexism exists in some places just as racism exists.” But, she continued, the industry is evolving, and old stereotypes are giving way to more inclusive cultures. Industry leaders are working to change those perceptions, transform culture, and some of the legacy that may create hurdles for women and other groups. Our firm has been proactive in driving a culture of inclusivity.”
She believes this evolution is is, in part, a response to the challenges that the financial services industry has faced in recent years. After all, diversity provides the unique viewpoints and solutions that companies need today to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive marketplace. “At a high level, what’s particularly interesting to me is the positive shift the industry has been able to make. The domestic and global economic environment has required adjustment. Our strategy has been to refocus on our clients, and maintain that laser focus on the ways we can deliver value to them. Companies need diverse, talented professionals to do that.”
Irvin is leader of the Bank’s LGBT Pride Employee Network for Metro New York and the first female co-chair of Interbank Roundtable Committee, a consortium of 29 banks and financial services firms working together to share best practices around LGBT diversity and inclusion.
She believes that, as a group that represents multiple facets of diversity, LGBT women may face additional challenges when it comes to advancement, but she encouraged LGBT women to own their identities and stay true to themselves. “There is the complexity of having multiple minority identities. I think lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women in the workplace face many of the same challenges as heterosexual women, but silence around that identity can be more difficult.”
“For LGBT women, I would say, make your presence known,” she advised. “Our firm has made it clear that those perceived barriers should not exist and need to be disrupted. These barriers are not insurmountable.”
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