“I learned the importance of sponsorship along the way,” said Lisa Davis, Director and Global Product Manager at Citi Global Transaction Services. “And I didn’t realize what a sponsor was until I didn’t have one.”
She recalled a year when she didn’t get a promotion she was expecting. “I had the whole package – on paper – but when I asked why I wasn’t promoted, my manager said, ‘well, nobody knows you.’”
Davis was speaking at The Glass Hammer’s recent event for lesbian professionals on “being out at work.” Moderated by Jill Schlesinger, Editor-at-Large of CBSMoneyWatch.com, the panelists included Jennifer Barbetta, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Alternative Investments & Manager Selection, Goldman Sachs; Lisa Davis, Director and Global Product Manager, Citi Global Transaction Services; Lee A. Merkle-Raymond, Strategic Solutions Executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Marion Regnier, Senior Associate, PwC. They discussed issues like coming out at work, the importance of sponsors and networking, and the value of top-level support for LGBT issues.
Davis, who is co-chair of Citi’s Metro NYC Pride network, said she spent the following year making sure everyone knew who she was.
Sponsorship and Networking
“A sponsor is someone who says, ‘I’m going to vouch for this person,’” Davis explained.
Merkle-Raymond continued, “As a sponsor, you have to put yourself on the line and it comes back to your own credibility.” If the person you vouched for fails, she explained, that makes you look bad too. So, she continued, if you’re seeking a sponsor, make sure you have the skills to follow through on your responsibilities. “It means building up your own credibility so that people want to sponsor you.”
Regnier said she has met sponsors by strengthening relationships with people she has worked with internally and externally. “I’ve found sponsors in different ways – by leveraging the networking relationships that I have outside the firm, and in the firm, leveraging relationships I have with the people I’ve worked with.”
“I’ve never sought out LGBT sponsors specifically,” interjected Barbetta. “But LGBT networking can only be additive to your career development. And as you get more senior, the network of relationships you build becomes increasingly important. Having those relationships enables me to draw upon the expertise of other people in the firm – to know who to call when a new challenge or opportunity arises.”
Merkle-Raymond agreed. “BAML has a significant number of networks. And, for me, they have been critical if I end up with a problem and need to know how to solve it.”
Davis added, “Affinity networks are absolutely important and key for the business. Especially in the financial services industry.”
Coming Out
Schlesinger asked the panelists to discuss how they came out at work. Regnier began, “For me, it was a decision. At my previous firm, I was in the closet for two years, and I kind of felt like I was lying, or just avoiding the truth. When I joined PwC, they had a great event on National Coming Out Day and I was like, ‘Wow – all of these senior people are out. What am I afraid of?’”
She continued, “Counting people who knew and didn’t know and keeping a list takes a lot of energy.”
Barbetta agreed. “Work is stressful enough. To expend any energy or effort on hiding who you are – at some point for me, it just wasn’t worth it.” She said she gradually came out to colleagues. “When I first joined the firm, I never lied about who I was, but I just sort of withheld information about my personal life. It was a process that took time. I think for me it was about becoming more comfortable with myself, becoming more confident and mature.”
Davis said she never had an actual “coming out” event either. “When we had events, I just thought it would be okay if I showed up with my partner. I never had the notion that I needed to be strategic about it. If people found out, they found out.”
Merkle-Raymond said she had been out since starting her career. She was initially warned against it, but, in fact, being out actually provided her a boost. “I came to orientation with a pink triangle pin on my lapel, and my senior manager said, ‘You’re never going to get promoted if you tell people you’re out.’ And I said, ‘What about the five other guys who are out in our group?’”
She decided to come out at work anyway. And in fact, she continued, working on a task force to secure partner benefits at the bank in the ‘90s enabled her to meet senior executives she never would have had access to. “I was even asked to drive our CEO to the airport as a junior person,” she recalled, explaining how she discussed LGBT issues with him in the car.
Working in a Supportive Culture
“Support in the financial services for LGBT is astounding – we have come so far,” said Schlesinger. “A long way since having my bra snapped on the floor of the Commodities Exchange of New York [COMEX],” added the former trader with a laugh.
For an example of meaningful support, Barbetta pointed to the new HRC television ad featuring Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein declaring his support for marriage equality. “It’s fantastic that he’s doing that and putting himself out there on a personal level.”
Barbetta also mentioned the importance of straight allies for building a culture of inclusion. “The Ally Program has had a huge impact. We started inviting straight allies to join the network, and now there are gay members and straight members and you don’t know who’s LGBT or who’s an Ally, which is the entire goal of this – that it shouldn’t matter – no one cares who’s straight or who’s gay.”
She added, “From the diversity office, Lloyd himself, and various other senior members at the Firm, the support has been amazing.”
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Young Women Speak Up on Changing the World
Intrepid Women SeriesDespite the World Economic Forum’s controversial “quota” system of inviting one woman for every four men to its annual meeting at Davos, the ratio of women in attendance remained small this year. Only 17% of those in attendance last month were female, and, only 20% of those invited to speak on panels were women.
But according to The Guardian’s Jane Martinson, the WEF is standing by its quota system, and hopes that time will bring more women to the table. The organization believes that by engaging more women in top-level decision-making, the economic situation around the world will improve. She wrote, “This idea plays into one theme of this year’s Davos: that as the current economic and political crisis was made by men, the inclusion of more women can only help matters.”
She also quoted Cherie Blair, who had a more pointed take on the situation. “If the world doesn’t start giving a proper platform for women, then it will fall flat on its face.”
While Davos struggled to increase its percentage of establishment women, a group of dynamic young women presented big ideas to leading under-30 change agents at last month’s Sandbox Global Summit in Lisbon, Portugal (where 31% of conference participants were women).
Waiting for change at the top is no longer an option, remarked Kelly Calvin, winner of one of six Bloomberg Businssweek fellowships to the Lisbon conference. She believes it is critical for leaders to pay attention to young women when it comes to our global future, and, she said, many global leaders have not yet realized why.
She added, “They need to pay attention to us now because our voices are the voices of the very near future.”
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Being Out at Work: Challenges and Benefits
Managing Identities, NewsShe recalled a year when she didn’t get a promotion she was expecting. “I had the whole package – on paper – but when I asked why I wasn’t promoted, my manager said, ‘well, nobody knows you.’”
Davis was speaking at The Glass Hammer’s recent event for lesbian professionals on “being out at work.” Moderated by Jill Schlesinger, Editor-at-Large of CBSMoneyWatch.com, the panelists included Jennifer Barbetta, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Alternative Investments & Manager Selection, Goldman Sachs; Lisa Davis, Director and Global Product Manager, Citi Global Transaction Services; Lee A. Merkle-Raymond, Strategic Solutions Executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Marion Regnier, Senior Associate, PwC. They discussed issues like coming out at work, the importance of sponsors and networking, and the value of top-level support for LGBT issues.
Davis, who is co-chair of Citi’s Metro NYC Pride network, said she spent the following year making sure everyone knew who she was.
Sponsorship and Networking
“A sponsor is someone who says, ‘I’m going to vouch for this person,’” Davis explained.
Merkle-Raymond continued, “As a sponsor, you have to put yourself on the line and it comes back to your own credibility.” If the person you vouched for fails, she explained, that makes you look bad too. So, she continued, if you’re seeking a sponsor, make sure you have the skills to follow through on your responsibilities. “It means building up your own credibility so that people want to sponsor you.”
Regnier said she has met sponsors by strengthening relationships with people she has worked with internally and externally. “I’ve found sponsors in different ways – by leveraging the networking relationships that I have outside the firm, and in the firm, leveraging relationships I have with the people I’ve worked with.”
“I’ve never sought out LGBT sponsors specifically,” interjected Barbetta. “But LGBT networking can only be additive to your career development. And as you get more senior, the network of relationships you build becomes increasingly important. Having those relationships enables me to draw upon the expertise of other people in the firm – to know who to call when a new challenge or opportunity arises.”
Merkle-Raymond agreed. “BAML has a significant number of networks. And, for me, they have been critical if I end up with a problem and need to know how to solve it.”
Davis added, “Affinity networks are absolutely important and key for the business. Especially in the financial services industry.”
Coming Out
Schlesinger asked the panelists to discuss how they came out at work. Regnier began, “For me, it was a decision. At my previous firm, I was in the closet for two years, and I kind of felt like I was lying, or just avoiding the truth. When I joined PwC, they had a great event on National Coming Out Day and I was like, ‘Wow – all of these senior people are out. What am I afraid of?’”
She continued, “Counting people who knew and didn’t know and keeping a list takes a lot of energy.”
Barbetta agreed. “Work is stressful enough. To expend any energy or effort on hiding who you are – at some point for me, it just wasn’t worth it.” She said she gradually came out to colleagues. “When I first joined the firm, I never lied about who I was, but I just sort of withheld information about my personal life. It was a process that took time. I think for me it was about becoming more comfortable with myself, becoming more confident and mature.”
Davis said she never had an actual “coming out” event either. “When we had events, I just thought it would be okay if I showed up with my partner. I never had the notion that I needed to be strategic about it. If people found out, they found out.”
Merkle-Raymond said she had been out since starting her career. She was initially warned against it, but, in fact, being out actually provided her a boost. “I came to orientation with a pink triangle pin on my lapel, and my senior manager said, ‘You’re never going to get promoted if you tell people you’re out.’ And I said, ‘What about the five other guys who are out in our group?’”
She decided to come out at work anyway. And in fact, she continued, working on a task force to secure partner benefits at the bank in the ‘90s enabled her to meet senior executives she never would have had access to. “I was even asked to drive our CEO to the airport as a junior person,” she recalled, explaining how she discussed LGBT issues with him in the car.
Working in a Supportive Culture
“Support in the financial services for LGBT is astounding – we have come so far,” said Schlesinger. “A long way since having my bra snapped on the floor of the Commodities Exchange of New York [COMEX],” added the former trader with a laugh.
For an example of meaningful support, Barbetta pointed to the new HRC television ad featuring Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein declaring his support for marriage equality. “It’s fantastic that he’s doing that and putting himself out there on a personal level.”
Barbetta also mentioned the importance of straight allies for building a culture of inclusion. “The Ally Program has had a huge impact. We started inviting straight allies to join the network, and now there are gay members and straight members and you don’t know who’s LGBT or who’s an Ally, which is the entire goal of this – that it shouldn’t matter – no one cares who’s straight or who’s gay.”
She added, “From the diversity office, Lloyd himself, and various other senior members at the Firm, the support has been amazing.”
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Movers and Shakers: Anika Khan, Vice President, Economist, Wells Fargo
Movers and ShakersAnika Khan, Vice President and Economist at Wells Fargo, said one key to advancing your career is cultivating a broad knowledge base – but also developing an expertise in a field you are passionate about.
She explained, “If I was to think of one thing I wish I knew when I was starting out it would be to be an expert in something, but know a little bit about everything.”
“When you begin your career, you’re trying to get a sense of everything. But when I became a subject matter expert my career really gained upward momentum.”
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Illuminating the Value in Gender Differences
Managing ChangeIn many companies, efforts to convince management to dedicate resources toward the advancement and retention of women continue to fall on deaf ears. Decades of effort have gone into conveying the point that women are just as valuable as men – yet a misunderstanding of “value” often causes people to miss the point of gender diversity.
To many people, “equal value” means “sameness.” They think, if men and women are the same, then why should we expend so much effort increasing our numbers of women when they will contribute in the same way as men?
Of course men and women are of equal value, but whether by social conditioning or biological construction, they aren’t the same. Studies show that, in general, women think through problems differently than men, are motivated differently than men, and build relationships differently than men.
Efforts toward gender diversity don’t mean the “feminization” of the corporate space as one recent Forbes contributor so distressingly put it. Gender diversity means that companies have the benefit of a multitude of viewpoints and ways of solving problems and a wealth of critical insight to draw from as they approach 21st century complexity in a diverse, global marketplace.
But this is the problem that diversity advocates face – a misunderstanding of the value of diversity that leads many to believe that diversity is nothing more than a numbers game designed to annoy people with more important work to do. And this is why Barbara Annis says she developed the concept of Gender Intelligence two decades ago.
“I was really looking at the concept of gender equality, and how to advance and retain women – but that mindset is really a numbers game. I didn’t approach how men change their mindset for equality.”
She continued, “Especially in finance and technology, companies were saying ‘we’ve got one woman or we’ve got five women,’ but they weren’t saying ‘we need their perspective.’”
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Emotion Analytics: The Missing Ingredient in Personal and Professional Risk Management
Expert AnswersWe have all heard it a thousand times: “take the emotion out of it.” We have heard it from our bosses, our friends, and certainly from our financial advisors.
Yet as far as investments go, analysts now give “conviction” ratings along with their buy and sell ratings. What’s with that? If conviction doesn’t imply an emotion – surety or confidence – what does it imply? Think about it: is confidence a feeling or a thought? It is a feeling, right? It may be based on thought, but when it emerges, it is a feeling – something we experience physically, like all feelings.
The fact of the decision-making matter is that no one, no matter what he or she claims, can make any sort of decision without emotion. There is no disputing the research on this matter. A top game theorist and neuroeconomist said, “it is not enough to know what should be done, one must also feel it.”
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Shifting From Peer to Boss: Five Things You Need To Know
Office PoliticsIn a recent Harvard Business Review article, author and managing partner of Schaffer Consulting Ron Ashkenas delves into an important subject: what happens when you get promoted and your relationship with co-workers must change from that of peer to boss?
This is not an unusual scenario. A common refrain is to be good to everyone because you never know who will be your next boss. The issue, Ashkenas points out, is that there’s no guidebook for how to navigate this uncomfortable and incredibly awkward situation.
According to Kim Zilliox, an executive coach with almost 20 years of experience, the bottom line is that once you are promoted, that is your primary responsibility. This does not mean that you can’t remain friends with your reports, but you will need to look at what needs to change when it comes to how you interact with your former peers. How will you ensure you are not making your other reports feel uncomfortable? How will you make sure you remain objective about your previous colleague’s work? There are no easy answers, but excellent communication is critical.
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Voice of Experience: Lisa Sawicki, Partner, Assurance, PwC
Voices of Experience“Be proud of your accomplishments,” advised Lisa Sawicki, an assurance partner in PwC’s Charlotte office, and national diversity leader of the firm’s assurance practice.
“I still think we have a dynamic, even among successful women, to be less forthcoming with their accomplishments. Be confident and willing to talk about them!”
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Why Girls Need Mentors
Mentors and SponsorsAccording to a new study produced by The Girl Scouts of the USA, four out of ten girls say they have had no opportunities to interact with successful women during the last school year. That could be why so many of them (38%) said they weren’t sure if they were cut out to be a leader.
The study, conducted by Roper Research, polled 1,000 girls between the ages of eight and seventeen. Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA believes “ToGetHerThere: Girls’ Insights on Leadership” shows that role models must be made more visible to girls everywhere, so that they see themselves as leaders.
“It is abundantly clear that our girls have a vision of their leadership potential that is incompatible with what we know they can achieve,” she said.
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What To Do When a Colleague is Behaving Badly
Office PoliticsOne day while at work, you receive an anonymous note under your door informing you that one of your firm’s sales managers is rumored to be frequently intoxicated while at work. Not just any sales manager, however, but one who’s known as being a real “rainmaker” and a favorite among senior management.
If that’s not bad enough, he’s also carrying on an affair with a woman in the sales department and is becoming known for yelling and cursing at colleagues while intoxicated. If this sounds like the plot of a very dark comedy, think again. Theresa Jones (not her real name), the head of HR for a regional office of a large international consulting firm, said she had to navigate her way through this very scenario. And according to a recently-released survey, this type of workplace behavior may be more common than you think.
The study revealed that of the 500 London-based mid-mangers surveyed, one in 10 admits to taking illegal drugs at work and work-related social events. It was also discovered that more than 29 percent have witnessed colleagues taking drugs, with class A drugs (those treated by the law as the most dangerous) being the most widely-used. For London-based professionals, the most popular drug seems to be cocaine, with 40 percent of workplace drug users admitting to using the stimulant at work.
While addiction may be the cause of this bad behavior, other factors also come into play. Apparently, peer pressure is prevalent outside of high school, as this reason was cited as the most common for taking illicit substances at work. Nearly 21 percent surveyed said they partook “because everybody else is taking them.” Perhaps more shocking, one in five said they participated in illicit behavior because their boss did and they thought participating would make them more apt for a promotion.
Participating in this type of bad behavior could suggest bigger problems, like alcoholism or drug addiction (five percent surveyed blamed addiction) for your colleague. But what are you supposed to do if you suspect a colleague is using at work or engaging in other harmful, illicit behaviors?
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Voice of Experience: Rosalie Mandel, Principal, New Jersey Office, Rothstein Kass
Voices of Experience“As a woman in a challenging industry, making principal is something I’m extremely proud of. But working on a flex schedule while I did it is even more of an achievement for me,” said Rosalie Mandel, Principal of the alternative investments accounting firm Rothstein Kass‘s New Jersey office. Mandel is an exuberant supporter of women in accounting, she believes that firms can be more successful when they fully support the work/life needs of their employees. That means supporting talented women with flexible schedules that make sense for their individual lives.
She said, “I really don’t believe in work/life balance – I believe in integration. How do you define success? That’s your balance.”
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