By Melanie H. Axman (Boston)
Harvard Business School kicked off its 20th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference last Saturday, celebrating esteemed, accomplished, and professional women from various walks of life. Created in 1992 to highlight issues women face in the workplace, the Conference continues to draw emerging and distinguished female business leaders into a “conversation about how to proceed, succeed, and survive as women in business.” The panelists and speakers hailed from a variety of backgrounds and career trajectories, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges and even failures. In turn, they received a reception of energetic engagement, curious respect and supportive appreciation from their diverse audience (comprised of undergradudate and graduate students, young and experienced professionals, community leaders, and Harvard faculty.)
The morning began with a Keynote address by Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of GE. The focus of her discussion was on risks, consistent innovation, and the bravery to recognize failure as a critical and integral part of the learning curve and growth process. Throughout her career, including two years as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, she kept coming back to the notion of risk and risks worth taking. She said, “To live is to risk. Not to take a risk is to be stagnant. To stand still.”
“You have to stand for something. You have to stand very tall. Sometimes risks are risks that aren’t of your choosing,” she said. She challenged the captivated audience to allow themselves to fail fast, and fail in small enough ways that lessons were learned quickly and innovative solutions were the outcome.
Cross Gender Networking with the FWA – Business Strategy
NetworkingLast week the Financial Women’s Association of New York held the inaugural event for its new Men’s Alliance – an initiative designed to promote cross-gender networking. The sold-out scotch and chocolate tasting event, “Single Malt Chocolate” took place at Debevoise & Plimpton LLC and included over 200 attendees and tasting advice from Vosges Chocolate and The Macallan.
What was made clear throughout the evening was that the purpose of the event was not simply about opening lines of communication between genders. The event was designed to promote client networking – using the cross-gender networking platform to enable members of the FWA to be more successful at their jobs.
FWA President Susan Ganz said, “How do we engage men in this dialogue? It’s about men and women being in business together.”
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Asahi Pompey, Managing Director, Compliance, Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs
Voices of Experience“Know yourself – know your strengths and weaknesses,” she advised. “Do a realistic appraisal of yourself – almost a gap analysis. Where could you develop greater expertise? What is your comfort zone?”
Beginning a career in law, and them moving into corporate counsel roles, and then compliance, Pompey is enthusiastic about striving for excellence in all she does. She advocated passionately about the importance of understanding the business objectives and the objectives of those around you. She said, “Understanding who you are in an unadulterated way is really going to help in your career.”
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Women in Management on the Rise in the Finance Industry
Managing ChangeIn November of last year, Women at the Top (WATT), a community of women at or aspiring to the C-suite, conducted a survey which found that of 523 executive positions within the top 50 commercial banks, 17.4 percent were filled by women. This is nearly a five percent increase from 2004, when women held 12.6 percent of management positions at the 50 largest U.S. commercial banks.
As is usually the case for women in the financial services, the bad must be taken with the good. The survey also found that more senior-level women are in the pipeline, but very few actually hold c-level positions at top commercial banks. WATT’s survey did not reveal the names of the financial institutions surveyed, but the study revealed that of the 50 largest commercial banks, there are no female chief executives and only three female chief operating officers, two female chief information officers, four female chief financial officers, and one female chief administrative officer.
WATT’s findings were delivered on the heels of another telling report released late last year by FINS, which revealed that women are disappearing from the finance industry, with 2.6 percent of female finance workers leaving or getting laid off over the past 10 years. Given these findings and the financial crisis, Regina Barr, founder of WATT, was surprised by the increase of women in top positions. Barr also reports that “more women are taking jobs with profit-and-loss responsibility and fewer are in traditional ‘female’ roles like customer service, HR, and marketing.”
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Time to Toot Your Own Horn: Gaining Visibility and Advancing Your Career
Office PoliticsHow do you promote yourself? Many women may feel uncomfortable speaking about their accomplishments and don’t take advantage of simple procedures that can help advance their careers. But it’s something that can be critical to your career development. This week, The Glass Hammer talked to an array of experts to understand why women might need to improve their self-promotion skills, how to be better at it and what it takes to gain visibility in the workplace.
Walking the Fine Line
Lauren Rikleen, Executive-in-Residence at the Center for Work and Family at Boston College believes women walk a fine line.
“Women walk a fine line between being told that they need to promote themselves better,” said Rikleen. “On the other hand, women are sometimes seen in a negative light for promoting themselves too much.”
Rikleen believes that we should all reframe how we view self-promotion and look at it as something positive.
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Taking Risks and Making Challenges: Advice from Dynamic Women in Business
NewsHarvard Business School kicked off its 20th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference last Saturday, celebrating esteemed, accomplished, and professional women from various walks of life. Created in 1992 to highlight issues women face in the workplace, the Conference continues to draw emerging and distinguished female business leaders into a “conversation about how to proceed, succeed, and survive as women in business.” The panelists and speakers hailed from a variety of backgrounds and career trajectories, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges and even failures. In turn, they received a reception of energetic engagement, curious respect and supportive appreciation from their diverse audience (comprised of undergradudate and graduate students, young and experienced professionals, community leaders, and Harvard faculty.)
The morning began with a Keynote address by Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of GE. The focus of her discussion was on risks, consistent innovation, and the bravery to recognize failure as a critical and integral part of the learning curve and growth process. Throughout her career, including two years as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, she kept coming back to the notion of risk and risks worth taking. She said, “To live is to risk. Not to take a risk is to be stagnant. To stand still.”
“You have to stand for something. You have to stand very tall. Sometimes risks are risks that aren’t of your choosing,” she said. She challenged the captivated audience to allow themselves to fail fast, and fail in small enough ways that lessons were learned quickly and innovative solutions were the outcome.
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Voice of Experience: Kathy Nieland, U.S. Sustainability and Climate Change Leader, Managing Partner, New Orleans Office, PwC
Voices of ExperienceKathy Nieland, PwC‘s U.S. Sustainability and Climate Change Leader and Managing Partner of the firm’s New Orleans Office, has had a lot of experience seizing opportunity. Throughout her career, when the unexpected has occurred, she hasn’t shied away.
From having leadership thrust upon her at a young age, to leading the rebuilding of PwC’s New Orleans practice after Hurricane Katrina, she’s been up to the challenge. “Often, the perception of what you are capable of is a bigger barrier than the challenge itself,” she said. “A lack of confidence can keep people from being successful.”
She continued, “Don’t limit yourself. Seek higher positions in the company. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be shooting for the stars.”
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Movers and Shakers: Antoinette Hamilton, Director, Diversity and Inclusion, L’Oréal USA
Movers and ShakersImage Courtesy The Network Journal
The best advice Antoinette Hamilton ever received came from a Mary Timmons, a former mentor. “I was nineteen years old, and she told me ‘Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.’ It set the tone for my career.”
Now Director of Diversity and Inclusion at L’Oréal USA, Hamilton’s own advice for young people entering the workplace is just as encouraging: “Be curious and be great,” she said.
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Replenishing Resilience: Tips for Bouncing Back
Expert AnswersHow is it that some people encounter significant failures and setbacks, and yet keep showing up and producing? There are those who collapse from the stress and those who navigate through rapid change with style and grace. What is their secret and where does it come from?
Social researchers call it resilience, a quality that is ever more important in our current work climate of constant change and shifting demands, and a key skill of effective leaders. Losses can be a valuable learning opportunity – ask anyone who’s played team sports – and studies have indicated that leaders who are able to learn from failure and move on are able to build more effective companies and organizations.
The word resilience comes from the Latin verb “salire” which means to jump. When you add the “re” it connotes back, so the word resilience means jumping back, or rebounding. It has an almost tensile physical feel, a kind of active energy.
Resilience is about jumping into the game – being flexible and involved even in stressful times. Resilient people have a bounce that keeps bringing them back even when they have been pushed down.
The great news about resilient energy is that it is not a trait or the product of your genetics. It can be cultivated and deepened. With some attention and intention, you can become more resilient and create reserves to draw upon when needed.
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Voice of Experience: Tarazeta Huntley, Managing Director, Audit & Risk Review, Citi
Voices of ExperienceBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Tarazeta (TJ) Huntley, Managing Director of Audit & Risk Review at Citi had three pieces of advice for professional women – all equally inspiring.
On Believing You Belong:
“Regardless of the level of people you’re dealing with [at the table], at the end of the day, everyone has a vested interest in making the company successful and your voice counts. Never feel intimidated when engaging with more senior individuals. Believe that you’re there to contribute, and you will be successful.”
On Knowing Yourself:
“Early in my career, someone told me never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Acknowledge who you are and your background. Regardless if those around you have a different background or perspective, don’t lose sight of who you are as an individual or your values.”
On Values:
“Stay true to your values. Never compromise them. As you grow in your career, management and influential people will appreciate that.”
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5 Quick Tips to Build Better Work Relationships
Ask A Career CoachIs there someone at work you don’t get along with and yet need to influence? And, yes, you tend to avoid them because you just don’t see eye to eye? It could be a peer, a boss, a direct report. Here’s the best advice I have seen recently on a TED talk by Elisabeth Lesser, co-founder of the Omega Institute.
Her advice is simple, “Take The Other To Lunch”. Here are 5 Tips to start to turn the corner on the difficult relationship.
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