by Anna Robinson, CEO and co-founder of Ceresa
Walking into a Fortune 500 boardroom today, you’re more likely to find a CEO named John than a female CEO.
In fact, only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 20% of board members are women, which has been the case for multiple generations, as reported by BCG.
Breaking the cycle – the continuing need for female mentors
As most people know, the number of women in the workforce has grown over the last century. However, the number of women in senior management roles has plateaued. According to the Women Ahead report, Women make up nearly half of the global workforce (49%), yet one-third of organizations don’t have any women in senior management roles. Why the disparity? A study by Bain & Co found that when women enter the workforce nearly 50% of them aspire to move to senior leadership, but within just five years this number drops to just 16%. This typically corresponds with the time when many women receive their first major promotion but before they are typically starting a family. The promotion to manager is where men have a higher promotion rate than women. McKinsey & Co’s Women in the Workplace report shows that , only 79 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men. Largely because of these gender gaps, men end up holding 62 percent of manager positions, while women hold only 38 percent. This is also the time when support for women in the workplace drops off – as found by both Bain and McKinsey’s studies. These are all critical junctures where mentorship can be most effective in helping women to set their aspirations, navigate these changes and excel in both their personal and professional lives.
Ceresa’s research of the first cohort of 50 mentees shows that the top five reasons women seek mentoring encompass questions of work-life balance and finding meaning, alongside professional development and tactical career planning. This is why the need for effective mentorship for women is greater than ever. Programs that offer support in only one of these crucial areas leave women drastically under-resourced. Companies offer programs geared toward traditional skill development. Yet, as pointed out in HBR, traditional mentoring for women typically ends up focused on operating style and psycho-social issues.
So, how do we fix the broken model?
The good news here is that there is an answer that can help both women and their companies. Mentoring, when done well, has a significant impact on companies and the women participating. One of the most comprehensive studies of mentoring impact found that formal mentoring programs can drive an increase in retention by 40-50% for mentees and mentors. Yet, we very rarely come across internal mentoring programs that have been set up to achieve meaningful, long-term impact.
63% of women have never had access to any formal mentoring, according to a 2012 DDI survey, and especially lack access to senior mentors. While some people argue that mentoring should be organic, in reality, these stats prove this is not working for women. With fewer women in leadership roles, women are missing mentorship that can help with gender-specific issues, and research even shows male mentors can be intimidating rather than helpful in empowering their female colleagues and mentees, as reported by the Huffington Post. This broken model also holds the belief that any senior leader can be a mentor – which is definitely not the case.
The new mentoring model needs to provide mentors training on the skills and attributes needed for successful, high-impact mentoring. And the skills required for quality mentoring are not necessarily synonymous with the qualities needed to be an effective leader. Deep listening, asking powerful questions and focusing on sharing experiences rather than giving advice are all critical to high impact mentorship but are not always required of senior leaders in the workplace. Formal mentoring programs need to coach mentors on these mindsets and skills.
Traditional models also lack structure and accountability. If both parties fail to have mutual and clear expectations, the relationship often fizzles out because one or both parties become discouraged or uninterested. The new model solves for this by encouraging each party to dedicate time and effort in fostering the mentorship relationship – with a clear cadence and schedule upfront. Critically, mentees need to be prepared and intentional about their goals – including submitting a specific agenda ahead of time to their mentor.
We’ve also seen that in status-quo mentoring models, the feedback women receive focuses on psycho-social issues or is based around their work style rather than true career development and professional success, as referred to in the HBR article. The new model must incorporate hard career development and goals while incorporating broader health, wellness and personal issues. This also requires mentees to be prepared before they begin working with a mentor so they can identify the areas in their lives where they need the most help, and define their vision and specific goals.
Finally, to ensure a deep impact from mentorship, the engagement, participation, and impact of the program should be tracked. Collecting feedback and outlining the impact for the company and the individual is critical. This might include tracking satisfaction and sense of empowerment from the program, as well as measuring promotion and pay grade changes. Companies can also track improvements in brand loyalty and retention, using measures such as Net Promoter Score.
The future is female (mentorship)
While working to solve the gender leadership gap through mentorship, we are doing more than just addressing inequality for inequality’s sake. We are also opening the doors to leverage all women to improve business and societal outcomes. As seen, mentoring can improve retention by 40-50% for mentors and mentees. Furthermore, Women Ahead found that 75% of executives claim mentoring was critical to their success. Now is the time to accelerate the rate at which women achieve and thrive in leadership positions, and better mentorship is one tactical step to reaching this goal. But companies need to do more than offer lip-service to mentoring. They need to take the effort to structure the program, help mentees be prepared and intentional, offer specific coaching and support to mentors, provide more sophisticated methodologies in matching mentees and mentors – and then measure impact. If you can’t measure it, it cannot be improved upon – and will rarely be sustained as a business imperative.
About the Author
Anna Robinson is CEO and Founder of Ceresa, a tech-enabled and research based mentorship platform for aspiring women leaders. Anna launched Ceresa in 2018, with the mission of closing the global leadership gap for women. Anna dedicates her time to shaping the company’s vision and strategy, driving consistent high-quality programming, building a world-class team and culture, and shaping a sustainable social impact business model. Prior to launching Ceresa, Anna was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she led strategy and transformation work for US and global health systems, as well as leading several women’s initiatives. Anna was also COO at an early-stage tech company. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MPhil, and BA from the University of Oxford in England. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three daughters.
The opinions and views expressed by guest contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of theglasshammer.com
Voice of Experience: Constance A. Fratianni, Special Counsel, Katten
Voices of ExperienceBut one thing that has not changed is the need for women to do more to mentor the women who are coming up. “We can’t forget where we came from; there are still too many women who are of the view that ‘no one helped me so I’m not going to help them,’ but that is the wrong attitude for all of us.”
As a member of Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF), Fratianni herself tries to inspire young women attorneys. She believes that part of what has made her career so fulfilling is the bond she has developed with others in her firm, whether they worked together on the same deal or if they practiced in an area of law other than commercial finance. “That’s one of the great things about WLF; the opportunity to socialize with women outside of your own practice area. I encourage young women to take part in it.”
Juggling Responsibilities and Achieving Success
After graduating from University of Michigan School of Law, Fratianni had planned to work at a law firm in its real estate group for a couple years and then figured she would move on to a real estate company. But life didn’t quite go according to plan. She joined a law firm and found that she was doing interesting work with people whom she enjoyed. She was given the opportunity to use her broad legal knowledge to handle various transactions from bankruptcy and restructurings, to investment grade credit agreements to film financings among other interesting pursuits.
Along the way Fratianni had four children and subsequently became one of the first part-time partners at a previous firm, which is an achievement she is particularly proud of.
“I learned that it was about managing expectations; you can control the hours to a degree, but the only way you will develop your practice is by being there to serve. In that way, practicing law prepared me for motherhood, and motherhood helped me practice law better,” Fratianni says.
“The combination was both professionally and personally fulfilling. One of the things I find most gratifying was a former colleague who came up to me at an event and mentioned what an impact I had on her career many years ago. There’s nothing like seeing people I’ve mentored succeed.” Fratianni pivoted to various roles, including the global compliance attorney of a law firm, before deciding to join Katten in 2018 in its New York office.
Forging Your Own Path
Fratianni notes that success can be defined in many ways, and everyone needs to determine what that means for him or herself. “If you define success as making partner after eight years, well then, by that definition, I am a failure. In part because of my four maternity leaves, it took me longer to make partner but I eventually made it. I have four amazing kids and work I am proud of and have fun doing. To me, that is the definition of success.”
Even so, she adds that law school teaches the fundamentals but real world experience is invaluable. “It’s a harder road than it looks, and there’s always so much to learn,” she says.
Success comes from remaining true to yourself and not being afraid to speak up if your instincts tell you something is right or wrong, she says.
A Philanthropic Heart
In addition to her professional success, Fratianni finds fulfillment with philanthropic endeavors. In fact, one of her proudest achievements was working on a pro bono project to incorporate Operation Dreamseed as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization with a mission to provide school supplies to children in Afghanistan. Operation Dreamseed, founded by an Army captain, also rebuilt a school there in partnership with another philanthropic organization.
That heart for others extends to her children — two sons and two daughters who are in various life stages. Her oldest son is in his second year of a medical residency; a daughter is a special effects editor; her youngest son is a management consultant; and her youngest daughter is pursuing a nursing degree.
Deeply involved in her children’s education and activities, Fratianni helped organize hands on activities at her firm’s “take your child to work day.” She also created the role of “Working Parent Liaison” in her local PTA. In that role, she encouraged more parent friendly events at the school that were convenient for all parents working outside the home. As a Girl Scout leader, she was instrumental in starting “Operation Cookie” in her local Girl Scout council, which annually ships tens of thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies to service men and women overseas. “I was lucky to have healthy, self-starting kids and a supportive staff and family,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help and realize that both personal and professional fulfillment is possible.”
From Atoms to Assets: My Career in Financial Services
Op-EdBy Janet Walker, Director, Asset Management, Abbot Downing
Atoms are the smallest units of matter; they gave rise to cells.
Embryonic stem cells come from an embryo, and are undifferentiated and undefined, but multiply, grow and develop into a variety of cells – and ultimately a living, breathing human. The development and coordination of cells into a functioning organism is not fully understood, but scientists are working to decipher this every day. Understanding what keeps everything in our bodies in top working order and determining the causes of problems, from the physical to the emotional and mental, is a curiosity that has fueled me for as long as I can remember. The study of asset management, from understanding the complexities of capital markets to deciphering investor behavior, is surprisingly similar.
My path to asset management was atypical. As a young girl, I was driven by the desire to solve medical problems, to help people, in spite of my own obstacles. I lived in and out of shelters and in a constant state of fear while I was at home, struggling to cope with a physically abusive, unstable and alcoholic father. After becoming an emancipated minor, I finished high school and ultimately college, singularly focused on the desire to go to medical school. My path was not linear and was certainly full of obstacles, but I thrived and succeeded.
My college experience and path to graduation was not straightforward, nor what you might expect for a typical college student. I attended what was affectionately called a “commuter” school, where many of the students balanced school with full time jobs. I began as an Engineering Major and discovered that not only was the subject matter not what I expected, but that I was completely unprepared to thrive in an environment that was so unwelcoming to women at the time. I considered switching to Business Administration, but ultimately found my way to the School of Life Sciences, with a reputation of producing highly skilled scientists. I majored in Cell and Molecular Biology, minored in Chemistry, and loved every minute of it. From studying in the classroom to enduring the rigors of lab research, I found that my intellectual curiosity and desire to go to medical school were in sync. The challenges from my home life however, continued to follow me into college.
In spite of a laundry list of accomplishments and qualifications, I wondered whether I would be prepared for medical school, and looked to professors and others for guidance. Rather than listening to my own voice and following my passion, I took a detour and entered a PhD program in molecular biology at a renowned medical school, on the advice of my mentor. I found myself studying in a field that required a high degree of technical focus and less interaction with people – and while I enjoyed the technical and intellectual aspects of this path, the mismatch became clear.
Returning to the West Coast, I found myself in need of a job. Throughout college, I worked in a number of fields, including a short stint as an administrative assistant in Wells Fargo Private Bank. At the time, I was told that there would be an opportunity for me if I ever wanted to return, so I took full advantage of it. The position wasn’t ideal, but I worked hard to find a way to make it my own. The world of finance was completely new to me, despite a few business electives I took in college. I was curious, highly ambitious and thought creatively about how to make it my own. Initially, I obtained a number of securities licenses, and ultimately the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, to accustom myself to the industry. At the same time, the healthcare and biotechnology industries were coming into focus within the finance industry, driven by technological advancements and major discoveries. I used my technical knowledge, research skills and curiosity to bridge a divide, learning how discoveries in science were transforming the financial services industry.
During my 20-year career at Wells Fargo I have combined the fields of science and finance, working to understand global stocks, how they fit into an investment portfolio, and how the construction of a portfolio is impacted by exogenous factors such as geopolitics, economic forces and investor attitudes. The desire to understand complex situations, determine the root cause of a problem and educate and guide clients is surprisingly similar to my childhood aspirations. I successfully manage a complex book of assets with the added benefit of being able to work with a complex and dynamic group of incredibly talented people.
The journey has not always been easy or straightforward, but I’ve persevered by being flexible and embracing change. Much to my surprise, the tools that I have picked up along the way have helped me tackle success and challenges in my personal life. Marriage, the birth of two children, the sudden loss of my husband, are events that you can never really prepare for. Much like career uncertainty, I think it’s what you learn from these events that’s key.
Everyone defines success in a different way. From working with atoms to now working with assets, I’ve learned that my pathway to success involves listening to my inner voice, following my passion and moving through the obstacles that try to derail me, with grace and a positive, forward looking attitude. Success and challenges are inevitable, how we navigate through them is the key. I never thought that I would be a widow, raising two beautiful girls on my own. Success or challenges, either personal or professional, don’t define who I am, but instead shape who I’ve become.
4 Ways to Avoid Slipping Off the Glass Cliff
Guest ContributionGuest Contributed by Meredith Wood
The glasshammer has written extensively about the phenomenon of the glass cliff over the years whereby women have been put in turnaround high profile positions that are for lack of a better word, an impossible task or poison chalice.
The best research on the topic is still by Michelle Ryan and Alexander Haslam, of the University of Exeter which shows that there is a quantifiable tendency for women to be hired to elevated positions in times of crisis and uncertainty only to be unfairly penalized when they fail.
The effect of this is to create an unrealistic expectation for women executives, setting them up for failure. When, because they were handed a rather stacked deck, expectations are not fully met, often a company feels justified in going back to a status quo leadership by putting a man back in charge. They can then feel satisfied that though they tried to promote equity, it just didn’t work out this time. A 2013 study demonstrated just how prevalent this is. In over 600 transitions from female executives in Fortune 500 companies, only four women were succeeded by another woman.
The system, to put it bluntly, is rigged. And research demonstrates this happens over and over again in many industries.
Ways to avoid slipping off the cliff
It’s not shocking that women must do more than men to protect their agency in the workplace. Throughout the business world, women have routinely faced difficulty that men do not register. From securing business loans to facing a growing gender pay gap, women in executive level positions have been systematically discriminated against.
However, in many cases there are lessons from those who have come before that will help navigate the cliff. These include pieces of advice that men have routinely taken advantage of where women have traditionally had a hard time embracing them:
– Learning to say “NO”: Before taking any position, find out if the company is facing a difficult situation or transitional period. Just because something is offered doesn’t mean it is a step up. Recently, Uber had difficulty finding a female CEO because it was facing allegations of sexual misconduct and security concerns. The women who turned down the position may have done so because they saw it as a glass cliff waiting to happen.
– Set up expectations beforehand: One of the ways companies get away with Glass Cliff behavior is because expectations for women executives are set at an unrealistic level. By coming up with feasible metrics that symbolize success it will be more difficult for anyone to point to the idea that replacement is necessary.
– Outline a long term solution: Part of the issue with a Glass Cliff is that it usually has to do with relatively immediate results. With a long term plan in place, there is less recourse for those who seek to oust a women executive just because the situation seems dire in the short term.
– Negotiate to handle risk: If the company is in a precarious situation, make sure the position is made to be worth your while. Women are 4 times less likely to negotiate their salary than men. Also be certain to research comparable salary and benefits for a position that fits the situation.
Most importantly, to successfully scale the glass cliff you have to first know of its existence. By learning the lessons of the cliff, it is then possible to understand how to be in the best position to deal with it.
For more tips on how to navigate the glass cliff, check out this infographic from Fundera.
Meredith Wood
Meredith is Editor-in-Chief at Fundera. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and more.
The opinions and views expressed by guest contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of theglasshammer.com
How To Get Promoted
Career Tip of the Week!If getting promoted at work is on your goal list for the rest of the year, or part of early ruminations for a new year resolution for next year, how then can you do your best to achieve your goal?
1. Do you know what the formal promotional process is? Are you in it? What do you need to do criteria wise to get into it? Who drives it in your firm? What roles respectively do your boss(es) and HR play? What other stakeholders are important?
2. What job do you want? Do you want to take the next promotional step as defined by the company? If so, great, take time to understand the competencies needed to make the leap – both hard skills and behaviors. All jobs have tasks that we prefer over other tasks. Be honest with yourself, how strategically important are the tasks that you are avoiding and how will that impact you when being considered for the promotion?
3. If you do not want the linear next step, think about what you like doing, with who and why you enjoy it. This is a great way to distill what would be a good expansion of your role or even a lateral or a non-linear upward move to a different department. Then, work with your sponsor, boss and HR to craft your path.
4. Culturally, take a long hard look at what behaviors get rewarded at your firm. Do they equally get rewarded no matter what gender you are? What flies? What does not get tolerated? What grabs senior management’s attention? This is an important analysis to do as these data points are all keys to seeing what the future could look like so that you can proactively manage your career, every step of the way.
If you would like to work with an executive coach on navigating the terrain, schedule a free exploratory chat with Nicki Gilmour here.
Happy Labor Day and UK Bank Holiday!
NewsWe have over 8000 career advice articles in our archives to read within that, over 3500 profiles of amazing women to inspire you.
We have been in existence for 13 years and have written about advancement strategies, gender equity at work, advice on how to navigate the system and how to think about planning your career path in many ways.
In 2020, we will be unveiling a new look and will be focusing on coaching and leadership development because we truly believe that women (and all people- we coach men, and gender non binary clients too) can walk the talk when individuals can understand themselves and how they operate in the specific cultural environment (country, firm, team, boss dynamics are all norms we live with and influence what we do and how we do it).
Enjoy some time off if you can and enjoy our hard work in all the amazing writing from theglasshammer writers and guest contributors here.
Sincerely,
Nicki Gilmour
CEO
P.S Book an exploratory session (free) with me to see if coaching is for you as we have space for 10 new coaching clients this September.
Kristen Walters, Global Chief Operating Officer of Risk & Quantitative Analysis, BlackRock
Voices of ExperienceStudying accounting gave her an entry into finance with a technical skill that opened the door to a long career. “Today’s technical language is computer science and coding,” says Ms. Walters, advising young women to make sure their technical backgrounds include math and programming skills.
“What was true when I started my career remains applicable now. Women should consider technical fields where there is growth and a long runway.” While she believes it is imperative to study a discipline with broad applicability, Ms. Walters acknowledges that successful careers often include an element of luck, coupled with a strong work ethic and intellectual curiosity. She has also benefited from male and female mentors who have helped guide her career and give her opportunities to learn and grow.
Building a Solid Career in the Field of Risk
These principles have served Ms. Walters well. After graduating with a degree in accounting and economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she started her career as a financial analyst in Supervision and Regulation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
At the time, there was a significant banking crisis in the Northeast, and she was able to spend time “in the foxhole” and learn valuable risk management skills that are difficult to learn in normal market conditions. She spent more than five years at the Fed learning about interest rate, credit and liquidity risk in lending and securities portfolios, while earning her MBA in finance at Babson College. In 1993, she joined KPMG’s financial services consulting practice, where she focused on risk management engagements working for a PhD Economist who was Paul Volker’s right-hand man when he was the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
She eagerly embraced the opportunity to learn derivatives and spent the next several years working with cross-functional teams on risk assessments for large international banks with trading operations in the United States. She notes that in the mid-90s, risk management was not an established sector and she was lucky to find an opportunity to combine her quantitative skills with her ability to communicate and understand financial markets. “I worked closely with financial modelers who typically had advanced degrees in applied math. KPMG’s quants would explain complex models to me, and I would communicate how the models worked with traders, risk managers and boards of directors,” she says. “They needed someone to help translate complex valuation and risk concepts to clients, and even though I am not a mathematician, I am analytical with a grounding in stats and calculus, so I was able to learn how models worked with guidance from colleagues with technical expertise.”
Ms. Walters has been a risk manager ever since, including a challenging period helping to manage firm-wide market risk at Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis. “It was a ‘trial by fire’ time, where everyone had to stay composed under a tremendous amount of pressure,” she says, adding that she led the first Fed stress testing exercise for the market risk team.
Ms. Walters has worked at BlackRock for 10 years focusing on risk management and analytics. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s global risk management function, where her team leverages BlackRock’s Aladdin trading and risk management system. And, she is currently working with software developers and risk managers to enhance risk management capabilities in Aladdin. She has helped provide risk managers with tools to code in Python to build libraries to access data in Aladdin directly, a trend she has observed occurring across the industry. “It is very exciting because data and technology systems used to be prohibitively expensive with a big learning curve. The advent of big data and open source technology, along with increased computing power, has made data and technology cheaper and more accessible.”
Using Resources to Navigate the Business
Ms. Walters noted that over the years her development focus changed—in her 20s and 30s it was easier to advance with the right technical and communication skills, combined with tenacity. But the work environment becomes more complicated once you reach the age of 40 and above, because your influencing skills need to improve markedly when you start to take on leadership positions.
“There is an element of needing to adapt to the team; I am outspoken and candid and that worked earlier in my career, but when you become more senior, particularly in a male-dominated space, you have to remember that what you say is not always as important as how you say it.” And, the bar is higher for women relative to technical skills, competency and communication and influencing skills.
Navigating male-dominated environments has presented challenges, but she appreciates groups like the Women’s Leadership Forum at BlackRock which provided leadership training and peer networks to add to her toolkit. She says that in the mid-90s, conscious bias against women was relatively common, although she rarely personally experienced it. She thinks this is because she was good at selecting companies and managers who were supportive and open-minded. Today, gender bias issues can be difficult to raise because most men are genuinely and consciously trying to develop diverse teams. And, they are often unaware of “unconscious” biases they are exhibiting.
Ms. Walters noted that many of her male colleagues are actively trying to foster diverse and inclusive teams. She has also found that establishing a strong network of women is critical to success in the finance sector. While not every company provides that type of support, she encourages younger women to establish their own networks. “Many women hesitate to ask, but they might be surprised how willing both men and women are to help,” she says, noting that when she has reached out to senior people, 90 percent of the time they have been happy to spend time and help—and she now does the same.
How do you know if you are ready for a job change?
Career Tip of the Week!People leave jobs for many reasons.
Are you using that as an excuse to mask a deeper fear of the unknown? If you have been at a place for over ten years, it is totally normal to think about how could you possibly find a new job in a different firm and question what would that be like, culturally.
How do you know if you are ready for a change?
Hermina Ibarra provides an excellent survey in her amazing book “Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader” (I recommend it to my coaching clients regulary)
Have a go at answering the questions with a yes or a no.
If you got 6-10 yeses then you could already be deeply in a career-transitioning period. Make time to reflect on your goals and see if your life goals are evolving also.
If you got 3-5 yeses then you may be entering a career-transitioning period. Work to increase insights and “outsights” which are new horizons that appear from doing new things and meeting new people.
If you got 2 or less yeses then you are more likely to be in a career-building period in your current job so you are busy working on
developing within that role, team or firm.
If you would like to work with Nicki Gilmour as your coach, you can have a free complementary call to discuss what is on your mind and to see if there is a fit and see if coaching is for you. Book your preliminary meeting with Nicki here.
Voice of Experience: Kathy Jordan, Chief Compliance Officer, US Consumer Banking, Citi
Voices of Experience“When I look back on my career, I didn’t follow a linear path in one field because I was always open to opportunity when it knocked,” says Citi’s Kathy Jordan.
“If you’re willing to take a risk and give it a go, great things can happen.” That advice has followed her along the winding path from her first job as a Citibank teller, which helped pay for college, to her most recent promotion overseeing compliance for all of Citi’s U.S. consumer banking businesses.
The key is to take on growth opportunities as they arise, even if it’s not precisely within your field, Jordan says. “Opportunities are there,” she says. “Just remember that even when it doesn’t feel like it will be an easy or familiar road, it can still be a path to opportunity. Just set your sights on the goal, and give it all you have, without worrying that it might not be attainable.”
“Don’t limit yourself to one field if the chance arises to do something else that might be just as fulfilling,” she says, noting that this is increasingly true as you move into more senior level positions.
Windows of Opportunity
Jordan went to college with initial plans of becoming a doctor, but she soon shifted her focus to finance and became a banker, before attending law school and eventually working her way back into financial services and becoming a compliance officer.
She left her law firm to join the in-house counsel team with a former client, a boutique bank, where she focused mainly on mortgage issues. This led to an offer to take an in-house legal position at Citibank that gave her a chance to work more broadly across the entire consumer banking business. It was at Citi, in the early 2000s, that she made her biggest jump as changing regulations led banks to create dedicated compliance teams, separating roles that had previously been overseen by the in-house legal teams. “I wasn’t sure just what I was getting myself into, it wasn’t a clear path, but I saw an opportunity to make my mark in something new so I went for it,” she said.
In general, she suggests that you keep an eye out for new opportunities as industries shift. “You have to determine what is in demand and think more broadly about your career,” she says. “There’s no perfect answer to what jobs you should take along the way. The job you take at one moment might not be your dream job, but it may help you get there.”
Finding Advocates To Grow Your Career
“There are always people out there who can help you when you’re struggling—whether it’s with a specific problem or a career change,” says Jordan. She realizes the importance of finding those champions, and says she rarely makes a move without consulting with people who have her best interests at heart while bringing different perspectives. “Even when you’re starting out, it’s critical to find a circle of advisors who have more experience, whom you can call upon for input.”
It’s also incumbent upon women to share their successes, she says, adding that women don’t always speak as freely about their accomplishments as men. “I have had to work on owning my success,” Jordan says. “Modesty is important, but candor is better.”
She shares that recommendation with other women both at Citi and outside of the bank.
The retail bank has a robust program designed to reach minorities and people of color to motivate them toward larger roles.
Jordan looks back on the role her family played in her career with appreciation, and says she currently spends a lot of time with her parents. “I want to make sure they’re happy, as they sacrificed a lot for me,” she says. “Although neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to college, it was extremely important to them that I had the chance – and they structured everything to make my higher education a priority.”
Musically inclined, Jordan loves the opera and plays the organ in her spare time. “For many years I played in church congregations,” she says. “It is very soothing and helps melt away the stress of the day.”
This summer, Jordan was also named a member of the Banking Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. This affiliation gives her an opportunity to step back and refresh her legal contacts, while becoming involved in discussions with senior lawyers across New York about cutting edge issues in banking law.
Voice of Experience: Maddi Dessner, Managing Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Voices of Experience“You have to express interest in new challenges, and remember that most good leaders want to hear what you want to do so they can help your career head the right direction. So be vocal about what you need, whether you’re looking for experience in leadership, global exposure in your firm or experience speaking in front of people.”
Finding Satisfaction in Helping Others
Dessner has spent 24 years with JP Morgan, starting on the floor trading FX options and emerging markets equities, then more recently moving into client-facing roles. Today she leads a group in charge of supporting asset management in the Americas.
“Given that I work in an investment team, my biggest professional achievement is helping people invest well and retire comfortably,” Dessner says, which includes working with them to develop an asset allocation that will deliver a secure retirement. “I am always thinking about the individual who is investing with us and focusing on delivering successful retirement outcomes.”
Given society’s changing demographics, Dessner finds that it’s even more important today than 10 to 15 years ago to help her clients maximize their savings, since many are not sufficiently prepared and need to understand that they can’t invest out of a savings gap.
Being Your Own Advocate For Career Success
Women don’t always raise their hands the same way that men do, notes Dessner. “I probably wasn’t as forceful as I could have been about guiding my career, and I’m lucky to be at an organization that understands how to help people grow a career. While I know I’ve been fortunate to have had that invisible hand guiding my path, that’s not always the case, and it’s crucial for women to advocate for themselves.”
To that end she advises that women build a network and make it part of their job to tend it, suggesting that women devote 10 to 15 percent of every week to ensure they are creating a broader network than just those inside their immediate team. “Keeping your internal and external relationships fresh will propel you forward.”
She also suggests that women not shy away from being candid—that letting colleagues into your whole self while you’re at work is an important part of being a leader.
While she used to feel hesitant to share struggles, as she feared they could show weakness, Dessner now sees that acknowledgement as coming from a positon of strength, proving that you can navigate challenges in your life.
It also brings you closer to your team, she says. “They know there’s a human they can connect with, and people appreciate that. It’s not about oversharing but connecting to people authentically. Rather than keeping everything inside, own the steps in your journey that have brought you to where you are.”
In addition, Dessner recommends evolving your skill set to make sure you’re up on industry trends—and then make sure you ask for what you’re worth. Those are the kinds of skills that can be cultivated in networking groups and in the past, she has served as co-chair of JP Morgan’s Women on the Move program which helps aspiring professionals make connections globally.
Any spare time Dessner has is devoted to her family—boy and girl twins, age 12, and she has found they are at delightful ages to explore activities together, such as travel and philanthropy. They also engage in interesting discussions—such as a recent one where she astounded them by explaining that women didn’t always have the right to vote. “This is an exciting age to parent, where it’s less manual labor and more about helping with guidance and shaping.”
Fixing The Broken Mentorship Model To Help Close The Leadership Gap
Guest Contributionby Anna Robinson, CEO and co-founder of Ceresa
Walking into a Fortune 500 boardroom today, you’re more likely to find a CEO named John than a female CEO.
In fact, only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 20% of board members are women, which has been the case for multiple generations, as reported by BCG.
Breaking the cycle – the continuing need for female mentors
As most people know, the number of women in the workforce has grown over the last century. However, the number of women in senior management roles has plateaued. According to the Women Ahead report, Women make up nearly half of the global workforce (49%), yet one-third of organizations don’t have any women in senior management roles. Why the disparity? A study by Bain & Co found that when women enter the workforce nearly 50% of them aspire to move to senior leadership, but within just five years this number drops to just 16%. This typically corresponds with the time when many women receive their first major promotion but before they are typically starting a family. The promotion to manager is where men have a higher promotion rate than women. McKinsey & Co’s Women in the Workplace report shows that , only 79 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men. Largely because of these gender gaps, men end up holding 62 percent of manager positions, while women hold only 38 percent. This is also the time when support for women in the workplace drops off – as found by both Bain and McKinsey’s studies. These are all critical junctures where mentorship can be most effective in helping women to set their aspirations, navigate these changes and excel in both their personal and professional lives.
Ceresa’s research of the first cohort of 50 mentees shows that the top five reasons women seek mentoring encompass questions of work-life balance and finding meaning, alongside professional development and tactical career planning. This is why the need for effective mentorship for women is greater than ever. Programs that offer support in only one of these crucial areas leave women drastically under-resourced. Companies offer programs geared toward traditional skill development. Yet, as pointed out in HBR, traditional mentoring for women typically ends up focused on operating style and psycho-social issues.
So, how do we fix the broken model?
The good news here is that there is an answer that can help both women and their companies. Mentoring, when done well, has a significant impact on companies and the women participating. One of the most comprehensive studies of mentoring impact found that formal mentoring programs can drive an increase in retention by 40-50% for mentees and mentors. Yet, we very rarely come across internal mentoring programs that have been set up to achieve meaningful, long-term impact.
63% of women have never had access to any formal mentoring, according to a 2012 DDI survey, and especially lack access to senior mentors. While some people argue that mentoring should be organic, in reality, these stats prove this is not working for women. With fewer women in leadership roles, women are missing mentorship that can help with gender-specific issues, and research even shows male mentors can be intimidating rather than helpful in empowering their female colleagues and mentees, as reported by the Huffington Post. This broken model also holds the belief that any senior leader can be a mentor – which is definitely not the case.
The new mentoring model needs to provide mentors training on the skills and attributes needed for successful, high-impact mentoring. And the skills required for quality mentoring are not necessarily synonymous with the qualities needed to be an effective leader. Deep listening, asking powerful questions and focusing on sharing experiences rather than giving advice are all critical to high impact mentorship but are not always required of senior leaders in the workplace. Formal mentoring programs need to coach mentors on these mindsets and skills.
Traditional models also lack structure and accountability. If both parties fail to have mutual and clear expectations, the relationship often fizzles out because one or both parties become discouraged or uninterested. The new model solves for this by encouraging each party to dedicate time and effort in fostering the mentorship relationship – with a clear cadence and schedule upfront. Critically, mentees need to be prepared and intentional about their goals – including submitting a specific agenda ahead of time to their mentor.
We’ve also seen that in status-quo mentoring models, the feedback women receive focuses on psycho-social issues or is based around their work style rather than true career development and professional success, as referred to in the HBR article. The new model must incorporate hard career development and goals while incorporating broader health, wellness and personal issues. This also requires mentees to be prepared before they begin working with a mentor so they can identify the areas in their lives where they need the most help, and define their vision and specific goals.
Finally, to ensure a deep impact from mentorship, the engagement, participation, and impact of the program should be tracked. Collecting feedback and outlining the impact for the company and the individual is critical. This might include tracking satisfaction and sense of empowerment from the program, as well as measuring promotion and pay grade changes. Companies can also track improvements in brand loyalty and retention, using measures such as Net Promoter Score.
The future is female (mentorship)
While working to solve the gender leadership gap through mentorship, we are doing more than just addressing inequality for inequality’s sake. We are also opening the doors to leverage all women to improve business and societal outcomes. As seen, mentoring can improve retention by 40-50% for mentors and mentees. Furthermore, Women Ahead found that 75% of executives claim mentoring was critical to their success. Now is the time to accelerate the rate at which women achieve and thrive in leadership positions, and better mentorship is one tactical step to reaching this goal. But companies need to do more than offer lip-service to mentoring. They need to take the effort to structure the program, help mentees be prepared and intentional, offer specific coaching and support to mentors, provide more sophisticated methodologies in matching mentees and mentors – and then measure impact. If you can’t measure it, it cannot be improved upon – and will rarely be sustained as a business imperative.
About the Author
Anna Robinson is CEO and Founder of Ceresa, a tech-enabled and research based mentorship platform for aspiring women leaders. Anna launched Ceresa in 2018, with the mission of closing the global leadership gap for women. Anna dedicates her time to shaping the company’s vision and strategy, driving consistent high-quality programming, building a world-class team and culture, and shaping a sustainable social impact business model. Prior to launching Ceresa, Anna was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she led strategy and transformation work for US and global health systems, as well as leading several women’s initiatives. Anna was also COO at an early-stage tech company. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MPhil, and BA from the University of Oxford in England. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three daughters.
The opinions and views expressed by guest contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of theglasshammer.com