By Aimee Hansen
Amidst increasing access to a broader worldview, we are paradoxically retreating into narrowing, amplified, separated tunnels of perspective.
One of the clearest examples is the side-by-side blue feed, red feed posted by The Wall Street Journal. These views are never side-by-side but rather constructions of completely different realities.
Social media (with Facebook at top) is a news source for 62% of U.S. adults, and when our Facebook newsfeed is increasingly a tunnel lined with mirrors, the sum reflection is silos of distortion.
Diversity of thought is a muscle that is essential to leadership, and one that we may be getting weaker at flexing when it comes to developing our worldview in our personal and societal lives. Whatever we practice, we become better at. So arguably, we are getting better at listening to people who think like we already do.
To be effective leaders, we have to increasingly be more vigilant about the practice of inviting diversity of thought in, even when it’s difficult to do so.
How Facebook Is Narrowing Our Feedback Loop
As highlighted in the The New York Times, it’s our interaction with social media that both biases and narrows our exposure to different viewpoints and different stories.
Frank Bruni writes, “The Internet isn’t rigged to give us right or left, conservative or liberal — at least not until we rig it that way. It’s designed to give us more of the same, whatever that same is: one sustained note from the vast and varied music that it holds, one redundant fragrance from a garden of infinite possibility.”
When our ideas and perspectives are not challenged, but only reinforced by our customized curation of news through interaction with social media,“we retreat into enclaves of the like-minded” with increased speed and depth, while missing out on a breadth of perspectives.
According to the NYT, “Technology makes it much easier for us to connect to people who share some single common interest,” said author Marc Dunkelman (“The Vanishing Neighbor”), and easier to avoid “face-to-face interactions with diverse ideas.”
According to network scientist, Vyacheslav Polonski writing for the World Economic Forum, previous research has shown that increased contact with people who share our previously held beliefs makes those beliefs more extreme.
We become more confident, vigorous, and emboldened as we begin to adopt a new group identity. At the same time, we becoming increasingly ignorant to the dynamics of alternative world views. There is both power and peril.
Confirming Our Own Biases
According to The Guardian, “Since online content is often curated to fit our preferences, interests and personality, the internet can even enhance our existing biases and undermine our motivation to learn new things.”
One bias that is supported by echo chambers is confirmation bias, where we look to see our own preconceptions confirmed rather than fully taking facts, data, or opposing viewpoints into consideration. We are drawn to prove ourselves right by consuming information that matches our opinions even though “being exposed to conflicting views tends to reduce prejudice and enhance creative thinking.”
As Warren Buffet said, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” With too much information to deal with, it’s a survival strategy to ignore most of it, but we tend to selectively ignore what does not agree with us.
The Boardroom Echo Chamber
If we want to know more about the dangers of decision-making inside of a (digital) echo chamber, we can look to the corporate boardroom, because that has existed mostly as an echo chamber for decades.
In 2015, Fortune 500 companies filled 399 vacant or newly created seats, the highest number of seats since Heidrick & Struggles began tracking. But when faced with a record opportunity to increase diversity, the Fortune 500 boardroom stuck to its own kind.
Tapping from the “usual suspects” (73% of appointments were current and former CEOs and CFOs), the range of industry backgrounds narrowed, women appointments stalled, Latino appointments remained flat, and Asian-American appointments fell. The only improvements in diversity were African-American (1% point) and international experience (32.2% points).
In sum, older white male seats or new seats were filled with older white males with international experience. From the perspective of social diversity, boards elected more mirrors to reflect similar viewpoints, not more windows to bring in diverse perspectives.
Diversity Makes Us Smarter
According to the Harvard Business Review, the key differentiator of leadership (and the career arc of a leader) is a process of inclusiveness in decision making, the ability to take into account a 360 degree context.
Underlining the importance of gathering multiple perspectives, Associate Professor Laurence Minksy and Julia Tang Peters write, “Habitual outreach prevents insular thinking, opens doors to ideas and collaborative relationships, expands problem-solving perspectives, and increases the range of resources for implementation.”
As reiterated by Scientific American, social diversity enhances creativity, encourages the search for novel perspectives, and leads to better decision-making and problem solving. Katherine W. Phillips, a Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics, writes, “Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.”
“Being with similar others leads us to think we all hold the same information and share the same perspective,” writes Phillips. This keeps us from effectively processing information, and hinders creativity and innovation. Whereas in a context of diversity, we are less complacent with our perspectives and begin to consider alternatives even before personal interaction takes place.
“Simply adding social diversity to a group makes people believe that differences of perspective might exist among them and that belief makes people change their behavior,” writes Phillips. We work harder on both a cognitive and social level, become more diligent, and more open-minded because we anticipate it will take more to come to a consensus.
Also, disagreement with those who are socially different to us also does more to spark our consideration.
“When we hear dissent from someone who is different from us (eg. by race or political party), it provokes more thought than when it comes from someone who looks like us,“ writes Phillips. “When disagreement comes from a socially different person, we are prompted to work harder. Diversity jolts us into cognitive action in ways that homogeneity simply does not.”
Your Diversity Muscle
As Phillips points out, diversity of thought is a muscle we have to exercise. “You have to push yourself to grow your muscles.”
So as a leader, ask yourself where are you allowing yourself to be drawn into an echo chamber? Are you being inclusive in your own decision-making?
And, where in your workplace do you see a tunnel of mirrors in need of some windows?
Voice of Experience: Lia Turri, Partner, PwC Italy
Voices of ExperienceWith a 20-year track record of success at PwC, including 10 years as partner, Lia Turri has always specialized in the financial services sector, developing a strong client services background. She has focused on engagements with leaders of Italian companies and helped oversee IPOs and a variety of special projects. This longevity has helped her guide clients as the industry ushers in changes brought by the effect of new technologies. “It will be a completely different environment in five to 10 years and my goal is to help my clients adapt,” she says.
Heading Up Diversity Efforts Region Wide
In addition to her client services roles, Turri was asked in 2016 to coordinate diversity strategy across PwC offices in the Middle East, Europe and Africa after a successful stint as the diversity leader for Italy.
She has embarked on a listening tour, as she works with the diversity leaders across the region to hear their key priorities and understand the successful actions they are already implementing, thus enabling teams to share best practices with one another.
The first step in any change management process, she says, is to determine current priorities and then adopt a scale of measurement so you can track progress and make sure the actions you’re putting in place achieve the desired results.
Diversity can be measured in many ways, such as gender, culture and age, but the team has found that gender is something that can be most effectively monitored. Currently, 18% of partners across the footprint are female, so that is an easy metric to focus on for improving. “We are losing competencies if we don’t keep women at higher levels,” Turri points out, so it’s vital to share successful best practices.
Turri has found that initiatives across Italy have already brought positive results, as the team has received feedback from clients that the increased diversity has been noticed. She appreciates the opportunity she has been given to head this initiative and is eager to get everyone on board.
“It’s gratifying to be able to work across the boundaries and be in touch with people from other offices and areas. It has truly helped me recognize how many amazing people are working within PwC,” she says.
Growing the Pipeline
Turri has been active in a mentoring program called Sharing the Future, which is designed to help increase the pipeline for the partners of tomorrow by pairing senior managers with mentor partners. The pilot was such a success that they decided to continue the program with a new group of mentees, and all the partners who participated the first time elected to continue with the program — a success from both sides.
One of the messages that Turri shares with younger associates she works with is that you have to make sure that you are in the driver’s seat of your career, rather than letting others decide for you. For example, she says it is a common occurrence that a young woman will have a baby and others will start counting her out. “They might decide that her family has taken precedence, so they don’t invite her to participate in interesting projects because they think she won’t have the capacity, yet they haven’t even asked her what she wants.” Turri cautions against letting other project on you and your career.
“Blind spots are the the measure of the other person, not you,” she says, and yet they can affect the opportunities you are offered. In that way they can influence whether you can achieve a goal and will allow others to impact your career trajectory if you let them.
She also finds that in a male-dominated industry, many women assume they need to act like a man to progress in their career, but eventually they realize they are submerging the qualities that set them apart.
Finally, women need to support each other, she says. “Women have a great power, and if they are working together, they can great results.”
Along the way she has learned the importance of getting that support, even at home, through her two kids, ages 20 and 16. “They keep me energized in whatever I’m doing at work or at home,” she says. “They are very supportive of me in my passions and interest. Because I put a lot of time into my work, they encourage me to remember to always seek balance.”
Voice of Experience: Carey Kolaja, Global Chief Product Officer, Citi FinTech
Voices of Experience“Earlier in my career, I thought I always had to be right, but I learned that’s just not the case,” says Carey Kolaja of Citi FinTech. “Life is more enjoyable when you remove that pressure you’re putting on yourself and turn to others for input. The collective wisdom can yield a greater return,” she says.
Kolaja has had 21 years in financial services, but a series of diverse experiences – which has run the gamut from start-ups to big banks to consulting firms — has taught her to trust the input of others as she learned new strategies with different companies.
She worked in the information technology department of eBay and most recently came from PayPal, where she experienced incredible growth, seeing the company mature from 1,000 employees when she started to 14,000 when she left. It was an environment where every couple of years the company would reinvent itself, and she oversaw a host of different challenges over 13 years as she rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Global Consumer Products, helping establish the brand to hundreds of millions of customers globally.
Building Programs That Endure
“I am fortunate to have risen to a role that allows me to be at the epicenter of the collision between finance and technology, during a time of great growth and change,” she says. “I am proud of the global products I’ve placed in the market over the years and the impact they’ve had in transforming consumer buying behaviors,” Kolaja adds.
Not only has she made her mark on products, but programs as well. At eBay she was asked to establish a women in tech program that started with 50 and ended with 1,800 by the time she passed the baton. “It continues to live on, and it’s exciting when you can build things that endure. I have always defined successful leadership as making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence,” she says, noting that the programs that have been most meaningful are those that were organic, rather than mandated from the top down.
Managing Industry Disruption
The team Kolaja now works with, Citi FinTech, has been set up within the past 12 months — a unit charged with “designing and delivering the bank of tomorrow,” as the industry moves forward to stay relevant in this fast-moving space. “There’s been some disbelief that what we were trying to do would happen,” she says, given that there are such stringent policy restraints, and the huge leap involved in its aim to meet customers in their day-to-day lives and access their money whenever they need to in today’s digital and mobile world. “The odds are against us but if you look at what we’ve accomplished so far and what we have in the works for the months ahead, it shows that you can’t discount the banks,” she says.
The disruption has happened throughout the industry, as people’s identities have moved from the physical to the digital realm, and every company from established firms to startups are trying to figure out how to enable people to safely and confidently make financial transactions. As the physical bank’s role continues to change, the industry will continue to reimagine the personalities that financial instructions have, by learning from fintech and other industries.
“The expectations have changed and it’s all about enabling transactions for our customers when and where they want, and often while they’re doing something else,” she says.
“While a customer is eating dinner she remembers she needs to check her savings account for an upcoming family vacation. How do we help in that moment? We will continue to transcend traditional touchpoints as we engage customers on their terms and meet their goals and aspirations.”
Part of the change in the industry is being wrought by a general change in the trust dynamic in society at large, she believes. Whereas people used to trust institutions, now they trust brands. We used to trust hotels, and now we stay at people’s homes in the Air BnB society.
But embracing this transformation is part of who Kolaja is and how she has always led. “I have always coached my team by leading with the fact that you have to be able to imagine that the possibilities of change are endless, and that those who change the world are those who believe they can.”
She has learned the value of empowering others, and her global role has allowed her to see what she can learn in different cultures that was relevant across the board. That notion helped her to understand the value of diverse thoughts, experiences and points of view. “Most boundaries – whether they are cultural or organizational — are usually artificial, and exist in your own mind,” she says, noting that you can’t let others impose their boundaries on you.
Although she hasn’t felt subject to gender differences in the workplace, she understands that others look up to her for the strides she has made in fintech. When someone pointed out that she had found a way to break the glass ceiling and therefore had the responsibility to be a role model and speak out, she accepted that charge. Now, she is proud to say that 50 percent of leaders in Citi FinTech are women.
Speaking Out to Achieve Success
One piece of advice she offers women is to give themselves permission to speak, rather than always waiting for an invitation or a safe environment. It was during a week-long leadership program that her coach noted that people would listen when Kolaja spoke, despite her always waiting to be asked to speak. The coach advised her to make a habit of speaking up in the first three minutes of any interaction, which Kolaja says helped her believe that what she had to say added value. “That’s such an important coaching element for women in general,” she says. “I am the only one who can give myself permission to speak. That leadership program happened more than 10 years ago but I’m reminded of that lesson every day. If we limit ourselves, then ultimately we’re the ones who lose out.”
Kolaja says she tried and failed to separate her work and personal lives, so she incorporates them as much as she can. “Sometimes I need to be a mother in the middle of the afternoon and sometimes I need to be an employee at 10 p.m. Technology is helping me with both, and now the physical-digital balance is what I contend with.”
As a family of self-described “risk takers,” she and her husband and two boys, ages 14 and 10, love to travel as a family and golf and scuba dive. Recently they spent five days in Costa Rica with no devices. “Scuba diving allows us to spend time together, and it also allows us to be truly present. Now that we’re connected even while we’re in the air, the sea is the one remaining place we can have solitude.”
Why Leaders Need More than Mirror Reflections
Career Advice, LeadershipAmidst increasing access to a broader worldview, we are paradoxically retreating into narrowing, amplified, separated tunnels of perspective.
One of the clearest examples is the side-by-side blue feed, red feed posted by The Wall Street Journal. These views are never side-by-side but rather constructions of completely different realities.
Social media (with Facebook at top) is a news source for 62% of U.S. adults, and when our Facebook newsfeed is increasingly a tunnel lined with mirrors, the sum reflection is silos of distortion.
Diversity of thought is a muscle that is essential to leadership, and one that we may be getting weaker at flexing when it comes to developing our worldview in our personal and societal lives. Whatever we practice, we become better at. So arguably, we are getting better at listening to people who think like we already do.
To be effective leaders, we have to increasingly be more vigilant about the practice of inviting diversity of thought in, even when it’s difficult to do so.
How Facebook Is Narrowing Our Feedback Loop
As highlighted in the The New York Times, it’s our interaction with social media that both biases and narrows our exposure to different viewpoints and different stories.
Frank Bruni writes, “The Internet isn’t rigged to give us right or left, conservative or liberal — at least not until we rig it that way. It’s designed to give us more of the same, whatever that same is: one sustained note from the vast and varied music that it holds, one redundant fragrance from a garden of infinite possibility.”
When our ideas and perspectives are not challenged, but only reinforced by our customized curation of news through interaction with social media,“we retreat into enclaves of the like-minded” with increased speed and depth, while missing out on a breadth of perspectives.
According to the NYT, “Technology makes it much easier for us to connect to people who share some single common interest,” said author Marc Dunkelman (“The Vanishing Neighbor”), and easier to avoid “face-to-face interactions with diverse ideas.”
According to network scientist, Vyacheslav Polonski writing for the World Economic Forum, previous research has shown that increased contact with people who share our previously held beliefs makes those beliefs more extreme.
We become more confident, vigorous, and emboldened as we begin to adopt a new group identity. At the same time, we becoming increasingly ignorant to the dynamics of alternative world views. There is both power and peril.
Confirming Our Own Biases
According to The Guardian, “Since online content is often curated to fit our preferences, interests and personality, the internet can even enhance our existing biases and undermine our motivation to learn new things.”
One bias that is supported by echo chambers is confirmation bias, where we look to see our own preconceptions confirmed rather than fully taking facts, data, or opposing viewpoints into consideration. We are drawn to prove ourselves right by consuming information that matches our opinions even though “being exposed to conflicting views tends to reduce prejudice and enhance creative thinking.”
As Warren Buffet said, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” With too much information to deal with, it’s a survival strategy to ignore most of it, but we tend to selectively ignore what does not agree with us.
The Boardroom Echo Chamber
If we want to know more about the dangers of decision-making inside of a (digital) echo chamber, we can look to the corporate boardroom, because that has existed mostly as an echo chamber for decades.
In 2015, Fortune 500 companies filled 399 vacant or newly created seats, the highest number of seats since Heidrick & Struggles began tracking. But when faced with a record opportunity to increase diversity, the Fortune 500 boardroom stuck to its own kind.
Tapping from the “usual suspects” (73% of appointments were current and former CEOs and CFOs), the range of industry backgrounds narrowed, women appointments stalled, Latino appointments remained flat, and Asian-American appointments fell. The only improvements in diversity were African-American (1% point) and international experience (32.2% points).
In sum, older white male seats or new seats were filled with older white males with international experience. From the perspective of social diversity, boards elected more mirrors to reflect similar viewpoints, not more windows to bring in diverse perspectives.
Diversity Makes Us Smarter
According to the Harvard Business Review, the key differentiator of leadership (and the career arc of a leader) is a process of inclusiveness in decision making, the ability to take into account a 360 degree context.
Underlining the importance of gathering multiple perspectives, Associate Professor Laurence Minksy and Julia Tang Peters write, “Habitual outreach prevents insular thinking, opens doors to ideas and collaborative relationships, expands problem-solving perspectives, and increases the range of resources for implementation.”
As reiterated by Scientific American, social diversity enhances creativity, encourages the search for novel perspectives, and leads to better decision-making and problem solving. Katherine W. Phillips, a Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics, writes, “Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.”
“Being with similar others leads us to think we all hold the same information and share the same perspective,” writes Phillips. This keeps us from effectively processing information, and hinders creativity and innovation. Whereas in a context of diversity, we are less complacent with our perspectives and begin to consider alternatives even before personal interaction takes place.
“Simply adding social diversity to a group makes people believe that differences of perspective might exist among them and that belief makes people change their behavior,” writes Phillips. We work harder on both a cognitive and social level, become more diligent, and more open-minded because we anticipate it will take more to come to a consensus.
Also, disagreement with those who are socially different to us also does more to spark our consideration.
“When we hear dissent from someone who is different from us (eg. by race or political party), it provokes more thought than when it comes from someone who looks like us,“ writes Phillips. “When disagreement comes from a socially different person, we are prompted to work harder. Diversity jolts us into cognitive action in ways that homogeneity simply does not.”
Your Diversity Muscle
As Phillips points out, diversity of thought is a muscle we have to exercise. “You have to push yourself to grow your muscles.”
So as a leader, ask yourself where are you allowing yourself to be drawn into an echo chamber? Are you being inclusive in your own decision-making?
And, where in your workplace do you see a tunnel of mirrors in need of some windows?
Time Gaps in your Resume? Turn Black Holes into Wins
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!, Guest ContributionRecruiters and hiring managers have unconscious and conscious bias and judgement based on employment intervals can be one of the greatest organizational impediments for success.
But if organizations attempted to understand black holes in employee resume the way astrophysicists strive to understand black holes in the universe, they could uncover concealed information about candidates that could prove valuable for the position, but might not be attained through interview, questionnaire or psychological assessment. Therefore, instead of distracting interviewers away from employment gaps, interviewees should pull future employers right into them.
Show you’re a good match
Many valuable organizational resources are consumed during the hiring process; therefore, organizations do their best to find the most promising candidates. One approach to an applicant’s assessment is based on the concept of “fit”. Three different types of “fit” exist— the first two are relatively easy to attain, the third is legendary. A person-organization fit is focused on how well an individual “fits” within the organizational culture. A person-job fit is focused on how well an individual “suits” the job he or she is hired to do in two aspects: personality and skills. The legendary option is the combination of the two in which a candidate demonstrates both organizational and job fit.
Candidate’s evaluation based on the level of “fit” is essential, because in many cases, it predicts the future success of the recruitment. In this context, the employers’ tendency to mind the gap could be explained by their look for “fitted” employees, which in their opinion translates to well-planned, long-term objectives achieved by following a gap-free career path. Additionally, employment gaps predominantly create a big question mark, and most organizations do everything they possibly can to avoid any kind of ambiguity. Therefore, the candidates have the responsibility to replace question marks with exclamation points and prove they are a perfect match for both the job and the organization.
Before you apply for a position, perform a thorough study of the company’s mindset. On the website, focus on the mission statement, values, and social responsibility initiatives or activities. Sign up for the company’s newsletter, which is a great resource for learning about the organizational culture, latest news, and employees’ appreciation. Additionally, search for recent articles about the company.
Then go back to your resume and elaborate about previous positions that are aligned with the organizational culture, mission, and social responsibility commitment at the expense of positions that are not. In the cover letter, explain how the skills and the experience you’ve gained during your employment gap would come in handy in the position for which you are applying. During the interview, gravitate the conversation towards the black holes and give specific examples of the way your core competencies, which you’ve acquired throughout the gap period can be valuable to the organization.
The past counts but the future is pertinent
The 21st century’s lifestyle dictates modifications. Gone are the days when people worked from nine-to-five, were mostly involved in physical labor, and remained in the same work place for forty years. Today, we live in a fast-paced, ever-changing business environment that promotes employment mobility and career transformations. In such eco-systems, employment gaps could be one of the best predictors of employees’ growth and future successes, because like in the universe, black holes exhibit a strong gravitational pull that could help evaluate candidates’ personalities beneficial to the position and the organization.
If you are an educated, skilled professional with employment gaps, you could contribute more to organizations than a similar candidate without gaps. You are the employee any smart forward-thinking organization would like to have. You are a curious, creative, risk-taking, self-directed, adaptive, agile, and adjustable individual who may exhibit unique problem-solving skills, which are powered by a situation analysis and a complex decision-making process.
The fact a skilled technical writer took off a year or two to write her debut novel and DJ-ed on the weekends to support her family presents a candidate who is responsible, creative, and dedicated to her mission. If an IT project manager traded her career for her family for a few years that should suggest she has her priorities straight, possesses a high-risk tolerance, and follows her values and beliefs. A successful art teacher in her 40s who took off a few years and returned to school to study architecture should give a clue this candidate has a vision, and she is unwilling to settle for anything less than what she can achieve.
Candidates with these exclusive core competencies are the catalysts of innovation and growth. They are organizations’ most-prized possessions, and most likely, they would be the ones to help the organization achieve and sustain the competitive advantage. Therefore, stop feeling inferior and instead display pride, and show you’re the organization’s legendary option as you fit both the job and the organization due to your unusual or creative career path.
A word to employers
Employers should keep in mind that hiring a candidate with employment intervals is anything but compromising. Important to remember is that a candidate with years of work experience from which she didn’t take on growth challenges is worthless to the organization, while a candidate with a modest experience from which she evolved and changed is invaluable.
Sharon Nir is the author of The Opposite of Comfortable: The Unlikely Choices of a Career Immigrant Woman (Viki Press/May 2016). Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, she holds a Bachelor of Art degree in Language and Literature from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA in Marketing and International Management from Northeastern University of Massachusetts. Sharon, her husband and two children reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit sharonnir.com and connect @sharonvnir and facebook.com/sharonvnir for more info.
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Voice of Experience: Rana Yared, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Voices of Experience“Stand out by owning your own details,” says Rana Yared of Goldman Sachs, offering advice she learned as an analyst. “Commit to knowing the specifics of every assignment and how they relate to the bigger picture. That’s how you establish you reputation as a thinker, not just a doer,” she says, noting that this advice has helped propel her career.
After earning a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and an MSc from the London School of Economics, Yared believed her next step would be to earn a PhD. However, she says, “a function of luck, great mentorship, and letting opportunity come to me rather than having a pre-set plan,” propelled her on an alternate path.
Never before having considered a career in finance, Yared joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2006. She moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a Managing Director in 2013, and today she leads both the New York and London-based Principal Strategic Investments (PSI) teams in the Securities Division, which are responsible for market structure strategy and the firm’s financial technology assets. In this capacity, she represents Goldman Sachs on the boards of several companies that PSI has invested in.
“I’m excited about the team’s role in reimagining how we serve our clients as we improve both the workflow and the quality of information that we can share in this time of digital transformation,” she says. Goldman Sachs is at the forefront of harnessing financial services innovation, and the transformation within the firm has been exciting. “There’s been a fundamental change in our business model and how we approach capital and liquidity,” she says. “It’s been fascinating to think of ways to optimize these varied opportunities.”
Yared is not only proud of the work the team has done for the Goldman Sachs franchise, but also that she has become a leader for the next generation. One career milestone she cited was being asked to speak at the First Year Securities Analyst Orientation. “I always remembered the female partner who spoke at my orientation upon joining the firm, and the impact her comments and advice made on me. It’s an honor to be trusted with making a first impression on our newest joiners,” she explains.
She also reflected on the moment she was able to tell her parents she was promoted to Managing Director. “As the child of immigrants, I was proud to share with them my accomplishments.”
Work Hard, Play Well
One of the lessons Yared has learned over the years is to have more fun. “When I first joined the firm in New York, I enjoyed the work but didn’t take the time to fall in love with the city,” she says, noting that it was initially challenging to manage her work-life balance. When she moved to London with the firm in 2008, she placed an emphasis on maintaining a balance between work and her outside activities. Now that she has returned to New York, Yared has remained committed to establishing ties to her neighborhood and exploring the city.
Another mentor provided a different success formula that has stuck with her: Q x A = E. “This means that the quality of one’s communication times its acceptance equals its effectiveness. In other words, the way that your message is delivered and heard is as important as your content,” she says.
Improving on all the advice she has received is a constant work in progress, but there’s another area that takes no second thought: “If there’s a day that your conscience is tested, that’s the day to walk away,” she says with conviction. “If something is making it challenging for you to sleep easy, you’re in the wrong place.”
Active in Programs Inside and Outside the Firm
Yared highlights that Goldman Sachs’ Women’s Career Strategy Initiative, a program tailored for associates, helped her refine key attributes, such as messaging and presentation skills. She recognizes that the bar of excellence can be higher for women to meet in the workplace. “It’s a tricky balance on how you should portray yourself, but it has become easier to navigate as my career progresses,” she says. She strongly supports the Female Trader Initiative, where female analysts and interns who have strong quantitative skills are provided mentorship.
A devotee of philanthropic causes, particularly those related to public education, Yared is a member of the Penn Fund Executive Board at the University of Pennsylvania and sits on the advisory board of Wabash College’s Democracy and Discourse program. “I was especially proud to have been asked to join the advisory board of this school, which has a long history of educating first-generation college students,” she says.
In her spare time, Yared loves traveling, cooking and photography.
Mover and Shaker: Sara Donaldson, Vice President, Proxy Voting at Voya Investment Management
Movers and Shakers“That’s not my job’ is something I would never say,” asserts Voya’s Sara Donaldson. “If something needs to get done, with the support of the individual ultimately responsible for it, I will take responsibility for it to make sure it gets done.”
Part of that value includes following up when needed. “It’s ok to say you don’t know something, but you should also work toward a resolution by asking questions and putting that knowledge to work,” she says, a strategy much better than making something up or not following through with an answer.
Proud to be a Corporate Governance Professional
Donaldson began her career at a real estate advisory firm, overseeing investor relations, marketing and legal support and regulatory compliance. She became interested in equities and in 1997 accepted a position as a paralegal at a global equity advisory firm, believing that once she proved herself she could expand her responsibilities.
In that role, she oversaw U.S. compliance, mutual fund administration and global proxy voting. Some of the firm’s institutional clients compelled the firm to take a more active oversight role in the companies in which they were investing. Chairing the global proxy committee, and working closely with the investment team and corporate governance committee during this time, prompted her interest in corporate governance. In 2014 she joined Voya to concentrate on that field.
“Voya Investment Management and the Voya mutual fund board are committed to voting proxies in our clients’ best interest,” she says. “One of the Voya mutual fund board members described my role as an advocate for our mutual fund shareholders, and I take great pride in that. I also take pride in representing Voya when I engage with the public companies in which we are invested.”
Through her years in corporate governance, she has been impressed by the power that shareholders have to influence the companies in which they are invested. “I have become much more interested in how companies and shareholders address environmental, social and governance issues. It is fascinating that shareholders could materially influence how companies approach some of these issues,” she says, noting such topics as the “old boy’s network in the board room,” CEO pay, environmental risk and others. “Additionally, investment advisers are looking at more than just financial statements; they are also considering these issues when evaluating companies.”
Right now she is involved in transforming the proxy voting process she had inherited upon joining the division. Currently, they process and vote at more than 8,000 meetings annually. Historically, the analysis and all of the documentation for every meeting has been printed. In order to gain efficiencies, promote sustainability and reduce costs, they are moving to an electronic process.
Through her many years, she has built numerous skills, and one she recommends refining is public speaking. “When I give a presentation, I make sure I have rehearsed so I can interact with the audience rather than reading from a slide deck or paper,” she says. “Having your talking points well prepared allows you to relax and perform better.”
Networking Inside the Company and Industry
Donaldson participates in a few of the networking programs at Voya, but also finds great value in a group of women in corporate governance who meet at industry conferences. She considers the other members to be role models and appreciates the candid conversations they can have about similar issues they face when making decisions on how to vote on behalf of shareholders.
“Corporate governance is always evolving, so it is advantageous to have this network as a resource,” she says.
She also believes in bolstering other women’s talents. When she first joined the financial services industry, she saw that the layers of middle management were male dominated, as historically this had been true.
“Back then, I saw some of my female peers not being able to achieve the same level of success as men, even if they were equally qualified or more accomplished,” she says, noting that women are making great strides but this is still the case in some areas of the financial services industry.
Enjoying Her New Desert Lifestyle
Donaldson moved to Arizona from San Francisco when she accepted her current position. As empty nesters with three grown children, she and her husband were excited to pack up their two dogs and move to Scottsdale to enjoy new adventures.
They have embraced the beautiful weather. As avid cyclists, they enjoy riding with local clubs. “I especially enjoy walking my dogs early in the morning and watching the sunrise and then enjoying the sunset while we eat outside,” Donaldson says.
‘Surround Yourself’ with Guys Who Get It!
Career AdviceWe have only to watch the progress of the U.S. presidential campaign to understand that bias (against any underdog group) and bullying are contagious. But so, in my belief, are courage, integrity, and commitment as demonstrated by the male professional athletes who have stood up to say, “not in my locker room!”
In these days fraught with public statements about women as sex objects, as inferiors, as people easily dissed and dismissed, we need to consciously refocus our attention on men who respect and value us. Even more, we need to think and talk widely about the corporate and government leaders who champion women and our achievements.
This is not only to keep our own spirits up, but to have an impact on the young men around us, especially those in our families. A variety of research has shown that boys, more so than girls, are particularly sensitive to social influences and role models. With the powerfully negative male role-modeling broadcast daily from the campaign trail, we owe it to our boys to show them men with positive attitudes toward women.
Where to find them? On an international level, you can start with President Obama’s “This is what a feminist looks like” moment and Justin Trudeau’s now-famous answer to the question of why 50% of his cabinet is female.
Our partner, theglasshammer also has been an inspiring place to see a series of articles on individual “Men Who Get It.” There are good guys out there, young and old and male MBA students who have chosen to support gender equality and take what they’ve learned into the companies they are going to work for can be seen on the Forté Foundation’s page on Men Making a Difference.
Dr. Michael Kimmel also gives a worthwhile TED talk showing that men who support gender equity will be happier, healthier, and even more sexually satisfied. And he does it with panache and humor!
We are hosting Guys Who Get It Awards, a celebration luncheon in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2017, to acknowledge the vision and leadership of C-level executive men from Fortune 500 companies who really “get it” about Gender Partnership™. We will be honoring male leaders from across industries and government to showcase that such partnership is not only possible, but is already being achieved by these executives with great results. (Each award-winner has at least 35% women on his leadership team.) Attendees will learn about their best practices and how these “guys who get it” are working to establish gender equality as a cultural norm within their organizations – or their city. (One of our winners is the mayor of a major U.S. city.) We hope you can join us there!
Rayona Sharpnack is CEO and founder of the Institute for Gender Partnership and the Institute for Women’s Leadership
Giving Season: Make Your Donation Dollars Go Further
Career Advice, NewsBy Aimee Hansen
As #GivingTuesday approaches on November 29th and Giving Season kicks off, are you making the most of your donation dollars?
During the last six weeks of the year, up to 40% of all charitable donations are made ($373 billion in 2015). Individuals are reported to contribute 72% of all total giving that nonprofit organizations receive.
Though strategy is a big part of our professional lives, when it comes to giving, many of us tend to be far more reactive than strategic.
“Most people spend more time researching a new recipe online than they do a charity to give to,” say Eileen Heisman, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust. We spoke with Heisman about how to make your giving dollars go further this year.
Set A Giving Budget
It’s helpful to set a general giving budget – for example 1%-12% of income, although any donation is significant.
“One of the many benefits to a budget,” Heisman notes, “is that it empowers you to decline impulsive requests from co-workers and friends now and throughout the year.”
If you’re serious about philanthropy, she recommends to go beyond only reacting to asks and get invested: “take stock of what you think is important in your life.”
Find Out What Matters to You
“You need to make it manageable: what are the three causes that are really important to me in my life?” Do you want to make impact on a national, local, or international level? What causes matter most to you? Girls’ education? Supporting local initiatives in impoverished countries? Inner city opportunities?
One idea is to involve your children in this discussion, asking them to research and propose charity ideas to you, while increasing their own social awareness.
Select Organizations Active In That Area
Heisman advises that for each area you wish to support, “You can find three or four organizations and then narrow it down and pick one.” Some people prefer start-ups, others prefer big organizations. “You have to know who you are as a donor.”
One insider tip is to look at which organizations have big institutional funders (Gates, Rockefeller, Ford), because these entities have been carefully vetted, which is akin to a credibility endorsement.
You are also able to access an organizations 990, read newspaper articles, look at annual reports, and check out the board. Avoid scams by donating online (never on phone), such as at the charity’s website, and/or confirming the organization is a registered 501c3 at IRS.gov.
If it’s important to you, be aware that “just because it’s on GoFundMe doesn’t mean it’s a charitable gift.” Not all donations are tax-deductive, so confirm if it matters.
Check Your Overhead Bias
“I think there’s been a demonization of overhead that’s been really unfortunate in the sector over the past decade.” says Heisman. “You need overhead.”
She points out that overhead includes staff training and development, technology and resources, program strategy and development, impact evaluation – collecting data, crunching numbers, generating reports.
“Research and development, which most charities don’t have, is a normal part of overhead in most for-profit organizations. Most professional women would realize,” says Heisman, “when they see the categories that fall under overhead, that those are things that need to thrive to have a healthy organization.”
“If you really love an organization and think it’s well run,” she recommends, “give them an unrestricted gift and allow them to spend it on what they think is the most important thing for them, because you’re also investing in leadership.”
When you give an earmarked gift, it can keep a charity from being able to optimize their resources to meet their needs. Giving an unrestricted donation demonstrates that you are behind the mission and the leadership.
Build A Relationship
“If you have $1000 to give away, instead of giving it away to ten charities for $100, pick four charities and give $250 each,” advises Heisman. “Larger gifts to fewer charities creates bigger impact.”
Heisman suggests to pick three focus areas and one charitable organization in each area. Also, it’s expensive for a charity to find donors, so it’s better to build continuity.
“Stick with those entities for a while. Number one, it will save you time. But also, it takes a while to achieve goals in the social sector. They can’t turn a problem around in a year.”
Many charities have excellent dashboards and general reports available about their program impact. If you are a high value donor (eg. $5,000 or more), only then should you ask for a special report.
“I think donors are usually driven by the heart and emotional reasons,” says Heisman,“ but what often keeps donors connected is knowing the nonprofit is doing a good job at trying to address that issue.”
Leverage Giving Technology To Make It Easy
These sites can be very helpful in easily navigating the giving landscape:
Global Giving – This site is “the first and largest global crowdfunding community that connects nonprofits, donors, and companies in nearly every country around the world,” helping resources reach locally-based nonprofits.
Network for Good – Find charities easily, keep a track record of your donations, and make last minute (literally) giving for year-end deductions.
Small Token – Easily and quickly give a gift to a friend or family member by making a donation on their behalf.
Kiva – Through this micro-lending site, provide a loan to your choice of many domestic and global projects, and you can choose to re-gift your loan when you receive repayment.
Donors Choose – Choose a public school project and help teachers to bring their classroom dreams to life.
Heisman says of the last two, “If you’re somebody who has no idea of where you want to start, these are two great places to start.”
What if women’s career opportunities are your passion?
Education Fund – Support women 35 years and older to return to education after adversity with the charitable arm of the Women’s Forum of New York.
No matter your giving interests, with both intention and attention, your giving dollars can go further.
Voice of Experience: Meltem Cagan, Managing Director – Country Team Head for Turkey, UBS
Voices of ExperienceBy Cathie Ericson
Meltem Cagan made an assumption that many women do when they’re starting their careers. “I always thought delivering the results was the most important component, but now I see that relationships and how you position yourself politically are hugely important, particularly in financial institutions,” she says.
Very numbers driven, she underestimated the critical nature of perception, which created some unfair situations in her view. “If you concentrate on delivering results, that’s important, but there’s this other component I wasn’t aware of at first that factors equally,” she says. “As a logical and straightforward person, I realize I was naïve to not understand this as a significant element in the industry, and I am eager to share that knowledge with others.”
A Career Destined for the Top
Cagan’s career has had a clear theme: Start at the bottom and climb the ladder. That was the case when she started as a trader in Turkey: During her 10-year tenure, she ended up running the trading floor for a medium-sized bank. Then she decided to move to wealth management, which took her to London with Citi where she started as a private banker and built her business before being asked to head Citi’s private banking business.
After her Citi stint, she joined Morgan Stanley to fulfill her desire to work for an investment bank; three-and-a-half years later she was approached by UBS, fortuitous timing since at the time Morgan Stanley was planning to sell its business. She happily accepted UBS’ offer to join the biggest wealth manager in the Turkish market, where she has been for almost three years.
“My career has taken me through all types of banking, and due to my team’s success, I have always been offered increasing responsibility. That’s what drives me,” she says.
She appreciates the current flexibility she has and the opportunities she’s had to work in Turkey and London, where she is a managing director. “It was a difficult ascent as a woman and I am proud of my career path,” she says.
Over the past three years, she has been focused on growing the business and is excited to see how they can take it to the next level. “Rather than growing 10 percent, I’m wondering how we can double it,” she says, noting that it’s not just about growing the business but enhancing their reputation. “We would never grow the business at the expense of our reputation. The challenge is to successfully do both together.”
With that goal in mind, Cagan also acknowledges the industry is going through a difficult period in terms of growth. Still not fully recovered from the 2008 crisis, many countries are experiencing anemic growth, which keeps interest rates low and injects a great deal of volatility into banking, creating a low- or no-growth environment. In addition, in many markets there is much inefficiency and regulation, which can conspire to create a difficult environment to deliver results. “We have to deal with cost pressure and margin pressure, but we will be successful,” she says.
Barriers for Women are Largely Self Imposed
“Most women, including myself, are perfectionists. We expect too much of ourselves and can be harsh and critical. But this mindset puts you in a situation where you don’t highlight what you are good at and that can translate into a weak position,” she says.
The remedy is to change your focus from what you don’t have, to a “glass-half-full” perspective. Ultimately this will change how you present yourself and help you go into situations like negotiations with a stronger positon.
“Some people are good at marketing themselves and others find it degrading,” she says. “There’s the perspective that you do a good job; the numbers show it; people acknowledge it and you don’t find the inclination to market it, but that can work against you.”
That’s why she advises young women to work on honing self-esteem and confidence, which can be aided when you start as a subject matter expert with a specialization. “While you are increasing your general knowledge, you will increase your confidence. It goes together as a package.”
As women climb the ladder, she encourages them to stay results-oriented, noting that many women work hard and produce lots of activity but not necessarily the outcomes they need. She suggests finding an efficient way to get results, while being mindful of the importance of being supportive of one another and curbing rivalry.
“We can get into competition later when there’s more of us,” she says wryly. “Part of self- confidence is building others up.”
Cagan builds her own knowledge by being active in “A Women’s Network,” which is focused on top women in wealth management. She appreciates its networking environment and forums with trainings on topics such as personal brand, management skills and more.
An Eye Toward Philanthropy and Family
With a family spread between Turkey, the United States and the U.K., Cagan devotes much of her spare time to travel.
“I am naturally a curious person so the diversity of culture enriches me,” she says, not just with her family but with their friends and extended circles.
In addition, she is an active philanthropist and finds it particularly meaningful to support the education of girls in her country, a cause that is dear to her heart. She also is working to become an advocate for incoming refugees, especially girls, offering financial as well as one-on-one help.
Voice of Experience: Lisa Mitnick, Managing Director, Accenture Digital, Accenture North America
People“A career is a journey. Things will change and you’ve got to be adaptable,” says Lisa Mitnick, Managing Director, Accenture Digital. “What you chose to do getting out of school doesn’t have to define you, but it is something that will ultimately shape you and help you grow. My advice to young women starting a career in tech is to always continue to learn – technology changes rapidly – and network like crazy to build strong relationships.”