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Female Leaders Share Their Strategies On Creating Change at 5th Annual Navigating your Career Event

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glasshammer event

By Melissa Anderson

Women leaders from the financial and professional services industries, shared their advice on how women can be agents of change at The Glass Hammer’s fifth annual career navigation event at PwC’s headquarters last Wednesday, sponsored by PwC, TIAA and Voya Investment Management.

“Change leadership starts with people who want to do better,” said The Glass Hammer’s CEO Nicki Gilmour as she opened the event, encouraging the audience to probe the speakers with difficult questions.

“We’re here to talk about how we can lift as we climb.”

The panel was moderated by Mary McDowell, an Executive Partner at Siris Capital Group and was a panelist at theglasshammer.com’s women in technology event last Fall.

Panelists included Christine Hurtsellers, Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income at Voya Investment Management; Liz Diep, Assurance Partner for Alternative Investments at PwC; Pam Dunsky, Managing Director of Client Services Technology at TIAA; and Deborah Lorenzen, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Global Product and Marketing at State Street Global Advisors.

While the panelists’ careers varied significantly and were spread across different industries, one factor emerged that all of them seemed to have in common: intention. Whether describing their career paths, discussing their experience mentoring, sponsoring and networking, or talking about the ways in which they lead change toward workforce diversity at their companies, it was clear that the women went about their business with purpose.

For example, in discussing how she chooses junior staffers to mentor or sponsor, Diep says,

“You have to seek out those people you want to mentor and sponsor – you can’t be a passive participant if you want to see change,” she said. Mentoring someone means serving as their sounding board and offering advice on career advancement, while sponsorship involves putting forward one’s personal capital behind closed doors to expand their career opportunities.

Diep mentioned that a motivating factor to grow in her own career is to see more junior colleagues progress along with her and how walking the walk on “lifting as we climb” strategy is important to her When discussing how she keeps her network fresh, Diep described how she blocks time on her calendar months in advance for networking coffees and lunches, and fills in the “who” later on.

Hurtsellers described how she tries to proactively work with other leaders in her company to develop a business plan that increases diversity.

“Being a female business leader in a very male-dominated industry can be quite a lonely spot,” she said. Clients are beginning to require asset managers to disclose their numbers on staff diversity during the RFP process; but Hurtsellers said that’s not enough.

“We need more than a check-the-box mentality around diversity to effectively tackle the issue. I try to challenge a bit of the establishment thinking,” she said. “I ask the elephant-in-the-room-type questions like ‘How do you get women into financial services if they don’t think that the industry matches their values?’”.

Hurtsellers further stated that she felt being a woman in a male-dominated industry can also be a competitive advantage if you’ve worked to build a personal brand, like authenticity.

“But it has to come back to who you are – be true to yourself,” she said.

Similarly, Dunsky shared how she had established a brand for herself earlier in her career, only to revise it later on.

“Earlier, my brand was being really hard working – but, I realized, you don’t just want to be known as a hard worker,” she said. “After taking a step back, I realized it’s not the only thing I want people to say about me.”

Dunsky said she started thinking more critically about what she wanted to be known for: leadership, the ability to execute, being able to guide and direct and grow her team.

“You have to be conscious of what your strength is,” she said. Sometimes a strength can be a weakness if it bars advancement to the next level, she explained. That’s why it’s important to always be thinking of your strengths and what you can build upon to help get to the next level.

“You want your brand to be natural – so people can conceive of you doing it,” she said.

Lorenzen added that being true to yourself is critical to advancement. Trying to ‘be one of the guys’ to blend in can ultimately hold you back, and so will shying away from big opportunities. She advised to take calculated risks early and often.

“Show up and say yes when you are asked, even if you only have 50% [of the qualifications], because the men will say yes if they only have 25%,” she said.

Finally, during the question and answer segment, one audience member asked a question that must have been top of mind for many of the guests.

Being head of a business unit or a partner at a firm comes with a lot of power that enables women at the top to open difficult conversations about diversity, she reasoned so the question is ‘How can someone be a change agent earlier in her career when there is a greater risk of retaliation for speaking up?’

To get to the top as a woman in a male-dominated industry, you have to stand up for those conversations throughout your career, said Lorenzen.

“If you fail to raise your voice on matters of ethics and therefore accept a status quo at odds with your beliefs, you won’t be happy,” she said. Of course, she continued, there is a measure of balance to find. It’s important to choose the right battles to fight.

Lorenzen continued “You have to choose when to speak up. It never gets any easier, and opportunities arise throughout your career to do the right thing. It is about leading from where you are.”

Summing up the evening’s discussion, McDowell said, “Be of good courage, build great relationships, don’t forget your peers and be true to yourself.”

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Voice of Experience: Christine del Rosario, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

christine del rosario“Early on in your career, try to think about your aspirations and long-term goals and share them with the people who can help you realize them,” says Christine del Rosario, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. While your colleagues will notice you’re giving it your all and might have a sense what you’re working toward, you have to be clear with them as to your goals, so they can help you build the skills to have the experiences you need to pursue opportunities. “If something is on your list, people who support you will tend to help you get to where you want to be.”

Career Path

Del Rosario joined the Orange County office of PwC in 1998 after graduating from UCLA and spent nine years in the assurance practice specializing in the industrial products sector. In her first coaching meeting, she recalls, she mentioned to her coach she wanted to do an international tour at some future stage in her career, and that aspiration was always revisited in their discussions from that point forward. Her plans materialized in 2007 when she moved to London for a three year assignment, and also had the opportunity to work in Tokyo during that time. Through this experience she was exposed to the financial services sector and decided to switch her specialization to financial services when she repatriated in 2010.

Over the years, del Rosario has seen that superiors give opportunities to people they like and in whom they see potential, and they will invest time in developing those individuals. She suggests for women to continue to find ways to connect with leaders in their organizations, both men and women alike. “It’s not so much about networking, but about developing relationships that are genuine because of the emotional investment you have made with those people, which creates a special bond that, almost always, stays with you forever.”

Del Rosario says she was fortunate to develop deep relationships with senior managers and partners early in her career, and she found those individuals looked after her, providing counsel and feedback. “Navigate your way to increase your visibility and likeability factor so you’re top of mind when opportunities arise,” she advises.

One program at PwC she feels has contributed to her success is “Breakthrough Leadership,” where high-potential senior managers who have been identified as future leaders gather for a two-day conference. They build skills, such as how to solicit candid feedback, and are connected with leaders who will help open doors and act as sponsors as they make the journey into the next stage of their careers. “It’s important that we make sure we have these opportunities to develop women, and support them as they progress towards getting admitted into the partnership,” she says. A key contributor is the ability to get exposure and network with leaders and other peers.

Exciting Times and Giving Back

Without hesitation she says that being admitted to the partnership is the achievement she’s most proud of. “Leading up to it you get such tremendous support and the partners truly make you feel they have your back, so when you get admitted it’s like being welcomed to this special family,” she says.

Currently, del Rosario is working closely with some new clients on the audit side. “New engagements with new teams are always a great opportunity to learn together and establish new processes, which is quite powerful when you realize you helped shape what people will continue to build upon for years to come,” she says. “These types of highly collaborative projects are very exciting to me.”

In addition to working on these new clients, del Rosario enjoys being constantly challenged and working to help clients understand how PwC’s five identified megatrends (demographic and social change, shift in economic power, rapid urbanization, climate change and resource scarcity, and technological breakthroughs) will shape the global and economic landscape, many of which may disrupt her clients’ businesses.

Del Rosario has always had an interest in developing others, which carries over into her philanthropy. She serves as an officer of the board of Ascend, a non-profit that focuses on diversity and inclusion and development of Pan-Asian leaders in the business community. Since having been involved in Ascend, “I have had the opportunity to help mentor a lot of wonderful and highly-engaged and motivated individuals as they work their way through their careers, and all of them inspire me to continue to try to make a difference each and every day,” she says.

A Travelling Family

Del Rosario appreciates the privilege she had of travelling around Europe when she and her husband were living in London and now she delights in taking her son places they went as a couple to rediscover them as a family. Before her son turned five, he had traveled over 100,000 miles, with each journey catalogued in a special travel book a friend created when he was born.

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Aspire to Lead: Developing Whole and Inclusive Leaders

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PwC“It’s second to none in importance today in business, the skill of being a whole leader, an inclusive leader.” The Glass Hammer talked to Mike Fenlon, PwC’s Global Talent Leader, about PwC’s Aspire to Lead program.

Now in its third year, Aspire to Lead is a PwC series on leadership and gender equality that provides university students and professionals with inspiration and practical insight on developing leadership, from the perspective of inspiring leaders.

“Aspire to Lead is all about development,” Fenlon told us. “We’re not talking about what you need to do to as the CEO. Here are the skills that Day One will be relevant and make a difference for you, women and men.”

In addition to an annual video webcast that reached over 107 countries this year, PwC runs development and skill-building workshops and discussions with students year-round and across the world.

The first live webcast featured LeanIn.Org Founder Sheryl Sandberg and President Rachel Thomas. The second focused on “The Confidence to Lead,” and featured Confidence Code authors Katty Kay and Claire Shipman and Eileen Naughton, Managing Director and VP of Google UK and Ireland.

This year, the event was hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and featured Award-winning actor Geena Davis, Founder of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Dawn Hudson the Academy CEO, and Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The panel provided insights from Hollywood on gender portrayal and taking your career to centre stage.

Fulfilling potential – being an inclusive and awake leader

“Aspire to Lead is about fulfilling potential,” Fenlon told us. “It’s absolutely critical for us to create an environment where everyone, men and women, can fulfill their potential and be whole leaders, inclusive leaders, and that means both individually and in our teams. That’s literally at the heart of our development framework.”

“One (aspect of inclusive leadership) is that I’m demonstrating self-awareness,” explained Fenlon. “In the context of working across differences, that means a commitment to understanding my own (unconscious) blindspots.”

“I’ll give you a few words,” he said. “Engineer. Scientist. Venture capitalist. Executive. Surgeon. Leader. Accountant. CEO. Literally, who do you see? What the research shows us is that who you see is skewed towards a male image, for both men and women.”

“The point is when I see you, do I see you as someone who possesses the potential to be a leader,” said Fenlon. “Am I going to connect you with people who I think will be valuable? Am I going to assign you to work that will stretch you and develop you? Will I take some risks because I see potential? This is about seeing potential.”

One of the discussion materials that’s been used in the program is an animated video in which a woman shares an idea in a meeting and goes unnoticed. Minutes later, a man shares the same idea and it’s hailed as “a breakthrough”.

“That shows a blind spot as a leader,” Fenlon said. “Am I awake, am I tuned into the dynamics of my team, to creating an atmosphere where everyone can contribute their ideas and everyone’s heard?”

“So when we talk about whole leadership,” Fenlon explains, “we start by saying I have to develop my self-awareness around who I am, around how my life experiences and culture have shaped how I see the world, and how I see others, and my ability to recognize talent. Is there anything more important in business than the ability to recognize talent, to spot talent?”

“If you’re asleep, if you’re blind, you’re really captive to your own biases and cultural assumptions, which just aren’t true,” Fenlon said. “If I’m awake, I understand, I’m seeing what’s in front of me, the dynamics in my team, who is speaking, who is being heard, who is contributing. I’m awake to the potential of my colleagues, of the people in my team. I see it. I’m excited by it. I’m creating opportunities for people to fulfill their potential. I’m aware of my blindspots. This is important for women and men.”

Throwing out the script

Speaking about the 2016 webcast, Fenlon says, “Our focus was the representation of gender in the entertainment and the media, and how that shapes the assumptions we make and those blindspots. We used that as a metaphor for ‘how do I write my own script, how do I demonstrate the confidence to be center stage, how do I launch my career in a way that I’m positioned to fulfill my potential?’”

The forum demonstrated how women can reject cultural scripts to write their own.

“Think of it this way,” said Fenlon. “Stereotypes are scripts that other people have written for you…You show up, day one of the office. Well, here are the three standard scripts, if you will, and they reflect massive blindspots. They may reflect all sorts of assumptions that are widely inaccurate about who you are and what you can do. But they’re the traditional scripts.”

“Jennifer Yuh Nielson is one of the very few women directors in Hollywood,” said Fenlon. “When she leads, and this is part of the power of the discussion we had, she leads as an introvert. She’s very focused on listening. She’s not the stereotypical director… She didn’t take the scripts that may have been handed to her. It’s about authentic leadership, playing to your strengths, and different styles of leadership than maybe what are stereotypically associated with men. It’s not just about being more like stereotypical male masculine models. And what can men then learn, in turn?”

Bringing men and women together

As one of the ten founding IMPACT partners for HeforShe, an important aspect of Aspire to Lead is that it brings both men and women together to work on gender equality together.

“When we did our session with Sheryl Sandberg, I bought all sort of books and I was handing them out,” said Fenlon. “I was talking to women colleagues and they were organizing Lean In circles, reading books, going to lunch and going to talking about it, going to conferences. And meanwhile what were men doing? Very little, is the answer.”

“I wrote in one of my blogs, ‘Is gender equality women’s work?’ Obviously, that’s rhetorical,” said Fenlon. “If we’re going to achieve gender equality, inclusive leadership, we all have a role to play here, and for men to become inclusive leaders, to fulfill their potential as a manager, as someone who can spot talent, who can bring out the best in others, who can bring out the best in a team, it means I’ve got to exercise self-awareness. I’ve got to look and acknowledge my blind spots. I’ve got to diversify my personal network. I have to learn to make sure I’m calling out all voices. I have to bring equality home.”

“The question is: who do you see…?”

“Aspire to Lead reflects our commitment as a culture,” said Fenlon. “We want students to have a really valuable development experience and in the process develop whole leaders, develop the leadership skills of students, help them prepare to launch their career, and to drive gender equality.”

Getting personal, Fenlon shared, “I brought my daughter to Hollywood Boulevard, and I took a picture of one star. You know these stars that have yet to be named? The question is: who do you see in that star? When you think about talent, when you think about a software engineer, when you think about a doctor, surgeon, accountant, lawyer, executive, venture capitalist, who do you see?”

Across the bottom of the symposium page for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, are the words: If she can see it, she can be it.

What Fenlon is driving at here is a critical complementary point. If we can all learn to see the potential of it already in her (or stop being blind to it), we can help her to be it, too.

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Thought Leader: Elizabeth Diep, Partner, Asset and Wealth Management Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Elizabeth DiepBy Cathie Ericson

Don’t be afraid to pursue the big assignment or job even if you think you don’t meet 100 percent of the qualifications,” says PwC’s Elizabeth Diep. She urges women not to limit themselves because although you won’t always hit it out of the park, you learn from every experience, and often even more from the ones that don’t succeed. “Big jobs are scary but the only way you learn is by practicing.”

And, she cautions, if you say no too many times, people will start assuming you’re not interested and you’ll no longer be on the list for consideration. “Along the way you have to take calculated risks.”
As an assurance partner in the audit practice, Diep focuses on alternative investment clients, which include endowments, hedge funds and private equity clients, ranging from highly complex, multi-national companies to smaller, locally based equity funds. As Diep puts it, that is her “day job,” as she is also involved in other firm business, including assisting with people initiatives as a Human Capital (human resources) partner, where she focuses on helping a group of about 150 more junior colleagues navigate the firm, providing guidance on their development, education and experience.

A Changing Industry Full of Challenges

Because the asset management world within the financial services industry is still fairly male dominated, Diep sees it as one ripe with opportunity. “If someone wants to thrive and be challenged every day, this is the field for them,” she says, noting that in an ever-changing industry, there are constantly new financial instruments being created. “As the world gets more complex, the industry gets more complex,” she says.

The industry also is appealing to anyone with an international mindset. “The opportunities that lie abroad push you to be more open to the world because we’re interacting in a global society every day.”

The industry also calls for flexibility since your day can change with every phone call or email articulating a new client need. “I might have a client interested in investing in transportation out of Greece and Panama so I need to see what resources PwC has to support those needs,” she says. And that’s why success lies in delivering relationships before you need them.

“You’re not just working with people in your office, but other partners and members of the global network. You have to be resourceful and know who can help you find the answer you need. Those connectors become critical to your success.”

She says that today’s workforce is different from generations past when people were expected to have all the answers. Today, it’s more important to know which expert can help you get the answer rather than being expected to know everything personally.

Flexibility Remains a Challenge

Diep cites a recent PwC survey of millennials that explores the importance of flexibility, and unfortunately, she finds that while many firms promote work/life balance, employees still worry that taking advantage of these programs could have a negative impact. And that translates into a pervasive feeling among many women, especially working moms at the mid-career level, that the industry is too demanding if they want to perform well and also have a family.

One program designed to help is the “He for She” program, of which PwC is a sponsor with a goal of having 80 percent of the men join. “At the end of the day it’s primarily men sitting around the table so we have to get them involved in this conversation and advance women’s causes,” Diep says. “When we move away from just women talking about the challenges but have men supporting them, it will be a game changer.”

She says that she has been bolstered in her own career by mentors and sponsors who served as role models with a balance that she has learned to emulate. “It’s not always equal,” she says, noting that sometimes they were working late hours but then they still always made time to disconnect on vacation or take off for their kids’ birthdays. “They gave me an example of how you can use the day how it works best for you, to balance all your key life relationships, while always completing high-quality work.”

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Mover and Shaker: Mary-Kate Ryan, Manager, Advisory Consulting, PwC Ireland

Mary-Kate Ryan, Pwc“People are like tea bags. You don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water.”

This advice from one of her role models, Eleanor Roosevelt, has always resonated with Mary-Kate Ryan.

“This wisdom is still up-to-date as a great analogy of how women must challenge ourselves in the workplace. Men are more apt to claim they are the right person for any given task, while women often feel ‘imposter syndrome,’ where they’re not sure they have the capability they need. But we all know that if you put tea in cold water it’s not very good, but put it in the thick of things, in the ‘hot water,’ and you see how well it works.”

Ryan’s career has been a series of hot water scenarios that she has willingly put herself in and come out stronger. After studying economics and finance in university, she and two of her sisters opened a successful fashion boutique in Dublin which she managed for eight years, attracting a devoted clientele – think Beyoncé caliber!

She says that looking after the business and seeing the fruits of her labor in a niche market was a wonderful training ground throughout her 20s where she had to learn to be adaptable and willing to take on any role; then as she built a team, acquire a comfort level to let go and allow the team to develop as well.

After a brief stint in another business with one sister, she noticed a curiosity about the corporate sector, specifically management consulting, as she approached her 30s. Deciding to act on that gut instinct, she took a career break to go back to university and earn a master’s degree in Management Consultancy at UCD Smurfit in Dublin, something she said feels even more important at that point in your life, because you are more committed and yet able to fully appreciate the freedom of being a full-time student. She made the most of her time there, building up her network and even playing on a touch rugby team that went to the MBA Rugby World Cup in North Carolina.

Learning the Ropes in a Corporate Environment

Earning top honors in her class, Ryan felt confident that she could parlay that success into the skills needed for management consulting and joined PwC Ireland. Some people were confused by her move, expressing that she had been living the dream with her own company, but she enjoyed the leap to the corporate environment. “One of my key skills is my adaptability. I am good at jumping into new situations so I put my head down and figured out the culture.”

Since then she has enjoyed her work on long-term projects in complex environments, overcoming challenges and working with high-performing teams.

She credits her robust support network with helping her along the way. “Sometimes you just need a few conversations that remind you how capable you are and that it’s fine to not know everything because you will learn what you need to,” she says.

Her projects helping organizations integrate after a merger can be quite intense. “The change management and personnel aspect is very interesting, as each situation entails complexity and ambiguity,” she says. “There’s no magic formula and that’s what keeps it exciting.”

When she first started at PwC, she assumed it was going to be a dog-eat-dog environment but was pleasantly surprised at her experience. “Business is always going to be competitive, but I soon learned that high-performing people are also very nice and accessible.” She found that building relationships with clients worked in the same way. “As I got to know them, I found that they were more supportive than you would imagine. We all are just trying to do the job well.” And she adds, PwC offers a diversity of backgrounds that allows its employees to nourish all the aspects that make each person individual.

Along the way, she was able to acquire mentors and sponsors, which she says came about naturally because she showed she was interested, curious and enthusiastic. “Bringing those aspects to the table didn’t have immediate rewards but they put me on people’s radar. A year or so later, someone would think of me and present me with an amazing opportunity,” she says.

For example, even while working offsite, she kept in touch and because of her initiative was offered a project in Dubai with a client with whom she really wanted to work. “It came about because I maintained a network and let people know what I was interested in. If you share the views of what you want to do and have the right conversations, it will naturally happen.”

Multicultural Assignments Feed Her Work/Life Balance

In addition to her work in Dubai, she has enjoyed other international assignments because of what she’s learned about global and multicultural issues. “When I was working in Ireland, there were mostly similarities in terms of approaches, but the international assignments have shown me I can build a team of people with different backgrounds and still be able to see the commonalities,” she says. “You learn not to make assumptions, but instead to really listen and understand people’s motives and objectives.” For example, if someone is being resistant in a meeting, it could be because they don’t agree, but it also could be because they don’t understand and you have to draw them out.

She says that has made her more open-minded and perform better in cross-functional teams, as well as making her gravitate toward more global assignments with an eye to what else she can learn.
Her love of travel extends to her personal life, where she spends as much time as she can trekking and traveling, exploring her interest in different languages, cuisine and cultures.

“As Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.’ I believe that approaching life with a curious mind keeps you invigorated and allows me to bring that level of enthusiasm to my work.”

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Voice of Experience: Martha Ruiz, Partner, PwC

Martha Ruiz, PwC For Martha Ruiz, having a family provided an unanticipated career boost. “I learned that it’s ok to say no and become comfortable with what’s best for me,” she says, noting that as her priorities shifted, she experienced an increased confidence. “Family sets a counterbalance with your career, and you become better at knowing what’s important and setting priorities.”

PwC has been the perfect environment for her to grow her successful career, joining the firm’s general tax practice directly out of college. She soon migrated to the entertainment and media group in Los Angeles, where she provides tax compliance and advisory services to a variety of entertainment clients throughout Southern California.

It’s a vibrant field, given the new ways that consumers are consuming content that change long-held industry paradigms. Broadcasting has evolved to become tailored to a more fragmented audience, a shift that will continue as video on demand and streaming technologies continue to grow. “The industry will continue to mold its business around these changes and it’s to the benefit of the consumer,” she says.

An Oscar-Worthy Performance

This specialization in the entertainment field is what provided her the honor of becoming the Oscars® balloting co-leader in 2015, overseeing the team and balloting process that takes place during nominations and the finals. As such, Ruiz was only one of two partners who knew that Spotlight would be named Best Picture.

“It’s a unique spot to realize that you know the final winner before the rest of the world,” she marvels.

But even the golden glow of the Oscars® pales when she is asked to name her biggest professional achievement, which for her was becoming partner in 2011. “I joined the firm for all the opportunities it availed me and took advantage of all the doors that had been opened to me,” she says, mentioning mentors and coaches who have helped her funnel career decisions. “When I started, it wasn’t with the objective to be a partner but only to get experience; however, as I progressed within the firm and saw what an achievement it was for those around me, I began to have the desire to become partner. Now I can help coach others within the pipeline.”

Mentoring Others

The pipeline is an important aspect to Ruiz, who balances busy client engagement with a leadership role on recruiting efforts. “Talent is our future, so we are invested in making sure we have the right skill sets and the best and brightest coming through our door.”

She’s also active in the “Aspire to Lead” program, where students from various campuses experience the firm and join in panel discussions via a webcast that links all the PwC offices. This year the event focused on gender equality and featured Geena Davis and Dawn Hudson.

As she works with younger talent, she reminds them that it’s especially important for women to learn to build their confidence and tools to use their voice. “We have to train ourselves to say the things that are on our mind even when it feels hard,” she says, adding that’s one of the benefits of diversity – different views.

Mentors can play a valuable role by providing a different experience or perspective when tackling an issue or challenge.

“Reach out and talk through a situation with someone with whom you feel comfortable,” Ruiz advises. “You don’t have to go it alone because they have been there.”

And, it certainly doesn’t have to be formal relationship. “Throughout my career, I’ve had a variety of people I can bounce ideas off of and seek perspective, which gives me a better sense of how to tackle something.”

Now she can share that vantage point when talking to younger associates, helping them see the bigger picture. And she urges her peers to take the time to do the same, as they will reap the benefits when they take time to foster others’ career success.

“You might be working with someone indirectly, and as time flies and you see them flourish and become your peer, the value and enrichment you get from having watered that plant is so important.”

Family First

Ruiz is a big proponent of the family leave that PwC offers, having utilized it twice when her kids, now 11 and 7, were born. “Many of my contacts at other companies were envious of the flexibility I had to decide when I was coming back, and then when I did return, I felt really supported by partners with the transition. There has been an enduring sense of gratitude that the firm is doing the right thing.”

She says that the firm’s culture embraces flexibility and the ability to do work anywhere. “PwC takes the broader view that every individual may be going through different stages, and therefore, flexibility can look different for each person.”

For her that means dedicated vacation time, including a recent family trip to Hawaii that included her parents and siblings. “It was a calm, relaxed setting that allowed us all to catch up and for the kids to spend quality time with their grandparents.”

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OP-ED: Employers must meet unprecedented female demand for international mobility – or face losing the war for talent

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Aoife FloodContributed by Aoife Flood. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Aoife is Senior Manager of the Global Diversity and Inclusion Programme Office at PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.

Did you know that we are experiencing a time of unprecedented – and as yet unmet –demand from female employees for international mobility?

Across the world, forward-thinking organisations are using international mobility experiences to develop future leaders and advance the careers of key talent. Yet despite unprecedented female demand for these assignments, women currently only account for 20% of international assignees.To boost awareness of this shortfall, celebrate the international career aspirations of women and shine a light on what organisations can do to help make these aspirations a reality, PwC is marking this year’s International Women’s Day by launching a new research-based report called Moving women with purpose.

The report highlights a number of other critical diversity disconnects beyond the wide gap mentioned above between female demand for mobility and the reality in the workplace. For example, the overwhelming majority of multinationals in our study told us that global acumen skills were a critical requirement for advancement into leadership positions at their organisations (77%) – and 67% of large multinationals said they use global mobility to develop their succession pipeline of future leaders. Yet only 16% confirmed that the number of female international assignees in their organisation was proportionate to their overall percentage of female employees.

Furthermore, only 22% of global mobility executives stated that their organisations’ diversity and mobility strategies were aligned. Even more worryingly, the same small proportion – 22% – said they were actively trying to increase their levels of internationally mobile women.

So it’s clear that organisations are using international exposure and experiences to develop and advance their key talent. But it’s equally clear that more action is urgently needed to close a significant mobility gender gap. To do this, CEOs must drive an agenda where women are both aware of – and also actively provided with – the critical experiences they need to progress their careers, including international assignment opportunities. Also, to respond to and capitalise on the demographics of the modern workforce mobility, mobility programmes can simply not be operated in a silo. Global mobility, diversity and talent management strategies need to be connected and coordinated to support companies’ successful realisation of their international business and people strategies.

Another disconnect that PwC’s research report highlights is a glaring lack of role models for female mobility. Less than half of the women we interviewed agreed that their organisation has enough female role models with successful international assignment experiences. And this shortcoming is negatively impacting companies’ wider female talent and global mobility programmes. In fact, both women and global mobility executives identified it as the second highest barrier inhibiting more women from undertaking international assignments.

To close this role model gap, international employers need to use the mantra ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ as a catalyst to drive more gender-inclusive mobility. The 71% of female millennials who actively desire international mobility want to be able to look up and around them to see women who have already had such experiences at their organisation, and who have seen their careers benefit as result. If women can’t see such role models, then organisations will struggle to attract or retain female talent, who will look to other employers to provide them with the international opportunities they crave.

Speaking personally, I was very lucky to undertake a mobility experience at the age of 25 to PwC’s Boston office – and for the near-decade since then I’ve worked with an international mandate. So I know just how life-changing a mobility experience can be. I can’t imagine any other way that I could have benefited from such rapid and profound personal and profession development in a relatively short space of time. This is one of the reasons why our report includes profiles of several female role models from PwC and other international businesses.

We’d also like to share with you our Moving women with purpose role model video, which showcases a diverse range of PwC women talking about their international mobility experiences. If you are a woman considering undertaking an international experience, or perhaps hesitating about taking the plunge, it’s definitely worth a watch.

In identifying and publicising female role models, it’s important that organisations ensure they don’t all look the same. This means asking yourself whether your role models will resonate with all your female talent – or just a select few. And to ensure the widest possible relevance, it’s vital to profile a diverse range of female role models. Examples may include women who have had international experience early in their careers, and those who have benefited from them when their careers are more established; women who have been deployed to geographically diverse markets, both developed and emerging; women who have been deployed on their own, with their partners and with their families; and women who have undertaken widely differing types of assignment – whether business- or developmental-focused, and whether long- or short-term.In the face of today’s fast-changing workforce demographics, global mobility strategies that do not fully include women will simply not deliver to their full potential. Organisations must take heed – and act in response.
We invite you to find out more by visiting www.pwc.com/movingwomenwithpurpose
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Voice of Experience: Michelle Orozco, Assurance Partner and Diversity and Inclusion Leader, PwC Mexico

Michelle OrozcoPwC Mexico Partner Michelle Orozco reminds women not to be afraid of being ambitious. “It’s important to express your desire to develop professionally and share your opinion,” she says, adding that the issue of work/life flexibility is one that women need to be upfront about. “If you want more flexibility, or need to change some aspect of your work or home life to better balance, you can’t be shy about addressing it.” Over the years, she has learned that it’s ok to say no: “Sometimes you feel overwhelmed and even though you want to say yes, saying no demonstrates that you know what you want and can prioritize what’s important at any moment in your career.”

Orozco serves as a role model of a professional woman capable of successfully addressing work/life balance.

She joined PWC in 1997 as an auditor, soon heading to London where she spent four years assisting in developing guidance for accounting standards used by the firm worldwide. She returned to Mexico City, where her successful experience from London formed a critical part of the business case for her admittance to the partnership as an expert in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Her current role as head of Global Accounting Consulting Services in Mexico includes supporting clients with complex transactions, assisting with internal and external training in IFRS and providing advice to clients with respect to their accounting approaches.

“Everything that affects our clients is of interest to me, and it’s vital that we are prepared for the accounting consequences of global and national economic issues so we can advise them.”
She also was appointed diversity leader in June 2014, which she terms both a great honor and a great challenge. “My background is more technical and related to numbers so dealing with diversity initiatives allows me to explore a different side with more emphasis on business skills. It’s been a learning experience I have appreciated.”

Rooting Out Subconscious Bias

Orozco believes that subconscious bias is still prevalent in Mexico, reinforcing the stereotype that women should stay home and men should be the bread winner. “That belief can affect decisions about who is the best person for a certain role,” she says, adding that there needs to be an emphasis on accepting that not all women and men have the same desires.

“We need to focus on talent, rather than gender, and be cautious about how our beliefs may affect decisions that could prevent women from continuing to grow.”

For their part she says that women need to realize that they don’t need to be super women. “As long as you’re delivering results, you can manage your personal and professional goals. Take your flexibility and use it as needed and make sure you have the balance of teamwork you need at home and at work.”
Over the years, she has found that women face greater challenges in tackling balance. “Becoming a partner involves difficult work, and you have to make a choice that you will be sacrificing some of your personal time, but you have to balance that with the pride you feel in your professional accomplishments. In truth the sacrifice has been very limited; I’ve never had to miss an important family event or any of my children’s special occasions,” Orozco says.

She also believes that young women should carefully consider their partner’s support of their career aspirations. “It’s vital to ensure that you have the same interests and goals. Here in Mexico we have cultural differences, and some men believe women should stay at home, so that’s an issue that should be addressed.”

She has also seen great strides in men being more upfront about their desire to spend time with family, and that’s where she believes flexibility is important.

And she has seen that women have a role to play too: “We don’t always help other women, and that needs to change. We need to be more open and understanding that even if it was difficult for you, it doesn’t have to be as difficult for others.”

Making Time for Other Women and Family

That belief plays into her ongoing efforts to mentor other women. She has recently assisted in creating a firm network to discuss issues such as personal brand, improving confidence and other professional skills that they will formalize this year. She is also part of a mentoring initiative with the American Chamber, and next year will be involved in “Reach Out” — an initiative first introduced in India that involves PwC, American Express, Microsoft and General Motors. Women will be selected to network and attend monthly professional development sessions and also be mentored by the CEOs of those companies and others in the group.

A mom to three children, two boys, ages 12 and 7, and a four-year-old girl, Orozco relies on other supportive women, including connections she has with other families via her children’s schools.

Orozco prioritizes personal time, visiting her parents and friends often and focusing on her husband and kids. They enjoy traveling but also spending time at home, going out to the cinema or weekend restaurant nights, where, as she says, devices are forbidden and distractions are few, so they can really connect.

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Voice of Experience: Laura Martinez, PwC US Assurance Diversity Leader

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Laura MartinezOne of the best pieces of advice that PwC Partner Laura Martinez heard early on has carried throughout her career: how important it is to engage with as many people as possible. “Early in your career those people are peers, managers, mentors and coaches, and you need to build relationships and be open to their coaching and guidance,” she says. “You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help you if you just reach out.”

Martinez has spent 25 years at PwC, specializing in serving registered investment companies, investment partnerships, hedge funds and private investment advisors. Most recently she served as the San Francisco Financial Services market team leader. When she first started her career there, becoming a partner wasn’t yet on her radar. “I’ve had great mentors during my whole career, and as my seniority has increased, so have my goals. When I first started, most of my mentors were managers and senior managers, but as they became partners, I was able to hear more about that track and my interest developed.”

Named partner in 2004, she credits that as her most important professional achievement, but adds that now she has the opportunity to help support others through the process, which she finds extremely rewarding. She encourages senior women never to underestimate the important role of serving as a mentor and support for younger women.

Diversity Always a Focus

Involved in diversity initiatives from the beginning of her career, Martinez was recently named as the diversity leader for PWCs US Assurance practice, the largest audit and risk assurance practice in the United States. She’s proud of this new role where she can devote time to thinking about diversity inclusion and how she can help shape and lead diversity initiatives. “It’s key to engage all levels in the firm, from our partners down to our youngest professionals, to get them interested and involved in driving sustainable impact.”

She sees her role in talent management and cultivating a diverse workforce at all levels as vital to the firm’s overall strategy, as well as being an area in which she and PwC can provide guidance to clients who are also dealing with similar issues.

Reminiscent of her advice to build a network is her belief that it should include people who are not exactly like you. “We often search for mentors who are just like us or what we think we want to be, but that means we can miss out on learning from some great individuals who may appear to be very different,” she says. “That’s the beauty of a diverse and inclusive work force – valuing the differences will make you a better professional.”

Women as Part of Diversity Initiatives

Martinez is proud of PwC’s culture that supports women and diverse professionals and helps them succeed.

In fact, she believes that some of the challenges women face are about trade-offs. “Every professional has to make sacrifices, but women have a harder time reconciling those choices,” she says. “We struggle with them and place a bigger burden on ourselves, especially when women explore having a family and a meaningful career,” Martinez says, adding that women can overthink opportunities and worry about failure and the impact of our trade-offs first.

And that’s why she encourages women to realize that they have limitless opportunities and they must be fearless about looking for them and taking advantage of resources firms offer to help them develop the skills and the network that will further a career. Whether women are at a junior or senior level, she sees that there is always an opportunity to grow and improve.

She attributes much of her success to the fact that she has always taken advantage of the resources offered, including those for gender and ethnic diversity, which have enhanced her skills and helped her develop into a better professional.

Over the years she has seen the offerings evolve to be more relevant to women’s needs as they also evolve, mirroring the changes in Corporate America through Lean In initiatives and other conversations about developing more diverse and female leaders, as well as gender equality. “We’re highly focused now on sponsorship, enabling early career success and career flexibility, all the while working to come to a better understanding for why such a gap exists among women leaders in Corporate America.”

She cites the “He for She campaign,” which supports PwC’s drive to not only be visible out in the marketplace but encourages people internally to support these causes.

Multi-Tasking in Her Free Time

To make the most of her off hours, Martinez participates in hobbies she enjoys that her whole family can do together – whether it’s golf, movies or travel.

Philanthropy is important to her – she has led PwC’s national recruiting efforts at her alma mater, University of California at Berkeley. And, even in her charitable endeavors she does double duty. “I love to partner on community service efforts with my team and my clients,” she says. “I can engage with my colleagues while giving back to the community and having a whole lot of fun in the process.”

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Mover and Shaker: Lauren Koopman, Director, PwC US Sustainable Business Solutions Practice

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Lauren Koopman“The notion of ‘career’ has such a different meaning these days than it used to,” reflects PwC’s Lauren Koopman. “You ask yourself what you are going to be when you grow up, but when I think back, I couldn’t even have named it because it didn’t exist. To get the most out of your career, you have to be very fluid and realize how much change there will be over the course of your life. Don’t feel like you’re hemmed into something and just have to make the best of it.”

Koopman’s observations come from her own career trajectory, including the initial impression that she was going to be in derivatives the rest of her life, and it was just a matter of deciding for which company. But traveling the world allowed her to figure out the new, rewarding career path that she travels today.

Detour Through Wall Street on the Path to Sustainability

Koopman’s first professional position was as a management consultant and manager of e-business during the dot com craze, where her charge was to work with large banks to help them define their internet strategy — helping them switch from “brick to click” as it is commonly known.

That was her first realization that you can’t plan your career too meticulously based on the information you have. “When I was going to school, there was no internet, and then all of a sudden, I was the manager of e-business. The world is morphing so quickly, there’s really no way to look out five to 10 years to identify what you are going to do.”

She decided to return to school to earn her MBA in finance, and there she became intrigued by the complexity of derivatives, realizing that if she could master a technical skill like that it would serve her well. She was subsequently hired by Deutsche Bank and worked on the Wall Street trading floor, which was literally all men. “They used to call the woman’s bathroom ‘Lauren’s room,’” she laughs.

Koopman describes an intense environment that would begin at 7 a.m. when she would familiarize herself with overnight action in Asia and Europe, and then begin monitoring four computer screens and six phone lines.

For five years she worked on the floor, until her new husband, who had just sold his business, asked if she could make it work to travel with him. “I had always wanted to travel around the world so I took a year off and we created our “BC” (Before Child) trip, where we tackled all the harder places to travel, such as India, Beirut, Syria, China, East Asia, the Arctic Circle and Africa.

“It was the best decision I ever made; completely game changing for me,” Koopman recalls. “After seeing firsthand the real issues in the world that people were experiencing, I decided I needed to do something to make a difference.”

Combining her finance background with a second master’s degree, this time in environmental engineering, she began investigating potential options where she could make the biggest impact. She approached it with strategic analysis, creating a database of more than 100 people to speak with at foundations, banks, corporations and consulting firms.

At the time, PwC US was just starting its sustainability practice, and she jumped at the opportunity to build it out and wield true influence, a positon she has held for five years. In fact, she cites her professional role model as the person who hired her, who had the foresight to understand the business benefits of sustainability and the inspiration to build it out.

Though she describes her current position as a complete career shift, she is able to rely on her deep insight in the financial world by focusing on financial service clients. “They appreciate that I am able to speak their language,” she says, adding that even three years ago most of the companies hadn’t even thought about incorporating a sustainability mindset into their investment decisions. “I am proud of how much we’ve done and I am excited to expand our work into asset management and other asset classes.”

Koopman was also recently appointed to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Young Global Leaders (YGL) forum, a group selected from around the world to form a next generation leadership network to engage in global affairs. The honor recognizes outstanding and proven young leaders under the age of 40 across business, government, and arts and culture, for their accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping a better future. Previous and current YGLs include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google Co-founder Larry Page, and Statistician Nate Silver.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

As Koopman has navigated her career, she’s learned the importance of reading people. “I had always assumed people at the top knew everything and were always right, but over the years I’ve figured out that people are people. You have to learn to evaluate your audience and understand where they’re coming from and how to speak to what they need,” she says, adding that understanding people and how an organization works is as important as technical knowledge. “Think about who you’re talking to and their needs.”

She also has seen the value of taking on every opportunity that’s presented without immediately worrying about why it wouldn’t work. “We tend to worry about failure and stay in our comfort zone,” she says. “But there’s so much value in taking on those new opportunities. Even if it‘s something that you don’t think you want to do, inherently you are learning so much from new skill sets and new people. This creates a knowledge and network reservoir you will draw on throughout your career.”

She cites learning by simply paying attention and absorbing as critical, for example times when she has watched CEOs sell an idea to a huge group of people. Koopman also pays credit to the mentors and colleagues she has met through participating in Women in Wall Street.

A Traveling Family

Koopman is quick to point to her supportive, “amazing” husband as one of her inspirations. With a two-and-a-half-year old and a six-month-old, her home life is as busy as her office. And, even though their life-changing trip was designed to hold them over until their children were a little older, they already have robust passports: the little travelers have visited Holland, Canada, Colombia and the west coast of America, along with regular trips to her husband’s family in New Zealand.

PwC US? Or globally?

By Cathie Ericson

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