This book is about creating your story, which starts by answering the following question: What do I choose to do next? Many people struggle in life until they realize that life, on its own, has no inherent meaning. We give our lives meaning by the vision that we set, the choices we make, the obstacles we overcome, and the rewards we reap through our experiences.
Often though, we hold onto experiences or expectations that get in the way of the life weâre trying to create. We interpret certain situations in a way that makes us angry or anxious, which can affect our behavior and our potential for success. Those negative interactions can damage our self-confidence to the degree that we feel compelled to give up. Part of creating your story comes from knowing what is relevant and important to you and the reality of what it takes to be in charge of your own life. I was able to create a story which inspires me, and my hope is that you will be able to create your own inspirational story. It starts by:
- Understanding that negative experiences or people you encounter have nothing to do with you. Donât hold onto the negativity and donât internalize it.
- Whatever happened is the past (even if it happened five minutes ago). Embrace the fact that you get to decide whatâs next.
- Choose a path that supports your personal values and vision for your life and your career. Your values are the foundation of a strategic career plan.
This book is organized into three sections to help you effectively become a female financial star by developing:
- 1.A vision of your life and career which focuses on the opportunity for women in financial services.
- 2.An awareness and understanding of gender-specific challenges so you can avoid or reduce threats to your career goals.
- 3.A strategic mind-set using the STAR process to create a personal career plan.
Why do I think this is important enough to write about it? Iâve been there. Iâve struggled in the trenches of the financial worldâas a womanâto build a career and a reputation for myself. Iâve seen what goes on and how people treat each other. In response to workplace realities, Iâve developed a winning formula for success because I want to see other women succeed.
Life on Mars
Growing up with artists for parents, my family never had money. I started working full time at sixteen. Somehow, I convinced my high school to let me leave at 12:30 every day so I could work an eight-hour shift at Sears. Although Sears offered a management track in lieu of college, I declined. Instead, I chose college and worked as a cocktail waitress/bartender to pay for my tuition.
After graduating with a degree in psychology, I worked for People Express Airlines as a customer service manager and was promoted to team leader. Before graduating from business school, I had already worked for thirteen years full time where hard work was appreciated and the idea of meritocracy was reinforced.
Because of my prior work experience, I was not prepared for what happened next, upon graduating from business school with an MBA. I was hired as a cost accounting manager at M&M/Mars in the Hackettstown, NJ plant. Everyone told me how hard it was to get into the company and how fortunate I was. The recruiter said that even though it was a large company, the staff was treated like family.
Employees were expected to work hard but they were highly compensated, and the benefits were beyond what most companies offered in 1990. The company maintained a generous defined benefit plan that guaranteed income in retirement. The overall compensation package created a competitive workforce, which was made up of people from all over the world. Many people inside the âfamilyâ were proud to call themselves âMartians.â
I didnât just enter an international manufacturing/marketing behemoth; I entered a position in finance within that environment. I soon learned the position was just as coveted as a position at Goldman Sachs or any of the major New York firms. Many finance professionals made the conscious decision to work at Mars over Wall Street.
On my first day, I arrived early and immediately went to get changed. We had to wear whites because we spent time on the manufacturing floor. As a cost accountant, it was my job to understand the manufacturing process and how it drove the cost of the product.
When I walked into the plant office, Dana, a woman I met during the interview process approached me. Although she was informative in the interview, it was clear she was not my biggest fan. I felt sure I could win her over quickly and planned to focus on trying. I wasnât prepared for what came out of her mouth though. Her exact words were, âWhy are you here? I told Richard not to hire you.â I remember it as if it were yesterday because I was shocked.
This set the stage for a rocky relationship made worse by the fact that Dana was supposed to train me and help me with my responsibilities. Her idea of training was to yell at me. For example, instead of telling me to prepare a document called a âScrap Report,â she stood in the middle of the office and yelled, âWhy didnât you complete the Scrap Report? What is wrong with you? You are incompetent!â No one at Mars had an office, regardless of what part of the company you worked for. Everyone sat in one big room. At headquarters, the room was the size of a stadium but you could see clearly from one side of the room to the next. If someone yelled loud enough, you could hear them as well.
With no policy or procedure manual in place, Dana continued to berate me in public. She spoke badly about me to all of the other managers in the plant office, most of whom were male. There were very few (if any) other female managers. Dana was an exception. Her treatment toward me established the initial response and lack of cooperation that I received from the plant workers those first three months. She attacked my competence and my confidence suffered, but within a few months, I learned what was required of me and turned it around.
I began to streamline the monthly processes and make improvements. One of the first things I did was create a policy and procedure manual so the next person wouldnât have to deal with Dana. I maintained my composure (there is no crying in baseball ⊠or at work) and got the job done, which helped me to earn the respect of the plant workers. Their confidence served me well to fix long-standing problems, which made everyoneâs job easier.
From our initial introduction, Danaâs strong reaction to me indicated some form of discrimination. Enough was said about female incompetence throughout the training ordeal that it became clear my gender was a problem and the intention was to exploit this stereotype. Female on female bullying is a gender-specific problem not legally protected even though the goal is to intimidate, demoralize, and destroy career potential. Dana liked her queen bee status in the Hackettstown plant and didnât want me, or anyone else, to encroach on it. I needed a strategy to divert her efforts.
Instead of allowing her insults to affect me, I rejected her crude assessment and focused on what I was hired to do. I quickly established my credibility to obviate her damaging accusations. Dana did not know me. She concluded who I was and what I was capable of based upon a judgment. Her insecurity and generalizations had nothing to do with me. This was not my problemâit was hers and I refused to own it. Some women never reach their potential because of someone elseâs inaccurate assessment or ulterior motives but only you really know what you are capable of. Trust your instincts and let your actions dictate the story.
The Numbers Donât Lie
Gender-specific challenges exist in all financial roles whether internal to other industries or in the financial services industry, serving the economic needs of individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. While the financial organizations recognize the need to reduce direct and indirect discrimination of women in financial roles, the intention of this book is to empower the women themselves to influence change while using tools to ensure success. The industry needs help because it has been posited that women require a critical mass in the executive ranks (30%) in order to have direct influence over organizations. Forecasts based upon current rates of change do not project this goal will be met until the middle of this century.1 That is too long to wait.
Today, 23% of Certified Financial Planners (CFPÂźs) and 16% of Chartered Financial Analysts (CFAÂźs) in America are women. Both are considered gold standard designations in the financial services industry. The percentages of women with financial designations are misleading because not everyone who obtained these designations is working in the finance industry. Some are academics, some have chosen not to work, and others have left the industry out of frustration.
Drilling down further to identify the percentage of women working in financial services, I explored data sets used in recent research. The biggest challenge in isolating exactly how many women work in financial services (in non-support or non-clerical roles) is that there is no universal definition of âfinancial advisor or planner.â Most of the research uses data sets where females make up between 10 and 15% of the âfinancial advisorâ population. In the studies where advisors traded investment instruments, as investment managers or fund managers, the percentage of women in those data sets drops below 10%. Women involved in fund management tend to manage passive portfolios versus active portfolios. Active management offers higher compensation, increased status, and they are the more coveted positions. Passive management positions are not mission-critical and are more likely to be eliminated through automation and robo-advisor offerings. Further, qualified females report working in support roles rather than critical investment or client facing roles, which affects their status, compensation, and job fulfillment.2
Culture usually emanates from the top. One of the reasons there are not more women financial advisors could be related to the leadership at the top in the financial services industry. Again, financial services include a broad range of business models. In the banking sector, a 2014 analysis by the New York Times examined the percentage of women serving on senior management committees at five of the major banks. Women made up to half of the employees at these firms, but clearly that number is not reflected in the percentage of female leadership.
- Citigroup: 4%
- Goldman Sachs: 13%
- Morgan Stanley: 13%
- JPMorgan Chase: 17%
- Bank of America: 36%.3
Research by Mercer, a consultancy, who conducted a large online survey of females working in the financial services industry across the USA found the proportion of women diminishes as one moves up the corporate ladder at the financial services firms.4 Mercerâs study showed that while 71% of the support staff are women, 40% of the managers and 21% of the executives are women. The study also showed that a lower percentage of women are hired into the upper ranks than men, a lower percentage of women are promoted to the next level than men, and a higher percentage of women than men exit the organization even once they have been promoted to higher levels.
Although the 1960s womenâs movement happened almost sixty years ago and women have made enormous strides in gender equality working in many occupations historically occupied by males, social norms continue to restrict progress. Actually, the womenâs movement is considered to have occurred in four waves, which began in the early 20th century and although each wave had its own focus, the issues always included womenâs ability to influence, equality, fair treatment and economic concerns.5
- 1.Early 20th Century focused on legal and social equality and the right to vote,
- 2.The 1960s focused on political and social equality and womenâs liberation,
- 3.The 1990s focused on the intersectional nature of identity and difficulties juggling career and motherhood, and
- 4.In 2012 the focus turned to an opposition of sexual harrassment, violence against women and womenâs role as world stewards.
Despite rapid progress in many industries from 1970 through 1990, economists show that progress has slowed in recent years and the research numbers donât lie. I advocate for a fifth wave now, where women focus on areas with clear ...