Name: Insights: Where Are All the Women in Finance?
Uploaded: 2020-01-21
Duration: 4 min 56 s
Description: It's not a 'pipeline' issue. (June 2019)

[MUSIC PLAYING] I spent 10 years at Citibank. So Citibank Blue still runs in my veins. I also spent six years at MasterCard, and then moved into technology, Facebook, and now at Ripple. And what I want to say about someone who is a non-traditional leader by every stretch of the imagination, of every room I ever walked in finance and then in technology, which is even-- I would say has even less diversity-- gender diversity. I would love to hear the panel's comments about pipeline, especially at senior leadership and at the board level. And saying that, I do sit on the board of progressive where we have a woman CEO, a woman chairwoman, and 50% of our board are women. And it is the most rock star of leaders that you've ever seen. So I would love to hear because I've been hearing about we don't have a pipeline for 25 years. I don't believe it. And I didn't believe it when I was 21 years old. I don't believe it at 47. So I would just love to hear A, what is your perspective on pipeline? What is the board situation? Why do we only have 17 women as Fortune 500 CEOs? The C-suite-- what can we actually do about it now. Yeah. It's not a pipeline issue. It hasn't been a pipeline issue for years and years and years. When I started at the old Salomon Brothers back more years than I'm going to share, my investment banking class was 40% women. And you look at this over time, and they've been bringing in women. What hasn't been happening is the industry hasn't been promoting them. So as you see at Citi, as you've laid open in your numbers, that women tap out at a certain level. By the way, for everyone here who's, oh, yeah, well, they go off to have that work-life balance. And they can't hack it. And it's really tough. And it's very mathematical. And that's very difficult. OK? The number one reason millennial women leave their jobs today is not for any of those reasons. It's for more money. And all the stuff that we think about women and why-- I mean, let's just get it all out-- why they can't hack it in financial services. They're not as good at math as the guys-- not true. They're not as good as investing as the guys-- not true. Right? It's the fact they've gotten tapped out and not promoted. And as mentioned, the bar has been higher for women and other minorities, where white men have been promoted based on potential and women and other minorities have been promoted based on achievement. So there's a higher bar. And we understand it. Right? Every one of us has been socialized regardless of what our background is or who we are. In this country, we've been socialized that white males are leaders. And so when we go to promote, that feels right to us. And we've certainly been socialized that white males are bankers. And in order for us to get through that, we need to strip away these underlying-- I don't know say biases but beliefs that women just aren't as good as these jobs because the numbers simply don't hold that up. And it's a matter of-- and by the way, I don't we can have the next unconscious bias training. Right? It really is that it has to come from the top as a-- just we're just going to friggin' do this, and I don't care if even the women-- some of the women don't like it either. Just so again if I can add to that just a little bit, there's this phrase that I don't like. If I can see it, I can be it. And so to some degree there's been there's been a vibe in the marketplace. Well, women are taking themselves out until they can see someone like them at the top of an organization. I don't really buy that, either. We have 288 regions in North America. We did find that the moment we have 20% of our financial advisors are women, fewer than that percentage were regional leaders of these 288 regions. And we started wondering why. And there was an equal mix of women saying, well, I don't see myself in that role. So we had to have a conversation. I had to have a-- I led that part of the organization. I had to have a conversation with them about why don't you see yourself in that role. Let me explain what this role is. And opening their minds to it, and opening the minds of our male leadership about what non-traditional leadership looks like, and breaking mental models in our leadership of what that looks like and what we can do together collectively. Kristin, I told you I did not like the name of this panel-- Yes. --breaking up. Yes. We're talking about breaking up. We're talking about bringing us all together-- men on Wall Street and men on Main Street-- bringing us together to understand what leadership, vision, innovation looks like in the future. 

Insights: Where Are All the Women in Finance?

Uncategorized

Where Are All the Women in Finance?

I spent 10 years of Citibank. Um, so Citibank Blue still runs in my veins. My also spent six years at MasterCard and then moved into technology, Facebook and now at ripple. And what I want to say about someone who is a non traditional leader by every stretch of imagination, of every room I ever walked in in finance and then in technology, which is even, I would say, has even less diversity. Gender diversity. Um, I would love to hear the panel's comments about pipeline, especially a senior leadership and at the board level, and saying that I do sit on the board of Progressive, where we have a woman CEO, a woman share woman and 50% of our border women. And it is the most rock star of leaders that you've ever seen. So I would love to hear, because I've been hearing about We don't have a pipeline for 25 years. I don't believe it. And, um and I didn't believe it when I was 21 years old. I don't believe it. At 47 um, so I would just love to hear a What is your perspective on pipeline? What is the board situation. Why'd we only have 17 women as Fortune 500 CEOs? The C suite? What can we actually do about it now? It's not a pipeline issue. It hasn't been a pipeline issue for years and years and years when I started a column and brought the old Salomon Brothers back more years and I'm gonna share my investment banking classes, 40% women. And you look at this over time and they've been bringing in women. What hasn't been happening is the industry hasn't been promoting them. So, as you see, it's city is you've laid laid open in your numbers that women tap out at a certain level, by the way, for everyone here who's Oh, yeah, well, they go off to have that work like balance, and they can't hack. It is really tough and very mathematical, and that's very difficult. Okay, number one reason millennial women leave their jobs today is not for any of those reasons. It's for more money and all the stuff that we think about women and like I mean, let's just get it all out. Why they can't hack it in financial service. Is there not good? It is good at math, and the guy's not true. They're not as good as investing in the guy's not true, right? You know, it's the fact they've gotten tapped out and not promoted. And, you know, as mentioned, the bar has been higher for women and other minorities where white men have been promoted based on potential and women and other minorities have been promoted based on achievement. So there's a higher bar, and we understand it right. Every one of us has been socialized, regardless of what are background is or who we are in this country. We've been socialized at white males for leaders, and so when we go to promote, that feels right to us and we've certainly been socialized at white males or bankers. And in order for us to get through that, we need to strip away these underlying I don't want a bias ease but believe that women just aren't as good as these jobs. Numbers simply don't hold that often. It's it's a matter of, you know, and by the way, I don't think we can have the next unconscious bias training right. It really is that it has to come from the top as a just We're just gonna friggin do this. And I don't care if even the women you know some of the women don't like it, either. Get it? If I can add to that a little bit, there's this phrase that I don't like. If I can see it, I can be it. And so, to some degree there's been there's been a vibe in the marketplace. Well, women are taking themselves out until they can see someone like them at the top of an organization. I don't really buy that either. However, we did find we have 288 regions in North America. We did find at the moment we have 2020% of our financial advisors or women. Fewer than that percentage were regional leaders of these 288 regions, and we started wondering why, and there was there was an equal mix of women saying, Well, I don't see myself in that role, So we had to have a conversation. I had to have a lead that part of the organization. I had to have a conversation with him about Why don't you see yourself in that role? Let me explain what this role is and opening their minds to it and opening the minds of of our male leadership about about what non traditional leadership looks like and breaking mental models in our leadership of what that looks like and what what we can do together. Collectively, Christina told you I did not like the name of this panel breaking up. We're not. We're talking about breaking up. We're talking about bringing us all together men on Wall Street and men on Main Street bringing us together to understand what leadership vision innovation looks like in the future.