A Discussion about Optimizing Career Development on Wall Street
Hosted By NYSSA with collaboration from the MTA’s Women in Technical Analysis Group.
Billed as a discussion about challenges faced by women on Wall Street, the Career Chat at NYSSA on September 3, 2014, was a well attended event which focused on keys to help women on Wall Street propel their careers forward. The speakers at the event were the charismatic and energetic Carla Harris of Morgan Stanley and the insightful Linda Descano of CitiGroup. The event was moderated by Helen Dayen, career and corporate coach.
During what turned out to be a vibrant interactive session, the speakers discussed some useful pointers to carving out a successful career on Wall Street. The following are some of the highlights of the discussion.
1) Be Your Authentic Self
Don’t be afraid to let people see who you are. Have the confidence to know who you are, to define who you are and to step out and not be defined by others. Being your authentic self will cause others to trust you. Trust is at the heart of any successful relationship.
2) Always Know What Success Looks Like
The mistake most women make is that we go into a job thinking that working hard is what we need for success. Find the adjectives which define success then train people to think in that way about you. Adapt if necessary, but stay true to your authentic self. Carla Harris gave an example of this when a few years into her career, a senior manager told her that she was smart, but not tough enough. “As a woman on Wall Street, the last thing you want to be thought of is not tough enough”, Carla said, so she decided to train people to think of her as tough. She did this by using consistent behavior for 90 days which conveyed her toughness to others. She walked tough, she talked tough; she used the adjective tough to describe herself. Eventually, people began to see her as tough and to describe her in that way. If being tough is a quality that your organization desires, then be tough, but always approachable. Being tough is not about belittling others, but about being ready to make the hard call.
When in a new environment, find the adjectives that describe success in that environment. And then train people to think in that way about you by displaying consistent behavior embodying those adjectives.
3) Know the difference between performance currency and relationship currency
Women often work hard, but to succeed, it is more important to learn to work smart. Women will often build their performance currency but neglect their relationship currency. This stems from a failure to recognize that corporate America does not operate as a meritocracy.
Having played the game longer than women, men are often more skillful at recognizing and building relationship currency which is more valuable than performance currency. To achieve success, women have to learn of the need to invest time and interest in relationship currency. This is an essential skill which women need to be as adept as men in developing because it becomes more valuable as you start to move up in an organization. Building relationship currency takes more skill, more effort and it’s riskier than building performance currency.
The key to success is not to keep your head down and work hard, but to go out of your way to build relationships in and out of work. Building your relationship currency is vital because your progress in an organization is always a function of someone else’s judgment.
4 ) Present yourself for success
How you present yourself is important. Every job has a uniform. To maximize your chances of success, make sure you are wearing the right uniform for the environment you are in. Do not over or underdress. Observe what is expected and dress the part you are playing. This need not conflict with your authenticity because the original reason you decided to work for the organization was to learn something that would enable you to advance your goals. If dressing in the right uniform for success in that environment conflicts with your authentic self, then you should explore your reasons for being in that environment.
5) Work on your Brand
Your brand is how you present yourself, how you speak, what you wear, what you say, and also your social media presence. Employers will check social media sites because they do not want you to be an embarrassment to the firm. It is important that you use your social media presence to enhance your brand.
6) Be the architect of your own agenda
Fear has no place in your success equation. Even in tough economic environments great companies are hiring great people. Have the courage to step away when the opportunity is not right for you and is not a good fit no matter the economic environment. Passion and courage are two enduring traits of successful women and you can only display these traits if you are in the right environment and in the right seat.
7) Learn to Delegate
As you move up in the organization, give others the opportunity to shine. This is how you show that you can manage others, that you are senior, that you have vision and can think strategically. Allowing your team to shine will make you look good and help get you your next promotion.
8) Speak with Authority
Get your presence acknowledged by speaking up. Mind your intonation and speak with authority. If you do not speak you will become invisible. If the organization does not hear you, they will start to discount you.
One of the speakers told a story about how as a third year associate at the bank she was told that one of her problems was her willingness to admit when she did not know something. She was told that the organization was paid too much to ever need to tell a client that they did not know in response to a question. To resolve this problem the speaker devised a way to always have a response to any question she was asked, while giving herself an out to correct her earlier response if upon checking, she found out that her original answer had been incorrect.
9) The two questions to ask when interviewing for an opportunity are:
Give me the profile of a superstar in this environment.
Give me the profile of the last person you fired.
The answers to these questions will tell you what you need to do for success and what you need to avoid doing.
10) Some Final Words
Always do your homework when entering a new environment. Find out how people communicate. Watch and learn and decide who to build strategic relationships with. Also, learn how to say no, and the right way to say no. Say yes strategically. And remember that volunteering never hurts and often gives others the opportunity to see you in a new light.
