Highlights from mentoring lunch with Professor Laurie Hodrick

CWIB VP of Mentoring, Liz Wise, shares lessons from a recent mentoring lunch with Laurie Hodrick.

VP of Mentoring, Liz Wise

As part of the CWiB mentoring program, CWiB arranges small group meals with female students and senior women as a way to allow students to connect with leaders in a more casual, intimate setting.  Early in November, fifteen first and second year MBA students had lunch with Professor Laurie Hodrick.  Professor Hodrick is the A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics and the Founding Director for the Program for Financial Studies at Columbia Business School.  From 2006-2008, Professor Hodrick was a managing director at Deutsche Bank, where she was global head of alternative investment strategies.  While traditionally these meals have hosted women from outside of Columbia, this lunch was a great opportunity to realize the amazing women we have within the CBS community.

Over the course of the lunch, Professor Hodrick passed along many great lessons.  Below are some paraphrases of the highlights:

• Think of life as chapters (inspired by Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson)
• Develop a flexible and agile skill set
• You can have everything, just not all at once
• Everyone is talented, some people just work harder
• Treat every presentation like a job talk – you never know what opportunities strong performance will lead to
• Be careful about what you say (be it in person, online, etc)
• When you’re in the room, be in the room
• Because it’s your life, you’ll make it work

This lunch is part of a Mentoring Meals series.  If you know someone who would be good for this forum, please contact Liz Wise ewise12@gsb.columbia.edu or Jamie Swango jswango13@gsb.columbia.edu.

News Roundup – November 13

Recent articles on women in business:

Women Hold Few Top Jobs at N.Y. Firms, Wall Street Journal

A study led by Columbia Business School Professor Ann Bartel showed what she called “disappointing” increases in women holding leadership positions at the top 100 publicly traded firms in New York. In 2010, 15.9% of companies had women in top leadership, only a slight increase from 14.7% in 2006. Sixty nine of the top 100 firms did not have a woman in any of their top six leadership positions (CEO, CFO, COO, chief information officer, chief investment officer, and general counsel). Bartel says she hopes this research will force companies, particularly those with no female leaders, to question why they don’t have more women in leadership roles. Access the article here.

TED Talk: Sheryl Sandberg: Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders

In this inspirational Ted Talk, Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg addresses why there are so few women in leadership roles, across industries and sectors. She provides three pieces of advice for women hoping to reach the C-suite:

• Sit at the table
• Make your partner a real partner
• Don’t leave before you leave

Watch the full video here.

Chart Focus: What Women in Business Want, McKinsey Quarterly

A recent McKinsey survey shows that women who move from entry-level to middle management roles are more likely to be interested in leadership roles and also more likely to believe they’re capable of attaining such positions. View the chart here.

Closing the Gender Gap at Business School, New York Times

Business schools across the globe are focused on increasing the number of female students. While enrollment in law and medical schools has become balanced, business school remains skewed. Herminia Ibarra, professor of organizational behavior at Insead (a school whose efforts to attract female students have begun to pay off, with female enrollment growing from 17% in 2005 to 33% in 2011) explained one of many reasons it is critical to attract more female students: “When women are only 17 percent of the group, they are far less likely to speak up. When they are over 30 percent you can be sure they are raising the issues important to them.” Read the full article here.

An interview with this year’s CWIB president, Jamie Schermerhorn

To kick off this year’s blogging, I asked our 2011-2012 CWIB president to share some of her thoughts about the club, its plans for the year and more.

CWIB President, Jamie Schermerhorn

Why is CWIB important to you?

In my career prior to business school I had very few female colleagues, and even fewer female leaders. Over time I realized that being successful in business requires more than just putting your head down and working hard; it requires actively managing your career. To do this well, I believe you need great relationships. You need trusted peers to bounce ideas off of, and you need mentors to help coach you. These peers and mentors can be both men and women, but I think at least some need to be women because of the unique choices and challenges that we face. Helping women develop these relationships is incredibly important to me, and that’s exactly what CWIB does.

(A side note: last year Catalyst published some research that shows even mentorship isn’t enough, but rather sponsorship is necessary.)

What are you excited about for the club this year?

There are quite a few things that I’m really excited about this year. We have some fantastic corporate partners, both new and old, which makes me optimistic that more and more companies realize the value of supporting talented women. In addition to our professional development line-up, we are also hosting more informal events such as happy hours and community service events, which is key to building a strong network. Most of all, I am incredibly excited that we’re moving the 19^th Annual CWIB Conference (February 24, 2012) off-campus. Stay tuned for details!

Who are some of your businesswomen role models?

No one seems more relevant than Sheryl Sandberg. Not only is she a brilliant executive who gave Facebook a legitimate business model, but she also does a great job of articulating why organizations like CWIB continue to be important for women. I agree with her theory that the number of women leaders has stagnated because women take themselves out of the workforce. Her messages, such as “sit at the table” and “don’t leave before you leave,” really resonate with me and are lessons I hope to carry with me in my career after business school.  (If you’re interested, here’s a clip of her discussing her philosophy.)

Apply to the Morgan Stanley MBA Early Insights Program

The Morgan Stanley MBA Early Insights Program provides outstanding Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT, and female rising first-year MBA students an up-close, first-hand opportunity to learn about Morgan Stanley’s businesses and culture. This two-day program showcases Morgan Stanley’s global industry thought leaders, highlights key areas of their business, provides practical insights on professional development and the recruiting process, and encourages networking and social interaction with senior management and other professionals.

MBA Early Insights Participants will explore key areas of Morgan Stanley’s business, including Investment Banking, Global Capital Markets, Sales & Trading, and Research. You will have the chance to gain insight into the recruiting process, learn resume tips and interviewing techniques, and network with senior leaders.

Eligible candidates include Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT and female students who are beginning an MBA program in Fall 2011.

Mark Your Calendars
July 19–July 20, 2011
New York City

Application Deadline
June 13, 2011

Click here to apply.

Questions? MBAEarlyInsights@morganstanley.com.

Learn more at www.morganstanley.com/diversity

News Roundup – April 30

Recent articles on women in business:

“Why Do Men Outperform Women at Harvard Business School?”
A recent study reveals that a sizable academic gap exists between men and women at Harvard Business School,  despite the fact that female students place greater importance on academics and spend more time studying. John Byrne, of poetsandquants.com, explores possible factors behind this common issue at many top business schools. Read the full article here.

“Where Are All the Senior-level Women?”

The Wall Street Journal shares insights from a panel  of business leaders regarding the issues that are keeping women from reaching senior-level positions and how those barriers can be overcome. The panel includes Vikram Malhotra of McKinsey & Co., Harvard University economics professor Claudia Goldin, Saadia Zahidi of the Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program at the World Economic Forum, and Nancy Carter of at Catalyst Inc. Find excerpts of the panel here.

“A Club for Women Atop the Ladder”

The New York Times features Belizean Grove, a rare and exclusive club connecting powerful business women across all industries.  The article discusses the benefits and risks of focusing networking energy in all-female circles. Read more here.

Sallie Krawcheck’s Advice for Young Women in Business

As part of her keynote address at the CWIB conference, Sallie Krawcheck shared her top ten pieces of advice for young women in business. We tried to capture her guidance and lessons below, and we hope you find them as encouraging as we did!

1. Choose your husband carefully. Avoid eye-rollers at all cost. Once you’ve found him, reach an understanding early of what’s important to each of you.
2. No one ever procrastinated her way to the top. When you decide what you want to do, do it with passion. Don’t question yourself.
3. Surround yourself with the right people – people who help you think but people you also want to be with. Make a point to hire people with different skills and approaches.
4. Enjoy the ride. Don’t wait until after the next week, project or promotion to have fun. If you aren’t enjoying yourself along the way, you’re not enjoying yourself. Keep your sense of humor. Don’t embarrass easily – you’ll hold yourself back and not put your ideas out there.
5. Know when to go against the flow. This can contradict our basic instinct of liking to be liked and being comfortable in the crowd  because many really great ideas are anti-consensus.
6. Don’t let the chattering crowd bother you. There will always be pundits, frienemies, and critics with an opinion, but developing a thick skin will serve you well.
7. Live a life of integrity even if it means getting fired. Find your own line in the sand. You’ll never lose sleep over being honest.
8. Don’t give up. Your career is a marathon interspersed with some sprints. There will be good years but also years in which you feel like you’re treading water. Hang on if it’s important to you.
9. Be active managers of your careers. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and ask for higher compensation or a stretch assignment. Men aren’t afraid to advocate for themselves, so when women stay quiet, they often miss out.
10. Take time to love the important people in your life.

2011 CWIB Conference This Friday

Join us this Friday, February 18, for the 2011 CWIB Conference “Mapping the Future: Dynamic Paths to Success” where we will explore diverse paths successful women in business have taken and examine key lessons they have discovered along the way.

The conference will feature a special keynote address by Sallie L. Krawcheck, president of Global Wealth and Investment Management for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, one of the largest wealth management businesses in the world. Breakout sessions will include a diverse set of topics for women of all industries, such as “Going Long on Charity: Women in Business & Philanthropy,” “Charting a New Path: Managing Your Career Through Uncertainty” and “The Art of Negotiation: Powerful Positioning for Success.”

For more a full agenda, panel descriptions and additional information about the 2011 CWIB Conference, visit the conference website or register here.