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女性如何撑起华尔街半边天

女性如何撑起华尔街半边天

Katie Benner 2011年05月16日
华尔街的人们日进斗金,靠的并非是不断推出异常人性化的消费电子产品,而是由于他们能提供资本和影响力。近日,有个专为帮助金融领域的女性获取并保持这种影响力的论坛诞生了。

    由于信用危机,备受尊敬的华尔街机构顷刻间灰飞烟灭,一些银行业最为耀眼的明星也瞬间陨落。此间,财富经纪人、金融业资深人士简•牛顿开始为客户提供职业咨询服务,以帮助她们度过其职业生涯中最为艰难的岁月。

    “妇女们看到这么多声名显赫的女性黯然离开华尔街,尤其感到忐忑不安。”牛顿表示。她是独立的付费财富管理机构大西洋总督(RegentAtlantic)公司的联合创始人。

    只需看看雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers)的艾林•卡兰(雷曼兄弟前首席财务官)和摩根士丹利公司(Morgan Stanley)的佐伊•克鲁兹(摩根士丹利前联席总裁)如何被公司高调扫地出门,便不难理解为何女性尤其缺乏安全感。

    《纽约杂志》(New York Magazine)在一篇有关克鲁兹的报道中暗示说,男性的生存能力更强。果真如此吗?如果真是这样,女性又该如何改变这一现状?

    “不管出于何种原因,目睹这些女性的职业生涯遭此突变,都不免令人有惊慌失措之感。”牛顿表示:“我采访的高管们都非常渴望了解,如何才能把握未来,如何才能延续成功之路。”

    正是出于这类焦虑与混乱,牛顿萌生了开办“华尔街女性论坛”(Wall Street Women Forum)的想法。目前还有许多其他职业妇女的社交组织,其中包括85Broads等知名团体。85Broads最初是高盛公司(Goldman Sachs)的职业女性俱乐部,后来发展成为涵盖全球各行各业职场女性的团体。这些团体提供多种途径,帮助女性建立联系,扩大朋友和商业交际圈子。

    但是,这些团体中鲜有专注于教导女性如何在职场生存并茁壮成长的。另外,由于华尔街刚刚经历了历史性的大混乱,牛顿认定,眼下正是启动专注于职业技能的组织的好时机。去年5月,她创建了“华尔街女性论坛”,同期召开了题为“在新华尔街重建你的职业生涯”(Reinventing Your Career for the New Wall Street)的大会。这个为期一天的活动专注于介绍一些具体措施,以帮助女性在其工作场所为适应新岗位而重塑自我,或者彻底创建全新的职业。

    “我们并不打算举办一届肉麻的、激动人心的大会。”牛顿表示:“该届大会的宗旨是要为女性提供她们可以遵循的实质性内容。我希望,人们离开会场时,脑子里能形成一个计划,打算尝试一些新事物,以不断推进其职业生涯。”

    大会取得了压倒性的成功,反响非常积极。牛顿于是又举办了一届后续大会,题为“像大男人一样谈判”(Negotiate Like the Big Boys),旨在进一步帮助女性要求并获得更多的薪酬、更高的职务以及更重的责任。与会者非常喜欢这一谈判会议,因为她们认识到,其一,男性在工作中欲要求得到更多时,也会有焦虑,但他们会与人分享这些焦虑;其二,要求得到更多,男人也要为此冒险。

    这一最初只有几十名女性的网络,现已发展壮大为有近500名女性高管参加的社区。这些人聚集在一起,学习实用的成功策略。但是,只有获得邀请的人方可加入。

    虽然该论坛成立只有短短几年的时间,但已吸引了一些富有影响力的业内资深人士。海蒂•米勒是摩根大通公司(JP Morgan)国际运营总裁,同时也是公司首席执行官杰米•戴蒙的长期支持者。去年5月,她是论坛首届大会的主题演讲者。

    今年5月11日的大会题为“要求在领导层中占有你的一席之地”(Claiming Your Seat at the Table),将由摩根士丹利的总经理卡拉•哈里斯做主题演讲。哈里斯最近出了本书,题为《志在必得:一名华尔街元老的成功之道》(Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet)。

    哈里斯自1987年起就供职于摩根士丹利。她表示,女性在论坛系列活动中学到的多数知识其实与性别无关。但是,她发现,女性往往认为,仅仅拥有智慧加上勤奋工作就能获得职业的升迁。她们之所以这么想,某种程度上是由于她们就是靠这两点才能在艰辛的学术环境中生存下来,并且最终跻身于华尔街。

    “人们需要明白,没有哪个环境是由100%的精英构成的,这是因为任何评价中都存在主观、人为的因素。”哈里斯表示。

    哈里斯计划在演讲中主谈:如何建立升为公司高管所需要的人际关系。她喜爱谈论这一话题,因为她坚信,关系是成功的至胜法宝。无论是著书还是立说,她都对指导者与倡导者之间的区别进行了详细的阐述。此外,她还对每人应该发挥什么样的作用进行了描述。至关重要的是,她还说明:如何要求同事担当指导者和倡导者,以及如何面对拒绝。

    哈里斯既不是在哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)的课堂上,也不是通过参加会议,才学到这些策略的。她是在自己职业生涯的头六七年中,通过细心观察身边发生的种种,而掌握了这些策略。

    “如果我刚踏入社会时就能够掌握这些技能,而非经历了种种坎坷才将它们变为己有,那就更好了。”她表示:“话虽如此,在供职于金融业23年半之后,我将于大会上讲到的许多策略与技巧,今天我仍然在使用。”

    与会者之所以对“华尔街女性论坛”情有独钟,原因在于该论坛专注于发展各种技能,以助其增进职业生涯。牛顿还收到了曾参加上届大会的女性的来信。这些人表示,凭借在大会上学到的各类技能,她们已经获得了升迁,甚或发展了新的职业。

    论坛专注于人际关系与交流的一个重要原因在于,只有如此,女性才能深入理解:同事及上司如何看待她们。

    牛顿表示,研究表明,相较于男性,女性更不情愿提出问题,或者试探同事的看法,而这自然意味着他们得不到有价值的反馈意见。

    牛顿表示,比如说,向上司要求你希望得到的东西,这一点至关重要,因为“如果你的上司认为,你根本不值你所要求的薪酬,或者能够担当更大的责任,这些都是极为重要的信息。那样的话,你就能确定未来需要采取的一些措施,以便取得成功。”

    哈里斯表示,她喜欢为如此务实的组织做些事。“我希望,妇女们在会议结束时,能够感觉他们掌握了更完善的技能,以便最大程度地取得成功,或者扭转颓势。”哈里斯还表示:“如果她们步入会场时,不确定自己是否该继续从事目前的职业,我希望他们离开时,能够坚信,她们会干得很出色。”

    译者:大海

    As the credit crisis swept away venerated Wall Street firms and some of the banking industry's brightest stars, Jane Newton -- a wealth manager and finance industry veteran -- found herself counseling clients through the most nerve-wracking days of their careers.

    "It was particularly disconcerting for women to see so many high profile females leave the Street," says Newton, who co-founded the independent, fee-only wealth management firm RegentAtlantic.

    One need look no further than the high profile firings of Erin Callan at Lehman Brothers and Zoe Cruz at Morgan Stanley (MS) to understand why women were feeling particularly exposed.

    Was it true, as implied by a New York Magazine story about Cruz, that men were more able to survive? And if so, how could that change?

    "To see it not work out for these women, no matter what the reason, was unnerving," Newton says. "The executives I spoke with were wondering how to read those tea leaves and how they would continue to succeed."

    Out of this anxiety and chaos, Newton's idea for the Wall Street Women Forum was born. There are many other networking groups for women in business, including well known groups like 85Broads, which began as a club for women who worked at Goldman Sachs (GS) and expanded to include women in many professions around the globe. These groups provide women ways to connect and expand their lists of friends and business contacts.

    But there are few groups dedicated to teaching women how to survive, and thrive; and as Wall Street underwent an historic dislocation Newton decided the time was right to start an organization that focused on career skills. Last May she kicked off the Wall Street Women Forum with a conference titled: "Reinventing Your Career for the New Wall Street." The day-long event focused on specific steps women could take to reinvent themselves for new roles at their workplaces, or even entirely different careers.

    "It's not meant to be a touchy-feely, inspirational day," says Newton. "The mission is to provide pragmatic content that women can act on. I want people to walk away with a plan to try something new that will help them advance their careers."

    The response was overwhelmingly positive, and Newton created a follow up session called "Negotiate Like the Big Boys," to better help women ask for, and get, better pay, titles, and more responsibility. One thing attendees liked about the negotiating session was learning that men share most all of their anxieties about asking for more at work; and that asking is a risk for them, too.

    What began as a network of several dozen women has blossomed into a community of about 500 senior level executives who come together to learn practical strategies for success. Participation is by invitation only.

    The Forum is only a few years old, but it already attracts some influential industry players. Heidi Miller, JP Morgan's (JPM) president of international operations and a longtime ally of CEO Jamie Dimon, was the keynote speaker at the first conference held last May.

    At today's conference, titled "Claiming Your Seat at the Table," the main address will be delivered by Carla Harris, a managing director at Morgan Stanley. Harris recently published a book titled Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet.

    Harris, who has worked at Morgan Stanley since 1987, says that much of what women learn at Forum events is gender neutral. But she finds that women often think just being smart and working hard will be enough to get ahead, in part because it is how they got through the tough academic environments they had to survive to get to Wall Street.

    "People need to understand that no environment is 100% meritocratic because there is a subjective, human element in every evaluation," Harris says.

    In her speech, Harris intends to talk about creating the relationships one needs to get to the top. It's a topic that she loves to talk about because she believes that relationships are integral to success. In her book and in her speeches she explains the difference between a mentor and an advocate, and she describes what role each one should play. Most importantly, she explains how to ask coworkers to be mentors and advisors, and how to deal with rejection.

    Harris didn't learn these strategies in her classes at Harvard Business School or by attending conferences. Rather, she learned them by observing what was going on around her for the first six or seven years of her career.

    "It would have been nice to have known these things when I was starting out, and not to have acquired them the hard way," she says. "That being said, I still use a lot of the strategies and tips that I'll discuss at the conference after 23 and a half years in the business."

    Participants are impressed by the Wall Street Women Forum because it is dedicated to developing the skills necessary to change their careers for the better. Newton has heard from women who attended last year's conference that they landed promotions or made the leap to new careers thanks to the skills they learned at the event.

    One of the reasons that the Forum focuses on relationships and communication is so that women can gain more insight into how they are perceived in the workplace.

    Newton says studies have shown that women are more reluctant to ask questions and bounce ideas off of co-workers, and that this means they're not getting valuable feedback.

    For example, Newton says it is vitally important to ask for what you want, because "if your boss doesn't think that you deserve the money or believe you can take on a bigger role, that's vital to know. Then you can decide the next steps you need to take in order to succeed."

    Harris says she likes the idea of contributing to an organization that is so pragmatic. "I hope women walk away feeling like they developed tools that allow them to maximize their success or turn around their situations," Harris says. "If they come to the conference feeling unsure about whether or not they should pursue what it is their doing, I hope they walk out and believe that they can excel."

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