Despite the World Economic Forum’s controversial “quota” system of inviting one woman for every four men to its annual meeting at Davos, the ratio of women in attendance remained small this year. Only 17% of those in attendance last month were female, and, only 20% of those invited to speak on panels were women.

But according to The Guardian’s Jane Martinson, the WEF is standing by its quota system, and hopes that time will bring more women to the table. The organization believes that by engaging more women in top-level decision-making, the economic situation around the world will improve. She wrote, “This idea plays into one theme of this year’s Davos: that as the current economic and political crisis was made by men, the inclusion of more women can only help matters.”

She also quoted Cherie Blair, who had a more pointed take on the situation. “If the world doesn’t start giving a proper platform for women, then it will fall flat on its face.”

While Davos struggled to increase its percentage of establishment women, a group of dynamic young women presented big ideas to leading under-30 change agents at last month’s Sandbox Global Summit in Lisbon, Portugal (where 31% of conference participants were women).

Waiting for change at the top is no longer an option, remarked Kelly Calvin, winner of one of six Bloomberg Businssweek fellowships to the Lisbon conference. She believes it is critical for leaders to pay attention to young women when it comes to our global future, and, she said, many global leaders have not yet realized why.

“I think it should be clear, but unfortunately it’s obviously not clear to today’s leaders. There are more young women going to college and graduate school than ever before, and, in America, more women than men. We are entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers, we are starting businesses like never before, and in a very short time it will no longer be an oddity to see a female global leader, but an expectation.”

She added, “They need to pay attention to us now because our voices are the voices of the very near future.”

Young Women Insist On Change

The Sandbox Global Summit brings together 170 under-30 change makers from around the world to present one-hour interactive sessions. Bloomberg Businessweek awarded six fellowships to attend to talented young women who are committed to helping women and girls around the world to overcome difficult circumstances and achieve their full potential.

Cynthia Hellen, winner of a fellowship and founder of Girls Who Rock, a concert benefitting fundraising efforts for girls’ education around the world, explained that many people just aren’t aware of the challenges girls and women face around the world. She explained:

“Lets face it, 190 heads of state — nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13% are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats — tops out at 15%. Not to mention women earn 10% of the world’s income, women also own less than 1% of the world’s property, and women make up two-thirds of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write; having girls make up 60% of the 77 million children not attending primary school.”

Advocating awareness and taking action is critical in order to achieve gender parity, she said. While reaching that balance will take time, she continued, “I’m hopeful that future generations can. I think a world that was run where half of our countries and half of our companies were run by women, would be a better world.”

Being a change-agent isn’t easy, added Tiphani Montgomery, Bloomberg Businessweek fellow and financial literacy advocate. But, it is possible.

“My advice for other women who are working to create positive change is to never take no for an answer. You will be told that you’re too young, too old, and unqualified to change the world and all of those things may be true, but what you do have is a particular set a skills that no one else can execute like you will. You have the burning passionate desire to make a difference and that is all it ever takes.”

She added, “Do not wait passively for doors to be opened for you. Sometimes you will have to kick a few down.”

Importance of Mentors

Several of the fellows remarked on the importance of networking and seeking mentors – both peers and more experienced individuals.

Calvin, Founder of Michelle In Training, an organization that teaches professionalism and self esteem to underprivileged high school girls, said, “Seek out mentors, and not just older women but girls your own age who have already accomplished something you would like to accomplish, and seek out male mentors as well.”

Calvin added that she recently founded The Mary Tyler Moore Society as a way to connect peer mentors.

Tammy Tibbets, fellow and founder of She’s The First, a non-profit supporting girls’ education in the developing world, explained that networking is one way to help diverse individuals amplify their efforts. She explained, “It’s the ‘how’ we need to think about. Networks like Sandbox provide a culture and a place for diverse voices to be heard.”

Tibbets said she has had many mentors throughout her career, but one of them, her first boss provided her with a piece of advice she repeats every day: “Don’t let perfection get in the way of better.”

This mantra can be a powerful reminder for change-agents around the world, working to make a difference for women and girls. There’s no one pathway forward, and some efforts won’t be perfect. But by working together, supporting one another, and sharing bold new ideas, the next generation of female leaders is already working to help shape a better future.

Today we’re celebrating our 2000^th post (check out our Founder and CEO Nicki Gilmour’s article this morning on inclusive leadership), by reflecting on the things we’ve learned while working to inform, empower, and inspire women to break the glass ceiling.

As Editor of The Glass Hammer, one of the most fulfilling parts of my job is the opportunity to interview extraordinary women and tell their stories through our profile series like Voices of Experience, Movers and Shakers, and Intrepid Woman.

Today I’m sharing ten things I’ve learned from our Voice of Experience profiles that have personally impacted me and my journey – I hope you’ll find them just as inspiring!

1. Think About the Kind of Life You Want to Live

To illustrate the importance of what she called “living the life of the possible,” Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration, Global Operations & Technology Chief Administrative Office at Citi, shared a moving story about her grandfather.

“He lived life with no regrets – he was very active into his 90s. He lived the art of the possible,” she said. “When he was 65 he suffered a heart attack. The doctor said he must live a life without physical exertion, not eat food that was too hot or drink things that were too cold… he looked at the list and tore it up. The doctor said he wouldn’t live 5 years.”

She continued, “When he was in his 70s, we went mountain climbing in Alaska together. And when he was 75 he went back to tell the doctor about it.”

“I’m not advising people to discredit medical advice,” she joked. “But he always looked for how to move life forward. That’s what I mean about living the life of the possible.”

2. Approach Risks with an Open Attitude

Pamela Craig, CFO of Accenture, shared some advice that truly struck a chord with me, and I’ve even repeated it to friends and family. She was discussing the importance of taking career risks and being open to new opportunities.

She said, “It’s easy to say, ‘I’m not sure I can do that.’ You should say, ‘I bet I can do that.’”

It’s easy to be cautious or even negative when considering new ideas or opportunities – but it’s so much more gratifying to embrace a new challenge with open arms and just give it your best shot. Rather than think of everything that could go wrong, consider everything that could go right.

3. Maintain Optimism

“It’s important to be optimistic,” advised women’s rights pioneer Marie Wilson, Founder of The White House Project, an honorary “Founding Mother” of the Ms. Foundation, and Co-Founder of Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

“If you’re a hopeful person, everybody will bring you their despair. Despair – I eat that stuff for breakfast!” she joked. Wilson has spent her entire career graciously breaking down barriers and helping to raise up girls and women, and she knows what it’s like to face adversity. Being a woman with big dreams can still, even today, be a challenge, she said, but you should never give those dreams up.

She continued, “If you’re going to be a leader, don’t rush to change yourself. The world is still mixed about ambitious women. You need people who will encourage you to dream big – and the world is often discouraging. You need a tough skin that is porous – slough off the critics, but listen.”

4. It’s Okay If Your Career Takes Some Twists and Turns

Many women I’ve interviewed have emphasized how the path to the top is rarely a direct route. Viva Hammer, Principal at KPMG Washington National Tax said that you shouldn’t be surprised, or discouraged, if you hit a road block, or your career does not go precisely as planned.

An Aussie native, she explained how it took her 17 years to get her US driver’s license – but rather than throw up her hands and give up, she kept at it. Similarly, she said, even though your career can seem like a long slog, don’t give up. “Sometimes for women, your career can seem like a long road with lots of detours. You need a lot of faith – or desire – to believe you’re going to make it.”

“Never give up,” she said. “Never, never, never, never!”

5. Feel Entitled to Leadership

Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of World Women Leaders and Senior Advisor at Goldman Sachs, emphasized the importance of recognizing that you have a right to be a leader – and you should act like one.

She said, “See yourself as the CEO of a company whether you want to be one or not.” She continued, “Feel entitled to lead. Know what you want your legacy to be.”

6. Have Courage and Confidence

Birgit Neu, COO, Corporate Development, Global Banking and Markets at HSBC, explained an important career lesson she learned – if something’s going wrong, you have a duty to speak up. She recalled how as a very junior person, she recognized that while her managers on a project were congratulating themselves on a job well done, she knew there were problems in the implementation. So she spoke up.

“I was afraid I had done the wrong thing, but it turned out to be the right thing to do. It set off a firestorm of activity to address the problems our clients were having.”

She continued, “That little moment in time gave me the courage and confidence to speak up and to always do the right thing. Doing the right thing by your clients is key.”

7. Work/Life is a Trade-Off – Really

We hear over and over again how women (and men) must make sacrifices between work and life, but it wasn’t until hearing Michelle Clayman’s simple indignation at the idea of “work/life balance” that the idea really hit home.

Clayman, Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of New Amsterdam Partners said, “The idea of balance implies that perfection is possible. You’re insane if you think perfection is possible. It’s about what trade-offs you are willing to live with.”

8. Have a Sense of Humor

One of the benefits of doing interviews with really senior women is the opportunity to get to know something of their personalities. Some are measured and cautious with their words and some of them are bold and brash. Some of them are hilarious.

From recalling how she used her first computer to hold flower pots, or explaining how her golf instructor suggested she take up yoga instead, Annica Lindegren, Partner and Head of White & Case’s Bank Finance Practice in Germany, made me laugh repeatedly – and as a result came across as truly genuine.

She explained that a sense of humor is important, especially when working with clients. “In fact, many of our clients prefer to work with women – they always say we’re ‘much more fun,’ or more relaxed, or they can crack jokes in a different way,” she explained.

9. Support the People Behind You

SEC Commissioner Elisse B. Walter expressed an idea that many other senior women have since articulated. If you had the benefit of a role model or a mentor, you should be a willing mentor to junior women as well.

She explained, “The informal networks are the most important. Any number of much younger women poke their heads into my office, asking questions about work/life balance, their children, their work. I was able to take advantage, as well, of women in leadership positions at the Commission when I was young.”

“I think it is very important for people to know that there is support at the top,” she added.

10. Understand Who You Are

Asahi Pompey, Managing Director, Compliance, Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs said one of the keys to building a successful career is really knowing and understanding what you’re good at, and what you could do better.

“Know yourself – know your strengths and weaknesses,” she advised. “Do a realistic appraisal of yourself – almost a gap analysis. Where could you develop greater expertise? What is your comfort zone?”

She added, “Understanding who you are in an unadulterated way is really going to help in your career.”

“This was not a hot topic for me until three years ago,” said Laura Yecies, CEO of SugarSync. “Gender issues were not something I focused on. I had this idea that there were plenty of female CEOs – maybe not 50/50, but that there was a good amount.”

She continued, “Then I became a female CEO.”

Yecies said the turning point was when she attended a conference held by her company’s investors. “There was not one other woman at the meeting. I was blown away.” Not only was Yecies the only woman at the meeting, but she was the investors’ first and only female CEO.

“I realized there was more of a problem. It was really consciousness-raising.”

Beginning a Career in Technology

Yecies’ path into tech started with her interest in other cultures. She studied International Relations at Dartmouth and then went to Georgetown for her master’s degree. “I wanted to be a diplomat,” she said. “I always had an interest in foreign cultures and languages.”

She continued, “But I found that I didn’t want to work for the government – I wanted to focus on marketing. So I went to Harvard Business School.” When she finished up at Harvard, Yecies moved to California with her husband, who had planned to go to Berkeley. “This was about ‘88,” she recalled. “I was always interested in technology. I got my first PC in 1984.”

Yecies’ first job was at Informix as a marketing manager, and after four years the company announced it was starting its Latin American sales division. “The CEO had seen my work and gave me an opportunity on the sales team. I was the only member of the sales team who spoke Spanish.”

She continued, “We started our operation in Mexico, and saw a huge opportunity in Brazil. By that time I had two children, and they came with me. It was a great opportunity as far as learning Portuguese, and learning how business is done there.”

She left Informix to lead business development for Latin America and Asia at Gupta, until the company began to downsize. “At this point I had four children,” she said. “So I decided to consult to have more flexibility.”

Then when one of her clients, Netscape, offered her a position in international marketing, right after its IPO, and she accepted.

Yecies was promoted to run the company’s browser division, leading 240 employees – mostly engineers. “I don’t have a technical background, but it was a phenomenal experience. We shipped Netscape 6.1 and 7.0.”

Shortly thereafter, she moved to Yahoo to run Yahoo Mail, and after a year, she said, “I thought I would try my hand at a startup.” Yecies moved to Metalincs, which was acquired by Seagate and then Checkpoint. As vice president of marketing and general manager of the consumer division, she helped the division grow from $20 million to $50 million in sales.

She said, “My heart is really in consumer and small business marketing. And in ‘08, I was ready to spread my wings, and be a CEO myself.”

Becoming CEO

It wasn’t easy, Yecies said. “I had a lot of rejections – everyone wanted someone who had been a CEO before. But my persistence paid off.”

At the end of 2008, she joined SugarSync. “It was a very good fit,” she said. “The sales channels were similar to what I was used to before. And I was very excited about the product.”

She explained, “The opportunities in the cloud space were obvious to me, but it wasn’t universally obvious.”

SugarSync was in a turnaround situation at the time, she continued. “There were no business people at the company, and there wasn’t much infrastructure. I had the chance to put it together from scratch.”

Yecies hired people she’d known from across her career, as well as some she didn’t know. Now, she said, the company is on a 3X runrate path.

She continued, “One of the things I’m most proud of is getting SugarSync on a good trajectory. We were really days away from closing the doors. And we’re not done yet – we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we started with seventeen people and now we have about 50. We have substantial revenue, and we’re close to break even. That’s something I feel proud of.”

Women in Technology

“I had the mistaken impression, starting out, that working in a big company was safer and less risky than working at a start-up,” said Yecies.

“Sure, big companies may have more financial resources, but you have less control over your own work. It’s harder to be sure people are valuing what you are contributing,” she explained. “My Netscape experience was just phenomenal, but if I had known this, I would have gone down the path of a small company earlier.”

Yecies said that one of the challenges women face in the tech industry is a lack of access to capital. “There are very few female VCs,” she said. “And it can be very intimidating for women to raise money.”

The other challenge comes down to unconscious bias. “There’s this insidious bias that is really not deliberate,” she said. “They’re just not used to seeing female CEOs. When I was applying for CEO jobs, people just could not see me as a CEO – it was not their intent, it’s just subconscious bias.”

She continued, “As a female CEO, I am doing a few things. I’m really trying to participate in events that target women, working with Stanford Women in Business and mentoring. I’m participating in a program at my children’s high school to get girls interested in science and technology. I’m trying to be visible so people can see that there are women CEOs out there – and I’m blogging about my experiences.”

Advice for Women in Tech

“First of all, if you have even the slightest interest in technology, get that technical background,” Yecies advised. “It opens up a lot of doors and you will really stand out. If you’re a strong female engineer at the entry level, I think the world is potentially your oyster.”

“But it’s not for everyone – you really have to follow your interests,” she continued. “The other thing is thinking about the personal choices you make. If you want to work full time and have a demanding career, you have to make sure the person you marry thinks that’s a good idea. It needs to be a partnership. It’s hard to do it on your own.”

She continued, “It’s do-able, but it’s not easy to juggle work and family. The more you can sync things up to facilitate that, the better.”

She advised senior women to take more risks. “You need to raise your hand and speak up and stand up and take on a project that will get you noticed. Find a challenging problem in your company – and, obviously, you need to do a good job at it. It’s a really good way to stand out.”

She explained how, when she worked at Netscape, the company was looking for someone to take on a major project over the holidays. Yecies, who was raised Jewish, said she recalled how when she was growing up her parents would tell her that Jewish doctors would work on Christmas. “I thought I could really do something important, so I volunteered to work over the holidays. The CEO, Peter Curry, noticed – I didn’t realize at the time, but it really helped my career.”

“Take on hard projects that will be noticed,” she added.

In Her Personal Time

Yecies said she enjoys spending as much time as possible with her family. “I have four children and a husband. My oldest son is married and the second is engaged. The first thing I want to do is spend time with them.”

Now that her kids have grown, she continued, “I love to hike. I hike almost every morning with my friends. And I love to travel, especially with my family.”

Additionally, Yecies said she enjoys working with music-related charities. “I grew up playing the violin,” she explained. “I’m involved in a music program at my children’s school.

She has also participated in two medical missions to Guatemala and hopes to do more.

This past May, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, stood in front of me and told me to “lean in.” To jump in, make a change, think big, to “pick a field…and ride it all the way to the top.” It was Barnard College’s graduation ceremony, and all around me were 600 women who, just like me, had completed their education. We had, over the past four years been trained to believe in ourselves as women, as leaders, as intellectuals, as scientists, as writers, as human beings who could make a difference. And Sandberg stood in front of us and told us that yes, there were still inequalities in the work place, but we were poised to make changes.

Her speech was replayed across the country – it was a main photo of the New York Times, it was mentioned in the Huffington Post, Forbes said that she “crushed it.” It was described as a speech for the ages, the one that would be remembered, the most influential one of the graduation speeches that year. It was the speech that sent Barnard College’s class of 2011 off into the great world, and we were ready for it.

Into the Workforce

And so, I graduated and got a job, and I absolutely love it. I am surrounded by smart, powerful women who are at the top of my field. My work life moves at a fast pace. It is demanding, at times stressful, but at the same time thrilling and inspiring. I feel that I have found myself to be “leaning in” quite a bit, always wanting to do more, get involved, learn the process, and this was all just in the first week.

But then, as the glow of graduation wore off, I was suddenly found myself uncomfortably far from college. There, I experienced a sense of community at that was so strong and nurturing; I didn’t realize until I had left that I had actually been in a Barnard Bubble. There was nothing that I couldn’t do. No doors were closed to anyone. But while my ability to succeed was insured, navigating a world outside college was not.

While Barnard prepared me to use my liberal arts education, to succeed in my chosen field, what it didn’t prepare me for was a world where not all women feel the same pride, joy, and confidence that comes from being a woman. It all started one day when I went out to grab lunch with some female coworkers. I started talking about how much it bothered me that one of the mail delivery men (I later found out he is not entirely “there,” but I did not know this at the time) had told me that I was “too weak” to lift a box, and that “women were too weak to do anything.”

I was irate. I was going on about how I can lift a thirty-pound box and if I had wanted help, I would have asked for it (although I’m certainly not above asking for help when I need it). I felt I shouldn’t have to deal with that type of treatment in 2011. And then, after spending about a block defending women’s strengths, one of my coworkers said “Oh my gosh stop. You sound like such a feminist.”

And?

The F-Word

I had never thought of that as an insult before. Yes, I do sound like a feminist. I am one. I am a modern day feminist, who has become confident in my “feminism.” I may not be burning my bra, but I want equality for women in the work place. I plan on having a long and successful career and also having a family, when I choose to. I wear pants. I bring home the bacon.

But clearly that was not something that the women around me wanted, and that was strange for me. We were equally educated, equally ambitious, equally confident. But where was the sisterhood? Having just spent the last four years in an institution that is all about the bond that exists among women, the shared strengths, the successes, failures, struggles and triumphs of our sex, I was shocked to enter the real world and find that women of my generation can still have dismissive reactions to feminism.

To this day, I have been called a “feminist” in a derisive, dismissive way by other women at least three times. It is not a frequent occurrence, but it shouldn’t occur at all.

Sandberg was right. There is more progress to be made, the fight is still ongoing, but no one told me that this fight had multiple fronts; in fact, it was coming from other women. At school, we were not sequestered into one definition of “woman” but, instead, taught that being a woman could encompass many things: strong, graceful, smart, funny. You could play sports, or dance, or both. Be a science major, an English major, or both. You could move a thirty-pound box whenever you wanted to, and no one batted an eye.

My four months in the ‘real world’ have made me trip more than a few times. But I was, and, despite the bumps, still ready to “lean in” and do what I was educated to do. But what I have now realized, is that, unlike the 600 women who were inspired at Sandberg’s speech, not all women in the world will be leaning in with me. I have lost my community of fellow leaners. And that is what concerns me: while I am leaning into the world, the world just might not be leaning in to me.

As a child growing up in Manchester, Foluke Akinlose dreamed of launching a magazine for women and girls who looked like she did. But how did this childhood vision culminate in the creation of Precious Online, an e-magazine, network and resource for the UK’s c. 2.3 million women of colour and of the UK’s only awards for this community, described as a “memorable occasion” and “inspirational” by British Prime Minister David Cameron?

“When I was younger, there were no British magazines that featured girls who looked like me. I’d spend my pocket money on American imports and they were great, but I really wanted to read about the Black British experience. When I grew older and started working in the media as a journalist, I quickly realised how expensive setting up a print magazine was. I just didn’t have those kind of funds, so I decided to put the magazine idea at the back of my mind for a while.

“In 1996, I began working in the online department of TV company ITN. Because of the nature of my job, I spent a lot of time researching online. I came across so many online publications aimed at African-American women but there was nothing for those based in the UK. I soon realised that the web gave me a publishing channel and that it was a way for me to launch the magazine of which I had always dreamed. So I followed my dream.

“Precious got underway in 1999 and was the first publication of its kind to launch in the UK. We now get 80,000 unique website visitors each month and reach 10,000 women via the mailing list – our goal is to be the premier destination for women of colour on the web.”

Precious aims to provide resources for and to showcase women of colour and to shine a light on their achievements in business and life. The site runs articles on health and beauty and profiles black writers and artists, as well as organising events every quarter on topics such as the joy of networking or an audience with an entrepreneurial woman.

And the winner is …

The living embodiment of the phrase “seeing a gap in the market”, Foluke then launched the Precious Awards in 2007, as a result of “always being invited to awards ceremonies and yet rarely seeing black women receive recognition.”

“The Precious Awards, scheduled to take place this year on October 27th at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in London, are unique, in that they are the UK’s only awards to focus on diverse women of colour. Back in 2007, I went in to see Pearson, who agreed to host the first awards and to support it. I had no budget initially, so had to do everything myself. The first awards honoured women in six categories, which included leadership in the workplace, best social enterprise, best creative business and best start-up. Pearson are still big supporters and I’m very grateful for their vision and involvement.”

Foluke’s own vision and determination to succeed saw her lobbying the great and the good of British society to ask for their support for the Precious Awards – which in turn led to her receiving messages of support and goodwill from then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his wife (and social activist) Sarah Brown (“she was great – she re-Tweeted the details of the awards to her thousands of followers and encouraged them to nominate women”) , now Deputy PM Nick Clegg and many other luminaries.

In the fifth year of the awards, Foluke has introduced new categories, which include Mentor of the Year, Blogger of the Year and Precious Man of the Year, for which actor Idris Elba, rapper Tinie Tempah and politician Chuka Umunna are nominated. This year’s judging panel is itself a diverse cross-section of talent and includes Heather Melville of the Royal Bank of Scotland; Laxmi Hariharan of NBC Universal; Sandi Okoro from Baring Asset Management and Michael Clarke of the Environment Agency.

For next year’s awards, Foluke would like to find a major sponsor who will commit to supporting Precious over an extended period and being part of their success.

“The awards have had a huge impact on women’s professional and business lives. To win, or even to be nominated, gives them so much confidence and is a wonderful platform for any sponsor.”

The future

So, where next for this intrepid woman?

“I would like to create a Precious presence in every corner of the globe – that’s my aim and I want to encourage young girls everywhere to be the best that they can be. I see myself returning to my childhood dream, when I read those American magazines – I would love to do an event for women of colour in New York.

“Here in the UK, Precious is proud to partner with [high school] St Matthew Academy in south London – we work with their pupils, both girls and boys, to inspire and encourage them to see that being a woman of colour and having your own business is a possibility. I want to make an impact and to show girls that you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.

“I hope that’s what Precious shows them.”

Earlier this year, Foluke published her first book, The Precious Book of Quotes, which featured inspirational advice from 50 women of colour. She is now working on a novel and would like to create a publishing wing of the Precious empire by establishing an imprint for young female writers.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I hope to continue being an inspiration and a role model to other women.”

Awarded the MBE in the 2010 New Year’s honours list for her services to the creative industries (“I thought it was a spoof call at first when the Cabinet Office called to tell me I had been nominated”), Foluke is proof of the strength, talents and diversity of the black British community.

While finance is still a male-dominated industry, these days, women’s style needn’t be crafted to blend in. For example, stylists like Ella Goldin, founder of New York-based styling and personal shopping firm Chic Inspiration, believe that the no-frills look women in the financial world embraced for so long is no longer necessary. Women who want to succeed in finance today, she says, have a better chance of climbing the ranks if they celebrate their womanhood rather than trying to hide it.

“In the past, women in finance and other male-dominated fields wanted to be just like men so that they could climb the work ladder, and they stuck strictly to dark suits in order to better blend in,” Goldin says. “Now, things have changed and I find that those women who really achieve professional success and are at the top as decision makers are the ones who stand out and don’t mind having a unique, beautiful and sophisticated look.”

Goldin believes that women in finance have a greater chance of succeeding professionally if their style represents who they are. “Confidence comes from feeling comfortable in your own skin,” she says, particularly in today’s highly competitive world, where so many talented people are out of work. Women who have a personal style and work with it rather than trying to hide it are those that are going to go the farthest, she says, “because as a woman, you have to have something that differentiates you from the next person.”

Here, three successful professionals who work in the world of finance, each with a unique sense of fashion, share advice on personal style for the next generation of industry leaders.

Lydia De Miguel, Assistant Vice President at Banco Santander in Geneva, Switzerland

“To be fashionable in the financial services world, proportion is key. You also need the right attitude – you need to feel comfortable with yourself in the clothes that you wear, and above all, you have to get the mix right. You can’t wear anything too short or too tight, but you also have to make sure that you’re not too corporate.

I love well-cut trousers, skirts and dresses, and I like to dress them up with high-heeled shoes and boots. I also love pantyhose in great colors and different designs and ethnic jewelry.

I love to pair basics like classic black trousers and pencil skirts with colorful tops and fashion belts, and big earrings. I believe that handbags are important and I have colorful, eye-catching bags I like to mix and match with different outfits.

Mixing and matching is key: Wearing everything at the same time can go horribly wrong.
There are times, of course, when you do have to do the whole black suit. That’s when I like to break it up just a bit with a pair of fashionable pantyhose, or a unique pair of shoes.

My go-to item would definitely be a cardigan. It’s so much less boring than a suit jacket, you can wear it open or slightly unbuttoned, and it’s great to have around in case you have a spot on your shirt after lunch. You can play with cardigans in so many ways, you can have them in different colors, shapes and styles, and they go with trousers, skirts and dresses.

I also favor a good pair of comfortable and elegant black high heels. Every woman needs at least one pair of those.”

Jennifer Connelly, CEO of JCPR, a Public Relations Company Specializing in Financial Services

“Style is a very personal thing for me as it is for most women, and my advice is to find your style so you can be comfortable no matter where you are or who you are doing business with.

To be successful, you must be aware and anticipate your environment. I am blessed with a friend who happens to be a stylist, and I really relied on her to give me the right pieces in my wardrobe every season to give my closet an update but still maintain my overall look.

As far as I am concerned, the key to proper dressing is knowing how to wear your clothes to ensure they are appropriate for every situation. Worn incorrectly, a great top that may be very appropriate with a belt and a jacket over it can look too casual and unprofessional, for example.

I have a conservative yet modern style. It’s that mix, I believe, that allows me to be both fashionable and professional. I have pretty much had the same style for as long as I can remember — it’s now just more sophisticated.

I would tell a younger woman coming into the financial services world to be herself, be appropriate, find what makes her comfortable and embrace it. When you feel good about you, you feel better about everything in your life.

I honestly don’t believe that trendy equates to fashionable. In fact, I stay away from becoming too focused on trend – it just doesn’t work for me. I think a classic and tasteful style is the most appropriate and desirable. At least for me it is. When it comes to accessories and make-up, I believe that less is so much more. I go for a simple classic watch, earrings, tinted moisturizer, mascara, bronzer and gloss. A great scarf is also a perfect accessory.”

Katherine Cooper, VP, Regional Strategy and Business Management for CEO, BNP Paribas North America

“In any field, it helps to have a strong sense of personal style. In financial services, my wardrobe is classic but chic. My strength is great tailoring and my weakness is a love of great shoes. Looking back, my first suit for my first job in San Francisco was awful! It was big and boxy.

To be taken seriously as a woman in this field, you need to be confident in both your appearance and your demeanor. Keep it chic. Build a classic wardrobe. Speak articulately and be well read.

I’d describe my taste as classic chic. I prefer tailored pants and pencil skirts. I add a pop of color with cashmere cardigans and silk tie neck blouses. The key is great tailoring.

Suits are great for interviews and important meetings, but my wardrobe is built on separates that can go easily from the office to dinner. I would tell a younger woman entering the financial milieu to focus on finding brands that fit her and colors that flatter her.

If you are a slave to trends, consider a different industry. I’m more interested in building a timeless wardrobe and updating it with current colors and accessories.”

Readers: Do you agree? What’s your go-to office clothing item? What’s your “dress for success” advice to young women beginning a career in the financial services industry?

“Our mission is to transform women’s relationship to self worth and money – to empower women to increase their net worth,” said Amanda Steinberg, Founder and CEO of DailyWorth. “There is a lot of media attention around increasing savings and salary potential, but increasing net worth – you don’t hear a lot about it.”

“We want to really understand what the particular issues are around money, and provide engaging and interesting financial information,” she continued. DailyWorth is a web community for women to learn about personal finance in a more engaging, empowering way.

“It’s about freedom of choices in life,” Steinberg explained. “The endgame for many women – even successful ones – is this ideal of the ‘full scholarship.’ So many women still strive toward this husband/provider construct. It’s like some sort of princess rescue fantasy.”

She continued, “But for far too many women, it doesn’t work out that way – and it’s an antiquated idea that lives in our subconscious.”

“The next level of the women’s movement is knowing that you have a choice. You don’t necessarily have to be the breadwinner or the CEO – but you can choose to be.”

“It’s about liberation. Or it is for me, anyway,” Steinberg added.

Empowering Women, Creating Wealth

Steinberg originally wanted to go into politics – and studied Urban Planning in college. “But my senior year, I caught the computer bug, and I switched my focus to computer science,” she explained.

After graduating she ran web agencies for about ten years, working as a programmer for venture-backed startups. “I worked in the idea stage and the execution stage, and I saw what all types of business – successful and unsuccessful – looked like,” she explained.

“I was raised by a single mom, and that really instilled in me the importance of being financially independent. I became good at making money – but also good at spending all of it!” she said with a laugh.

Then, she continued, “When I turned thirty, I realized despite being a high earner, that I had not managed to save any of it, realizing I had not learned anything about managing money. But there was just no financial media that I wanted to read.”

She continued, “And I saw a real opportunity to empower women. When it comes to saving for retirement, we trend significantly below men.”

At the time, early 2009, Steinberg’s web agency Soapbxx was going strong – and she decided to launch her new project DailyWorth alongside it.

And to top it off, in the same month the site launched, Steinberg gave birth to her daughter.

She said, “Not all women dream about full-time motherhood. Many of us love building companies. We’re always mothering and always running our businesses. There’s no separation.”

“Will my kids ‘thrive in life’ having been born to such a career-driven mother? No idea. Will they ‘turn out okay?’ I think we all know the answer to that question – it’s impossible to predict or control, so enjoy the moment, which to me means being a mom and building my company at the same time.”

Steinberg says her early experience with DailyWorth is the work she’s most proud of so far. “Raising $1.1 million in venture capital as an unknown entrepreneur was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” she said.

Currently the site puts out two newsletters – a daily newsletter on money management, and a weekly investor’s newsletter. And soon, the community will be launching a third newsletter on entrepreneurial finance.

“We see a huge underserved market there,” Steinberg said. “I go to so many conferences for entrepreneurs and leave full of inspiration, but there’s never enough on tactical execution.”

Lessons Learned

“What I wish I had known when I was starting out is that nothing is ever easy,” Steinberg said. “And you have to develop such unbelievably thick skin to failure.”

She continued, “DailyWorth has been very successful, and when it comes to investment we have big deals. I’m winning all the time, but I’m also losing all the time.”

“I have a rule – I give myself two hours to cry about anything, and then move on. It’s about re-sourcing your motivation and inspiration,” she explained. “If you really want to grow a business, you need to be able to do that.”

“My advice to young women is to learn how to write web code. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself. It makes me all that much more powerful in any room. And when I was first starting out, I could always get a job – it put me on the inside of so many businesses.”

As women become more successful, she said, don’t get allow yourself to get distracted. “Really understand what you’re working towards and don’t get distracted by the noise.”

For example, she explained, “I get approached by the media a lot to do interviews, and it’s very ego gratifying – but it’s also a massive distraction. You have to keep it in perspective.”

“Make sure you’re moving in the right direction,” she added. “Don’s let the spoils of success distract you,” she said with a laugh.

In Her Personal Time

Outside the office, Steinberg, who has two children, works with various children’s foundations and is currently teaching classes on personal finance to high school students at a Brooklyn charter school.

“My dream one day is to start a job training program for adults in low income areas,” she added.

While living in Costa Rica, I learned to rappel waterfalls from great heights. I overcame what I thought was an insurmountable challenge – my fear of heights.

When my husband and I went on our first rappelling trip, I was instructed on the techniques for gradually rappelling without having to plunge into the water from the precipice 110 ft up. Rappelling reduces the acceleration of gravity, thereby avoiding the crushing clash of two surfaces—one being part or all of the adventurer’s body and the other being the rocky pool below. Fortunately when done properly and with control, rappelling allows you to enjoy your surroundings during the gradual descent and exercises the brain by learning new techniques to be applied to the next rappelling experience.

Certainly, significant preparation is required. Our guides had rappel anchors with backups already in the trees at the top of the waterfall. Even so, they invested significant time and energy in retesting these anchors before our rappel. They also tested our knots, checked that the ropes were properly looped through our rappel devices and made sure that our ropes would not come into contact with any sharp objects during our descent for fear of their severing.

My rappel could only begin when I committed myself to angle my body 90 degrees so that I could walk on the wall face horizontally. This was extremely counterintuitive, but trying walk vertically as I was used to resulted in my body slamming into the wall face-first, very painfully.

The descent was controlled by grabbing the rope below my waste, not above. Since my body was hanging from the rope above, my natural inclination was to grab the rope hard above my waist with both hands to avoid a fall. Of course, this would only scour my hands raw, before I fell anyway. Truly, there is no strong grabbing required. Rather, lifting the hand outward away from the waist speeds up the descent and bringing that hand downward below the waist slows it.

Rappelling waterfalls is exhilarating on so many levels. First, realizing that slanting my back flat horizontal to the ground 110 feet below actually was safer was a thrilling paradigm. Then, walking a wall of orchids, mosses, insects, and other wonders gave the feeling of exploring uncharted territory. The brake hand is a fantastically unreasonable anomaly as well. That is, to completely stop and dunk my head in the waterfall or examine a plant by lowering one hand was complete defiance of natural laws.

Finally, arriving at the bottom of the rock face and seeing the wall above was organically awe-inspiring in that an otherwise unconscionable route was taken in a methodical, controlled manner. The unconventionality of the experience was a rush, even though there was never any true danger given the safeties in place.

Getting There

Likewise in executive coaching, I have clients hurtling themselves toward a goal. They want to get “there” no matter what. Then there are the adrenaline junkies who enjoy the risk of chaos, taking pride in not needing methods and plans. Oblivious to going slow to go fast, they miss that the scenery on the road to accomplishment can be half the wonder. Finally, an intense over-fantasization of the end result to instinctively drive themselves toward their goal results in disappointment in the end.

Several clients come to me having reached pinnacles in their professional lives to way to me, “what’s next?” The issue is that this is their entire roadmap to getting to their goal—that is, not having one. They skip the essential self examination of strengths and weaknesses. What’s more, they pass over the assessment of risks and points of resistance with contingency plans to deal with them. This is not to say that they are not good leaders. They obviously achieved some level of success using these very techniques—but at what cost? There are more elegant, healthy, and enjoyable paths to their goals.

Going slow to go fast assures success. My clients’ willingness to study the past and sit with an experience to truly understand who they are makes them ever more effective leaders.

Horizontal Leaders

Specializing in women’s leadership, I continuously see another parallel to rappelling. Women integrating work with raising a family must manage day-to-day small wins rather than hurtling toward one or two large goals. Operating effectively in a space of attempting daily accomplishment based on the growth of those around them while not necessarily navigating vertically, per se, these women learn to effectively excel as horizontal leaders.

In business, horizontal leaders have an ability to lead networks of people who are not in their power domain. Horizontal leaders guide networks of people outside of their span of influence. They effectively persuade, uncover alternate paths, are true partners and collaborators, and walk in others’ shoes with emotional intelligence and empathy. This is invaluable in circumstances where the leader must rely more on influence than authority and where one must lead beyond traditional organizational boundaries. The skills that they develop along this path are key success factors for any organization.

The choice to raise families and pursue careers creates leaders inclined to excel horizontally. Operating from the mindset of employing a vertical route can create frustration and dissatisfaction. It seems impossible to be a spouse, caregiver, and have a fulfilling career. Yet, a direct route mindset is often self-imposed and unrealistic, disempowering many of my clients.

Can you embrace an otherwise direct route to take it methodically, in control, and efficiently?

As you navigate the rock face of your career, you can maximize the experience by:

• 1. Moving with Intention: As you navigate the goal, deliberately stop to calculate your next move and stay present to why you are managing the steps in your path. Moving with intention makes you less likely to be impatient with yourself and others.
• 2. Redirecting and Repositioning: No matter how slippery the rock face—or problem—there are techniques to stop a fall and anchor yourself until you are capable of planning your next move. Find what techniques work for you. Stop for as long as it takes to get acquainted with those techniques so you don’t lose control of your pace and trajectory.
• 3. Soaking Up Your Surroundings: Allow the experience to pour over you. Take moments to bask in your successes. Journal your successes and failures in reaching a particular goal. Soak up every ounce of the experience and learn!
• 4. Engaging Others In Your Success: Rappelling is not a one-person endeavor. You have a trusted partner supporting your journey and celebrating with you at the bottom. When you slip or lose your grip, have someone there to get you back on track and measure your pace.

As I rappelled, I learned new techniques in grip and control as I navigated a rarely touched landscape. Sometimes I found I was slipping on the mossy rocks, and I needed to use irregular methods—the belay—to slow my uncontrolled descent, always aware of the end goal. Along the way I had my own personal experience. Crossing through the waterfall, stopping to embrace the incredible experience rejuvenated me and prepared me for the next step. Reaching my goal methodically was enjoyable and empowering.

“How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.” – Karl Wilhelm von Humbold

Laura Berger is an Executive Advisor and Founder of The Berdéo Group. She is also Director of Corporate Programs at Tiara—Exceptional Women’s Coaching.

Laura exemplifies this commitment to the life path in a book she is co-writing with her husband, Glen Tibaldeo, to be released in the near future. The book chronicles the humorous side of the successes and challenges they experienced living in the remote jungles of Costa Rica.

Back in 2008, I was a frustrated career orientated mum of 2. I realised that if I wanted to move on in my career I needed to seek other development opportunities outside of my Corporate environment. It only took me a year or so to work out that developing my career was not at the top of my bosses’ agenda and that my boat wasn’t going to come in, I had to swim out to it.

I had heard of women’s networking groups before, but, to be honest I had bought in to the stereotype that these were feminist gatherings where they burned bras and effigies of men. How wrong could one be?! And who would have thought that my frustration would not only lead me to create a solution to the problem, but through that process I would become such a huge advocate of women’s networks.

Despite my original preconception about their value, researching women’s networks in more detail felt like a sensible place to start. I reverted to the old fashioned Google search, and what appeared was nothing short of information overload. There were multiple groups offering all different kinds of support. Some were industry specific, some were senior Women only, others wanted hard cash for what I could see was little in return. My frustration was the amount of information I would have to wade through in order to make an informed decision about where I invested my time and what I would get in return.

What I actually wanted was a one stop shop that could provide me with a synopsis of all of the City Women’s networks, a centralized place where I could see what events were running in my area, a place where I could read articles written by experts that would contribute to my development or spark my creative juices and if possible (as we are women after all) provide me with a bit of City lifestyle guidance, e.g. where to entertain my clients, where to drink with my colleagues, where to shop in the concrete jungle and perhaps even where to get my nails done!

Despite searching, I quickly found no such website existed. So after a bit of convincing from my husband and friends that this was a good idea, coupled with the results of our market research, www.wearethecity.com was born.

Humble Beginnings

From the very first scribble as to what the site would look like to the websites launch took approximately 5 months. My husband and I went for our annual weekend away without the children in April 2008 and by the first week of September we were live on the Internet with 10 signed up members. I remember we opened a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the fact that 10 people had joined the site after the 1st week.

It didn’t matter that most of the members were in fact our family or those that had helped us with our market research, we had our own website and we were out there for all to see on the big World Wide Web. I was also proud that we hadn’t borrowed money from the bank to create our dream, in fact to the contrary, we actually built the first WeAreTheCity website on a cheap Internet web builder which cost us £8 per month. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it was functional and a risk free way of running a proof of concept.

When I look at how the website has developed over the past 2 years, I find it hard to believe how far we have come. We have well over 150,000 hits per month and a signed up membership of 6,500 City Women. We have run 8 successful events and have partnered with some of the City’s largest corporates. We have had media coverage and been given the opportunity to run advertising campaigns for a number of leading brands. We have rebuilt the website with state of the art functionality and thanks to our 50+ writers we now offer a whole host of articles on a myriad of development orientated subjects. Most recently we launched our own TV channel as an alternative way of communicating and inspiring our members, and the story doesn’t end there – I can assure you.

What I find hard to believe is how an idea that started so small has gone on to benefit so many City Women. Be it our readers who benefit from the donated articles of our writers, or the writers themselves who now have a platform to publish their content. To the Women’s networks who now have a centralized channel to publish their events to the Women that go along to these events and broaden their skills and networks.

Value to Members

True to our values, we still continue to provide a route to market for entrepreneurs and small businesses and much needed service for charities to engage with City Women.

Thanks to the women’s networks engaging with WeAreTheCity, we are also able to provide visibility to learning opportunities and events that you wouldn’t normally see as part of a Corporate Learning and Development programme. Events such as “How to prepare yourself for a Board position”, “How to raise your Profile” or even “How to Network”.

It is fair to say that WeAreTheCity would not be so successful if it wasn’t for our members, our writers or the many City Women’s networks that partner with us across the City. The likes of Women in Banking and Finance, The European Women’s Network, City Women’s Network and Women in Technology, all of which provide a myriad of events to support and promote female development. A majority of these networks are staffed by volunteers, all of which share a desire to give up their time to ensure that Women have access to the opportunities that they need to enhance their skills, fulfill their career ambitions and aspirations. There is such power in these networks and WeAreTheCity are extremely proud to be a conduit to help them to help others to fulfill their potential and gain new skills.

The fact my husband and I have created something that helps Women, most of whom are like us, just trying to get ahead, hold down our day jobs and manage our families and outside commitments – I can’t help but be proud of the fact we are contributing in some way. Be it by providing a support group or by inspiring our readers with ideas, I know we are making a difference, and for that reason alone, long may it continue.

The website now provides the exact information I once sought as a frustrated professional, and then some. We serve an audience of over 70,000 City Women, we have raised over £10,000 for various charities plus we have provided a start for many small businesses and entreprenuers. In addition, WeAreTheCity has become the little black book for City Women we set out for it to be.

Looking Ahead

We have also fulfilled a number of our social responsibility goals, when we first started WeAreTheCity, we pledged that joining WeAreTheCity would always be free, therefore accessible to every Woman who sets foot in the City. We also committed to giving free advertising space to all charities and for those who could not afford advertising fees. This still holds firm today whereby over 40% of our site’s content is devoted to these causes and our website is still free from membership fees.

We also created WeAreTheCity because women are increasingly time constrained. We are still trying to balance jobs, careers, and families as well as trying to steal a little time for ourselves. As women, we want information and we want it provided in the quickest and most easily absorbed form as possible. We also want recommendations – it saves us time.

We wanted to raise awareness of what the City had to offer females both professionally and socially. We also wanted to convey a message that there are many female support groups for Women to arm themselves with additional skills – they just need to take a leap of faith and use these groups to supplement their development and broaden their network.

WeAreTheCity will hopefully continue in this guise for years to come. A big intention of ours to help build the pipeline of future talent in order to arm Women with the skills they need to progress in to senior positions and to become “Board ready”. If we can help in someway then the journey has been a worthwhile endeavor. We believe we are already on the right path.

Vanessa Vallely created leading women’s website, www.wearethecity.com three years ago to provide City and female-centric information to Women in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf. The purpose of the site was to aid its member’s development through the promotion of learning events and professional and lifestyle advice. Vanessa has worked in Financial Services for 23 years. She has recently won the Women’s Champion Award from Women in Banking & Finance and has also been recognized as one of Financial’s News’ top 100 Rising Stars in Financial Services across EMEA and Africa. By day, Vanessa works as Head of Business Management for Aviva Investors, and by night she runs www.wearethecity.com as well as her own coaching company www.TheProfileCoach.co.uk. She is also a trustee for 2 charities, a School Governor, and working mum to 2 young girls.

“Boldly going where no man (or woman) has gone before” has become a modern day cliché, representing adventure, bravery, and futuristic thinking. Though, if we’re completely honest with ourselves, many women will admit they simply follow suit as leaders. We may up the current game in our company and in our personal lives by being competitive in how we play the game; yet, how often do we really change the game?

Shareholder pressure, personal and professional fear, recessionary conditions, and myriad factors contribute to more conservative approaches to work and life. Yet, as leaders and even aspiring leaders in today’s world, it is our job and our responsibility to chart new paths. If we don’t encourage playing dangerously and coloring outside the lines, who will? We must continue to innovate, push, explore, and make it safe for others to do so – otherwise, we will stagnate, avoid risks, become complacent, and ultimately not progress in our roles and contribution to our organizations.

So, let’s break it down. If we truly want to lead, what are a few things we can consider to improve our success ratio or at least minimize our risk of totally flaming out?

Know your audience and meet them where they are. Whether we are driving a new compensation plan internally, introducing a new product or service, forging an entirely new channel to market or going after a new donor pool on an entirely different scale, we need to know what they need and want. We need to create a ‘win-win’ scenario and present our approach to them in terms they will understand.

Build and nurture a network. As leaders we need a support system who will tell us the honest truth (even if what we hear is not what we want to hear), and provide advice and perspective as we move forward. Having additional sets of eyes looking at your approach can reveal the weak links, as well as areas for further exposure.

Be a three-dimensional chess player. As leaders, we have to think strategically, not just tactically. Sure, it is important to know what to do next; yet, it is even more important to have our paths charted three to four steps ahead.

Remember critical thinking is not negative thinking. It is simply our ability to think about what may work, and what may not work. When we pursue new approaches, we have to think of all the things that could go well, as well as those that may be insurmountable. Then, we discover new chess moves to overcome those obstacles, or maneuver around them.

Be resilient. We all have failed on occasion. How we pick ourselves up from these stumbles is what people remember, not whether we or not failed. Leading through adversity and showing resilient behavior is what inspires our followers.

Overcoming Our Fears

Recently a client was trying to determine whether to pursue a seemingly out-of-reach objective. She would be going out on limb, and potentially risk failure, exposure, and possibly even her credibility. She was pursuing a promotion for which she was qualified, yet the position was out of her business unit, two levels up, and she was not the politically favored candidate. She was questioning whether to even throw her name in the hat. Have you been there?

Risk taking is full of potential failure, otherwise it would be called sure thing taking. Yet, when we don’t risk anything, we ultimately risk everything. A few thoughts on how to gain the courage to go out on the limb:

Figure out what drives your fear. We need to ask ourselves – what do we want? How badly do we want it? What is really holding us back? Once we understand this, we can focus on overcoming the inertia of not doing anything.

Think about a time when we overcame that thing that scared us to death, and lived to tell about it. This may have been speaking in front of 20,000 people or throwing a critical pass during the final game of the season or confronting a wrong doing by a higher-up within your organization. This becomes the fuel for centering ourselves in pursuing the next risky proposition.

Bust a move! Just make the first move to climb out on that limb! This first step provides the power. Regardless of how scary – just do it. In the case of my client, this meant sending an email to the CEO asking for a few minutes of his time to discuss the opportunity. Forward momentum is the key.

Taking risks is a critical component of leadership. If we are not stretching beyond our comfort zone, we are not learning. If we are not exposing ourselves to the risk of potential failure, we are equally not exposing ourselves to the risk of success. Playing it safe breeds complacency. Our competition loves this. Whether our competition is another person vying for the same promotion, another company selling a similar product or service, or a nation vying for a majority share of import/export business – we will lose by not taking calculated risks.

So, as leaders, we need to take the risk we are more afraid of taking. “Go where no one has gone before.”