Comments on: The Need for Women Leaders on Wall Street

By: Why Accountability is What Matters: Achieving Critical Mass with Targets or Quotas » The Glass Hammer

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:07:07 +0000

[...] Mass principle and have completed a full research document for the Fund Management Industry (which we reported on back in July this year) “Women in Fund Management: A Roadmap for Achieving Critical Mass [...]

By: Top Women in Investment Management: Seven Women Who’ve Risen to the Top » The Glass Hammer

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:02:32 +0000

[...] we previously reported, the National Council for Research on Women released a report in June, 2009 regarding the [...]

By: The Future of Hedge Funds » The Glass Hammer

The Future of Hedge Funds » The Glass Hammer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:01:58 +0000

[...] by a woman. A recent report from The National Council for Research on Women, which we reported on here , asserts that one of the major reasons there are so few women in the industry is that gaining [...]

By: Betty L. Shotton

Betty L. Shotton — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:50:17 +0000

The business paradigm that has supported Wall Street is built around male attributes such as competition, win at all costs, take no prisoners, the one with the most wins; the war paradigm applied to the development of one of the major financial drivers of our country. It is no wonder that it collapsed(or that it continues to collapse in every decade or two). Without a shift in the paradigm, without a concerted call to look at the values of the financial leaders, without requiring these institutions to operate with honesty and integrity, the male defined paradigm will continue and we can look forward to more corruption, more financial losses inflicted on ordinary peoplethrough the greed of a few…
As women we understand collaboration,we understand the value of sustainability and the need to balance physical, emotional and spiritual demands in the development of the whole; these skills and attributes contribute to families but play the same important role in our businesses and financial institutions.
Business schools teach the “male competitor” paradigm, business books have been oriented to these values as well.
Female voices in business and on Wall Street are drowned out by the noise of the aggressive and competitive men.
Women’s voices in business need to be included, valued, lifted up and need to be heard.
I have recently submitted a proposal for a business book that speaks to the core values of leadership…chapters are on Integrity, Awe, Hope, Possibility, Vision(there are three books and 30 chapters).
I have found it very difficult to get traditional business publishers to take an interest; they want the latest new thing or words from a famous executive(which knocks out women to a large degree). The other interesting thing is that I have submitted a chapter on LOVE…how it has been absent from the business vocabulary and is one of the most powerful forces in the world(not sexual obviously but an over riding concern and care for mankind which duhhhhh; has been completely omitted from the workings of Wall Street). Anyway, no one is comfortable with bringing that concept into business publishing.What does that say about the support structures and teachings of our business society?
I persevere with my efforts to introduce a female voice into the business world and am committed to shifting the way we hold our leaders accountable for the overall good and sustainability of their organizations and people.
I love your article and the response; I think we need to keep the conversation going and expand the voices and make a difference to change the male paradigms that have destroyed so much.
Count me in on this conversation!

By: Betty-Ann Heggie

Betty-Ann Heggie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:38:45 +0000

Recent research shows that the current recession could be a result of too many men with too much testosterone on the trading floor. They got overly aggressive taking too many risks, just as a winning athletic team would do and it always leads to downfall. Once taking the fall they have an overabundance of cortisol,the stress hormone, which makes things look worse and now it is hard for them to see anything positive to pull themselves out of it. So they exaggerate the highs and lows. One could argue that women on the trading floor would have prevented the recession and increasing their numbers will do so in the future. Thus its in our best interest to have more women in capital markets. The problem in getting more women into that environment is it values strongly masculine characteristics such as aggression, toughness and individuality, making it difficult for women to penetrate the ranks. In strongly masculine organizations women walk a minefield between being viewed as tough enough to be considered leadership material and yet not being so strong that they aren’t liked. Women need mentors to not only survive, but thrive. We need help from the organizations but we also need to support one another. Women will win by supporting other women. I blog about this at http://stillettochick.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/women-win-by-supporting-other-women.html Thanks for a great article. BA