Talk To Me

So I'm working on this series about leading women on wall street. A totally softball kind of interview. How did you get to your current position, challenges, journey, etc.Really easy, light stuff. I've been identifying various women in key jobs at many wall street and finance firms. Then sending out emails to their media contacts. Then I wait. Then I send out follow up emails. I can't believe how hard it is to find women that will talk to me.

Like I said - this is easy stuff. I'm not asking them about sex harassment or why their company is losing money. But these requests have gone to a black hole. No, this isn't a Forbes list, which my guess is that if it was I'd hear back from them. But really ladies. Nothing? Radio silence. Crickets chirping.

In my research, I found quite a few women are in leading jobs on Wall Street, but you wouldn't know it cause they are deathly afraid to talk to the media. I even reached out to a Women on Wall Street conference to try to join up with them to do a story. nada. zilch.

So if you think there aren't women in key jobs on wall street - you are wrong. Will you ever read about them? Probably not. Not unless its a Forbes list I guess.

They Are Executives - They Just Happen To Be Women Too.

With the departures of Carol Bartz as Yahoo! CEO and the loss of Sallie Krawcheck at Bank of America, I was asked to do a piece on women executives getting axed. Certainly there were plenty of those pieces out there. It was low hanging fruit. But I hated the idea of such a piece. Why can't they just be executives that got canned? Why did the focus have to be that they were women? I get that there are few women in that role. I have been trying like crazy this month to find a female CEO to interview and have been roundly rejected. But can't we move on and treat them like any other executive?That's what they are - they just also happen to be women.
Separately, I loved that carol said, "They fucked me." There was so much shock that she said that. Guess what guys, that's how we talk. I can't count how many times I've heard a female executive claim that at bonus time or say that when they were the only person to get laid off in a department. Yup, that's how we talk. She just had the  balls to say it.

Summer Intern Dress Code

Ahh summer. Time for the interns to invade our offices. Schools work so hard to prepare these kids to do these interns  - lectures on how to behave and work hard. They even say dress in business attire. But like the whisper game, the kids hear the words "business attire," but what comes out is not always business attire (you know those boring clothes - yuk).

I managed to overcome my issue with flip flops. I don't do it, but since everyone else seems to wear flip flops in the summer - I got over it. But spaghetti straps? SHORTS? Really? At Bear Stearn's, they had no qualms sending home girls in spaghetti straps and no bras. Try seating an 18-yr old nubile babe with no bra in air conditioning next to a middle-aged dad in a mature marriage. Recipe for disaster. They can't concentrate and I'm sure their wives appreciated the efforts by HR. The girls always had that blank look of - what? This isn't ok? It's J Crew. They had no idea what the effect of all the young skin was having on these guys.

Last week, an intern came to our office wearing short shorts. Strangely, I was the only one who noticed. I guess that's why I feel old. Plus, it really bothered me. This isn't a stuffy wall street banking firm, but it's still an office. In my opinion, shorts are never a choice when you go to an office unless its maybe Google. Maybe Bermuda shorts, long capris? But short shorts? NO NO NO.

I debated over whether I should say something. She didn't work for me. No one else seemed to notice. Would she complain to HR that I wasn't minding my own business? Would she leave and then get the person she worked for mad at me? Would I humiliate her? Would she appreciate being told this was inappropriate ?
In the end, I did nothing. I asked someone else what they thought and described my hand wringing. She wrung her hands with me. Should we - as women - tell younger girls - hey this is inappropriate. Or should we sit back and quietly count our grey hairs as short shorts become common business attire?

Finance women ringing the bell

Women in Housing and Finance will visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square to recognize its leadership in promoting diversity on WHF's 30^th Anniversary.  

In honor of the occasion, Caroline Harris, President, Women in Housing and Finance and Partner, Goldman Harris LLC, will ring the Closing Bell.

TREASURY TO HOST WOMEN IN FINANCE INVESTMENT SYMPOSIUM

On Tuesday, July 12, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will convene a Women in Finance Symposium focusing on institutional investment. Following up on the first Women in Finance Symposium in March 2010 and Treasury’s Access to Capital Conference earlier this year, the symposium will bring together senior Administration officials, private sector leaders, and institutional investors for a series of panel discussions to recognize a new group of women who have risen to leadership roles in the institutional investment space and to explore the crucial role of the capital they invest in economic growth and sustainability, entrepreneurship, and job creation in America. Tuesday’s symposium will initiate a dialogue on how institutional investors are deploying capital and managing risk and how investment practices have changed post-financial crisis.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011                        8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET

The event will also be streamed live on www.treasury.gov.

Things My Boss Said To Me

It's Friday and sometimes I feel I should change this blog to the above title. Like most people, it seemed like a great idea to do a blog and I knew it would be tough to come up with time to work on it, but it really is difficult to make the time. But I will keep at it and hopefully get better.

But I never seem to run out of things my boss said to me. So this one goes back a ways to the mid-80's. I worked in a bond house and it was very much a locker room with ties kind of atmosphere. The brokers were in long rows all facing the trading desk in the middle. I was an assistant and we all sat in a group off to the side. So, I'm walking through the row of brokers to get to my guy and this one random guy, not even one i knew very well grabs my butt - with both hands and grabs hard. One cheek in each hand. I was pretty young and it was pretty shocking. Well this was the 80's and he was presumably coked up, which was the explanation for his behavior.

I was pretty upset and so my boss calls me in. Now remember this is before sexual harassment days. That just didn't exist. So, he chuckles and says I just figured you knew him. Like that meant it was OK. My boss was worthless. He said he'd talk to the guy, which I didn't believe. My guys - the ones I worked for - did much more. They tore into the guy. They made it clear that he had overstepped the lines. Then they shunned him. That was awesome. The boss did nothing, but my guys stood up for me.

Things My Boss Said To Me

It's Friday and time for another installment of Things My Boss Said To Me.

This time it was a female boss and this was fairly early on in my career at a mutual fund company. My boss and I had the same first name. She went by Debra and at the time everyone called me Debbie. I was Debbie Conn. Nice ring. Two syllables followed by one.

But this boss pulled me aside and said Debbie didn't sound professional. I should use my given name Debra. Never mind that now there would be two Debra's in the department and that could be confusing. Not wanting to cross the boss, I went along with it and from thence forth I was known as Debra.

Now I understand Debbie sounds like a nickname, and I endured plenty of Debbie Does.... snickers (ala the porn film) and plus its dated (50's sounding), but its kinda weird changing your name in your 20's. Looking back though, should I have let this person influence the use of my name? There are plenty of successful women named Debbie. Did anyone ever really treat me differently as a Debra? Would it have ever kept me from a promotion? Doubtful.

But because of that one boss, my professional name changed.

My family still calls me debbie.