It was an uplifting event yesterday evening hosted by Nomura to launch a new study from executive search firm Odgers Berndtson, and Muika Leadership, on the experiences of women in financial services.
100 women from 54 firms took part in the research, and the resulting report – ‘Past perspectives; future change’ – outlines the findings and provides a toolkit of recommendations for how finance firms can achieve better gender diversity in senior roles.
Speakers included Virginia Bottomley, who is Chair, Board Practice at Odgers; Charlotte Sweeney, International Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Nomura; and Jenny Knott, CEO of Standard Bank.
A few highlights for me:
- The report findings are all about the women. In particular how the demands of the finance sector; characteristics of the women themselves; role of professional interactions and the dynamics of family / children contribute to their individual successes. The action plan for change, quite rightly, focuses on what firms need to consider as next steps – and that’s mostly about the organisations rather than the individual women. A welcome move away from ‘fix the women’!
- This is a report from those who have made it – and there are no whingers here!
- Emotional intelligence, and in particular high levels of self-awareness and resilience, characterise these successful women.
- Jenny Knott of Standard Bank was warm, open, humorous, sometimes self-deprecating and approachable as a speaker – and this echoed a finding in the research that these women highlighted the importance of being authentic – doing it as themselves and harnessing their own personal qualities.
- Virginia Bottomley cited the fact that in India, there are 7 CEOs of banks. The secret of their success? Better support networks at home. Another factor in the research was the importance of a personal support network, and in particular a supportive partner. A majority of the women interviewed had stay-at-home partners.
For more details you can read the executive summary.
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