Sandra Navidi - SuperHubs - How the Financial Elite and Their Networks Rule our World

Blythe Masters, one of Wall Street’s top female executives, ended her twenty-seven-year career at JPMorgan after the bank reported the sale of the global commodities unit she had led to record revenues of close to $3 billion. She was previously the CEO of JPMorgan’s investment bank, and when the crisis erupted in 2007 she became the subject of public abuse, presumably at least partially because she stood out as being capable as well as noticeably attractive and feminine.37 The realities of the contemporary workplace are sobering and frustrating for a generation of women raised to believe that if they had an excellent education they’d have a merit-based career.

THE RESILIENCE GAP: MALE MIGHT AND FEMALE FEEBLENESS

More-conservative financiers opine that the lack of women in senior ranks is because their priorities shift once they bear children. Legendary hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones was forced to publicly apologize after stating that women can’t compete after having children or going through divorce: “You will never see as many great women investors or traders as men. Period. End of story. . . . As soon as that baby’s lips touch that girl’s bosom, forget it.”38 Jones has a penchant for such expressions of evocative machismo, as when he said at a conference that we desperately need a “macro doctor to prescribe central bank Viagra.”39

Others argue that women are just not made—physically or psychologically—to withstand the pressure-cooker environment at the executive level. Some indeed choose to leave this confrontational, competitive world for good in view of the low odds of rising to the top. They instead join smaller firms, change career fields, or start their own firms, where they are judged by market forces rather than male superiors.40

In the recent past, proponents like Sheryl Sandberg have publicly come to the forefront to convince women to claim the positions they are qualified to earn. However, similar statements have yet to be made by women renowned in the world of finance. On the contrary, women fall prey to the “superhuman paradox,” where they do it all but are far from having it all. Many senior, accomplished power women who dare speak up, such as Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton University and Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi, believe that women can “pretend to have it all,” but that it is nearly impossible for women to balance work and family without help.41 In finance, the work-life balance is particularly challenging due to the long hours, lack of control over one’s time, and heavy travel. According to researchers at Harvard, women are judged more harshly than men for leaving work earlier than others. Colleagues likely assume that they are off to pick up kids, whereas men who leave early are presumed to have client meetings. Regardless of whether women are in effect more engaged in child care and household-related tasks, it is still widely assumed that they are tied to the home, which is why more travel-related assignments typically go to men. The preferential assignment of opportunities may help explain why women receive fewer promotions than their male counterparts.42

Unforgettable still is the depressing and unusually vocal reckoning of Erin Callan,43 Lehman Brothers’ CFO at the time of the bank’s failure. She described in the New York Times how her boundaries slipped away until work was all that was left, an experience she does not wish on anyone.44 Word on the street was that Dick Fuld, the CEO, had promoted her to the position of chief financial officer because she had no prior experience in this field and would, thus, be more easily influenced. In fact, she later recalled how she was made to be the “fall-girl” by both Fuld and Gregory.45 A Wall Street Journal profile displaying her taste for expensive designer clothes and use of a personal shopper from Bergdorf Goodman,46 combined with glamour shots, did not help her image as the CFO of a major bank, especially one that was about to go bust.

CLOSING THE GENDER GAP: SUPERHUB CHRISTINE LAGARDE

Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, is one of the very few women who has defied the odds, proven her longevity, and risen to the top of international finance. On a mild September evening in New York, black chauffeured limousines lined up in front of the magnificent Plaza Hotel at Central Park, dropping off international policy, business, and finance leaders. Foreign dignitaries, CEOs of global companies, and international VIPs clad in evening gowns and tuxedos made their way amid heavy security to the opulent Grand Ballroom to attend the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award dinner. Dedicated to strengthening transatlantic relationships, the Atlantic Council hosts an annual award show that honors leaders tackling contemporary challenges. Fred Kempe, the president and CEO of the council, described the attendees as the “ultimate community of influence.” One of the awardees on this festive occasion was Christine Lagarde. Tall, slim, and dressed in an elegant red evening gown, she circulated amongst the high-profile guests with ease. After being introduced by Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the WEF, she dazzled the audience with a captivating speech. The next day, she was back in Washington to preside over the Annual Meetings of the IMF.

Lagarde’s exceptional career path has been an unlikely one, considering her beginnings. She was born in 1956 into a bourgeois French family and grew up in Normandy. Her father, a university professor, passed away when she was seventeen years old, leaving her mother, a teacher, to raise her along with her three younger brothers. Lagarde excelled in school and joined the national synchronized swim team, which she now says—with a wink—taught her to “hold her breath” and “work well in organized teams.” After spending a year in the United States on a scholarship, she returned to Paris to attend law school. She applied twice to the École nationale d’administration, the elite school for top bureaucrats, but was rejected each time. When she interviewed for her first job with the most reputable law firm in France, she was told that—while they would gladly accept her—she would never be made partner simply because she was a woman.47 She proceeded to join Baker & McKenzie, the world’s largest global law firm; spent several years working in the United States; and, in 1999, became the firm’s first female chair. Subsequently, she joined the French government, first as trade minister and then as agriculture minister. Just in time for the financial crisis, she became France’s first female finance minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy, which also made her the first female Finance Minister of the G7 countries. After IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s ignoble sex scandal, the prestigious position was awarded to Lagarde, who thoroughly impressed the twenty-four biggest member countries in a series of intense and grueling interviews for the job.

Lagarde has defied the laws of homophily, as she could hardly have been more different from the men dominating the professional environment around her. All of the IMF board members are male, as are most central bank governors and finance ministers. She succeeded despite lacking a prominent family background or the requisite elite French schooling. The nationalistic French perceived her as quasi-American, because of her years spent in the United States, her command of the English language, and Anglo-Saxon attitude. Lagarde is charismatic and oozes old-world elegance. She is always “on”—consistently gracious regardless of the circumstances, animated in podium discussions, and full of energy that is seemingly unimpaired by stress and jet lag. Perhaps even more extraordinary than her skill set are her personality, appearance, and demeanor, which so distinctly set her apart from the men in her orbit.