Global Leadership Summit 2015 Session 4: Sallie Krawcheck
Trey McClain
To understand how to close the retirement savings gap, we need ot shift our perspective.
The retirements savings crisis is a women’s crisis. We retire with 2/3 the money of men and live 7-8 years longer.
The answer to this issue, the opportunity, the challenge is what I want to talk about today.
By engaging women more fully in the economy, we can close the retirement savings gap by 1/3.
Let’s take that lens and tilt it further, it will activate diversity.
Diverse teams outproduce more capable teams.
Adding someone with a different perspective adds alot.
Diversity has the ability to boost ethics.
My first research report on American General. I thought it was tanking. I was told, “Don’t publish this. You’re wrong. And nobody likes a Debbie-Downer. Wall Street is a place where you can make millions by just being in the middle of the pack.”
I was hired to do the best job for our clients, even if it was not what they wanted to hear.
The #1 reason women accept jobs is meaning and purpose.
In 2007/2008 at Smith-Barney and I came to conclusion that we should share the losses with our clients. My boss said, “No.”
Was this a question of business ethics? I thought so. But in the end it was about our clients. I was thinking about the long-term health of the business.
The research that this type of relationship focus is very female.
What matters is not if I was right or wrong, what matters is my voice was different. Diverse teams do not make more efficient decisions, they take longer. Diverse teams make more effective decisions.
Why is corporate America not making more progress in diversity? Wall Street goes backward.
Diversity is hard. We all have inherent biases. The research says we like powerful men. We do not like powerful women.
We need courageous conversations. “Do you realize what we just did there?”
What can we do to drive diversity?
Recognize the differences, disagreements, debates.
Do we have the strongest team in place. Ask who is the best person for the job. For too many, the person who is best for the job looks like me.
Really live our values. Women and millenials too watch us for it. Have you ever seen a company say that our people are just cogs in a machine? Two stories: one who really does and one who doesn’t.
Women are tired. Why? Hair and makeup. 15 minutes a day extra on hair and makeup = 60 hours a year. When we need time off, it’s not that we’re less committed to our companies. We’re just tired.
Watch the micro-lessons. We give more feedback to the majority. We give less feedback to women because we’re scared that they’re going to cry.
What I do love is to learn. I have allowed research speak to me on diversity. With was my white-hot why, advancing women. Ellevate
If we use our money for a purpose, we can have both.
“Yes mommy. I googled you. You’re one of the good guys.” That is why I keep going. That’s why I work everyday like my children are watching me because they are even when I don’t know they are.
I’m also grateful. It was the luck of the draw that I was born to my parents, my circumstances, my parents who went into debt to provide their children with the finest education they could. It is my responsibility to give back.
My worst day is better than so many people’s best day.
