This is gonna be another rough week, of which I am getting much too used to. Have you ever looked at your schedule for the next week and thought WHY? I’m flying out to New York Monday night, returning to Chicago Wednesday morning, and then flying out to Philadelphia on Thursday, and returning to Chicago on Friday night. It’s the first time I’ll take four plane rides in a week. Maybe I can be a consultant!
I arrived in New York to attend the Women on Wall Street Conference. Many of us were invited and sponsored by Deutsche Bank, which annually sponsors the event. University of Chicago women were rolling deep at this event. There were about twelve of us out of about fifty. We attended a lunch with Deutsche Bank women and had an interesting keynote address by Maggie Craddock who spoke about choosing a career. She is an executive coach and she had some good tips on things that influence your choice of career and what’s important to you. Of course, I most looked forward to the question and answer portion of the program. I asked what I’ve been struggling with. You should be true to yourself, but you should also be cognizant of others perceptions of you. But what do you do when the two conflict? How much should you change for others? It’s a question I’ve struggled with for a while, and no one has given me a very good answer. She stated that you can be yourself but you may have to present in a way that is not necessarily your own.
She was followed by the head of diversity for Deutsche Bank who explained how much of a priority it is to increase diversity at the bank, and that this serves as proof that women do have productive banking careers. I don’t know if they help or hurt themselves with these things. I notice how many eyebrows go up when a woman explains that she’s got a two-year old at home with the nanny and the housekeeper. I think it works for many people, but a lot of the others are fooling themselves.
After lunch the actual Conference started. There were over 3000 people there (mostly women). We heard from a panel of six women in financial services and their experiences. It was interesting to see how different the experiences were. Then it was time for the keynote address by Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole. She was a dynamic speaker and she directly addressed the fact that a lot of the strides that have happened in financial services and other areas have been for white women and that minority females have a very difficult task. It was awesome. She gave great stories from her childhood and how she reacted to others telling her what she could be.
They finished the evening with the requisite cocktail reception which I likened to a shark feeding. They effectively threw some chum in the water and let these women attack. People were actually standing over the plates of appetizers to eat and then guarding the last cheesepuff for themselves. I extricated myself from this repulsive scene and sat myself down in the lobby. I ended up talking to an ex-banker and entrepreneur from Toronto. He was staying in the hotel and waiting for a friend. So we had a lively discussion. When I finally retrieved some of my classmates, we went to a restaurant and sat down to a civilized meal. Then it was an early morning flight back to classes at the Hyde Park Center.