A Solution Set to Help Diversify the Financial Services Sector

The remarks made by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones about how "babies are focus-killers" and more (Click here to see the video) has resulted in thousands of twitter responses, dozens of articles, many TV segments and heaven knows how many conversations about what one thinks mothers can and cannot do in trading, finance, and the workplace in general.

I was compelled to co-write this response with Susan Solovay here on LinkedIn which has been viewed over 10,000 times ( thank you) and resulted in more media requests than we were able to handle. We did do two radio segments, one on Take Away Public radio ( Women Investors Pushing Back on Claim That Mothers Can't be Traders.) and another on Bloomberg Radio.

Much has now been said about the issue and I for one am left asking, can anything good come out of all it? My answer is, I sure hope so.

Below is a summary of the solutions presented in the paper "Women In Fund Management : A Road Map To Critical Mass and Why it Matters" to improve the representation of women in the financial services sector, and specifically in hedge funds. I helped fund and put together this paper in 2009 as I wanted to answer the question "Why so few women in the financial services sector an in hedge funds in particular?" We had a writer/researcher in the field go through all the evidence she could find and collaboratively we came up with a number of research backed solutions. Our original hope in doing the paper was that any interested organizations could use it in ways that made sense for them. That was 2009, and needless to say there was a lot going in in the sector and in the world in general at that time, but today is a new day.

I urge anyone interested to download the FREE report for greater detail. I simply cannot do the report justice in the limited space below.

The solution set a presented in the paper with personal comments added:

1. ADOPT A CRITICAL MASS PRINCIPLE - Research says that "magic seems to occur" in terms of changing the dynamics, decision making process and culture when diverse representation reaches 30%. Consider making this a target number in all positions. I love this book by the fabulous Linda Tarr-Whelan on this subject.
2. PUT MONEY WHERE IT MATTERS - Encourage investors, institutional and high net worth, to use their wealth/investable assets as a force for change by investing in talented women-managed funds and/or women-friendly companies. In particular many public pension funds have mandates to invest in minority owned firms and that money often remains unallocated. I have heard there is little accountability for such mandates and this could be the EASIEST thing to change. If you are interested more generally in GENDER LENS INVESTING please see the work of the Criterion Institute.
3. REQUIRE GREATER TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY - Require registration of and reporting about fund managers, including those in hedge funds, so that the diversity of the field is visible and can be addressed. Given the nature of the hedge fund industry this is so hard but we as investors can ask questions and be more selective about the funds we invest in. If someone can post a great due diligence check list that would be great.
4. EXPAND THE PIPELINE - Address issues in MBA programs ( and other programs) that result in the enrollment of women at less than one third of the total, and provide counseling and encouragement for women to consider financial services as a career. This is such a catch 22. Yes we need to encourage women but as one woman said to me in an email," I was so encouraged to enter trading but the reality of my job is horrible. I am the only woman and everyday I have to deal with extremely sexist attitudes and fight battles my male colleagues do not. I am as talented and committed as them but my boss keeps telling me that he is worried I will 'one day' have children and leave so he is afraid of giving me a big trading seat. Jacki, what should I do? I talk to other women 'onlys' and we wonder is it worth it? No one told us it would be this hard." Working on expanding the pipeline alone will never be enough if the reception many women get in the workplace is unfriendly. Please consider posting your ideas on this dilemma.
5. BUILD AND EXPAND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS - Research has shown that supportive networks are critical for encouraging women and other under-represented populations to stay and excel in inhospitable fields. Yes we need networks but we also need those various networks to take collective action. Working together we can accelerate change in an industry that seems very stalled. This goes for internal diversity networks, organizations whose mission is to accelerate change, and other business and professional networks in the field. Might there be a coalition, much like The 30 Percent Coalition, that brings interested groups together to set a common agenda? I highly recommend the landmark article on "Collective Impact" by Mark Kramer and John Kania for a possible framework.
6. PROVIDE MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES AT ALL LEVELS - Institutionalize formal mentoring programs within firms and through outside networks that match younger women with more experienced women and men in the field to provide perspective and wisdom and to encourage professional growth. Has all this mentoring resulted in much of anything? I am not so sure. Please post the evidence or share your personal experience. I like the concept of sponsorship over mentorship as it implies ownership of outcomes. See the work of Sylvia Ann Hewlett on this topic.
7. HIGHLIGHT THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN FINANCE TO PROVIDE ROLE MODELS FOR OTHER WOMEN - Putting the spotlight on women fund managers and financial leaders challenges the perception that women are not well suited for careers in finance. A big YES. I invite all women managers, and especially highly successful ones, to PLEASE make yourselves more visible. I also invite media to SEEK OUT women to profile, highlight, and feature women managers as thought leaders. Ladies put yourself on SHESOURCE now. I also invite media outlets like BLOOMBERG to create a page on women managers and funds. When we originally launched the paper we had a lot of discussions with Hedge Fund Research Inc. to create a platform to invest with women managers. They have the data and I have a feeling that if the money and interest were there, so would be the platform to invest.
8. CHANGE THE CLIMATE AND CULTURE - Ensure that leaders in the field communicate their commitment to building workplaces where everyone can succeed at the level of her or his capacity. This commitment must be institutionalized at all levels of the company's hierarchy. This is huge. As evidenced by Mr. Tudor Jones there is a lot of bias out there and this is the hardest, hardest issue to address. I can just hope, and pray, that more senior business leaders have a 'wake-up' moment and acknowledge that perhaps they do hold on to stereo-types that affect their decision making and are preventing them from giving talent opportunity. I also know that there are many male and female leaders out there that truly are aware and sensitive to bias and I invite them to share their views and practices. Become a visible champion for a true meritocracy. There are many good books on gender bias including those by Laura Liswood and Barbara Annis. Have others? Please post.
9. SUPPORT AND FUND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD - To develop effective solutions, we need to understand the problem and measure the results. Though I personally feel that there is more than enough research out there that shows that a) bias is real and 2) women managers perform at least as well as male managers, if additional research helps drive action, GREAT. Again I invite anyone seeing this article to post research that you believe makes the case, or does not, and let us all come to own own conclusions. There are many studies quoted in the paper but there have been many more done since then. If you post them I will do my best to collect them all and repost them to you in a summarized way.

Let's not forget what the question was that an audience member asked Mr. Tudor Jones that started this firestorm. He was asked to " Please reflect on the make-up of the panel — rich, white middle age men who were mentored by the same and what it takes for someone different to have a seat at the table and finally share their voices from a powerful place.” Might a consortium of hedge-fund managers work together to consider this? I sure hope so and I am here to help in any way I can.

If you have other further ideas on solutions please post. In particular I really encourage the many women managers and professionals who emailed me personally to share your experiences and stories. Change happens when people share their stories. To inspire you I will leave you with one of my favorites quotes: "The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles lost and won than by the stories loved and believed in." - Harold Goddard

Photo: Andy Roberts/OJO Images via Getty Images. The image cracks me up and has been selected by LINKEDIN. Everyone please see the humor in it though I am sure it will prompt some comments about anyone who has ever been involved in anything within the financial services sector as being a piggy. That was certainly not my intention.