Fiftyfaces Breakout Rooms

In October 2020 GAIN (Girls are Investors) launched its inaugural Summer 2021 internship programme and received applications from nearly 200 talented young women from 48 universities.  Through 22 partner investment management firms, they offered internships to 25 young women in Summer 2021 with additional firms participating in the programme on an ongoing basis. In this podcast we meet with three of those students to discuss their internship experience.  Our discussion starts with their own academic background, and how some of the skills they applied in their internship did not spring from traditional finance disciplines.  We hear how some of them were introduced to the world of finance and investing and debate whether the industry is as open to newcomers as it should be.  We turn then to look at the importance of female role models, and where the students found mentorship and inspiration both throughout the summer and in their career search to date.  Finally, we  touch on the impact of Covid-19 on work experiences such as this one and learn about the travails of internships that were fully or partially remote and how critical in-person interactions are at this stage of career development. With sincere thanks to Han You Low, Eva Borras and Ellen Welford for sharing their insights with us. There is more information on the GAIN internship programme on this link: https://www.gainuk.org/gain-internship-programme/This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

There is a popular narrative that women are less confident than men. But is this borne out in the data?

Recently, I presented to a group of university students who were members of a Women in Asset Management club. And it seemed to me, in a somewhat troubling way, that the popular narrative that women are less confident than men has become accepted as a truth, one that has even become internalized by young women at a young age.

We set out to tackle this issue and convened a panel of two executive coaches and one executive search expert to debate this issue of confidence, share what they see from their perspective. Kate Grussing works in Executive Search at Sapphire Partners. Kathryn Heslin is an executive coach and management consultant. She is managing partner of Change Associates based in Dublin. Brian Hillery was introduced to me by Kathryn and is also based in Dublin. He's a partner and Head of Coaching at Eisneramper, a specialist accountancy firm.

Our discussion reveals that lack of self-confidence can be an issue for far more people than we might think, and that it is pervasive among both women and men, at every level in professions and even ebbing and flowing in a career. We speak about how sometimes it derives from the stories we tell ourselves and can manifest physically, and how it can often hold people back from seeking promotions, seeking stretch opportunities and making professional moves.

Brian and Kathryn, as executive coaches, speak about the action plans that they develop with their clients to overcome confidence issues – how this can involve visualization, goal setting and small actions to make a difference. Kate shares how lack of self confidence manifests at the job search stage, how different candidates can have different assessments of their own competence and how searching for case studies of achievements and examples can be empowering in shaping an employment profile. Kate recommends building support circles and even a personal Board of Directors which can be consulted in advance of career moves or important milestones.

A career in investing is both exciting and rewarding. Girls are Investors (GAIN) is here to inspire girls to get into the industry through inspirational talks, career support and opportunities. Please visit gainuk.org for more resources and information about GAIN. See 50facespodcast.com for information about the role models profiled on The Fiftyfaces Podcast and spin-off series.

In the throes of the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the annual fall in employment in the UK is now the highest in a decade. Work changes lives, and young people, and the importance of hope, opportunity and the dignity that employment confers are in supreme focus.

In the aftermath of the riots in London of 2011 AON participated in a pathbreaking recruitment program that targeted unemployed youth in the Croydon area. As described by Stuart Heatley, then of Aon, the recruitment program was "about tapping in to a pool of potential that conventionally employers wouldn't look at". It was a return to recruitment by talent and not by numbers . . to overcome the near focus on "numbers" such as A-levels, degree quality and other conventional metrics. The CV-less recruitment process, held in conjunction with Croydon's job centre, had an overwhelming response leading to AON increasing the number of candidates from 10 to 15, but based on the "talent in the room" they would have liked to increase it even further.

Suzanne Taylor, who managed the recruitment program, enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the candidates for longer than an hour as part of the process, to really understand what contribution could be made and give "real insights into the talent" and to "get to see what an individual would bring to a business" which may not be possible during a traditional interview process.

Derek Browne of Entrepreneurs in action designed the program, and described the recruitment day as a "magical day" that revealed all that was right in young people, their hunger to work and to drive their lives forward.

The business leaders described the process as "one of the most interesting and rewarding things" of their careers, and one found it "emotional to see what young people had to give". We hear from a young candidate who came from a "bad place" but ultimately found an employer that provided more than just a job - instead it provided a place to grow. He discusses the impact that that recruitment program had on the direction of his life.

This episode was generously sponsored by the International Business of Federated Hermes.

In early December we published the first Breakout Room podcast describing the Classroom to Boardroom program held this summer under the steerage of Derek Browne and Mitesh Sheth. To recall, the program was devised as a way to tackle under-representation of black talent in the investment industry. It was designed as a way for executives to “get out of their echo chamber” and hear directly from black youth about their perspectives, challenges they might face and maybe even identify talent. In that first Breakout Room we heard from the executives from the asset management industry and now we want to hear from the students themselves.

This past Spring and Summer (2020) had a number of what Derek describes as "hard stops" in the education of some of these students as schools closed and exams were cancelled. Against this backdrop the program took on an additional value - providing a validating assessment experience in what had unexpectedly become an assessment vacuum. This ability to connect with peers and professionals as well as to get actionable and meaningful feedback on real-life assignments was even more powerful as a result.

The Covid-19 Crisis has had a stark impact on university campuses, as the once crowded lecture theaters, dining halls and sports arenas sit empty and millions of students learn from remote locations. Student bodies are often the target of enhanced enforcement too, and they have been under focus for sometimes dodging restrictions, partying in college halls and close contacts been forced into sometimes repeated quarantines.

In this breakout room I wanted to hear from a group of university students themselves about their experience. I was thrilled to speak with Zuriel and Alex, who study in Nottingham and South London, respectively, and in the US, Simon and Sorcha, studying in Ohio and Toronto, respectively. I asked them about their experience in the Spring and Summer, when campuses emptied, high school rites of passage moved online and summer work and travel plans came asunder. We talked about their learning experience, how it has changed, how engagement wanes when live lectures are replaced by faceless black boxes on a screen and how limited on campus experiences can be so meaningful.

I ask them about the impact that these changes have had on their mental health, and that of their peers, and whether they feel the supports they need are in place. While it was clear that much was lost, it is also apparent that something has been found - space to reflect, time to connect with family, time to focus with fewer distractions. Finally we look to the future, and what they are most looking forward to when restrictions start to lift.

Some of these experiences are hard to visualize and hard to imagine, like much of the experience of 2020. The resilience of the students is a credit to them, and I am confident that their path ahead will be richer because of it.

The Covid-19 pandemic and government responses have upended society and have wreaked havoc on small businesses in particular. According to data from Homebase, as we now enter the holiday season and year end, metrics in term so hours worked, the number of businesses open and the number of employees working have sunk to pre-summer levels. The number of small business owners who don’t know if their business will survive has risen to 34% from 22% in July while 6% believe it won’t (from 3% in July).

We talked to a diverse group of business owners based in the UK and the US about the effect that the Covid disruptions had on their businesses. What we learned sometimes surprised us, sometimes it was sadly predictable. The shocks and setbacks of forced closures, and the suddenness with which they descended forced these owners to pivot, to adapt. The rally of a community and the support of a business community sometimes made all of the difference.

We feature the stories of:

London-based Karen Morris of Reg & Co (https://www.regandco.com/), a sponsorship and partnership specialist that works across the sport, arts and entertainment, charity and public sector.

Mary Rachford of Fyzical, a physical therapy and balance center in Naperville, IL (https://www.fyzical.com/naperville/)

Amanda Daly, founder of The Daly Bagel in Oak Park IL (https://thedalybagel.com/) who launched her business during the pandemic, in April 2020

Keena Bonds, based near Oak Park IL founder of Spread the Love Body Butter and Scrubs with Essential Oils (find her on Facebook).

Welcome to our Breakout Room, which is the first spin off of The Fiftyfaces Podcast, a podcast committed to revealing the richness and diversity of the world of investment by focusing on its people, and their stories.

The Fiftyfaces Breakout rooms series is a spin-off which will focus on specific topics, and sometimes feature panel-style discussions, sometimes documentary-style collaborations. This collaboration with Classroom to Boardroom is the first such “breakout room”, and we wish to thank the international business of Federated Hermes for their support of production costs.

Today we are speaking with an esteemed panel of leaders in the asset management arena – what unites them is that they all participated in the inaugural Classroom to Boardroom event this past summer. Classroom to Boardroom is the brainchild of Derek Browne and Mitesh Sheth and was devised as a way to tackle under-representation of black talent in the investment industry. It was designed as a way for executives to “get out of their echo chamber” and hear directly from black youth about their perspectives, challenges they might face and maybe even identify talent.

The panel in this Breakout Room consists of:

Derek Browne - Chief Executive - Entrepreneurs in Action

Mitesh Sheth - Chief Executive - Redington

Sally Nelson - Chief People Officer - Fidelity International

Robert Gardner - Director of Investments - St James’s Place plc

Alex Hutton-Mills - Managing Director - Lincoln Pensions Ltd.