Leaning in and as importantly, speaking up; Managing a hypercompetitive colleague; the high stakes of workplace conflict for women in senior roles

Happy Monday!
I want to thank those of you who attended our State of the Markets Panel last week. The event was a great success and it was so good to see many of you. I also want to thank our Sponsors and Panelists for their participation in making the event a great success. I would also like to thank our Sponsor Breakfast speakers – Danielle DiMartino Booth and Dr. Lev Borodovsky of the Daily Shot for such a lively, if not a little frightening, breakfast discussion!
I often draw parallels between women in and finance and women in other industries such as technology where there are few women in senior roles as many of the issues we face are the same. From the New York Times this morning, there was a great piece on the state of women in advertising, including reflections from women who have made it through to the CEO level, and the title says it all – “For Women in Advertising, It’s Still a Mad Men World.” The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/business/media/for-women-in-advertising-its-still-a-mad-men-world.html?_r=0
Also from the New York Times, it appears instead of leaning in, women need to be speaking up. “One study, conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University and Princeton, found that when women are outnumbered, they speak for between a quarter and a third less time than the men.” The reason women don’t speak up is that they fear a backlash if they do, and according to a Yale study, the fears are well founded. The Yale study found that “both male and female listeners were quick to think these women were talking too much, too aggressively. In other words, men are rewarded for speaking, while women are punished.” The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/how-to-explain-mansplaining.html
And while on the subject of leaning in, there was a great article on Buzzfeed discussing the cost of workplace conflict when a woman has a large high profile job. The upshot? “Change shouldn’t just be about women modifying their behavior — it should mean an overarching change in the system and how women’s behavior is perceived within it.” The full article can be found here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/doree/kelly-ripa-melissa-harris-perry-and-the-cost-of-being-in-cha?utm_term=.nkOO0L1B6#.isJqad8z5
And finally, from the career advice file, there was a great piece in the Wall Street Journal on how to survive office competition. We have all worked with the hyper competitive co-worker – this article is a great guide to finding your way to compete with them effectively and professionally. Read on: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-do-you-survive-office-competition-1461088682
Lastly, I would like to invite our readers to join the Harvest Exchange –it is a network of 8,000+ of the world’s top investors and investment firms brought together in a forum to exchange ideas. To learn more, please use this link: https://www.hvst.com/referrals/r8oJJ6QTAR0
We thank you all for your continued support as we continue to grow and look forward to seeing you all soon!

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