Yesterday, I attended Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women’s Exchange a great quarterly series hosted by Goldman Sachs.
Carla A. Harris was one of the keynote speakers. Harris is a Managing Director in the Strategic Client Group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. She is also the recipient of many accolades such as Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America” and Black Enterprise’s “Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street”. I am always inspired when I hear Harris speak, she shared a few of “Carla’s Pearls” during the closing keynote:
- Living in your own authentic skin is the key to being powerful.
- In the 21st century, a leader must be comfortable taking risks. Create change, don’t let it happen to you.
- Create a broad, diverse and deep networks. Use technology to stay in touch with your network.
- When considering a transition or an opportunity reflect on the following questions: (i) Will the new thing give me the skills and experience that I would not get if I stayed in my current seat? (ii) Will the new thing expose me to new connections that I would not meet if I stayed in my current seat? (iii) Will the new thing create branches on my decision tree of opportunities going forward that will give me choices in the future?
- Failure gives you a gift. The gift is experience that you would not have had otherwise.
- Perception is the co-pilot to reality. How people perceive you will directly impact how they deal with you. If you don’t like the perception, you can train people to think and talk about you in a way that is compatible with who you really are and what the company values. Check out the video for tips on how to manage the perception of others.
- The most important element in your success equation, is the expectation that you will do well. If you expect to win you will!
For more of Carla’s Pearls be sure to pick up Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet.
