The best advocates are also willing to give honest appraisals of where there is room for improvement.
Mentorship and sponsorship are recurring themes at sessions of Women in NeuGroup where women in finance discuss the benefits of having supporters who help sharpen their skills, guide their careers and stand up for them.
- In a video you can watch by hitting the play button below, Kristen Michaud, a principal in PwC’s Finance Transformation group, talks about the support of colleagues who have stepped in and called attention to her expertise if other people in a meeting were not including her in a discussion where she was the expert.
- But she also speaks about the importance of having advocates who are willing to dole out tough love and frank feedback when they think you’re getting too comfortable or not taking advantage of an opportunity.
An MBA, not med school. Ms. Michaud studied biology and planned to go to medical school; but she became fascinated by finance and IT and got an MBA instead. Her resume includes a decade at IBM, where she rose to manager of global treasury systems, and more than nine years at GE Capital. Today, she helps guide treasury teams through digital transformation initiatives.
- On the next episode of NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast (available on Apple and Spotify), Ms. Michaud talks with NeuGroup’s Julie Zawacki-Lucci. They discuss their experiences as women in finance, the individuals that aided them along their journey and the skills they’ve developed that have helped them thrive.
