For Lori Heinel, helping women in the workplace requires more than just chatting over lunch.
"If you're going to mentor women, you have to be willing to stand up for them, advocate for them and not let the narrative around their behaviors override their capabilities and their expertise," she said.
While male team members are typically evaluated using numbers and percentages to quantify the results of their leadership, Heinel said women are often judged by qualitative and stylistic factors. "'She's emotional'; 'She doesn't have executive presence'; or 'She's not collaborative'" are the types of feedback women often receive, she said.
These critiques can be difficult to hear, but it's best to face them head-on, she advised: "You need to know what people are saying about you that might be undermining your ability to progress."
Women must be willing to take risks to move ahead in their careers, she said.
"Don't be afraid to learn something new or to take on an assignment that feels too big for you," Heinel said. "Those are the ways that you can really grow as a professional and keep yourself ahead of the curve."
This strategy led Heinel to be named the first female global chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors, the world's fourth-largest asset manager with $4.1 trillion in assets under management in 2021.
Under her leadership, GA's AUM grew by 19% last year. "My job is to oversee all of the investment professionals — portfolio managers, traders, researchers and operations — to deliver exceptional outcomes for our investors," Heinel said.
While holding positions in several trade groups, including the Investor Leadership Network and FTSE Russell, Heinel devotes much of her spare time to advocating for women and diversity in the workplace.
She's a member of multiple nonprofits, including Women in ETFs and 100 Women in Finance, and is on the diversity and inclusion steering committee for the CFA Institute. She frequently speaks about these causes at conferences around the globe. Through State Street's professional women's network, the firm's most prominent global employee resource group, Heinel has spoken about diversity, equity and inclusion to audiences in Australia, Bangalore, India and Krakow, Poland.
"I've been drawn more to mentoring women because I have a passion for developing female talent, but diversity comes in all shapes and sizes," Heinel said.
Despite the advances women in finance have made over the years, gender bias persists in the workplace, she said.
"Across our industry, there exist preconceptions around women's inability or lack of desire to take on significant increases in responsibility, particularly for women with young children at home," she said.
To put her preaching into practice, Heinel increased diversity on the GA investment leadership team by 20% since assuming her role in 2021.
"I recognized 20 years ago that it isn't just about networking and mentoring; it's about giving women a voice in the room when decisions are being made," she said. "It's actually advocating and somehow helping that individual get to the next opportunity."
