Lehman Sibilings
Posted by egehl on February 20, 2009
Tough times call for new solutions. And new solutions call for breaking old stereotypes.
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Nicholas D. Kristof wrote about conversations at the World Economic Forum on whether we would be in the same circumstances today if the major financial institutions were more diverse and run by men and women.
…Some of the most interesting discussions revolved around whether we would be in the same mess today if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters. The consensus (and this is among the dead white men who parade annually at Davos) is that the optimal bank would have been Lehman Brothers and Sisters.
As we all know, Wall Street is one of the most male dominated places in the business world, especially when it comes to upper level management. As people examine and try to explain what went wrong in the financial sector, discussions have been happening that the lack of diversity could have been a factor in the demise of many companies.
Aside from pure workplace fairness and women being given an equal chance in climbing the Wall Street ladder, there’s evidence that the result of too much testosterone can equal to second-rate decision making.
According to research, there seems to be a strong consensus that diverse groups perform better at problem solving. The op-ed refers to a study that claims “men are particularly likely to make high-risk bets when under financial pressure and surrounded by other males of similar status.” Whereas with women, their risk-taking is not impacted by similar types of peer pressure and competitiveness.
Therefore a greater gender balance in the financial world could reduce some of the unnecessary levels of risk taking and eventual disastrous consequences of homogeneous male herding and dominance.
Diversity in the workplace is important for any field, but given the state of the financial crisis it’s more important than ever.
Women could offer alternative solutions and a more even handed response to how to handle plunging stock markets and what risks are appropriate to take. It’s great that there are a number of female financial analysts on networks like CNBC, so why can’t more of them be behind the scenes as well?
I hope that Wall Street takes heed and thinks about new ways to tackle their mounting challenges and considers women to help take the helm.
