401(k) Specialist Issue 2 - 2022 - 30

D
Deloitte projects only a 4% increase in
women leadership positions in roughly the
next decade, so female frustration is easy to
understand. However, thanks to advocacy
organizations like We Inspire. Promote. Network
(WIPN), The Women in Retirement
Conference (WiRC), and 50/50 Women on
Boards, it's beginning to change. Far from
the " angry women " sexist stereotype, it's a
positive movement, using data to make the
case and involving men in discussions and
solutions.
" You still have to fight, but the fight has
gotten easier, " said Amy Glynn, Managing
Partner with aggregation firm GRP Advisor
Alliance (GRPAA). " A lot of the time, it's
just creating awareness, but it takes a lot of
bravery and courage to have these conversations,
and it makes people on both sides
uncomfortable. People have to get comfortable
with the uncomfortable. "
Consider a non-industry example-men's
soccer debuted at the second Olympic
Games in the modern era in 1900. It would
be almost a century before the women's
soccer debut at the Atlanta games in 1996.
In 1985, the federal government enforced
Title IX legislation, significantly increasing
participation in women's collegiate sports.
Glynn, an All-American soccer player, had
over a dozen soccer scholarships offered
to her. She experienced significant culture
shock, visiting college campuses with
30
ISSUE 2 2022 | 401kSpecialist.com
Deloitte finds that women comprise just over
half of the population yet account for only 24% of
financial services leadership positions. Those numbers
just don't figure.
According to McKinsey & Company, diverse
organizations are more profitable, and thanks to a
greater awareness of the benefits of Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, advancement
is happening (to an extent), yet the pace is maddeningly
slow.
basketball dormitories lined with Mercedes
sedans.
" If not for the mandate, there would
never be a United States Women's National
Team, which scored a major goal this year
with an equal pay agreement, " she noted.
When Glynn joined a major financial
firm in 1990, there were no female branch
managers, and less than 10% of the advisors
were women.
" It was just a scary place to be, " she
explained. " You had to be very gutsy to play
ball with the boys, for lack of a better word.
And what women and minorities had to
grin and bear, and still do, was mind-boggling. "
Wholesaler/advisor
strip club outings and
even " boom-boom rooms " were typical and
only disappeared within the last decade.
Glynn argued that a boys' club still thrives
in the advisor business, where jobs are
known and filled before being offered to
the broader (and more diverse) population.
However, she pointed to several individuals
and companies leading change, like Capital
Group and its blueprint of actionable steps
to establish DEI policies at advisory firms,
whether for five or 500 people.
She also mentioned powerful women in
powerful positions, including MFS President
Carol Geremia; Deb Boyden, Head of U.S.
Defined Contribution at Schroders; Anne
Ackerley, Managing Director and Head
of BlackRock's Retirement Group; Jenny
Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin
Resources, and financial wellness pioneer
Liz Davidson, CEO of Financial Finesse.
" We're beginning to level the playing
field, but it's hard to get there, and every
woman has war stories, " Glynn added.
War Stories
Her own battle scars explain why she's
so passionate. Try and read the following
without getting angry.
Sales goals are, of course, sacrosanct. The
protocol while working for a large Wall
Street wirehouse early in Glynn's career was
to meet with a branch manager and let him
(it was always a " him " ) make the introduction
to his top producers. Young and female
meant they would often refuse to meet
with her or give five minutes at best. They'd
always offer the same advice and tell her to
speak with their rookies to educate them
on 401(k) plans. Astronomically high rookie
washout rates meant she'd never reach her
sales goals if that's how she spent her time.
" At events, I had a branch manager hand
me a room key to join him later in the hot
tub, and humor got me through the constant
inappropriate and degrading behavior, "
she related. " I was expected to take advisors
out to dinner three nights a week and
entertain. It was completely uncomfortable.
What single, 25-year-old woman wants to
do that? And the advisors that did usually
didn't want to talk about 401(k) plans. I
had to fight with my boss to change my
requirements to lunch-a more comfortable
environment. "
She decided not to play by the rules and
bypass the branch managers to go directly to
the top producers. As one might expect, it
didn't go over well. One day her boss called
and said he was flying in to meet with her,
and the news wasn't good. A confidential
survey of all the division heads found a perception
that they didn't see her, know her,
and therefore didn't think she performed at
her job. Put on notice, Glynn had 90 days to
turn the perception around or be fired.
" This happened in October, and when
the numbers came out at the end of the
year, I was No. 1 in the country, " she said,
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401(k) Specialist Issue 2 - 2022

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