Erin Callan Montella became one of the most powerful executives on Wall Street as CFO of Lehman Brothers, only to have her life and career changed forever by the 2008 financial crisis.
Callan will speak on October 6 at an FEI New York City Chapter event about her rise as powerful financial executive, the struggles of managing a crisis and ultimately finding work/life balance -- events that are chronicled in her book, Full Circle.
Financial Executives International spoke to Callan about the powerful lessons she will discuss during the New York City event.
Financial Executives International: In your experience, do CFOs and financial executives have a greater challenge in finding the correct work/life balance in their lives?
Erin Callan: The challenge of managing work/life balance is not unique to any particular occupation. Depending on your personality and tendencies, each one of us can gravitate towards extreme behavior when it comes to our working lives for a multitude of reasons. With that said, though, there are industries and specific jobs that are highly competitive, which create a cultural context that encourage a lack of balance and arguably reward a lack of balance.
FEI: How did you deal the pressure of that competition?
Callan: In my book Full Circle I discuss anecdotes and stories which highlight that my own out-of-balance life was not unique in the Wall Street environment, nor in the legal profession in the early days of my career. There was great respect and admiration for the people working the hardest who arguably had no personal lives to speak of.
Financial executives fall squarely in this group of high achievers where a work-first mentality is encouraged and rewarded.
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FEI: Do you feel that the culture for financial professionals has significantly changed since the financial crisis?
Callan: This is difficult for me to comment on since I only worked briefly once the financial crisis occurred. Any observations I have are from the sidelines not the frontlines.
FEI: Would you counsel someone getting out of college today to begin the journey to become a financial executive?
Callan: I never had such a specific ambition myself that it would not be natural for me to counsel a young person to such a pointed result. If anything, I learned along the course of my career that you discover not only your own talents and capabilities as you actually work in different jobs, but get exposure to other fields of interest along the way that may be more compelling to you.
FEI: What was your career path?
Callan: I started my career as a corporate tax lawyer with little to no familiarity with investment banking. I only developed an interest and attraction to Wall Street as a career as I worked with various banks as my clients.
So for me, trying to do whatever I was doing well and staying open-minded was critical. There was no game plan to be an executive of any kind, let alone a financial executive. Just to work hard and be the best I could be.
FEI: Do you feel that same approach would work today for young financial executives?
Callan: For a young person who already knows they want to be a financial executive, I would counsel them to work in the field, give it their all and see what happens. All worthwhile jobs are challenging and what those challenges are will change with the environment.
Whether you can make it work for the life you want for yourself, it is in your control.