Businesswomen describe their success

The woman who may be a contender to run the nation's largest bank told more than 400 Wharton M.B.A. students and alumni yesterday that "integrity is everything. If you make a mistake, own up to it."

Sallie Krawcheck, well-known Wall Street executive and recently appointed head of wealth management at Bank of America, told a Wharton Women in Business Conference in Center City that when faced with a difficult situation, she asks herself "not what I think I should do, but what the person I want to be should do - what she would do."

"It's a very simple exercise. I use it a lot," said Krawcheck, former chair and chief executive of Smith Barney and later chief financial officer at Citi and chief executive of Citi's global wealth management.

When Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis recently startled the financial world by announcing he would step down at the end of the year, Krawcheck was among those mentioned as a candidate for the top job.

Her advice yesterday to a ballroom largely filled with female M.B.A. students and Wharton alumnae at the Park Hyatt: "Nothing beats hard work. At the end of the day, the people who are most successful tend to work harder."

"Do not trade your beliefs and integrity for anything," she exhorted. "Know where your ethical compass is. With me, it's my stomach. When my stomach hurts, I know I have an issue."

Krawcheck said she was delighted to see all the women, noting that women represent 40 percent of Wharton's new M.B.A. class, the largest percentage in the school's history.

"But I'm not going to be a Pollyanna here. We do still have real barriers," she told the crowd, which included corporate representatives who met with students at networking events.

"There's a double-bind dilemma for women: Damned if you do; doomed if you don't," Krawcheck said. "Women in leadership positions are most often viewed as either too tough or too bitchy, or too soft and lacking in leadership skills. Almost never just right."

Krawcheck's parting words - "Do a job that you love" - was echoed by Shelly Lazarus, chair of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide advertising agency.

"The most important thing I have to suggest to you is do something you love," said Lazarus, who recounted that when she went into advertising 35 years ago, "there were no women. I used to be the only woman in the room."

"In truth, we women don't need special programs," she said. "We don't need special help, or mentors. All we need is an even playing field, and we will be successful.

"The challenge of the leadership journey is not to emulate someone else's way. It is to find your own, to be authentic to your own style, to build credibility on that basis," said Lazarus, who rose through the ranks at Ogilvy & Mather, including posts as chief operating officer and CEO, before becoming chair of the worldwide company.

The Wharton students present were optimistic about finding jobs and said the economy was starting to improve.

First-year finance major Mary Zheng, 26, said that second-year students had told her "the job market is picking up a little. Companies that used to hire eight people before the recession, then went down to three or four, will hire maybe five or six in the coming recruiting season."

Zheng's takeaway? "Focus. And don't let the economy get you down. Don't play into a herd mentality. Find what you want to do, your niche, and pursue it no matter what other people are doing around you. Just be an independent thinker."

Dhaarna Mehta, 28, a second-year finance, accounting, and management major, said: "There are jobs. We just have to work harder to find and get them."

Mehta, a conference cochair, said she was fortunate to have a job at a New York investment bank when she graduates in May.

Despite the economy, 30 companies came to talk to the students, compared with 12 at last year's conference.

"We want the women to realize there's a huge network here to help them," Mehta said. "There is a lot of support from the companies."

"The onus is on us to reach out, to put our best foot forward, and grab those opportunities."