Your Path to the Corner Office: Never Give Away Your Power

Women now yield unprecedented economic and financial clout--making up nearly two-thirds of the U.S. work force and frequently out-earning their spouses. Yet they have traditionally been underrepresented in the corner office.

In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month in the U.S., BNY Mellon's executives share lessons from their personal leadership journey. These dedicated leader-coaches are a reflection of why BNY Mellon has become the Investments Company for the World.

Julie Follosco, BNY Mellon’s Chief Risk Officer for Corporate Trust, Treasury Services, Depositary Receipts and Global Operations, with her top five career tips:

1. Consciously trust your instincts and judgment and execute based upon them. This is very easy to say but can only be learned by doing. And, once you do it, it will become easier to do. Equipping yourself with knowledge will allow you to make informed judgments — which is critical — but you have to act on those judgments and, ultimately, make sure you are in (or get to) a position where you have the ability to execute. Instincts can be key to guiding you to make the right judgment in any situation and are critical in keeping you from getting into the wrong situation.
    
2. Identify and understand your strengths and weaknesses and get yourself into a position where your strengths can be demonstrated. Take time to focus on developing your weaknesses but always get into conversations, meetings and projects where your strengths can be apparent.
    
3. Choose your battles. It is more important to pick the appropriate issue/time/place and with whom to strongly express opinions and pursue what you believe is correct and right than it is to try to win every argument (or battle). This does not mean that you should not express opinions rather, you must! But there will be situations where you want to fight for something — this is where you need to carefully select your battle.
    
4. Never give away your power. Power does not mean that you manage people, rather, it is your own strength, intelligence, judgment, demonstration of capability, and finally, dignity. If you are in a situation where your power is being taken from you, then move.

   If it is a bad boss — change groups, change companies whatever it is — make a change. If it is not having the opportunity to demonstrate your strengths and contributions, then again make a change.
    

5. Take risks and do not take aboard fear. If it is a situation where your opinion is not being heard or respected — do not allow yourself to be disregarded; push forward your views. If you have an idea but don't say it and later a colleague expresses the same idea — learn to express your thoughts, opinions and ideas forthrightly, fearlessly and in the moment. If you believe your judgment is correct and others doubt you, push forward to execute — do not allow others to cause you to question yourself. Fear should reside only in the appropriate situations, which rarely ever have anything to do with business.

Julie Follosco is the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for BNY Mellon’s Corporate Trust, Treasury Services, Depositary Receipts and Global Operations groups.

As CRO, Julie works with her team and the businesses to manage multiple risks that include operational, product and reputational risks. Julie is a member of BNY Mellon’s Operating Committee, Risk & Compliance Executive Committee, Senior Risk Management Committee, Strategic Risk Committee and Operational Risk Committee.

A 20-plus year veteran of BNY Mellon, Julie joined the company as a corporate lending relationship manager and later joined Risk working with the Asset Recovery group before becoming Chief Risk Officer in 2012. As head of Asset Recovery, Julie managed Corporate, Real Estate & Consumer Asset Recovery, MUNB loan Holdings, the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) group, and Special Situations and Leasing Credit. These responsibilities included managing a team working with clients with financial difficulties, coordinating activities of the CRA group to ensure compliance with OCC and Fed requirements, as well as overseeing credit management of a portfolio of leveraged loans and a leasing portfolio.

For nearly ten years prior to joining BNY Mellon, Julie developed lending opportunities with private equity firms for Bankers Trust Company and was a corporate lending relationship officer with her hometown bank (now owned by PNC) in Louisville, Kentucky, where she started her banking career. Julie is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and has an MBA from Fordham University.