Name: How this CEO is helping women in leadership
Uploaded: 2015-06-23
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Synchrony Financial CEO Margaret Keane talks about mentoring young women and what it's like to be a female CEO in finance.

Margaret, as the CEO of Synchrony Financial, you are one of only two women leading big banks in this country. How do you feel about that special status and the responsibility that goes with it? I feel I have a huge responsibility. There are just not enough women in big leadership positions, and I think it's my Job now that I've succeeded to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to pull more women up. And I'm happy to say I have a fairly diverse leadership team. My marketing leader is a woman. My CIO is a woman. So we have big leaders in our organization. Do you think women make better leaders or good leaders? Or put you on the spot. No, I do think women make better leaders, and I think part of why we are better leaders is I think we're problem solvers and I think we always look for the best answer. And it doesn't always have to be our answer. So I think we tend to bring teams together, really solve problems in a way that We get to the best idea. I'm not so sure that always happens with men. I understand that you are very serious about mentoring women and encouraging them to be leaders. What's the most important advice you give them? Women are still hesitant. It shocks me that, in this day and age. We have women who second guess themselves. The number of women who are very successful who come in and ask for advice and are afraid to take the next step is shocking. And I just look back. I'm like, how could we have done this? How could we not have these great women feeling so much more confident? And so a lot of what I mentor on is go for it. Go for the job. It sounds like you're looking to hire leaders. So what are the traits that you're looking for when you're hiring? People who can work in big teams. People that can make decisions. I think that's a very important leadership trait that they don't just keep thinking, thinking, thinking. You need to move, so I think people can make decisions. People that can attract talent. So people that are themselves A magnet to attracting talent, and in that, really believing in diversity and driving diversity in the organization. Your family history is very interesting. Your father was a New York City policeman. All five of your siblings are either in law enforcement or married to someone who is. What motivated you To break with family tradition and to take a completely different path. You know my father when I told him I wasn't going to be in the NYPD he said you should maybe try the FBI by the way. I said No Dad I think I'm going to try something else. I was the first in my family to go to college. I often feel that I just had a different vision for myself to, Really get out there and be something. The good news is my father was always very very very supportive of me. And a big part of my, I think the who I am, is actually driven by my dad. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? You know, my dad worked really hard. He was a New York City policeman and always had to work two or three jobs. And the work ethic that my father I think gave all of his children is really a big part of who we are. The other thing my dad said is to never forget where you are and where you come from and who you are. And I think that one of the things you probably here about me is I'm a very down to Earth CEO. And I think part of that is I really try to connect with everyone in my organization, no matter what their role. And I think that's advice that I take going forward even as I'm a public CEO.

Synchrony Financial CEO Margaret Keane talks about mentoring young women and what it's like to be a female CEO in finance.

How this CEO is helping women in leadership

Leadership

Synchrony Financial CEO on mentoring young women.