WOMeN MATTER

THE WHY AND HOW OF GENDER DIVERSITY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

Women Matter can revolutionize your firm or practice in any business, your sales team should mirror your marketplace. That means half of your workforce should be female. But in the financial services industry, only 25.7 percent of financial advisors are women, despite the fact that 70 percent of women seeking advisors say they would prefer to work with a woman. Most firms and agencies are missing significant opportunities to serve female clients and increase revenue. In Women Matter, three women who rose to the top of the insurance and financial services industry share their insight about the why and the how of gender diversity: why gender diversity is critical to the bottom line, why the industry is lagging behind, and how field leaders can recruit and support qualified women. The authors share practical strategies for making gender diversity a part of your culture, making everyday language inclusive, and finding women with the potential to excel as financial advisors, then supporting them once they are on board and developing them for management positions. The authors describe potential “potholes” to avoid in your journey toward your vision of gender diversity based on their real-world, hands-on experience, along with easy-to-implement strategies for overcoming them. Women Matter also includes the keen insights of additional female industry leaders the authors interviewed.