Full Circle: A memoir of leaning in too far and the journey back

by Erin Callan Montella

In Full Circle, Erin Callan Montella traces her experiences as a young girl in Queens, New York to the highest-ranking woman on Wall Street during the financial crisis as chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Erin recounts her path of achievement starting as a promising young student and athlete and, ultimately, how she allowed her career and its demands to become the center of her life. She sacrificed all other priorities and relationships along the way, throwing work-life balance to the wind. The story reveals the subtleties of the everyday decisions that led collectively to a work-centric existence over a twenty-year career. Set against the backdrop of the dramatic circumstances at Lehman Brothers in 2008, Erin discloses her own struggle as events spiraled out of control. Ultimately, her resignation from her executive role prior to the Lehman bankruptcy resulted in a devastating personal crisis as her career crumbled revealing no foundation beneath it. We learn of the journey back to change her life with a semblance of present day peace and happiness. Full Circle provides a unique inside and emotional perspective of the sacrifices Erin made to achieve extreme career success and the self-awareness required to return to being the fundamentally grounded person she was as a child.

Genres: Finance, Business

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2016

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read a lot about Callan's career before and after her rise at Lehman, and wondered what became of her. This was an interesting chronicle of that rise and fall, and brought us up to date with her life. It's also a sort of response to the idea of 'Leaning In'.

The writing isn't that strong. She glosses over some things (probably in some cases to maintain privacy), but possibly sharing her family's response to things or letting us know what she does now and how she arrived at that job would have improved the power of her story. It's hard to write a book like this and be somewhat distant.

But this is an interesting, somewhat cautionary story. It also raises some interesting points about women on Wall Street, and the kind of compromises needed to reach a certain level of success in that industry. If you've read Lean In, this is worth checking out.

[Glenn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm grateful for Erin writing this book but I felt there were only a couple of times she really let her guard down to bring us into the story and reveal what really happened and how she felt.

Understanding it really relies on you having been there through the story to get the context. For example she touches on bad press that she got whilst being CFO but doesn't really share what it was, just that it was awful and was dramatic on her career, but the reader who didn't see it at the time is left wondering what she is really talking about.

Overall it left me curious to want to know more about the story of the Lehman Brothers collapse, but I wish Erin had felt able to really expand and reveal on what happened to her, because I suspect that there is an incredible story in there. Maybe she'll tell that in the future.

[catinca.ciornei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a lengthy New York Times op-ed regarding the joys (but mostly, the perils) of slipping fully into work; about how a powerful Wall Street woman executive goes to the brink of extinction of self while focusing solely on work. About how life is to be loved and enjoyed in the daily little rituals and human interactions. Not bad at all, but probably suitable for work-oriented self-help interested readers; not so much a novel / memoir in the artistic sense of the word, sort of a 'how-to' be happy whilst fulfilling today's ideal of success.

[Gourang Ambulkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you yearn to lead a 'Big' life you are served with 'Big' consequences ( both good and bad).
Well written. She makes you feel the high octane levels of wall street. Impressively, the author was pretty fortright about her shortcomings and how it affected her professionally and personally. That I really respect from a person who might be used to being right all the time.

Albeit, I was left with an impression that even after 6 years of the debacle, she still was wary about ruffling the old feathers of Lehmann top brass and kept her version of her unceremonious exit pretty sanitized. To assure me of this , towards the end of the book, she confessed about Dick Fuld calling her all of a sudden after 6 years. Well who knows, but felt that she was softened while writing about the last days at Lehmann. Nonetheless, am sure she is doing what is right for her family.

I still salute to her for bouncing back in life and coming out with this book. I am sure this book will serves as a Elderly advise for all those nubes who think having a high octane life is the only way to be a winner in life. Must read for such group of professionals and a good read for all.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best writing, but I enjoyed her anecdotes of her time at Lehman and rise up the corporate ladder.

[Nirupa Umapathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So close to home. As an ex-salesperson that sat through this crisis, and someone who was addicted to work herself, it felt like redemption to read the author’s struggles. I was blown away by the honesty of the voice. We need more memoirs that talk about the externalities of leaning in too much in a world that wants you to make your life a metric.

[Muhammad Nabeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Very insightful, open and thought provoking. Every career person ought to read to see beyond the glitz of a high demand work environment.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest and concise autobiography of a very, very successful banker who ultimately crashed out and realized there are more important things in life.

Great at highlighting the tradeoffs inherent in pursuing a high level career (with a pleasing lack of corporate cod-feminism), albeit with a disappointing lack of detail on the workings of pre-GFC Wall Street (that said, I may be the only reader who wants more detail about tax-efficient hybrid securities).

Couple of other points to note:

(1) Ironically enough, Mrs Montella never even worked in FICC let alone mortgage trading, so real bad luck she got burned by the Lehman BK. If she’d stayed as a capital markets banker her career would have been fine.

(2) She was either the world’s most clueless CFO - or she’s avoiding more litigation by writing it that way (perhaps both are true).

(3) While she talks up her final husband and baby daddy a lot (which is nice), she seems to miss the main lesson - he, like all of her exes, is a nice guy of modest means and humble success who pushes her to spend less time at work. If she’d never been made CFO and stayed in banking, she would 100% have dumped him by now. The author doesn’t seem ready to quite admit that she was the problem more than he was the answer.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading women in business and the outcome ...

[Meghana K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can relate to the story mentioned here, this is totally appealing to my current lifestyle situation.

thanks erin cllan montella

[Dana P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective

[Peri]

Wall Street
Here’s Ex-Lehman CFO Erin Callan’s Stunning New Memoir
Patricia Sellers
Updated: Mar 21, 2016 10:12 AM EDT

The biggest shock is the book's cover: a picture of a middle-aged woman wearing a sundress and long, red flowing locks, joyfully lifting a giggling baby in front of a deep blue sea. The author, Erin Callan, who was the chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers before the Wall Street giant collapsed in 2008, has a new name: Erin Callan Montella. And a new life, with an ex-firefighter husband and a one-year-old daughter. And to the surprise of just about everyone—because no one from her former business life saw this coming—Callan, who recently turned 50, has written a memoir. She self-published the book, and it's available on Amazon today.

With Full Circle: A memoir of leaning in too far and the journey back, Callan takes control of her controversial career story and tells it with candor and finesse and self-understanding that comes only after many years, much distance, and a slow recovery from her critical role in the rise and fall of one of Wall Street’s most storied firms. Beyond providing an insider’s perspective that will engross people who savored Wall Street tomes like Too Big to Fail, Full Circle reveals details that make this book far more personal—and sometimes juicier—than the other books that have been published.

For example, on the night before Christmas Eve in 2008, six months after Callan lost her CFO job at Lehman, she admits, she tried to commit suicide. Her boyfriend, Anthony Montella, her onetime high-school classmate who is now her husband, found her and called 911. Soon after, Callan quit a new job that she had just taken, post-Lehman, at Credit Suisse—and, at least to Wall Street watchers, she fell off the face of the earth.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morality tale for the aspiring career woman. The way Erin was sacrificed in the last days of Lehman Brothers read like something dreamt up by the worst of cynics. May we have pity for those who are too eager to prove themselves.

下面是中文rant.

Erin的经历和斯大林格勒著名受害者、第六军的指挥官保卢斯非常像，简单来说，就是命运给了他俩一个看起来是馈赠的诅咒，他们出于lack of information以及性格局限没有判断也无法拒绝。对Erin而言，她急于想要证明自己，而且走到了那一步的时候她的人生中再无可以像她谏言、陪她探讨的人。对保卢斯而言，那是N多年对自己出身的自卑以及终于成为“人上人”的扬眉吐气。女人也可以当华尔街CFO，中下层阶级的穷小子也可以指挥大名鼎鼎的第六军！结果....

人不可能全知全能也往往没有能力反抗自己的性格弱点，最好的免疫办法也许就是多备几个可以探讨人生选择、兼具智慧勇气和kindness的朋友，让他们帮自己做做code review。