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Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing Series
Undiversified: The Big Gender Short in Investment Management
Diversification is a core principle of investing. Yet money managers have not applied it to their own ranks. Only around 10 percent of portfolio managers―the people most directly responsible for investing your money―are female, and the numbers are even worse at the ownership level. What are the causes of this underrepresentation, and what are its consequences―including for firms’ and clients’ bottom lines?
In Undiversified , experienced practitioners Ellen Carr and Katrina Dudley examine the lack of women in investment management and propose solutions to improve the imbalance. They explore the barriers that subtly but effectively discourage women from entering and staying in the industry at each point in the pipeline. At the entry level, the lack of visible role models discourages students from considering the field, and those who do embark on an investment management career face many obstacles to retention and promotion. Carr and Dudley highlight the importance of informal knowledge about how to navigate career tracks, without which women are left at a disadvantage in an industry that lionizes confidence. They showcase a diverse constellation of successful female portfolio managers to demystify the profession.
Drawing on wide-ranging research, interviews with prospective, current, and former industry practitioners, and the authors’ own experiences, Undiversified makes a compelling case that increasing the number of women could help transform active investment management at a time when it is under threat from passive strategies and technological innovation.
In Undiversified , experienced practitioners Ellen Carr and Katrina Dudley examine the lack of women in investment management and propose solutions to improve the imbalance. They explore the barriers that subtly but effectively discourage women from entering and staying in the industry at each point in the pipeline. At the entry level, the lack of visible role models discourages students from considering the field, and those who do embark on an investment management career face many obstacles to retention and promotion. Carr and Dudley highlight the importance of informal knowledge about how to navigate career tracks, without which women are left at a disadvantage in an industry that lionizes confidence. They showcase a diverse constellation of successful female portfolio managers to demystify the profession.
Drawing on wide-ranging research, interviews with prospective, current, and former industry practitioners, and the authors’ own experiences, Undiversified makes a compelling case that increasing the number of women could help transform active investment management at a time when it is under threat from passive strategies and technological innovation.
280 pages, Hardcover
Published August 3, 2021
21 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 17, 2021
This is the first time I’ve read a book on the IM industry that didn’t make me want to give up halfway. The books written about finance and investing are about bros and for bros. This book is written by two successful female PMs in hopes that younger generations will also want to be successful PMs - no gender qualification / hyphen-needed. I do think a dearth of industry role models are a key barrier for women and is an unconscious bias I never realized I had. I also love that this book isn’t about giving overly generalized advice for women but offers some real tactical career insights and solutions forward. Highly recommended!
June 3, 2022
Highly recommend! Succinct but thorough analysis of where the gender gap stems in IM (pyscho-cultural barriers, recruiting, retention, and allocation), the investment return case for diversity, and potential pathways to transform the workforce given the industry’s existing framework. Just all around informative, well-written, and eye-opening
December 27, 2021
I liked this book a lot. It was recommended to me by a friend and co-worker who is reading it as well and I can’t wait to get her take on it.
The authors combine first hand experience as practitioners with a fact-driven foundation of research on gender in the workplace. Then they apply both to the simple question: how do we fix this obvious imbalance. The authors have a point of view and feel free suggesting things that their audience may find surprising or even objectionable. Cool.
In any book I enjoy, I experience a moment of emotional connection. It may be excitement about an idea, wonder about an aspect of existence I’d never thought about, satisfaction about figuring something out. In this case, it happened when the authors shared their personal backgrounds and I felt a connection with them not as abstract proponents of a need for change in the workplace, but as people who studied literature, give books as gifts, and apply critical theory to their reading of 10Ks - an under appreciated art! I am so glad they included this chapter, because it really gave me a chance to feel connected in a book that otherwise would not have presented that opportunity.
My childhood background was also desperately poor and I appreciated the authors’ occasional acknowledgement of the plight of other types of folks from under-represented backgrounds.
I can’t review this book, but I am very interested in it’s subject matter. So rather than try to do what I can’t do, I have written up a discussion guide that I plan to use with folks who have read the book.
If you read this review, I’d be very interested to get your take on any of the below.
1. Who did the authors primarily write this book for: job applicants, existing professionals, senior people? Men or women or both? Does it matter? Who do you know that you would you like to read this book? Why?
2. The authors suggest an hr department is an important thing for an IM firm to have, then concede the hr dept is more symbolic of something being taken seriously than the important thing itself. What are they talking about? Why is what they are talking about not stated more directly? What are other good “signals” of firms that take these things seriously.
3. The authors suggest some things allies and advocates could do, eg speak about the benefits of diversity and mention to colleagues when they are interrupting women. Are these good things to do? What would you feel like if these things happened in the work place?
4. The authors mention AllianceBernstein several times. Is it possible we are among the most progressive firms in this industry? If true, how did it happen?
* note I work at this firm, which is why it is of interest. You may speak instead of your firm and why it should or should not be included.
5. The authors seem quite different. What similarities do they share and how did those similarities derive from or interact with their experience as women in IM?
6. The authors seem to believe promotion is important in IM and becoming a PM quickly a good thing. Does this still hold true as PM roles have become scarce and can take decades to achieve instead of years? Why or why not? What other markers of success and career progression might be relevant?
7a. The authors mention that managers are biased when making individual meritocratic decisions. Specifically, they will tend to mistake characteristics common of their group with merit. The authors do not explicitly offer a means of countering manager bias. In what ways can a conversation be had that might relieve some tension between how managers perceive merit and outcomes that achieve more diverse representation? How do you overcome an individuals “gut feeling” that they really do know who is talented, particularly in an industry where such perception is a prized skill?
7b. Regarding the above: make it practical. What does this mean for the analyst we are in the process of hiring right now. What - if anything - should be done today?
A concise and powerful book.
Four stars!
The authors combine first hand experience as practitioners with a fact-driven foundation of research on gender in the workplace. Then they apply both to the simple question: how do we fix this obvious imbalance. The authors have a point of view and feel free suggesting things that their audience may find surprising or even objectionable. Cool.
In any book I enjoy, I experience a moment of emotional connection. It may be excitement about an idea, wonder about an aspect of existence I’d never thought about, satisfaction about figuring something out. In this case, it happened when the authors shared their personal backgrounds and I felt a connection with them not as abstract proponents of a need for change in the workplace, but as people who studied literature, give books as gifts, and apply critical theory to their reading of 10Ks - an under appreciated art! I am so glad they included this chapter, because it really gave me a chance to feel connected in a book that otherwise would not have presented that opportunity.
My childhood background was also desperately poor and I appreciated the authors’ occasional acknowledgement of the plight of other types of folks from under-represented backgrounds.
I can’t review this book, but I am very interested in it’s subject matter. So rather than try to do what I can’t do, I have written up a discussion guide that I plan to use with folks who have read the book.
If you read this review, I’d be very interested to get your take on any of the below.
1. Who did the authors primarily write this book for: job applicants, existing professionals, senior people? Men or women or both? Does it matter? Who do you know that you would you like to read this book? Why?
2. The authors suggest an hr department is an important thing for an IM firm to have, then concede the hr dept is more symbolic of something being taken seriously than the important thing itself. What are they talking about? Why is what they are talking about not stated more directly? What are other good “signals” of firms that take these things seriously.
3. The authors suggest some things allies and advocates could do, eg speak about the benefits of diversity and mention to colleagues when they are interrupting women. Are these good things to do? What would you feel like if these things happened in the work place?
4. The authors mention AllianceBernstein several times. Is it possible we are among the most progressive firms in this industry? If true, how did it happen?
* note I work at this firm, which is why it is of interest. You may speak instead of your firm and why it should or should not be included.
5. The authors seem quite different. What similarities do they share and how did those similarities derive from or interact with their experience as women in IM?
6. The authors seem to believe promotion is important in IM and becoming a PM quickly a good thing. Does this still hold true as PM roles have become scarce and can take decades to achieve instead of years? Why or why not? What other markers of success and career progression might be relevant?
7a. The authors mention that managers are biased when making individual meritocratic decisions. Specifically, they will tend to mistake characteristics common of their group with merit. The authors do not explicitly offer a means of countering manager bias. In what ways can a conversation be had that might relieve some tension between how managers perceive merit and outcomes that achieve more diverse representation? How do you overcome an individuals “gut feeling” that they really do know who is talented, particularly in an industry where such perception is a prized skill?
7b. Regarding the above: make it practical. What does this mean for the analyst we are in the process of hiring right now. What - if anything - should be done today?
A concise and powerful book.
Four stars!
September 13, 2021
This book is made for a campus career centre. Informative, succinct and relevant. Let’s hope it gets to the right audience.
February 24, 2024
I skimmed this book a few months ago and reread it more closely this time around. I noticed a few things about it, particularly after hearing one of the authors speak:
The book is divided into three parts: 1. Basics on the industry, 2. Facts and figures about gender in the industry, and 3. How we can get the industry closer to parity.
For someone in the industry, the first part was a bit too long. Some of what's discussed in part 2 is a bit repetitive for anyone who's already delved into the women in finance conversation a bunch. Part 3 leaves you wanting more. For example, they leave a breadcrumb about Citadel's hiring practices that could be a solution to the problem addressed throughout the book, but don't go into detail about what exactly they do in the interview process.
I felt like there were missed opportunities throughout. I wanted more specific ways to fix the issue that went into more depth. The concepts and the thesis of boosting to 30% were terrific, but I wish Part 3 was longer with more examples of things that worked or could work and in more detail.
Another example was the discussion revisited a few times about golf outings, happy hours, and typical male gatherings. There were some examples of alternatives, but there wasn't enough conversation around gatherings that everyone could be a part of and ways to ensure everyone who needed to be there was there.
Overall I think this book is an important one and good particularly for those looking to get into the industry and be armed with the gender imbalance of it. For those already there, there's some repetition vs elsewhere, and it feels like a starting point for a bigger discussion, but not a full road map solution.
The book is divided into three parts: 1. Basics on the industry, 2. Facts and figures about gender in the industry, and 3. How we can get the industry closer to parity.
For someone in the industry, the first part was a bit too long. Some of what's discussed in part 2 is a bit repetitive for anyone who's already delved into the women in finance conversation a bunch. Part 3 leaves you wanting more. For example, they leave a breadcrumb about Citadel's hiring practices that could be a solution to the problem addressed throughout the book, but don't go into detail about what exactly they do in the interview process.
I felt like there were missed opportunities throughout. I wanted more specific ways to fix the issue that went into more depth. The concepts and the thesis of boosting to 30% were terrific, but I wish Part 3 was longer with more examples of things that worked or could work and in more detail.
Another example was the discussion revisited a few times about golf outings, happy hours, and typical male gatherings. There were some examples of alternatives, but there wasn't enough conversation around gatherings that everyone could be a part of and ways to ensure everyone who needed to be there was there.
Overall I think this book is an important one and good particularly for those looking to get into the industry and be armed with the gender imbalance of it. For those already there, there's some repetition vs elsewhere, and it feels like a starting point for a bigger discussion, but not a full road map solution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2024
I love loved the factual evidence based aspect to this book. So helpful for a young woman to know her experience is not a singular unique datapoint, but the experience is shared. I was so glad I read it because sometimes you feel things are off, just can’t figure out why it’s making you feel small and like you’re not supposed to be there - things like the aggressive and gendered language, the golf in the middle of the bull pen, the quips, the arctic office temperatures - until it is systematically analyzed like in this book. The you realize oh ok there is a reason why - I’m not a the archetype. It’s easier to externalize and deal with them.
Sometimes the author takes a sympathetic view. People in power have more position to enact change in hierarchal corporate environments, so it’s be helpful to be a bit more accusatory at times (just a personal opinion) especially in a industry that holds itself to such high standards. In a talk I went to, Dudley espouses that same view making sure to emphasize to the few men in the audience that “we don’t blame you!” Why not though?
Sometimes the author takes a sympathetic view. People in power have more position to enact change in hierarchal corporate environments, so it’s be helpful to be a bit more accusatory at times (just a personal opinion) especially in a industry that holds itself to such high standards. In a talk I went to, Dudley espouses that same view making sure to emphasize to the few men in the audience that “we don’t blame you!” Why not though?
November 22, 2022
I mostly enjoyed this book. It was honest, gave a factual rundown of the problems and some good solutions. I say mostly because I felt there was still mollycoddling to protect discriminators which drives me nuts. It seemed like they have not heard of Tales of the Boom Boom Room by Susan Antilla or No Backing Down by me, Tameron Keyes. In the end, they said that Investment Management is not like The Wolf of Wall Street. I beg to differ. A lot still goes on. 10% women investment managers speaks for itself.
December 3, 2023
Succinct and educational read on the IM industry. I enjoyed the sprinkling of statistics and examples of successful women in IM throughout the book. Wouldn’t say anything was groundbreaking to learn, but I still found it beneficial to be reminded of the common themes and challenges women face in the industry. A good read for anyone considering or starting an investment career.
January 28, 2024
5/5
This is my first read of 2024. I couldn't have picked anything better. Brilliant book - the whole problem of lack of diversity in finance, where people are the biggest advocates of diversification, is so well put. Great hypotheses, great perspectives shared from within IM firms, solid data points, 100% actionable solutions proposed by the authors. Easily one of my favourite books!
This is my first read of 2024. I couldn't have picked anything better. Brilliant book - the whole problem of lack of diversity in finance, where people are the biggest advocates of diversification, is so well put. Great hypotheses, great perspectives shared from within IM firms, solid data points, 100% actionable solutions proposed by the authors. Easily one of my favourite books!
January 23, 2022
This book speaks the truth that I've observed for the IM industry and provides me with many great insights! Great book!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews