Ep 67 - Sasha Kelemen, Head of Women and Family Healthcare Investment Banking, Leerink Partners: “You Don’t Need to Act Like a Man” – How This Rising Banker Leads a Team Like No Other

Learn more about Michael Wenderoth, Executive Coach: www.changwenderoth.com

SHOW NOTES:

At Leerink Partners, Sasha Kelemen runs an investment banking team unlike any other on Wall Street, specializing in women and family healthcare and technology. In this continuation episode, we discuss uncomfortable truths that women face in male-dominated industries: whether you need to act like a man to get ahead, how to respond when talked over or dismissed -- and why you shouldn't opt out without giving it a shot. Sasha shares strategies and examples on communicating and networking, building your brand and presence, and negotiation that will help you rise, lead – and elevate others.

• Hard work, smarts, ambition and being a sponge is essential – but the additional drivers you need to rise
• Physical brand and executive presence: “Firm specific awareness” and “looking the part”
• Do I need to act like a man to get ahead?
• Small elements and accents that make Sasha feel powerful and confident
• The surprising impact of wallpaper
• “Talking the talk” – the importance of first observing small details and norms
• Managing your Credibility: Apologizing, and the lesson she learned at Darden on raising your hand
• Ask questions
• What to do when others interrupt you
• Embracing the discomfort of confrontation
• Making a list and getting a sponsor
• Building relationships all boils down to this one thing
• An early mistake Sasha made networking – and how she mid-course corrected
• The move Sasha made that shocked her peers – but was a game changer
• Is it important to be liked?
• How you can augment your own relationship -- while also elevating others.
• Sasha on Negotiating: Make them tell you no
• Don’t opt out without trying to make it work
• On backlash: How to phrase requests, and what you should always keep in your back pocket
• Muscle memory, practice, and ways to increase one’s confidence
• Women and getting “admin work” – “the best defense is a good offense”
• Board and C-Suite placements, and ways to ensure you stay top of mind

BIO AND LINKS:

Sasha Kelemen in Head of Women and Family Healthcare Services and Technology Investment Banking at Leerink Partners, based in New York. She is deeply passionate about all thing digital health, smashing taboos and elevating women. Prior to Leerink, Sasha worked at Goldman Sachs (VP, Healthcare Investment Banking Group), and in media planning and buying. She holds a BA from Boston College, MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, and was listed as Business Insider’s “30 under 40” list of leaders transforming healthcare. She resides in Scarsdale, New York, with her husband and two curious daughters. Michael and Sasha thank our mutual friend, Professor Peter Belmi at Darden, for connecting us.

 

• Sasha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-kelemen/
• Leerink Partners: https://www.leerink.com
• Sasha named to Business Insider’s “30 under 40” list of leaders transforming healthcare: https://www.businessinsider.com/30-leaders-under-40-changing-healthcare-2023
• Prof Peter Belmi on social class and building power (previous episode on 97% Effective): https://tinyurl.com/2xtrmryu
• The unintended consequence of using “hedging” language: https://hbr.org/1995/09/the-power-of-talk-who-gets-heard-and-why
• How women get backlash when negotiating (Research): https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-03654-001
• Why (and How) Women Need to Negotiate Differently (Interview with Stanford Professor Maggie Neale): https://tinyurl.com/yu2wudrt
• Power Posing: Where do we stand? https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/decade-power-posing-where-do-we-stand
• Why Women Volunteer for Tasks that Don’t Lead to Promotions: https://hbr.org/2018/07/why-women-volunteer-for-tasks-that-dont-lead-to-promotions
• How Women Can Say No to Office Work and Ensure Success in Professional Service Firms (Interview with Alison Temperley): https://tinyurl.com/4ubrr4mw
• How to Say NO to Office Work: https://hbr.org/2018/04/women-of-color-get-asked-to-do-more-office-housework-heres-how-they-can-say-no
• The No Club: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/09/they-feel-guilty-why-women-should-say-no-to-office-housework
• Former Women and Minorities to get Ahead, Managers Should Assign Work Fairly: https://hbr.org/2018/03/for-women-and-minorities-to-get-ahead-managers-must-assign-work-fairly
• Michael’s Book, Get Promoted: https://tinyurl.com/453txk74

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