27: Barb Smith - Keys to Overcome Gender Bias in the Workplace

Barb Smith is Senior Vice President at Key Bank.  Key Bank remains the first and only top 20 U.S. bank to have a female CEO, Beth Mooney, whom Barb reports to.  She shares what it is like to work for a strong female leader and how their Key4Women program champions and advocates for women internally and externally for women in business.  They strive to empower women as leaders and business owners, while engaging men as allies. Barb also shares her candid conversation, affectionately coined the "coffee incident," which transformed her own career.  She decided after being asked to serve a male peer coffee during a client meeting, that she would speak up and advocate for what was right for women in the workplace.  She notes that her career, as for many women, has been like a jungle gym.  She leverages her skill sets in different ways.  Rather than focusing on checking all of the boxes, Barb has taken risks and pushed beyond her comfort zone, and now encourages other women leaders to do the same.   As Barb says, as women we need to "take the leap and build your wings on the way down."  Follow Key4Women and Barb at:  https://www.key.com/small-business/services/key4women/overview.jsp.    Follow us @nextpivotpoint on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and connect with us 1:1 at www.NextPivotPoint.com.  We post daily about leadership, equality, and career development on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliekratz/.