Barbara Byrne, former Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays and Independent Director of CBS Corp, on the Importance of Perseverance
Byrne was one of our fireside chat guests for the 45th International Conference.
Barbara Byrne is former Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays PLC and at Lehman Brothers, the first woman to be named Vice Chairman at either firm. Barbara started her investment banking career in Lehman Brothers’ Energy Group, following four years at Mobil Corporation and expanded her client base to advising companies from diverse industries in rapidly changing market and technology environments.
Barbara Byrne, former Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays and Independent Director of CBS Corp, launched the second day of the International Conference in a fireside chat that looked back on her 42-year career. Byrne reflected on her personal career path, and in doing so, offered nuggets of wisdom to the conference attendees.
Byrne attended Mount Holyoke as a first generation student and graduated in 1976 with a degree in economics. Following graduation, she worked as an associate at Mobil Corporation, an oil company, before transitioning to Lehman Brothers, where she became the first female Vice Chairman. Following the 2008 financial crisis, she moved into the role of Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays, where she again was the first female to hold the title. In 2018, Byrne retired, and has moved into more advisory roles. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education and the Board of Directors of CBS Corporation.
While Byrne has worked primarily within Lehman Brothers and Barclays, she explained that a major part of her career trajectory was based off her willingness to try new things and her ability to pivot. Byrne explains that she would often pick up tough and new assignments that other people didn’t want to work on. While these projects weren’t necessarily the “fast track” to success, Byrne believes that they helped her develop new skills, and ultimately allowed her to climb the corporate ladder in a more methodical, steady way. As such, Byrne has transitioned through working with several different industries. She’s touched energy, products, and even technology. As she explained, “you will be more effective and valuable to institutions if you become an expert in a particular area; however, that very same expertise can lock your potential to grow if you don’t move from one place to another.”
But Byrne does not just attribute to her successes to her own hard work. Her career, she explained, was also helped by the people around her. In Byrne’s long and successful career, she has served as both a mentee and a mentor, and she reflected on how both positions have helped her expand her career and her personal self growth. Byrne explained that the difference between a mentor and a sponsor is that a mentor “helps and guides you.” The best way to find mentors, she explained, is by working with them. Byrne was able to find these mentors in working on her aforementioned challenging projects. Some of her mentors then become her sponsors. As Byrne explained, sponsors are people “who take a real chance on you.” Sponsors advocate for you, and they are people that you “develop strong-bonded relationships that last a lifetime.” These were the people who continued to help Byrne throughout her career.
As Byrne transitioned into leadership roles, she herself began taking on the role of mentor and sponsor. Byrne explained that, when she wasn’t an expert in a certain area, she would “find the smartest people in the house and mentor and sponsor them.” Indeed, Byrne explained that “the key to a long career is making it about us.” That is, creating a team of people that you can share successes and failures with. Byrne calls the people she mentored and sponsored her “garden.” They are the people she helped grow, and they became a network for her as well.
Throughout the entire chat, Byrne sprinkled in advice for young women looking to make it big in the workplace. Being one of the most powerful women in banking, as well as a mother to three daughters and one son, Byrne explained the differences she’s noted between how men and women act in general and in the workplace. She notes that women will often be overly perfectionist, and as a result, women will be less confident about their skills. To up-and-coming women, therefore, she prescribes more confidence and more optimism, and advocates that women should take a chance on themselves. “Good is good enough,” Byrne explained. And if you can’t do something, just “get someone else to do it. Delegate.”
Byrne ended the conversation with a piece of advice for all the conference attendees: Byrne champions tenacity, a trait that has allowed her to continue her career even with marriage, starting a family, and moving to different firms. “Stay on the horse,” she explained. “No matter what you do, don’t give up. Stay on the horse. Sometimes you’re on the horse, riding; sometimes you’re being dragged by one leg hanging off the side; sometimes you’re holding onto the tail. Stay on it: endure it, keep moving. Keep the relationships you make up. Just stay in the game.”
“Good is good enough.”