AdaPia d’Errico is principal of d’Errico Creative Consulting. She is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, coach and facilitator who combines entrepreneurship, brand and business with the intentional development of personal leadership, mastery and accountability to the collective. She has helped clients turn their ideas into businesses, their startups into funded and successful companies, and most importantly, has helped clients get clear about what they need to achieve personal and professional growth.
AAPL asked d’Errico for her insights on female strength, empowerment and the current state of women’s equality.
AAPL: What motivates you to get out of bed and face your industry on a daily basis?
AdaPia d’Errico: I’m motivated to make a positive impact, shape trends, build relationships and make a positive contribution to people around me: colleagues, clients, and consequently, to the industry I work in.
AAPL: Now that you have been in the industry for a while, what would you tell your younger self about going into this sector of finance?
A d: I’d tell my younger self that there are plenty of opportunities for innovation and impact. Every industry changes and technology plays a big role in that, so I’d recommend staying strong in the face of opposing opinions about change or disruption.
AAPL: What advice would you give other woman searching for their industry voice?
A d: My advice to anyone seeking their industry voice is to understand the trends and prevailing influences in an industry, formulate strong, logical viewpoints and still remain open to dialogue and discussion. An industry voice falls on deaf ears if no one likes you or wants to listen, so it’s really important to be receptive, open and foster a sense of communication through listening first.
AAPL: What characteristics are necessary for a woman to have to be a good leader?
A d: I think of leadership as personal, even though research shows that the most effective leadership traits most often embodied by women are people development, expressing expectations and rewarding success, role-modeling, inspiration, and participative decision-making.
AAPL: What changes do you think should be made to create a balance between men and women in the finance industry?
A d: There are many changes that can be implemented, starting with a company’s hiring and promotions processes, HR policies, professional development programs and bias training, as well as supporting career advancement through mentorship, networking and sponsoring more women, especially those who aspire to leadership positions. A big part of creating balance is in the pipeline, so this process begins as early as childhood all the way through college when boys and girls are taught about career options. There needs to be more awareness around conditioning children as to what careers they can and cannot pursue, for girls especially, as historically they have been told and taught that science, technology, and finance careers are ‘for men.’
AAPL: Do you have any groundbreaking ideas on how the gender gap can be closed? If so, what are they, please explain.
A d: Out of all the research done on gender and diversity issues, the two most pressing opportunities to create change are:
- How we educate our children, especially around who they ‘should’ be or what they can or cannot do. The future will be influenced by youth, so we need to pay special attention to any conditioning we are placing on our children.
- Bias training is the most important kind of training for making real and lasting changes. We can only fix a problem when we can see it, and most often we do not ‘see’ problems where we believe, because of bias, that they do not exist. Facing up to our often-unconscious biases can create incredibly impactful change not only in the workplace or those around us, but most importantly, for ourselves.
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