Perspectives from Our 2018 Women's Career Strategies Initiative

October marked the conclusion of the Women’s Career Strategies Initiative (WCSI) for 2018, with regional closing conferences taking place in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Bengaluru and EMEA for over 360 associate women participating in the 14th season of the initiative.

APAC WCSI Class of 2018.

Managed by Goldman Sachs University, WCSI is a multi-month experience offering cross-divisional career enrichment opportunities to retain and develop the firm’s high potential women associates. The program is structured around four core themes identified as key for this audience: building leadership profile, having commercial impact, career ownership and work-life integration. Through seminars, roundtables, networking events, an online curriculum and participant-led book club, participants explored strategies to support and sustain long-term career success, including techniques to craft an authentic brand and manage internal saboteurs such as the inner critic.

Vidya Lakshmi, head of Human Capital Management in Bengaluru, shared her leadership and growth story as well as leadership lessons learnt along the way that helped her evolve and develop as a leader.

Kimberly Shepard, a participant from the Executive Office said, “I got a lot of value out of WCSI, especially through actionable takeaways. What was most helpful was that we got more than generic ‘tips’ – we created our own plan of action for ourselves so that our takeaways were personalized to our needs.” Julia Rees, a participant from the Investment Management Division added, “the program reminded me to always act with intention, rather than letting things unfold based on habit and happenstance.”

Shivangi, a program participant in the Finance Division, shares takeaways at the Americas Closing Conference.

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs and global sponsor for WCSI, hosted a townhall for participants in September and discussed the business outlook, his perspective on leadership and his personal approach to career management. This was complemented by roundtables hosted by senior sponsors in each region to further grow participants’ networks.

Iuliana Ungureanu (right) discusses career management with Sally Boyle (left) and Richard Manley (center).

Maggie Xu, a participant from the Securities Division spoke about the value of the networks being created, “The program gave me a fantastic chance to network with my peers and senior managers, and I realize that I’m not alone, some other women are experiencing the same challenges.” Nitya Bajaj, a participant from the Operations Division added, “I have gained a new group of peers that I can talk to about personal and professional growth, and have already started to leverage this network in my work.”