Julie Harris, Goldman Sachs Managing Director, Talks Female Role Models And Improv Comedy

As women continue moving into the higher ranks of jobs traditionally filled by men, they have to figure out how best to pave the way for others.

Julie Harris, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, spoke to Michelle Clark at the Glass Hammer this week about what she's learned as a woman working in a male-dominated field.

“I never had a lot of senior level female role models until I came to Goldman Sachs," Harris told Clark. "So I had to be that senior role model. You have to learn that the way you carry yourself matters, and you can’t lose sight of who you are in the process.”

Harris, who is actively involved in the LGBT network at Goldman Sachs, also revealed that she tries not to let gender inequality affect her job performance or goals: “I’ve always picked industries where I knew I would be judged on my performance and where you got by on what you delivered.”

In a 2008 interview with the Kellogg School of Management alumni magazine (Harris received her MBA from Kellogg in 1995), Harris explained that her background in improv comedy provided her with one of the mantras she lives by: "You won't learn if you don't try."

Amen to that, Julie.

(Photo Courtesy of Goldman Sachs)