Ellevest Ellevest founder Sallie Krawcheck
- Men spooked about how to act in the workplace in the wake of the #MeToo movement should remember basic lessons from grade school, according to Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck.
- Whatever you weren't allowed to do in fourth grade, you aren't allowed to do now, she said.
- Krawcheck spoke on Monday at Business Insider's annual IGNITION 2018 conference.
To all the Wall Street men out there afraid spooked by how to act in the workplace in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Sallie Krawcheck, once among the most powerful women on Wall Street and now the CEO of women-focused investment firm Ellevest, has some advice.
"Remember fourth grade? Whatever you weren't allowed to do in fourth grade, don't do now," she said. "You aren't supposed to put you hands on someone? Don't put your hands on somebody - it's just common sense. Anything you wouldn't want your wife or partner to do, don't do it."
Krawcheck, who ran Merrill Lynch's wealth management business and served as chief executive of US Trust, Citi private bank, and CFO of Citigroup, made the remarks on Monday while speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION 2018 conference in New York.
She believes it's important for women to still enter Wall Street - but maybe not those areas that have long been dominated by men.
"Go into the industry because it needs freshness and innovation ... but maybe you don't want to go into the business that remains 90% men ... where you look up and you see no women in a vice president or director or managing director role," she said. "Maybe you don't want to fight that fight yourself."
Then years after the financial crisis, women are still underrepresented on Wall Street, especially in investing roles. Women made up only about 28% of individuals registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the agency that governs brokerages, as of 2017.
"We went into the downturn white, male and middle-aged, and we came out it of whiter, maler, and middle-ager," she said.