In addition to the whole “help turn Morgan Stanley around” task, Ruth Porat, who was named CFO last January, has another entry on her to do list: don’t get unceremoniously canned like your girlfriends. “Be careful in everything you do, because we all know how this ended before,” an analyst told her at a cocktail party earlier this year, the insinuation being that she ought to avoid getting fired from Lehman Brothers, forced to take a leave of absence from Credit Suisse, and ultimately spend her days taking spin classes and dating a firefighter in the Hamptons, like Erin Callan, or getting the bootskie from Vikram Pandit, like Sallie Krawcheck.
Porat may have gone from a client-facing banker job to a “technical” one where you have to, as Glen Schorr puts it, “know everything about everything,” without ever working in a finance department but forget about “numbers” for a second. This lady doesn’t have any quit in her, and has shown that crippling back pain or even labor contractions are mere speed bumps that will not in any way hamper her from doing what she has set out to do, unlike her male counterparts who would be crying for a heating pad at the first spasm or an epidural the second their water broke.
Colleagues say Ms. Porat is a tireless worker. In 1992, during the birth of her first son, she was on the phone in the delivery room making client calls. And in her spare time she, along with her husband, a lawyer, renovate and sell New York City apartments…[Mary] Meeker, the godmother to each of Ms. Porat’s three sons, remembers one meeting with management at the media company Ziff Davis where Ms. Porat threw her back out. “Instead of leaving she laid on the boardroom table and continued on with the presentation,” Ms. Meeker said.
all female bankers should give ppt presentations on their backs, spazms or not
That’s what we do in Japan.
And yet I get fired for suggesting a colleague take this brave woman’s lead.
her for a mom and a lawyer for a father.
good luck
Isn’t it sad that people like this are venerated? The lady was working through one of the most important events in her life, the birth of her child… Kind of sick, no?
better to be on the phone BEFORE the kid is born that after, no?
I somehow doubt she was working AS SHE GAVE BIRTH. More likely, it was in the many hours of downtime beforehand.
So what are you trying to say, that the maximum aspiration of a woman should be to become a walking incubator?
Yeah, I’m sure the maid is spending tons of time bringing up your progeny. Who gives a fuck.
The kid(s) are a symbol, no more.
Lights off, LIGHTS OFF!!
Of course not. She has to be able to cook and clean, too.
Big fucking deal, lady. During the conception of my son, I was performing risk arbitrage, grunting, and screaming at Dan Loeb using my speakerphone, all while sipping a milkshake, sweating all over the goddamned place, flexing my pectoral muscles, and observing all motions using the full length mirror that’s hung above my trading floor.
You should have a bronze statue of that day! Don’t you think?
lights ON, bare backed, on top of the latest financial statements……….
I was on drugs and trading during each of my kid’s birth. As I was getting into the stirrups, the doctor said, “Spread,” and I made him “46 to an eighth, 20k up.”
Kiss of Death…
Cody Willard, pleased to make your acquaintance, sir.
(pervert)
where do you take a woman’s watch to be repaired? no where…there’s a clock on the stove. BAAAADDDDAAAADDDAAABING!
Why the long face?
Not the first time a gal with career ambitions found herself with her back to the boardroom table…
It’s always odd when people (especially on Wall St.) boast about how many hours they work. My reaction is, “too bad that you aren’t good enough to get your work done in normal business hours, but I’m sure you’re well compensated.”
Fail.
pic on dealbreaker and pic on nytimes article look like 2 different people
Stop baiting the wildlife. They have a habit of biting sometimes.
what I find least interesting is that this is a woman with a callous disregard for her “life” (i.e. kids, health, family) but tremendous career success, morphing from one hot product area to the next, working during the moments when you should be doing anything but … it’s EXACTLY how every man in a role like hers would behave
it’s obvious more women don’t rise to these types of roles because they basically have to act like men to get there … and not just men, but the kind of men who would work during the most personal time of their life, the birth of a child
she just looks like every other asshole who has had a job like this .. and I sure hope Mr Porat likes the hot nanny
Don’t forget his chess games with Daniel Loeb and of course his fetish for 26-29 yr old guys like me!
As an industry, we have a responsibility to manage risk in a way that is prudent… Walk across any of the trading floors — they are full of 29-year-old-kids. The capital markets are controlled by a bunch of right-out-of business school young guys who haven’t really seen that much. You have a real lack of wisdom” [3]. “We, as an industry, dropped the ball. The industry needs to overhaul its thinking, accept greater regulation.” – Ken Griffin
Don’t forget his chess games with Daniel Loeb and of course his fetish for 26-29 yr old guys like me!
As an industry, we have a responsibility to manage risk in a way that is prudent… Walk across any of the trading floors — they are full of 29-year-old-kids. The capital markets are controlled by a bunch of right-out-of business school young guys who haven’t really seen that much. You have a real lack of wisdom” [3]. “We, as an industry, dropped the ball. The industry needs to overhaul its thinking, accept greater regulation.” – Ken Griffin
Who throws their back out during a board presentation? Was she trying to sell them a weight lifting mazagine publisher?
“Instead of leaving she laid on the boardroom table and continued on with the presentation,” Ms. Meeker said.
I hope she offered the upskirt angle to the most senior client, because, manners mattter.
Well, on the plus side she and her husband should definitely make enough to pay the bills for their kid’s therapists, stays at Silver Hill, and defense against drug/DUI/whatever charges when the time comes.
Well, on the plus side she and her husband should definitely make enough to pay the bills for their kid’s therapists, stays at Silver Hill, and defense against drug/DUI/whatever charges when the time comes.
And that, my little dearies, is how the ladies break the glass ceiling on Wall Street. On your back for the clients, letting them give it to you. Flirting with Asian slobs. There’s no secret recipe here. Any old veteran will tell you.
Am I the only one out there who would think a banker that lay down on the conference table in front of me because he/she was ill was not dedicated but instead completely friggin insane, a la the Black Night in “The Search for the Holy Grail,” and discount any advice from that source accordingly?
Fuck me once, shame on you (feels itchy, doesn’t it); fuck me twice, shame on me (just when it had finally cleared up); fuck me thrice, made it to VP ?
No, you are not.
From tech to FIG….that makes FIG look like counting clicks/cookies
Not that FIG didnt destroy all its credibility post ’08 on its own.
No quit in her?? Have her call me.
-Jerry Jones
Batshit, TX
No quit in her?? Have her call me.
-Jerry Jones
Batshit, TX
Why does dead fish come to mind after viewing the picture of this Banker?
I’m still waiting for my grande mocha.
I don’t see it.
I don’t see it.
from tech IPOs to financials- how many people’s portfolios have been wrecked by her actions?
the world would be a better place if Ms. Porat had found another line of work in 1987.