CAREER PERSPECTIVES | 15 Take risks early and often The senior-level women we interviewed encouraged younger women to take risks early in their careers. These risks can involve trying out different business units, roles, locations, and even in- dustries to build a broad foundation of experiences that will serve them in future leadership roles. I’ve been open-minded about my career path and have taken some calculated risks. I’ve been willing to move to new regions, countries, businesses, and roles. That gives you a lot of breadth and exposes you to different experiences and core skills. I believe I have the role I have today because the operating committee saw me succeed in such a wide variety of roles, in good times and bad. Marianne Lake, JPMorgan Chase Have the courage to take risks. Taking small risks has enabled me to hone my judgment and gave me the experience to take larger risks. Ranjana Clark, MUFG Union Bank, N.A. In general, men seem to have more confidence in their ability to get to the next level, to take the next risk. Women too often are more conservative in their approach. If you are conservative about your career, over and over again over the course of 20 or 30 years, the cumulative effect is that you aren’t going to advance nearly as much as the person who takes risks. Kathleen Murphy, Fidelity The path to a promotion is not always an immediate promotion; sometimes it’s gathering the right experiences in different areas. You may need to take a few lateral moves to get to where you ultimately want to be. Alice Milligan, Citi