Leading as a Role Model: Francesca Gigli Prym on Women in Asset Management - EP. 07

I think maybe to go straight into it, you've built your career in quite a competitive environment.

We often hear that the fund industry is very male dominated, you don't have many women at the top or at least at the time when you started your career.

Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey and how that journey has shaped the leader that you are today?

I think there are two important elements for me.

The one is delegation and the second one is challenge.

Compared to the past, when I see myself today, I don't need to control everything.

So I'm a fan of delegation.

And not only because delegation means that I can focus on other priorities, but also because if we hire the right people from a technical perspective, they are better than me.

They should be better than you.

Correct, correct.

And in fact, I'm not jealous.

And my role is to motivate them and to help them and to give them visibility.

which is key if you want to keep talent.

The second one is challenge.

We need to have a mix of people in the team who think differently.

Otherwise, the risk is to have the same mindset, the same profile, with a high risk of stagnation.

And we miss out on fresh ideas and energy that drive a company forward.

So it's important to have different point of view in order to better understand the expectation of clients and also to manage risk related to investment decisions.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey before? I mean, you got to UBS, I think you started in 2019, but you've had quite a long career before then.

Can you take us through a little bit the positions that you've held and what drove you also for change? You know, how did you figure out what you wanted to do also in the asset management industry?

First of all, I have a quantitative background.

So I come from risk management.

I mean, asset management, funds, liquidity and market risk.

But a certain time, I wanted to do something differently.

And looking back, I think that in the professional life, like in the private one by the way, a bit of luck can play an important role.

I think maybe to go straight into it, you've built your career in quite a competitive environment.

We often hear that the fund industry is very male dominated, you don't have many women at the top or at least at the time when you started your career.

Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey and how that journey has shaped the leader that you are today?

I think there are two important elements for me.

The one is delegation and the second one is challenge.

Compared to the past, when I see myself today, I don't need to control everything.

So I'm a fan of delegation.

And not only because delegation means that I can focus on other priorities, but also because if we hire the right people from a technical perspective, they are better than me.

They should be better than you.

Correct, correct.

And in fact, I'm not jealous.

And my role is to motivate them and to help them and to give them visibility.

which is key if you want to keep talent.

The second one is challenge.

We need to have a mix of people in the team who think differently.

Otherwise, the risk is to have the same mindset, the same profile, with a high risk of stagnation.

And we miss out on fresh ideas and energy that drive a company forward.

So it's important to have different point of view in order to better understand the expectation of clients and also to manage risk related to investment decisions.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey before? I mean, you got to UBS, I think you started in 2019, but you've had quite a long career before then.

Can you take us through a little bit the positions that you've held and what drove you also for change? You know, how did you figure out what you wanted to do also in the asset management industry?

First of all, I have a quantitative background.

So I come from risk management.

I mean, asset management, funds, liquidity and market risk.

But a certain time, I wanted to do something differently.

And looking back, I think that in the professional life, like in the private one by the way, a bit of luck can play an important role.