Episode summary
Kristie Feinberg reflects on leadership, lessons learned and looking forward.
Key takeaways
- Leadership and resilience shape Feinberg's reflections.
- Mentorship can support professional growth.
- Creating access and opportunity for the next generation is a central theme.
About this episode
Join RTSWS CEO Ashley Leftwich as she speaks to 2026 Rock The Street, Wall Street’s Woman of the Year, Kristie Feinberg. Kristie is the President and CEO of Manulife John Hancock Investments with a career and leadership journey that is inspiring and deeply grounded in purpose.
In this episode of Rocking Finance, Kristie shares thoughtful reflections on the Three L’s: Leadership, Lessons Learned & Looking Forward. She dives into leadership, resilience, mentorship, as well as the importance of creating access and opportunity for the next generation.
Learn more about Rock The Street, Wall Street and our mission to bring the M in STEM to life: https://rockthestreetwallstreet.com
Disclaimer: All financial and investment information contained in this podcast is merely for educational and informational purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Should you decide to act upon any information in this podcast, you do so at your own risk.
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Transcript
Transcript supplied by Riverside; it may contain transcription errors.
speaker-0: Welcome to Rocking Finance, the Rock the Street Wall Street podcast, real stories, real access, real paths into finance. Join us for candid high impact conversations with industry leaders sharing the insights, experiences, group events and journeys that can help young women advance through the financial industry with great confidence. Rock the Street Wall Street equips high school and university students, especially young women by bringing the ⁓ in STEM to life through financial and investment fundamentals. We provide direct industry access and guidance supporting students and young professionals on their journeys from classrooms to careers while expanding participation in the capital markets. Through cohort-based learning, mentorship, and individual career connection, we help students build confidence, capabilities, and networks that open doors. Our goal is clear. Expand participation in the capital markets and strengthen the future of finance, one cohort at a time. I'm Ashley Leftwich, CEO of Rock the Street Wall Street, and today's conversation is a particularly meaningful one. Recently, during our Women of the Year event, I was joined by honoree Christy Feinberg, president and CEO of ManyLive John Hancock Investments, for a fireside chat geared towards students, volunteers, and corporate leaders who were in attendance. And today, I'm delighted to share with you as well. Christy's leadership journey is inspiring and deeply grounded in purpose. Throughout our conversation, she shares thoughtful reflections on leadership, resilience, mentorship, as well as the importance of creating access and opportunity for the next generation of strong teams. What made this discussion especially powerful were the Rock Street, Wall Street students in the room. Many were hearing firsthand how someone at the highest levels of the financial industry navigated challenges, was the first in her family to attend college and stayed focused on results and impact. We're grateful to Christy to the entire team at Many Life John Hancock Investments and to all the volunteers and supporters who continue helping us empower students from classrooms to careers. I hope you enjoy this inspiring conversation with Christy. Now let's rock finance.
speaker-1: Could not be a more incredible cause and I'm so honored to be able to have this award and to sit here with and speak with Ashley. But more importantly just to connect with all of you. I think it's absolutely fabulous and seeing the students has been probably my favorite thing.
speaker-0: We are joined by cohorts, as you mentioned, from three local schools that you had the opportunity to speak to right before. So we're going to build on that earlier conversation. Would you share with us learning that stayed with you?
speaker-1: wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do. And there is a big portion of just understanding that these early days are wonderful time to start to explore and to really understand how the fact that you might not know how everything is going to play out, that's completely OK. I think over time, I've come to realize is that the future is always uncertain, whether you're sitting in your seat or whether you're sitting in my seat. I can honestly say that I can't predict what's going to happen over the next few years and certainly couldn't be able to do that in my early 20s. But the one thing that I would say is choosing to go on to college, even underneath all that uncertainty and leaning in, was probably one of the best decisions that I've ever made. I actually was the first person in my family to go to college, and it was something that was very nerve-racking. I ended up going to college in my hometown. In fact, almost right across the street from my high school. It took me five years to graduate because I switched majors twice and I worked full time. So when you really say that's a time to just explore and think about what you like and what you don't like is something that resonated with me. I think understanding that you can make decisions and you can continue to revise or think about things in a different way, that's been something that's really lasted with me all the way through my early days of college.
speaker-0: And you shared more of your incredible journey with the students ahead of time. And I just love to hear that you actually stayed nearby for college. You actually moved away and then realized that I would have liked to have been closer to my family and moved back. Those different journeys makes us who we are. And it's interesting how all those values still pull through to how we live our everyday life. Thinking back to that early career, what were some of the biggest influences on you? I know that I've had some mentors that knew that they were my mentors and didn't know that they were my mentors.
speaker-1: I would say, listen, the two biggest influences are people and education. We're all surrounded by people and who we surround ourselves matters. I think it's incredibly important to find a mentor and one that will give you that real hard feedback. I have a mentor still to this day for probably the past 25 years and he's been one that has probably made me look in the mirror more times than I care to remember.
speaker-0: At the end of the day.
speaker-1: to say, are you making the right decision? Are you pushing yourself hard enough? Are you doing the things that you really want to be able to do? Are you stretching yourself? And are you comfortable? I think that that matters. I also think it matters to have a mentor within your industry and outside of your industry to give you little bit of just different perspective. And not just one, but a few different mentors. And then who you surround yourself with, because it really does influence how you think. and how you look at life. That's a huge kind of contributor in the early days. And then the last thing I say is education. As we talked about earlier, I didn't actually plan on going into finance. But once I did realize that that was the industry that I had passion for and the industry I wanted to stay in, I leaned into it and learned as much about the industry as I possibly could. And that certainly has helped me out over the years.
speaker-0: I think that regardless of whether they are an official mentor or not, they challenge your thinking. And that challenge is what offers you not only different perspective, but offers you to have that inner reflection and that intentionality that you mentioned earlier as well. So you've served as treasurer, as CFO, and now a CEO. What have you carried forward from those experiences that you possibly still use today?
speaker-1: Probably the most important thing, roles change and what you're focused on depending upon your priorities in any given year change. But the one thing that is the most important and resonates with me across everything is your teams, your people, who you have working with you, how incredibly important it is to ensure that you have the right talent and not just the right talent, but sitting in the right seats. ⁓ Doesn't matter where you work or what role you have, your team. is going to define and be the biggest contributor to the success. And it's not just about the talent, because you can have incredibly talented people all sitting in one room, but it's also how you work together. What you do and how you do it, I would argue how you do it and how you work together is probably even more important than anything else, because that is really truly what drives the difference. I read a book years ago called The Happiness Advantage. and how you can get more onto your team and be more productive the happier your team is and whether that's because they're engaged in what they like doing or that they're interested in their work or they like who they're working with, it can make all the difference in the world. And the competitive advantage that organizations have are the ones that build the best teams.
speaker-0: Members of the team that have different perspectives as well than ourselves. And I think that those different areas that we're able to put team members into and then being in those right seats, as you mentioned, is not only what makes a great team, but how we actually achieve goals and how we're able to have more collaboration within our, within spaces. Yeah.
speaker-1: I mean, listen, and I would argue as well that it's not any one role in an organization. It's all roles in an organization that really need to come together. think about, I can't believe I would do a sporting analogy. I have my two boys here. But you think about a sports team, and every single player on the team has a role. And so that is the same within any organization or anything else. It's the people you have working with you and working together that really makes the difference.
speaker-0: So one thing that we often hear is the importance of asking questions and challenging yourself and being willing to make mistakes and continue learning. So how has that shown up in your leadership? We've heard a lot about your leadership and I…
speaker-1: I will say that for my team members or even my family, know, well, first of all, I believe in asking as many possible questions as you can. If you don't know the answer, there is no way you're going to find that answer unless you ask the question. And even if you think the answer, still ask the question because you're probably going to learn more or learn from somebody else. In terms of making mistakes, it's probably the one thing that you want to become the most comfortable with. I say all the time, if I'm not stubbing my toe every single day, I'm not pushing myself hard enough. You can stub your toe sometimes, it hurts a little, and you can stub your toe and it drops you to your knees. It's probably one the most painful things in that moment. But if you're not out there pushing yourself and trying new things every single day, then you're not really trying to reach your full capacity. But in order to do that, you have to be willing to make mistakes, and it's OK. Every single person in this room makes mistakes. And so just learning from them and course correcting as quickly as possible is what really matters.
speaker-0: for the students in the room, what advice would you give them as they begin to think about their own paths?
speaker-1: I would say, we talked about it a little bit before about betting on yourself. I would say get comfortable with sort of not knowing, not everybody knows, and really understanding that it's what you bring to the table, it's how you show up, it's what you put out there that's gonna be probably one of the biggest determinations of what you receive back. And that's showing up and working hard, that's knowing your job better than others, that's helping people out when they need help. but really leaning in to kind of all the different possibilities and not being afraid of them, right? Push yourself beyond what you think is possible. Think about all the different things that you want to try and go for it because you only get one shot at this. So really you want to try and do absolutely everything you can to achieve the goals and see what you can
speaker-0: do. Yeah, I think one of the pieces that we hear time and time again as well is that you belong in the industry and you're welcome here. As you see with all these industry professionals, this is the room that you belong in. Thank you, Christy, for such a thoughtful conversation. And thanks to all of our Rocking Finance podcast listeners for being part of the community. We have many more great conversations ahead with leaders across finance, investing, and the capital markets. each focused on their experience of building knowledge, access and networks. Visit rockthestreetwallstreet.com and be sure to subscribe. Until next time, let's keep rocking finance.
