Former SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro's lessons on leadership

When Mary Schapiro became chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009 immediately following the Bernard Madoff scandal, there was a lot of work to be done. "There were a lot of vacancies, and the technology hadn't changed from 1994 to 2009," Ms. Schapiro told the audience at the third-annual Women's Forum hosted by InvestmentNews and the Investment Program Association's Women's Initiative Network in New York on Tuesday. "The agency was really struggling. "Once I got out of the fetal position out from under my desk and figured out what we needed to do, things got better," she said. Over the course of the four years that Ms. Schapiro led the SEC, the agency adopted new rules and took on new initiatives, including hedge funds regulations, enforcing disclosure policies and increasing the training budget for each SEC employee from $250 per person to $2,500 per person. Ms. Schapiro was the first woman to serve as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and is the only person to have also served as the chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Prior to becoming SEC chairwoman, Ms. Schapiro served as the chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., the non-governmental self-regulatory organization overseeing broker-dealers and exchange markets — she worked there for more than a decade. She oversaw the merging of Finra and the National Association of Securities Dealers, for which she was previously chairwoman and CEO. She currently is a General Electric board member, vice chairwoman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and vice chairwoman of Promontory Financial Group's advisory board. There are three H's to successful leadership, Ms. Schapiro said: honesty, humility and humanity. And one cannot say "thank you" enough to his or her staff after a job well done. Failing to show appreciation for the hard work of those who report to a leader does not set the proper tone at the top. "That's hubris, and you will fail," Ms. Schapiro said.

You can lead the band but you need people to make the music. -Mary Schapiro #womensforum2015

— Abby salameh (@AbbySalameh) June 23, 2015

Ms. Schapiro's conversation with Trisha Miller, executive director of W.P. Carey Inc., a global net-lease REIT, inspired some members of the audience to comment on Twitter.

Thank you Chairman Shapiro for taking the chance without assurances #womensforum2015

— Corethia V E Oates (@CorethiaVEOates) June 23, 2015

Mary Schapiro @ the Investment News conf talking about the shortcomings of Dodd Frank. #Siena wealthadvisorygroup pic.twitter.com/TSxVQwuEhe

— Bret Sanford (@bretsanford) June 23, 2015

Schapiro predicts regulators will become more comfortable w/ tech & data, focused on practices for retirement age investors #WOMENSFORUM15

— Investment Program (@IPADirectInvest) June 23, 2015

Ms. Schapiro, like many of the other speakers at the event, did not focus on a gender divide. She did say, however, that while being the only woman in a room can be intimidating, it should not stop a woman from working hard. "Sometimes being different is the hardest thing in the world, but sometimes it can be an advantage," Ms. Schapiro said. There are also no assurances of success, she said. Ms. Schapiro recalled when a white paper that later become the foundation for the Dodd-Frank Act was being drafted, the SEC was originally not mentioned. She got a tip from a friend and was able to get the agency incorporated into the sprawling bill, but she often went home worried that she would be the last SEC chairwoman. "Get into it and do what you can do," Ms. Schapiro said. Jaime Desmond, chief operating officer of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York, said she was impressed by Ms. Schapiro's candidness about her successes and failures. She was inspired by Ms. Schapiro's comment about being willing to hire someone who will not always agree with you.

#womensforum2015 @IPADirectInvest @eventsfromIN Schapiro: Hire a contrarian who forces you to think in different ways than usual

— Marion Asnes (@marionasnes) June 23, 2015

"I struggle with that as a manager, and I appreciate that she said that," Ms. Desmond said. Ms. Schapiro sees a lot of industry changes in the next five-to-10 years, including the rise of robo-advisers, less differentiation between advisers and brokers and regulators taking to big data and predictive analytics more. As far as the SEC's dealings with the fiduciary rule, she said the agency must come out with something specific for people within and outside of the industry to react to — only then will things get going. "It's just gotten into politics a little too much," she said. More from Ms. Schapiro on why the SEC has a hard time regulating advisers: