I had a choice -- cave in to the bully or do what I loved.
By Maria Bartiromo
From Reader's Digest
Crossroads and Choices
One of the most important character traits anyone can have is courage: the courage to find your hidden strength and let it lead you, to make difficult choices and see them through.
There are countless stories of ordinary people who had the courage to change the course of their lives. I think immediately of my grandmother Rosalia Maria Morreale, who left behind everything that was familiar in her native Italy to start a new life in America. There's Andy Grove, who at age 20 escaped from Hungary in the wake of the 1956 revolution and went on to co-found Intel Corporation. Or Francis Ford Coppola, who had a grand vision to produce movies but was broke, so he mortgaged everything on a dream.
In my new column, I'll bring you the stories of both famous and not-so-famous people who found themselves at a crossroads, with a choice to make -- and the courage to make it. We often hear that the cards are stacked against ordinary people in a rich man's world. But we all have the power to win.
I have a story, too, only mine is about taking a stand.
By the time I was 23, I had been working at CNN Business News for five years. I was producing a live show, and I had one of the greatest Rolodexes on Wall Street. But I missed being at the scene, getting to the people who made the headlines and knowing how they did it.
I put together a tape of myself reporting on-camera, shopped it around to the major news organizations -- and began broadcasting in 1993 at CNBC. Two years later, we were starting a new show and I went to Dick Grasso, then head of the New York Stock Exchange, to ask if we could do something never done before -- report, live, right there on the trading floor.
Grasso liked the idea and gave us the go-ahead. We worked out the challenges of filming in such a tight space, with traders running around and shouting orders. It turned out that the NYSE was very much an old boys club. And the boys didn't want a female broadcaster elbowing into the huddle with a camera.
No question, it was an intimidating experience. Some brokers would physically bump into me while I was on-camera. I tried to keep my cool -- and my balance -- as I was literally getting run down.
But I loved it because I was delivering news in its purest, most immediate form. I used to stand in front of IBM's trading post, so I was there the day in 2000 after IBM reported its third-quarter earnings. IBM management had made cautious comments about the business, and its shares had fallen before the market opened. IBM is an industry leader and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, so I knew the market was going to be down big on this news.
Winning the Battle for Respect
The opening bell rang, and the Dow dropped 200 points. I was reporting this news live when one of the brokers next to me got on the phone and yelled, "Hold it up! I've got a half-million more shares for sale!" Within a nanosecond, the Dow was down over 400 points. It doesn't get much more exciting than that.
But those early days were uncomfortable -- and there were many of them. Every day, I needed to shore up my confidence to hold my ground in this mass of suits. Every day I had to be sure I knew my stuff because you couldn't fool these guys. Every day I had to fight for respect.
I will always remember the time Jack Welch, then CEO of General Electric, which owned CNBC, was set to visit the floor of the stock exchange. The day before his visit, I walked over to the GE trading post to ask George, GE's head specialist, if it would be okay to bring Jack by the next day. Some 20 brokers were standing around the post and another 50 were within earshot when one of the traders yelled, "Get away from here now! This is not your business. You will not discuss any of this on television!"
Here he was, a grown man, dressed in suit and tie, red in the face and trying to get in mine. I must admit, he scared me. And I was embarrassed. Everyone was staring. My stomach tied itself into a giant knot, and my brain went blank. I knew it wouldn't be wise to yell back. That would create an even bigger scene. But I also knew I couldn't just run away. Why should I?
Luckily, none of this was caught on-camera, but still, the moment seemed to last forever. Finally, I managed to say very calmly, "Do not ever speak to me that way." And I turned and walked away.
The next day George showed Jack how stocks were traded. He loved it!
Grasso set up a meeting for me and the guy who had given me such a hard time, hoping we'd agree to disagree. But it was clear the trader didn't want the media on the floor, and he treated me rudely for years. I stayed tough, though. I wasn't going to stop doing what I loved.
I reported from the floor of the NYSE for a decade. I went from being called "Hey, you" to "the Money Honey." Instead of trying to interrupt my broadcast, traders passed me notes to alert me to breaking news at their posts. The only time I came close to losing my composure on air was when a jokester gave me a note that said, "Nice shoes!"
I now host Closing Bell on CNBC every afternoon, and a syndicated weekend show, The Wall Street Journal Report, on which I interview some of the most powerful, successful people in business. I may run into more bullies, but I'm clear about my responsibility to my viewers -- to ask the tough questions and push for honest answers. I had the courage to take a stand because I knew my stuff.
Maria's Picks
* At womensmedia.com, learn to boost your self-confidence, explore conflict strategies and succeed in male-dominated professions.
* Author Mark Goulston, MD, shows you how to conquer 40 self-defeating behaviors, including fear of confrontation, in Get Out of Your Own Way at Work... and Help Others Do the Same.
* Gini Graham Scott offers advice for handling difficult people in A Survival Guide for Working With Bad Bosses: Dealing With Bullies, Idiots, Back-Stabbers, and Other Managers From Hell.
From Reader's Digest - March 2006
