Episode 8 - Adena Friedman | The Katie Miller Podcast

0:00You know, careers are 40 years long, but there is a point at which you're no longer going to be working. Thinking about what the rest of your life is going to look like and having a financial understanding of what's to come and what do you need to sacrifice now in order to have opportunity in the future, I think is going to be, it's a really, really big part of being a successful parent and also being a successful person in life. So having that understanding is empowerment. Like I definitely had moments in my, especially when the kids are young, it's hard to handle it all. You do have to kind of realize that your priority when you're not working, your priority is your family.

0:31And that I took very seriously.

0:33Katie Miller:What is your strategy in order to create the performance that you're seeking? We actually have a very specific strategic process that we go through, and we go through it every year. And we start by saying, what are the technology trends that are going to define our industry over the next 10 years? So we really try to think far out. What are the industry trends that are going to define our clients' experience over the next 10 years? And what are we great at? What could we be better at? and where is our right to win?

1:08Katie Miller:Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Katie Miller podcast. Thanks for joining us. Again, we air every Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Today, I'm in New York City, joined by Adina Friedman, the CEO of NASDAQ. Thank you so much for joining. It's great to be here. Thanks for joining me here at the MarketSite. It's a crazy week here in New York with UN. Just so everyone knows, the traffic is absolutely insane. But to just start off, would you mind giving everyone a brief 30 seconds of who you are and what is the NASDAQ for everyone who does not even know what markets are? Sure. Well, I'm Adina Friedman. I'm the CEO of NASDAQ.

1:42And NASDAQ today is a technology company that serves the global capital markets. And we do many things beyond markets, but of course we have the NASDAQ stock market as our foundation. And the Nasdaq stock market is a market that brings companies into to raise capital. And then we trade those and allow investors to own basically a piece of every company in the United States that comes public. We are the home to the largest companies in the world here at Nasdaq. We're really, really proud of that. But we have 4 ,000 companies that have chosen to list on Nasdaq. We have about 75 % of any all new companies in a given year who come public come public on Nasdaq.

2:22Katie Miller:So really, really proud of that. How long have you been at NASDAQ? I started at NASDAQ 32 years ago as an intern coming out of business school. And I took three years away, but otherwise I've been at NASDAQ my whole career. And you're a mom of how many kids again? I have two boys. Now they're grown now. So I had children. My older son was born when I was 26, the younger one when I was 28. So of course I've been here 32 years, which means my children are grown up now. So when you had kids earlier in your career, what was that like, putting in the long hours, especially earlier in your career when you're expected to put in long hours and still raising children at the same time?

3:04Yeah. Well, I was fortunate that I had two years of working at NASDAQ before my first son was born. And so I had at least a chance to establish my credibility and really work those really long hours for the first two years. And then my manager, I had the same manager for the first seven years at NASAC, and he was amazing, really incredible. So when I went into his office the day I told him I was pregnant, he's like, okay, let's figure this out. You know, it wasn't like, oh, gosh. It was like, oh, we'll figure this out. And, you know, you always get a little nervous having to have that conversation, but it really went really well.

3:39And he was willing to give me some time after the kids were born to work part-time for a couple years, but still actually promoted me in the process of doing that. And my husband and I also had a very early conversation right when we found out that we were pregnant. This is going to be a partnership. We're going to figure this out together. He took on responsibility. I took on responsibility. And it really made it so that it was doable.

4:02Katie Miller:I think now in today, right, you see with Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift is that they're getting engaged at the end of what is their adult careers, I want to say, right, where you've kind of reached this peak, I would say even at mid-30s, right? So, like, I don't want to say they're the peak, but in their minds, right, like the culmination of everything she's done and he's done, which very successful careers. Now they're getting engaged in starting a family versus you kind of were at the beginning. Do you think there is a benefit to starting the family younger? And what kind of went into your calculus to do that?

4:34Katie Miller:I do actually think that I was fortunate to have the kids younger in my career. I mean, everyone's different, right? Everyone's got a different career arc, as you're pointing out. Maybe they'll actually have more time now than they did when they were younger in their career. But for me, I found that having kids and having to figure out how to navigate my career with kids throughout my career was a better path for me. Because essentially, after two years, my husband and I had to figure it out for the rest of our time as people in our careers. So it just becomes part of the natural cadence. And if suddenly, in the middle of your career, you suddenly have a huge life event that happens and you become a parent, It can be more disruptive, I think, in the mid to later career.

5:17But that's my personal, you know, that's based on my own personal experience. Right. Someone else will give you all the reasons why it's better to do it later. But, you know, I also came to the view, well, I'm only getting two weeks off a year. So it's not like I could go travel the world anytime I want. We weren't at that point, you know, we weren't making tons of money at that point. So it was like, you know, it's not like we were foregoing a lot of other opportunities in our lives. We were working hard. And so let's have the family and let's have it be a part of our lives from the very start.

5:47But that actually was part of the conversation we had was now is as good a time as any kind of thing.

5:53Katie Miller:When you speak in your role as a CEO to other women who work at NASDAQ, what is your like? I'm sure other women come to you for guidance, whether that be on families or the future path of their career. Do you find that more women now are starting their families younger or is it now still trending older is what you're seeing? I mean, I think that the statistics show that it's trending older. And I probably would say anecdotally, that's probably the experience I've seen. But I do get a lot of questions about that. And I actually really enjoyed those conversations because I felt pretty alone when I had kids young.

6:28I didn't have a lot of female counterparts at the office. And so I was figuring it out. My husband and I were figuring it out together. But I felt like there was a lot of things I was trying to figure out by myself. And so I'm actually very happy to have that conversation with younger women as they're trying to figure out how do they create the balance? How do they have the right conversation with their partner? How do they think about their career trajectory? Reminding them that careers are 40 years long. You know, you don't have to accomplish everything in two years. You can think about how to create a little bit more balance for a while and then go right back in.

7:00But the one thing that I'm always sad is when I see a great woman who's got this great career in front of her say, It's just too much. I have to concentrate on one thing or the other. And obviously, if they're going to have a child, they're going to concentrate on their family. So that always makes me a little bit sad because I think that means that they probably felt very alone. They may not have talked to their manager about what was possible and how they might want to think differently for a little while about their career and then come back into a heart-charging job a little bit later, or things like that that could make it so that they could navigate it successfully.

7:33Because it's a different choice. And I think for some women, being a mom is their ultimate job, right?

7:38Katie Miller:And that's all they're excited to do is, I want to have a kid, I'd like to quit my career, and now it's time for me to go home. Right. Versus I think the woman you're describing is the one who wishes she could still remain in the workplace but can't figure out that balance. That's exactly right. I do know women who've decided that this is like the most exciting thing that has ever happened to them, and they really are excited to dedicate their time to their families. And I have total respect for that. I really do. It's different than someone saying, I just can't handle it all. And I understand that.

8:06Like, I definitely had moments in my, especially when the kids are young, it's hard to handle it all. It really is. Well, when I was younger, my career wasn't commuting nearly as much. But I was coming up to New York occasionally. I commute now, you know, all the time. But when the kids were younger, it was always hard. Like, when I did have to go to New York, I think, at one point my son was, I think, two. I was trying to remember if he was like one and a half or two and I had to go to New York and He knew he didn't want me to leave so his way of telling me he didn't want me to leave was he hid my phone in the closet And he said well you can't leave if you don't have your phone, right?

8:43So you know so kids do know how to pull on those heartstrings very successfully. Did you stay home?

8:48Katie Miller:No Because at the same time you also have to realize that when I am home I'm very present with the kids, or I was very present with the kids. But they also gained independence from the fact that I wasn't there every minute of the day, but when I was there, I was very much there. That's the key, though, is you do have to kind of realize that your priority, when you're not working, your priority is your family. And that I took very seriously. So there's two questions I'll take off of that. One, what is the actual work-life balance? Because I know what everyone's idyllic work-life balance is, right, is that work is work and home time is home time, I think, as you just alluded to, right?

9:24Katie Miller:But this is markets, things happen overnight, and things sometimes require attention. And I know I fall short, even at home, of saying, I'm gonna stop and be with my children and read bedtime story, but then your phone is, you know, sitting there buzzing. Yeah. And so how does that actually work in real life? In real life. About the days that work and the days where we're like, it could have done better today. I think I, well, first of all, you have to give yourself a break, right? Perfection's impossible. And just remind yourself that perfection's impossible. I also remember feeling very guilty when the kids were young.

9:57I either felt like I wasn't committing enough to work or I wasn't committing enough to home. And that guilt can be very weighty. And so I remember later in my career, this woman came in to talk to all the female executives at a firm I was working in. And she said, never feel guilty for working and being a mom. And she gave lots of reasons why. And I was like, wow, I wish I'd heard that when I was younger in my career. because I think you just have to give yourself a little bit of grace and say I'm working as hard as I can at both jobs they're both very important jobs and how do I make sure that in the moment that I can be present I'm always very present and then when there are things like emergencies that come up my husband and I would talk to each other about those like he would say okay I'm coming in, you know, he'd come on in.

10:47And there were times when he did drop off, I did pick up because we did daycare. And sometimes I had to stay at work late. And so he would say, yep, I got it. And sometimes he'd have to go work early. Yep, I got it. So we, you know, we made it work for each other. I do think that a partnership was really important.

11:03Katie Miller:I am curious, though, from when you started in your career to now, I would say there's way more women empowerment or women in business forums and groups, given that you are a female CEO and I don't think there's as many of you as there are your male counterparts, do you think segregating women out as a group who needs to be observed and promoted or have a special thing is actually net helpful? And I struggle with this, so I'm not trying to ask anything that I haven't thought about. And given that you sit in a unique role as being there when there weren't as many women, and now I think there's more than less, So, I would first start by saying, you know, NASDAQ is a performance culture, and we've always been a performance culture.

11:45At the end of the day, if you're in a role, you have to perform in your role. And that is the best way to get the opportunity for the next role. And so I just want to say that that's so important. But you also can create a culture of respect and a culture of feeling like I can, in fact, ask for help. I can people can understand that I might be dealing with a situation outside of work that I need to need some help with and have your colleagues come in and say, hey, let's figure this out together so that you don't feel alone and having to navigate those moments, which I think a lot of women felt very alone in navigating those moments 20 to 30 years ago.

12:22And so that culture of saying, OK, let's figure this out as opposed to, well, I guess you're not doing your job today. You know, it's just it's a different it's a different orientation. It's a different way of thinking about that team. And I think if you can create that culture, and I think we have it here at NASDAQ, then you're giving everyone an opportunity to advance themselves. And everyone, the men and the women, all working together to make it so that the team is served, the clients are served, the company is served properly. Now at the end of the day, you'll also then have to be the one who leans in when your colleague has a challenge at home or outside of work.

12:58And it's give and take all the time.

13:01Katie Miller:There aren't many women, I think, in finance, right? I mean, I would say there's more now than there previously were. But pop culture would tell you that they're looking for the six-foot, blue-eyed man in finance, right? I'm looking for a man in finance. Trust fund. Six-eye, blue-eyed. And it's not like I'd like the brunette woman with the pretty eyes, right? Maybe they would. But you grew up with a family culture in finance, right? And so how would you talk to a mom who's at home, who maybe doesn't do her family's bills, who doesn't log in to their bank account regularly, who doesn't, you know, who knows what the NASDAQ is or who sees the bell ringing, but doesn't actually understand what a market is, what a put is, why we're buying and selling and trading.

13:48Katie Miller:how would you do the brief introduction to the mom to say get involved, get off the couch, not get off the couch, but take an interest in your finances? Well, I personally feel like having an understanding of the finances in your life gives you the freedom. It helps you understand what your priorities need to be, what your opportunities might be, and also thinking about the future. Like, planning for your future, planning for your children's future. I mean, that's so important to have an understanding of the plan. And again, you know, careers are 40 years long, but there is a point at which you're no longer going to be working.

14:30So thinking about what the rest of your life is going to look like and having a financial understanding of what's to come and what do you need to sacrifice now in order to have opportunity in the future, I think is going to be a really, really big part of being a successful parent and also being a successful person in life. So having that understanding is empowerment. And I think that's important. So there are a lot of resources available, lots and lots of resources. So there's a site that I worked on with my child, actually. He was interested in understanding finances. He wanted to invest in stocks when he was a teenager.

15:08And I said, OK, well, let's go to Investopedia, because Investopedia has a stock market game where you're investing fake money. And it helps you understand the basics of what you're supposed to look at in terms of financial statements and how do you read a financial statement and what does it mean to anything? You know, what is an equity? What is a bond? And that, I think, was really great at giving the basics. And then, of course, there are so many different retail brokerage firms now that offer a whole range of financial literacy. There are programs out there to focus on how do we appeal to women?

15:40How do we appeal to people from different backgrounds to get them engaged and make them feel like they can understand it, they can engage in it, they can relate to it? So there's a lot of resources out there today that get people engaged in the markets, but also just in their finances in general.

15:55Katie Miller:Did your financial literacy come from your family or was it school? It was my family. Yeah, I would not say school focused on that, which is too bad. I actually think there's, you know, the programs like Junior Achievement and other programs. Our foundation is completely dedicated to financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Those are the two things that we focus on with our foundation. So we do a lot to promote programs around financial literacy. But I would say that for me, my father was in the industry. And so he would come home for work. He was in the investment industry and he would come home and we'd have dinner together every night, which was really great.

16:31I mean, he worked hard to make it. So we had dinner every night. It might have been a little later in the day. And we'd ask him about work, and he would actually tell us. And then I would go into the office with him when I had a day off of school and wander the halls and ask, can I be helpful? And I would go down to the trading floor, and they'd show me the Bloomberg screens. And, you know, so I had a real—I had, like, a really fortunate view into it. And I thought it was really, really interesting. So when I went to business school, I decided that I wanted to do finance, but I wanted to be a product manager.

17:02in finance. And I happened to land at NASDAQ, which is essentially a product. I mean, if you think about it, the markets in a way are a technology product serving finance. So I got the chance to be a product analyst right out of business school. Did you apply online or how did

17:19Katie Miller:you get the job? You know, they had an internship available, but I was very fortunate in getting the only internship in the trading division. And then I parlayed that into a full-time job. So you never know if you're going to be an intern this year at the NASDAQ in the trading division where you might end up. Well, we actually do have former interns who are now very much senior executives here at NASDAQ, multiples. So it is definitely a path into the door here at NASDAQ. So when you're raising your children, I want to just quickly go back to this, because to me it is the most fascinating part of being a true working mother is how you've done it.

17:53Katie Miller:You have, I would say, two successful children, which in this day and age is not easy to do with all the outside pressure, especially with two working parents. How did you, I want to go into this, I guess, how did you navigate? So when you're at work, you're at work, but then what were the key family values or core tenants? You mentioned, you know, your father having dinner together. I think your mom being quite a role model is what tools did you use to ensure like to raise successful children? Because today I think it's very hard to do. Yeah, no, so it was very intentional. You know, my husband and I really spent time I'm really focusing on how do we make sure our children always feel supported, feel that we're there for the most important moments in their life, or even not even the most important, but important moments in their lives, that they had a lot of structure, and we'll talk about that in a second, and that when we were present, we were really present.

18:46And I did take that from my own family. So my mom was a stay-at-home mom until I was nine, and she was always there, and you know, It was just, but she was there, but not like on top of me there. She was just present, available. My dad worked very hard in my early years. And so, and we would like, my mom and my brother and I would go to baseball games and pack up the popcorn from home and sit in the bleachers and have a great time, right? So she was very present. But then she actually decided it was time for her to have her own opportunity. And I have to tell you, her going back to law school, she went to law school and then became a lawyer, was a defining moment for me.

19:26You know, to see her achieve something that was so important to her. Her dad had been a lawyer. And she became the first female partner in her law firm.

19:34Katie Miller:Wow. And so for me to see her become this really confident career woman, expert, watch her, frankly, go through law school. When I had a day off of school, I would go to the law school classes and sit in the back of the class. And that was really important to me to see. And then to see my dad support her because he suddenly had to do more at home. And sometimes he would have to make dinner. We would always have breakfast for dinner when he made dinner, which was awesome. I love breakfast. I do, too. But, you know, like we had these really great bonding moments with my dad as I got older. And so it was really very defining for me to see that.