Do you know what's the most expensive thing a woman in finance can do in 2026? Ignore AI.
Harvard research shows women adopt AI at a 25% lower rate than men. When we surveyed 400+ women in our community, 90% told us they feel behind. The reason isn’t capability, it’s that nobody has shown them how AI actually applies to their work in finance.
Meanwhile, the industry is sprinting. Anthropic just crossed a $1 trillion valuation on secondary markets, overtaking OpenAI. PE firms are running AI across the deal cycle, from due diligence analysis to IC memo drafting.
M&A teams use it to structure unstructured data, pitch decks, financial statements, the lot. VCs are using AI to solve SFDR audit trails.
Here’s the part that should make you pause.
Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index found that women tend to use AI for invisible tasks, inbox triage, research, admin. Men use it for visible output: pitches, presentations, the work that gets seen in the room. We’re becoming the most efficient hidden engines in the office, while the AI promotion premium goes elsewhere.
That gap closes when you stop being an AI user and start being an AI architect: someone who designs workflows, connects tools, and uses AI to amplify the work that gets you noticed.
That’s exactly what we’re building.
Join our first online AI Lab, Finance edition.
We’re bringing in four experts: Léonie Kennepohl, Martine Uijland (PE), Nina Krommedijk (M&A), and Anne-Louise Thon (VC).
One webinar. For the women who want to use AI to get promoted, close more deals, and outperform the room.
This month's role model lesson: promotions are campaigns, not waits.
Most women wait to be chosen. Polly didn't.
When she went up for Director - one of the hardest jumps in investment banking - her own manager was working against her. Telling her not to network the panel. Suggesting she didn't need to pitch herself.
She ignored him. And did three things most people don't:
1. She built her case like a pitch deck. Deals closed, relationships owned, alpha delivered. Concrete, not vague.
2. She went to the panel directly. Every decision-maker, across the globe, one by one. She didn't wait for the process to assess her - she made herself impossible to overlook.
3. She owned the narrative before someone else could. By the time the panel sat down, the story was already written. By her.
Result? A unanimous yes.
If you're waiting for someone to notice how hard you're working - stop. Start treating your next promotion like a campaign you have to win.
We will sit down with Polly next week to learn how to own the room & go after the promotion you're aiming for.
You can also find Polly on:
What's Hot in Finance
The biggest VC story of the decade isn't being funded by VCs anymore. Worth flagging who actually controls the cap tables of foundational AI.
Brookfield placed a massive $2 billion bet on SpaceX as IPO expectations heat up. The move shows how aggressively private capital is flowing into AI and frontier-tech infrastructure right now.
JPMorgan promoted Dorothee Blessing to global co-head of Investment Banking in a major leadership shake-up. At the same time, Citi expanded its UK M&A team with several senior hires.
Swedish PE giant EQT is close to securing a £9.2 billion acquisition of FTSE 100 company Intertek after several rejected bids. If completed, this would become one of the UK’s biggest PE deals in years.
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