karen-firestone-headshot-views-page

Views/Blog

APPLYING PRACTICAL INSIGHT TO
COMPLEX FINANCIAL CONCEPTS

Karen Firestone has spent over thirty years honing skills applied to
the investment world, while at the same time navigating a path through the work/familyscape. She considers many issues from an unusual angle, including stock market movement, factors facing professional women today, and how to think in simple terms about some complex financial structures. Karen shares her observations in posts that also appear in the Harvard Business Review and Huffington Post. As the CEO of Aureus Asset Management, a former fund manager at Fidelity Investments, and the mother of four grown children, Karen has a rare perspective into which she injects humor and some irreverence.

HBR: Taking Longer to Reach the Top Has Its Benefits

Snail-541x300

Most career advice today encourages us to move forward passionately, intentionally, boldly — and above all, quickly. Career coaches don’t make a lot of money from encouraging people to “get ahead slowly.” However, in terms of fulfilling our long-term goals for career success, patience can be an asset. That’s not to say waiting is easy….

[VIEW FULL POST]

CNBC: Stocks to Watch & Santa Claus Rally

Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 Karen Firestone, along with others, joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to talk about the existence of a Santa Claus Rally in 2015, the Fed’s upcoming rate hike decision, and some stocks to watch for 2016. VIDEO: “Santa Claus rally on the way” VIDEO: “Stocks to watch in 2016” Watch the first video…

[VIEW FULL POST]

CNBC: Smart Money Value Picks

Karen Firestone was recently on CNBC’s Halftime Report to discuss how her top picks coincide with the consumer’s strong balance sheet. Watch the full video on CNBC.com

[VIEW FULL POST]

HBR: What I Didn’t Know About Becoming a CEO

Aureus-Cake-541x300

By Karen Firestone NOVEMBER 09, 2015 The company I co-founded is now ten years old. While we’re an investment firm, many of the things I’ve learned as CEO transcend any particular industry. In looking back over the years, there are some things that I expected to be tough, and they have been. But there have…

[VIEW FULL POST]

Why Won’t My Employees Admit They’re Going on Vacation?

Beach-Sunset-541x300

As another summer comes to a close, I find myself noticing once again that my co-workers and employees have been very reluctant to both commit to a vacation and to communicate that time off to everyone else. As CEO, I find this frustrating — it’s a waste of time to set up a client visit…

[VIEW FULL POST]

What to Do When You Almost Have Inside Information

Wall-Street-541x300

I have spent my career in the investment business and have participated in thousands of meetings or calls with managements of public companies. A few times, I have received inside information, and I guarantee that you know when you’ve got it. When I worked at a large mutual fund company, we had ample instruction on…

[VIEW FULL POST]

The Risk of Following Caitlyn Jenner

6466015305_1ccb2abc5c_z-e1435259185621-455x300

I am 100% supportive of Caitlyn Jenner’s journey of self-actualization, as well as anyone’s effort to “follow their passion” or “trust their instincts.” However, from the moment of Caitlyn’s unveiling, I have wondered whether any of the media, drooling in anticipation of a new quote from the former Bruce Jenner, would describe the risk of…

[VIEW FULL POST]

Commonwealth School Graduation Speech

Surprised-Woman-541x300

  The Commonwealth School is an academically rigorous, independent, co-ed day school of about 150 students from grades 9 through 12, located in Boston’s Back Bay. I was invited to speak at their graduation and spoke about life, “a-ha” moments, and keeping a sense of humor.   Hello, I am Karen Firestone, Chair of the Board…

[VIEW FULL POST]