1. Inside 7
http://inside7.chi.frb.org/formProcessing/newsArticle/generated/QAWITHLIZKNOSPE42653972684414575211.cfm[9/27/2011 10:32:59 AM]
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Below the Fold - Liz Knospe
Liz Knospe, Senior Vice President and General Counsel talks about leadership issues.
If you want news that goes beyond the headlines, then you have to look, in newspaper parlance,
below the fold. Below the Fold is an ongoing Inside 7 series that offers highlights from
conversations with Bank Officers on leadership and management.
Today, we offer a recent Q&A with Liz Knospe, Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Liz
has been with Chicago Fed for 25 years. Her areas of responsibility include: Human Resources
and Internal Communications, Legal Department, Board of Directors and Enterprise Risk
Management and Business Continuity.
Q. How did you decide to work for the Fed?
A. I was working for a small law firm and doing mostly products liability defense. But I wasn't
loving my job. So I started thinking of other options. I saw a blind newspaper ad (for an
unnamed financial institution) and I just responded to it. And then when I got the offer, I thought,
"Oh, that will be good for a couple of years, get some interesting experience," and here I am.
Q. How many employees do you manage?
A. I manage 61 people right now.
Q. You manage different divisions. Do you meet with them together and how often?
A. We rarely have meetings where we're all together. For example, sometimes you might not be
able to share with other areas what's going on in Human Resources. Same thing with Legal.
You might not be able to share that information with the whole group. So it doesn't always make
sense to meet together because of the collection of responsibilities that I have. Most of the time,
I meet with the different areas separately. So I would say there's a fair amount of stuff that is
either sensitive information or that's confidential and shared on a need-to-know basis.
Q. Where did you get your education?
A. I went to Grinnell College in Iowa. It's a small liberal arts school. But one year of my four
year stint there I spent studying in France. That was my junior year. And then after I graduated,
I went back and taught English as a second language in France for a year. So that was a great
experience. Then I worked for a year or two and then went to law school at IIT Chicago Kent
(Illinois Institute of Technology-Kent College of Law) here in Chicago.
Q. So why did you decide to study Law?
A. I loved studying French, but I hadn't really been thinking about what kind of career I would
About This Page
Applies to: Everyone
Contact: Gerry Ringwald
Updated: June 09, 2011
Tags: Chicago, Employee Feature
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CHICAGOFED.ORGTuesday, September 27, 2011
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Keywords, News, Entire Site
2. Inside 7
http://inside7.chi.frb.org/formProcessing/newsArticle/generated/QAWITHLIZKNOSPE42653972684414575211.cfm[9/27/2011 10:32:59 AM]
have with it. So not being inclined to be an academic, I worked for a year or two after I came
back from France and I was doing jobs that really weren't all that interesting. I worked as a
paralegal for four or five months on a huge nuclear litigation case. In years past, I had thought
about going to law school. I knew I had good verbal skills...good analytic skills. So I thought
"Okay, let me do that." So that's how I ended up in law school. It wasn't a plan from birth or
anything.
Q. What leadership lessons did you learn early on?
A. The general counsel who I worked with when I first came to the Fed, in the Legal
Department, told me "make sure your boss doesn't have any surprises." So if you learn of
something or there's a big problem going on, make the boss know what's going on, so he or she
doesn't hear it from somewhere else first. You don't have to have the answers, but you need to
know when there are issues, when there's a problem.
Q. How would you describe your style of management?
A. I'm pretty open and transparent. Not very hierarchical. I guess I would also say that I'm pretty
informal. Basically I spent first big chunk of my career not managing people. I was an attorney.
So I came to the "management" side of things when I got promoted to General Counsel. That's
when I started being more mindful of management skills, leadership skills, that sort of thing.
Early on, I probably veered too much to the micromanagement side, partially because I didn't
have much experience in delegating. I think I've gotten better. I'm more measured now. And the
areas that report to me now have a lot of professionals. So I expect them to be able to carry out
their responsibilities and come to me if they need help or guidance, as opposed to me having
to lean over their shoulders all the time.
Q. What qualities do you look for in new employees?
A. I look for people that are self-motivated. They're not just someone who's going to just sit
there and wait for you to give them something. But they should be interested and motivated to
work and do things. They should be intellectually lively. I look for somebody who is passionate
about what he or she does. Whatever the position might be, if I'm looking for a lawyer, I want
someone who can get into it a little bit, and who can get a little excited about whatever the issue
is. Someone who's smart too. That always helps. And you want someone who's got good
interpersonal skills. Because you can be smart as a whip, but if you can't get along with people,
it doesn't really matter how smart you are.
Q. Talk about the culture you are trying to foster.
A. I feel comfortable in an environment where people feel they can speak up, where their
opinions are important. I prefer an informal type culture rather than a formal hierarchical
environment. That's what I would say: informal and open.
Q. What qualities of leadership do you think are the most important?
A. We have what we call "leadership competencies" here that focus on a small group of
competencies that we, as Bank management, have decided are important in leaders. Things like
strategic thinking, your communication skills, your coaching and mentoring skills, things like
that. I like leaders who are very direct...who show courage. And I think you have to have a
certain mental toughness because you don't always win. You're trying to do what's right for the
organization, and sometimes you advocate certain courses of action that don't get picked up on.
And sometimes the Bank makes different decisions, but you don't get to go home and cry about
it. You have to come back the next day and keep at it. So I think those are all things that are
important.
![Inside 7
http://inside7.chi.frb.org/formProcessing/newsArticle/generated/QAWITHLIZKNOSPE42653972684414575211.cfm[9/27/2011 10:32:59 AM]
< BACK
Below the Fold - Liz Knospe
Liz Knospe, Senior Vice President and General Counsel talks about leadership issues.
If you want news that goes beyond the headlines, then you have to look, in newspaper parlance,
below the fold. Below the Fold is an ongoing Inside 7 series that offers highlights from
conversations with Bank Officers on leadership and management.
Today, we offer a recent Q&A with Liz Knospe, Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Liz
has been with Chicago Fed for 25 years. Her areas of responsibility include: Human Resources
and Internal Communications, Legal Department, Board of Directors and Enterprise Risk
Management and Business Continuity.
Q. How did you decide to work for the Fed?
A. I was working for a small law firm and doing mostly products liability defense. But I wasn't
loving my job. So I started thinking of other options. I saw a blind newspaper ad (for an
unnamed financial institution) and I just responded to it. And then when I got the offer, I thought,
"Oh, that will be good for a couple of years, get some interesting experience," and here I am.
Q. How many employees do you manage?
A. I manage 61 people right now.
Q. You manage different divisions. Do you meet with them together and how often?
A. We rarely have meetings where we're all together. For example, sometimes you might not be
able to share with other areas what's going on in Human Resources. Same thing with Legal.
You might not be able to share that information with the whole group. So it doesn't always make
sense to meet together because of the collection of responsibilities that I have. Most of the time,
I meet with the different areas separately. So I would say there's a fair amount of stuff that is
either sensitive information or that's confidential and shared on a need-to-know basis.
Q. Where did you get your education?
A. I went to Grinnell College in Iowa. It's a small liberal arts school. But one year of my four
year stint there I spent studying in France. That was my junior year. And then after I graduated,
I went back and taught English as a second language in France for a year. So that was a great
experience. Then I worked for a year or two and then went to law school at IIT Chicago Kent
(Illinois Institute of Technology-Kent College of Law) here in Chicago.
Q. So why did you decide to study Law?
A. I loved studying French, but I hadn't really been thinking about what kind of career I would
About This Page
Applies to: Everyone
Contact: Gerry Ringwald
Updated: June 09, 2011
Tags: Chicago, Employee Feature
UPDATE ARTICLE
ADD AN ARTICLE
FEEDBACK | FEDWEB |
CHICAGOFED.ORGTuesday, September 27, 2011
OUR
COMMUNITY
OUR
ORGANIZATION
LEARNING +
DEVELOPMENT
EMPLOYEE
RESOURCES
WORKPLACE
SERVICES
SUPERVISION
CENTER
Current View: 7th District Employee SWITCH
Keywords, News, Entire Site](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/52605020-af0d-4649-a118-edd2da9634e9-150329190148-conversion-gate01/85/BELOW-THE-FOLD-LIZ-KNOSPE-1-320.jpg)
![Inside 7
http://inside7.chi.frb.org/formProcessing/newsArticle/generated/QAWITHLIZKNOSPE42653972684414575211.cfm[9/27/2011 10:32:59 AM]
have with it. So not being inclined to be an academic, I worked for a year or two after I came
back from France and I was doing jobs that really weren't all that interesting. I worked as a
paralegal for four or five months on a huge nuclear litigation case. In years past, I had thought
about going to law school. I knew I had good verbal skills...good analytic skills. So I thought
"Okay, let me do that." So that's how I ended up in law school. It wasn't a plan from birth or
anything.
Q. What leadership lessons did you learn early on?
A. The general counsel who I worked with when I first came to the Fed, in the Legal
Department, told me "make sure your boss doesn't have any surprises." So if you learn of
something or there's a big problem going on, make the boss know what's going on, so he or she
doesn't hear it from somewhere else first. You don't have to have the answers, but you need to
know when there are issues, when there's a problem.
Q. How would you describe your style of management?
A. I'm pretty open and transparent. Not very hierarchical. I guess I would also say that I'm pretty
informal. Basically I spent first big chunk of my career not managing people. I was an attorney.
So I came to the "management" side of things when I got promoted to General Counsel. That's
when I started being more mindful of management skills, leadership skills, that sort of thing.
Early on, I probably veered too much to the micromanagement side, partially because I didn't
have much experience in delegating. I think I've gotten better. I'm more measured now. And the
areas that report to me now have a lot of professionals. So I expect them to be able to carry out
their responsibilities and come to me if they need help or guidance, as opposed to me having
to lean over their shoulders all the time.
Q. What qualities do you look for in new employees?
A. I look for people that are self-motivated. They're not just someone who's going to just sit
there and wait for you to give them something. But they should be interested and motivated to
work and do things. They should be intellectually lively. I look for somebody who is passionate
about what he or she does. Whatever the position might be, if I'm looking for a lawyer, I want
someone who can get into it a little bit, and who can get a little excited about whatever the issue
is. Someone who's smart too. That always helps. And you want someone who's got good
interpersonal skills. Because you can be smart as a whip, but if you can't get along with people,
it doesn't really matter how smart you are.
Q. Talk about the culture you are trying to foster.
A. I feel comfortable in an environment where people feel they can speak up, where their
opinions are important. I prefer an informal type culture rather than a formal hierarchical
environment. That's what I would say: informal and open.
Q. What qualities of leadership do you think are the most important?
A. We have what we call "leadership competencies" here that focus on a small group of
competencies that we, as Bank management, have decided are important in leaders. Things like
strategic thinking, your communication skills, your coaching and mentoring skills, things like
that. I like leaders who are very direct...who show courage. And I think you have to have a
certain mental toughness because you don't always win. You're trying to do what's right for the
organization, and sometimes you advocate certain courses of action that don't get picked up on.
And sometimes the Bank makes different decisions, but you don't get to go home and cry about
it. You have to come back the next day and keep at it. So I think those are all things that are
important.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)