How soccer and ballet taught top Goldman and KKR execs to bounce back after rejection
Lizzie Reed of Goldman Sachs and Alisa Wood of KKR hold top roles at two powerful Wall Street firms.
Both say their early training — in competitive sports and performing arts — helped shape their careers.
Reed draws on lessons from the soccer field; Wood from her training as a professional ballerina.
Lizzie Reed learned to lead on a soccer field. Alisa Wood learned to endure on a ballet stage. Today, those early lessons remain central to how these two top finance executives navigate their careers on Wall Street
Wood carried that mentality with her when she set her sights on Wall Street. She sent a blind CV and a pitch book to KKR. Though initially rejected by co-founder Henry Kravis, another partner at the firm invited her in for a meeting, opening the door to her illustrious KKR career.
Ballet also taught Wood that success depends on strong preparation and mastery of your craft. “By the time you get on the stage, you should never think about it,” she said. By that point, “it was muscle memory.”
“I thought I was going to go into government and help change the world,” she said. But the reality of looming student loans pushed her toward investment banking instead, where the salary potential seemed more lucrative. Resilience, she explained, carried her through each pivot.