Bank of America's Exec Shares Parenting Advice: "Being a CEO's Child Is Tough"

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is accustomed to overseeing more than 200,000 employees, but when it comes to his own children, he prefers to let them choose their own career paths.

Moynihan has supposedly headed Bank of America since its start in January 2010, was interviewed together by David Rubenstein at an Economic Club of Washington event on Tuesday. Rubenstein, chair of the Economic Club and co-founder of The Carlyle Group, asked Moynihan about the influences of growing up in Ohio as one of eight children, where his father was a research chemist for DuPont.

Jokingly, Moynihan said, "I probably had my own bedroom for the first time when I was in college." He went to Brown University and took on the volunteer position of chancellor for the Corporation of Brown University last year, its governing body to this day".

Other than being the chief executive, Moynihan is a husband and father of three: An investment banker in one school is his eldest child; a risk manager is his middle child in another financial services realm; the youngest works in an area of communications. Moynihan further elaborated that he suggested that they follow their path when Rubenstein asked if he advised them into banking as a career.

“Look, being a CEO’s child is not the easiest thing,” Moynihan said. “They saw me work in different ways across the years, and so it’s their decision on what their careers are.”
Researchers have shown that one's parents play an important role in the child's career choice, which sometimes transmutes into pressure. The very famous parents' children face an identity challenge. Big CEOs living their hectic lives are finding it even more challenging to balance work-family life and in the process miss some regular time with their children. This led some to believe that "work-life balance" is a myth.

Rubenstein went on to discuss DEI with Moynihan. In light of some Fortune 500 companies retreating from certain diversity policies, he asked how Bank of America was faring. Moynihan, who chairs the firm’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, stated the company delivers diverse teams and emphasizes inclusion. However, Reuters reports that a recently published company filing indicated that references to particular divers' hiring targets have now been removed by Bank of America, along with a directive that required managers to consider candidates from a diverse pool, which indicates a departure from those policies described in last year’s proxy statement.

Moynihan told Rubenstein, "Our focus is making opportunities for the team members." He then discussed Bank of America's Pathways program, instituted in 2018 to recruit talent in partnership with non-profits; this program has resulted in hiring over 10,000 individuals from low- to moderate-income communities. Moynihan also mentioned that Bank of America has employee resource groups that have "thousands of active members."