The television studio was bright and cold. After a string of practiced questions, the journalist leaned forward for the last one.
“Ms. Sterling,” the journalist said, leaning forward with an earnest expression. “You’ve returned to Wall Street after a five-year absence with a focus and ferocity that has stunned everyone. What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your time away?”
For years, I had worn sensible blouses, prepared Julian's meetings, and put my own work under his name.
“I learned not to put my future in someone else's name,” I said. “I returned to where I belong.”
An hour later, I entered the top-floor boardroom at Sterling Tower. Around the mahogany table sat the old guard of my family's business, executives who had known me since childhood and spent five years c
