A Washington, D.C. and New York-based attorney, Tracey L. McNeil served with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 14 years. During her 8 years as ombudsman at the agency, Ms. McNeil engaged with investors and stakeholders, guided the efforts of senior attorneys and paralegals, developed an agile assessment framework that minimized operational and reputational risk, and was promoted to senior officer. Tracey McNeil’s most recent position as special counsel to the chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board involved high-level advisory and strategic oversight of matters arising from offices including the General Counsel, Ethics and Compliance, Internal Oversight and Performance Assurance, and International Affairs.
Tracey McNeil earned her JD at Fordham University School of Law in New York, where she served as a notes and articles editor of the Fordham Urban Law Journal and as chairperson of the Fordham Black Law Students Association. After law school, she worked as an associate in the Capital Markets Group at Shearman and Sterling. She then went in-house as a staff counsel for Travelers, where she guided complex negotiations spanning hundreds of no-fault arbitration hearings and appeals. In the mid 2000s, she served as counsel in the Legal Affairs Department at MetLife, where she advised on legal, regulatory, and marketing matters across the MetLife group legal plans, dental, and e-business lines. While at MetLife, Ms. McNeil also fostered new talent through co-chairing the MetLife Legal Affairs law student internship program.
Tracey McNeil subsequently relocated to Washington, D.C. where she worked as a senior associate in the Structured Finance and Securitization Group at Hunton & Williams, LLP. In her free time, she enjoys activities such as spending time with her family, hiking in the Northern Virginia area, and international travel.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
There is no typical day, but I always have consistent goals to make each day productive – to start the day with prayer and meditation, go for a walk, take breaks throughout the day to stretch or practice Tai Chi or Qigong, maintain a healthy diet, and get enough sleep.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I typically practice visualization throughout the process, where I imagine myself launching the idea or explaining it to an audience and responding to their questions. This helps me refine the idea and dive deeper into how it will resonate with others. It also helps me determine if the idea will actually create the desired impact or outcome, or if I need to workshop the idea a bit more. After that, I may do a limited launch to examine the idea in real time and to figure out what needs to be added, refined, or let go. Once the idea goes live, I always try to build in time and resources to understand the feedback, visualize next steps, and implement meaningful, impactful improvements.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Online learning. Whether it’s virtual training sessions, college coursework, interactive workshops, or social media tutorials, having online and on-demand access to education, experiences, and perspectives from a range of people across the world is very exciting.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Prayer. It helps me to view things from the perspective of faith and not fear. It also helps me focus on the power of love and gratitude, and on counting all of the blessings in my life.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Try not to overthink and talk yourself out of doing things, big or small. Think about it, make an assessment, then be bold and give it a try!
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
An apology is fine for an accidental action, but I do not want an apology for an intentional action that resulted in an undesired outcome. For that, accountability and changed behavior going forward far outweigh an apology to me.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
I recommend that everyone should be confident in what they know, while at the same time also being open to learning more.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Depending on the circumstance, I typically do one or more of these: pray, meditate, take a walk, have a quick chat with a friend, listen to a favorite song, watch a funny video clip to make me laugh, do a word game or work on a puzzle, have a cup of tea, or take a nap. After that, my perspective on whatever has me feeling overwhelmed or unfocused usually shifts for the better.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Understanding that while I can model myself after someone I admire, I am uniquely me. My time is best spent honing my unique gifts and talents, working on areas of improvement, and being my best self. Every day, I compete against myself, not others, with the goal of being the best me that I can be. If I can look at myself at the end of each day and honestly say that I did my very best, then that was a great day. If not, the goal is to be honest with myself and plan to work on any areas where I fell short of my best. The work is never done. The next day, and every day, I am competing against myself to be better than I was the day before. There is no perfection, just continuous learning, effort, and growth. I find such hope and possibility in that – and it fuels me every day.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
I once faced a period of simultaneous achievement and adversity in my career. Although I could not predict it or avoid it, I am proud that I faced that circumstance with poise, agility, and integrity. I remained aligned with my moral compass and values, and I emerged even more knowledgeable and resilient than I was before. Through it all, I remained a trusted and resilient strategist with exceptional advisory skills, I gained deeper relationships with colleagues and industry leaders, and, most importantly, I overcame that period of adversity and emerged with my hope and integrity intact. I took away three lessons. One was shared with me by a senior officer who advised that, while I could devote time and effort to help an underperformer improve, a person exhibiting unethical, disrespectful, and problematic behavior would likely not improve. Another lesson — hire slow and fire fast — was a simple, yet profound, reminder on the importance of gathering a wide range of professional references during the interview process. The third lesson was a saying attributed to Maya Angelou that summed up key aspects of the experience: “There is a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. You can tell so many facts that you never get to the truth.” It reminded me, especially as a member of a profession that advocates for fairness and due process, that people can be motivated to selectively present and weaponize facts to distort the truth. Therefore, it is important to always suspend judgment, consider motivations, challenge assumptions, and seek full context when examining purported facts and conclusions.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
The alarms on my iPhone. I give my daily alarms motivational labels, things like “time to stretch, pray, and meditate,” and “have a bit of fun,” and “stay hydrated.” I also add a few emojis to the alarm labels – they usually make me smile when the alarms go off.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
I love The Moth podcast – real people telling compelling stories about life. The bravery, love, laughter, tears – the humanity – in the stories really affirms the fact that the world is small, people are more alike that different, and life is full of opportunities to triumph despite adversity.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I always enjoy documentaries, especially those that take a balanced, unflinching look at the hero’s journey. I recently watched the Muhammad Ali documentary by Ken Burns. It presented a compelling look at the life of an iconic athlete. Whether or not you agree with his views and beliefs, Muhammad Ali’s fortitude, athleticism, and strategy in the ring were extraordinary. What I truly enjoyed was that, beyond the sport of boxing, the documentary did an outstanding job of examining the people, places, and circumstances that shaped Ali as a person. I learned even more about him and I came away with a renewed sense of empathy, understanding, and admiration for the full span of Muhammad Ali’s life, athletic achievements, and humanitarian contributions.
Key learnings
- Compete against yourself – not others – and strive to beat your personal best every day.
- Know the difference between facts and truth. Facts can obscure and distort the truth.
- Prayer changes things.
- Listen to learn and understand.
- Adversity can serve as a stumbling block or a stepping stone in your life – the choice is yours.