It is a time of significant reform – changes to the Sex Discrimination Act; the introduction of Paid Parental Leave and the new ASX guidelines that make it mandatory for ASX200 companies to report on the gender ratio of senior executives and company directors, release a diversity policy and set gender targets.
However, these signs of progress cannot be looked at in isolation. Attitudes and behaviours are not necessarily changing and, in some cases, are going backwards. Significant barriers to success for women remain and not all of these roadblocks can be legislated again, as they are personal beliefs and ways of working that get in the way of success.
Our stellar panel discusses how they have avoided these traps.
1. Micro-managing
If there is one trait that these successful women are allergic to, it’s micro-managing. Abigail Forsythe, co-owner of KeepCup, a business that markets reusable coffee cups, believes that micro-managing is the antithesis of what an entrepreneur is.
“Find people you trust and let them do their jobs,” she says.
Founder of Carman’s Fine Foods Carolyn Creswell can’t afford to micro-manage. She is leading a business that just keeps growing. Her muesli is flying off the shelves at Costco by the pallet load; Carman’s is a supplier to clients including Coles, Woolworths, Qantas and Lite ‘n’ Easy and the business is moving into new export markets.
To add to the workload, Creswell has four children, including a nine-month-old baby.
“I never was a micro-manager. It is not part of my personality,” she says, adamant that she can do what she does because she has “an army” of support that she leaves to get on with it.
Creswell meanwhile, works on strategy and big picture stuff.
“I trust that everyone here is bloody good at what they do,” she says.
James Cook University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sandra Harding agrees that micro-managing is hazardous.
“If you have made the right appointments it’s detrimental.”
Harding is leading the North Queensland University that has 3,000 staff and 18,000 students across three campuses. She cautions against falling into the trap of micromanaging instead of building teams and working on strategy.
“If your view of your role as CEO is that you have to do everything then it simply can’t work.”
Of course, Harding isn’t saying that the buck still doesn’t stop with her but delegating accountability and authority are critical leadership skills to master.
TIP: Unsubscribe to the theory that if you want something done, do it yourself.
2. Fear of debt
A blanket fear of debt is a major obstacle for women in business.
“Not all debt is bad,” says chief executive officer of Dun & Bradstreet Australia and New Zealand, Christine Christian.
“Don’t be afraid to take on debt. It really is the heart of the growth of this economy.”
Christian has been in her role for a decade, overseeing 500 staff and an avalanche of financial data about local businesses. Obtaining affordable credit wisely, “good credit that you can afford to repay is liberating for women.”
Carolyn Creswell couldn’t get a loan when she started Carman’s.
“Now I have banks wanting to schmooze me and invite me out to dinner,” she says. Creswell has always worked and those early experiences have made her conscious of the value of every dollar.
“I was on the checkout at Coles the moment I could work,” she says, Early on, she developed the habit of saving up for things she wanted to buy. She owns her office premises and she is the kind of person who’d prefer to buy a good second-hand forklift rather than renting the latest whizz bang model. She is not averse to debt, particularly for property investment, but is not the person who is going to take out a big loan to fund an advertising campaign.
Just as women can be averse to debt, there is also the issue of dealing with bad debtors. Christian says so many Australian business owners are terrible at calling in overdue debts for fear of losing customers.
“Women are even worse,” she says. “Women need to get a lot more liberated and assert themselves. They are entitled to being paid.”
For women who aren’t prepared to be assertive and confident about chasing their overdue debts, says Christian: “You’ll get what you deserve.”
TIP: Debt is not the enemy.
3. Fear of thinking big
A 2011 Institute of Leadership and Management of 3,000 UK executives has found that women managers have lower levels of ambition and confidence than their male counterparts. The survey reports that only 30% of women under the age of 30 expect to become senior managers, compared with 45 per cent of men. Perhaps part of the problem is fear of failure.
“Fear can be overwhelming and can really take over the decision-making process,” says chief executive of telco PacNet Australia Deborah Homewood. “Then you become irrational.”
“Too many women default to roles that are in the background because they are not prepared to be seen making mistakes,” says Christine Christian. This means women opt for comfortable roles over positions “that will test their mettle”.
“It is not going to happen any other way, no one is going to drop it in your lap.”
All the panelists for this feature talked at length about taking risks and taking on big roles. Sandra Harding talks about “head on the desk moments” when she has overwhelmed, but all these women have clear strategies to cut through this mindset and focus on what matters.
Creswell credits a lot of her ability to take on big projects with “an innate confidence” that she has a desire to push herself.
“I don’t ever think ‘I can’t do that’,” she says. Instead, she’s too busy thinking, how can we do that.
Homewood was raised to have a strong sense of self, and her ability to take on challenges has only increased with age.
“You get braver because you realise that failing to achieve a huge goal is not the worst thing that can happen,” she says. “If you over think things, you won’t do it.”
In terms of risk mitigation, all the women interviewed for this feature were unanimous in their attitudes to risk. Identify the worst-case scenario, assess whether that outcome is “something you can live with,” says Homewood, and then make a decision.
Sarina Bratton, founder and managing director of Orion Expedition Cruises has always been competitive and her willingness to put in “extreme effort” was honed when she was an Australian junior champion diver. Trying a forward three-and-a-half somersault off a 10-metre tower, where the danger of injury is high, has meant that she is very skilled at risk mitigation. You take on that new dive when you have done all the necessary preparations, never before.
In 2004, Bratton became the world’s first female leader of a shipping line as a part-owner and managing director of Orion Expedition Cruises. She took this monumental step, she says, only when she was “ready”, when she had the industry experience, the market knowledge, the operations and marketing experience, and a strong vision.
“To take that big step was huge, but it was very well considered.”
TIP: Learn to live and brilliantly manage risk rather than fear it.
4. Lack of self-belief
Abigail Forsythe would not be in the position she is in today without backing herself and her product. She had a “deep feeling” that her KeepCup enterprise was going to work. (So widespread is the appeal of the KeepCup, the business even has customers in Alaska and Iceland.) The first prototype for the cup sparked 100,000 sales, the market appeal immediate. That’s when Forsythe felt like there was a tank hurtling towards her.
“If I didn’t climb in and drive it, it was going to run over me,” she says. More than 800,000 KeepCups have been sold and the cups are now being trialed at major food retailer Pret a Manger in the United Kingdom.
“You have got to trust yourself and your instincts,” she says.
Deborah Homewood learned a powerful lesson about the importance of backing yourself and your abilities earlier in her career. She was a single mum at the time, working in a company rife with sexual harassment and bullying.
“I felt I had to be quiet because I had sole responsibility for my two-year-old child,” she says. “I felt I couldn’t afford to be brave.”
Needless to say, the situation deteriorated. Finally Homewood realised that this work was damaging her career because she was so caught up in trying to manage the situation that it was hard to concentrate on the actual job. “If it is a toxic workplace, just get out,” she says.
“No question, self-doubt is the enemy of thinking big,” says Christine Christian.
TIP: Self-belief is intrinsically tied to success.
5. Stereotypes
A century after the first International Women’s Day was celebrated there is much to rejoice in, in terms of the economic, social and political gains.
However, this needs to be weighed against new waves of sentiment against gender equality and women’s progress.
It seems not everyone wants change. A London School of Economics January 2011 study by Dr Catherine Hakim has found that 64% of women aspire to marrying a man with a bigger pay packet than they do, with 69% saying they would prefer to stay at home and care for children if money was no object. No wonder pop star Lily Allen is singing about girls waiting for a man to ‘pick her up and put her over his shoulder, it seems so unlikely in this day and age’.
A classic stereotype of the successful businesswomen is the guilt-ridden parent that is perennially feeling guilty about ‘not being there’ for their children. Carolyn Creswell is always being asked how she manages her business and four children.
“I think women are fascinated by how you can juggle an interesting career and be a good mum,” she says. Creswell’s philosophy is to avoid the guilt trip. “I am a good mum,” she says.
“I am proud of what I do and I don’t think my kids have suffered. This is how it works for me.”
TIP: Break the mould.