How female leaders can lift our sights - Women's Agenda

How female leaders can lift our sights

Knowledge is power. But it wasn’t until I met a strong female leader from a different industry to my own that I understood just how powerful.

I first encountered non-executive director and sustainability adviser Sam Mostyn in 2002. I had joined a Women with MBAs networking group shortly after graduation and the first event I attended was held at IAG in Sydney.

The nature of the group was that members took turns hosting a drinks evening with a guest speaker. The speaker was always a female leader whose words were intended to inspire us.

At the IAG event Sam Mostyn was the speaker. She had just been appointed Head of Culture and Reputation for the insurance group. Her title alone signaled to me that Michael Hawker, then CEO of IAG and Sam’s manager, was clearly a visionary. Sam talked up the potential for female leadership. She made us believe that we could reach the very top if that was our goal. Ten years ago that was still a relatively revolutionary thought for most women and most industries.

On that evening Sam opened my mind to a world where culture was important to business success and talented women were without a ceiling. I started to consider an industry change post MBA as I was drawn to these people and this company. If they had announced a vacancy right then I would have applied without hesitation. At the time I was a Fairfax employee, our leader was Fred Hilmer and I was in desperate need of inspiration and an industry without female concussion.

A few months later I hosted a Women with MBAs drinks event at Fairfax, thanks to the encouragement and financial commitment of then director of corporate communications Bruce Wolpe. Bruce was a supporter of what he termed ‘talented women’. Unfortunately I wasn’t successful in my efforts to attract one of the most senior women associated with the company to speak to a room full of aspiring female leaders. I won’t publicly shame her by revealing who but her response surprised and disappointed me. So I approached non-executive director Patty Akopiantz. She jumped at the opportunity to share her insights into building a board career. With her words she effectively pulled the ladder down and invited the women in the room to climb up and join her.

Like Sam Mostyn a few months earlier, Patty was generous with her time and knowledge. Some of us were especially keen on a board career and she stayed around far longer than anyone could ever be expected to so she could answer as many questions as possible.

It was those women who caused me to question the male-dominated leadership status of the media industry. I blame them for fueling my interest in governance and my obsession with the advancement of talented women. I thank them on behalf of future generations of women for showing us the way by sharing their knowledge and experience.

Have you been inspired by a female leader? What happened next?

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