Collective Genius

Helen Argiris and Laura Hartley’s cone of silence

What’s the connection?

Accountant Helen Argiris (left) and lawyer Laura Hartley met in 2000. Today, Helen is chair of accountancy firm BDO Australia and Laura is managing partner at Addisons. They lean on each other for professional advice.

What makes it work?

Trust, professional empathy and absolute respect

HELEN SAYS

“WHEN WE met 16 years ago, we sparked off each other. We’re both strong personalities, focused and driven. Laura’s strength is that she gets things done so we’re similar in the ways we operate. Respect was created from our first assignment together [advising the Advertising Standards Bureau] and it’s become a personal relationship that’s extended to our families.

It’s been great to have Laura as a supporter and a friend; another woman in business to talk through issues, not only as a sounding board on client matters but also dealings within our individual practices and with our colleagues, who are mostly men.

A lot of discussion is around how to manage change in professional services firms, which creates a lot of sensitivities, so it’s been wonderful to have Laura’s input and feedback before, during or after organisational change is implemented. I trust her judgement. Our relationship is built completely on trust. Nothing we say is repeated.

It’s good to have someone to talk through the situation, the possible outcomes and how to handle personalities. There’s been a huge connection between BDO and Addisons and it’s a stronger, deeper relationship across both firms because of Laura’s and my connection. If one of the Addisons lawyers was to ring us [at BDO], I know we’d stand to attention because of that strong relationship.

We share a dry sense of humour and we’re quite gregarious. We’re both just over 155 centimetres tall – pocket rockets! We laugh at each other and the crazy times we’ve been through. We’ve never had a disagreement and we’ve even acted on opposite sides for clients in a corporate matter. There was a resolution because we could work in the background, which was much easier because we’re close friends and could have frank discussions.

Laura is very definite in her decisionmaking, which inspires me. She’s fact-driven and makes quick decisions. She can clear through the clutter, analyse something and come up with a commercial solution. And I know she’s always there if I need her. We lean on each other but don’t live in each other’s pockets. She would never let me down.”

LAURA SAYS

“WE ARE both professional women and have Greek heritage. At some level, all of us are tribal so that created two levels of bonding between us.

We’ve acted on the same side for a client – with me providing legal advice and Helen giving accounting advice – and we’ve also acted on opposing sides, which was interesting. I wondered how we were going to cope but between us there was none of that ego stuff that goes on, which helped it to be as smooth as it possibly could be. We had to respect the fact that we were arguing positions for our clients.

We now have management roles and use each other as sounding boards. We’re both passionate about our clients and we trust each other. I’ll ring Helen and say, ‘I need such-andsuch advice; who would you recommend?’ Although she’s with an accounting firm and I’m with a legal firm, similar things come up in management, such as issues where you count on having someone independent to ask, ‘What would you do? Have you had to face that?’ We’ve been comrades of survival in management.

Six years ago, I changed law firms. I’d been there for 20 years so it was a big deal for me. Helen gave me a genuine, independent view. She was fantastic – very practical – and understood the ins and outs of a move like that.

Neither of us would say it’s fantastically fun being in management; you probably get more satisfaction from the clients than the management roles. It can be quite a lonely position so it’s good to have support, particularly from outside the firm. Helen is a good listener and provides practical solutions. She’s always coming at it from a position of experience.

Helen and I love to see each other socially. We talk about our children as well as work. Her daughter has just gone to Newcastle University, which was a big thing for Helen. And now my son’s gone to ANU. We have a relationship that traverses personal and professional.

There’s a bit of luck in life and Helen and I have lucked out in finding each other.”