Deanne Weir

Chair of Ai-Media and Hoodlum and director of The WeirAnderson Foundation

DEANNE WEIR has more than 25 years’ experience in media and communications. She chairs the WeirAnderson Foundation, which invests in women’s causes, has held executive roles with Austar and Foxtel and chairs the boards of two private companies in which her company, WeirAnderson.com, is a large investor: Hoodlum, the Emmyand BAFTA-award-winning production company behind TV series Harrow and Secrets & Lies, and Ai-Media, a technology and social innovation company. She describes what leadership means to her.

“As I look at my life and what I want to do, I see this great bonding of the business world with social purpose and culture. I want to be involved in purpose-driven businesses. So it’s about telling great stories through Hoodlum or supporting not-forprofit organisations through the foundation. In a sense, my purpose is to run businesses that are for-profit and build capital so we can invest in social causes. I call myself an everyday philanthropist.

Our entire concept of leadership has to change. When you talk about business leaders you have this image of a CEO, the guy in the suit. Whereas a leader is someone who decides, in business or the social sector, to stand up and say they want to help others and the organisation and community to be better. We all need to think about the ‘be better’: not just better profits but better services, better people. What is the purpose? That’s what a leader is – someone looking towards that purpose.

We are reaping the negative results of that “win at all costs without worrying about the consequences” approach to leadership, as you can see from the banking royal commission. It comes back to our overall capitalist model of growth and more growth, which would be great in a world of infinite resources but that’s not where we live. We need to revisit our definition of success. A lot of entrepreneurs are women changing their communities. Equality and investing in women and girls isn’t just practical, it’s the right thing to do.

I’m very lucky that I had John Porter, who was CEO of Austar [1995-2012], as a leader. He was very empowering, giving guidance and support to go ahead and be the best you can be. People think leading is all about them; it’s actually about the team. The leaders who really get it are looking to find people who are smarter than them; they don’t feel they have to be the smartest in the room.

I’m an inclusive leader and do try to empower people. I love to hear about the lives of the people who work with me. It’s part of the role. And I like to have fun.”