Women moving up the ladder
Four leaders share advice
WOMEN are making inroads into leadership positions, despite continuing to remain under-represented across the workforce.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency reveals the proportion of female personnel in key management roles grew from 28.5 per cent to 29.7 per cent between 2016 and 2017.
The proportion of female chief executives grew from 16.3 per cent to 16.5 per cent in the same period.
Four of these chief executives, working in the male-dominated IT, property and utilities industries, share the advice that helped them to reach their senior positions.
Tania Walter, chief executive of data analysis and business intelligence platform Obzervr
WALTER received her best piece of career advice while participating in SBE Australia’s Springboard Enterprises Australia Accelerator, which helps women-led companies build scalable, sustainable businesses through access to experts and resources.
“The best piece of advice I have received is ‘Love your numbers!’,” she says.
“SBE Australia chair Topaz Conway said recently (in an article) numbers tell the story way better than you. Sales, revenue, profit, history, forecasts: know them inside out, love them, be empowered by them, because the next step is convincing the investors you are the best possible person to achieve those numbers.
“Knowing the numbers that are applicable to each audience category makes the conversation simpler, and cuts through the noise.”
Lauren Hall, founder and chief executive of events industry distribution platform iVvy
HALL says it was Renata Cooper, chief executive of Forming Circles, who told her to make decisions with intelligence, not emotions.
“In addition, Renata provided validation of my innate philosophy, ‘Think big, dream big’,” Hall says.
“I have always had fierce
ambition and big dreams to create a globally significant company. Renata’s support and mentorship confirmed that my ‘dream big’ approach was not just aspirational, but realisable.”
Rachel Kidwell, chief executive and founder of tenancy management company TCPinpoint
THE best career advice Kidwell received from a female business mentor came from Tania Jolley, founder of DNA Security Solutions.
“(She) told me to make the most of my network. Grow it,
nurture it and most importantly give back where you can,” she says.
The best advice she received from the Springboard Enterprises Australia Accelerator was to perfect her pitch, know her numbers and be proud of who she is and what she has created.
Fiona Waterhouse, chief executive of organic waste company Utilitas Group
WATERHOUSE says she has learned much from a range of mentors, particularly around raising capital for
business.
She summarises their sage advice into “the four Ms of capital raising”: money, mandate, motivation and moment.
“Ask yourself, does the potential investor actually have money or are they just an intermediary?” she says.
“Do they have a mandate to invest in your business or your project at the stage that you are at, the type of asset class you represent?
“Are they engaged by what you are doing and motivated to stay the course?
“And, is it the right moment in time for them?”
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I have always had fierce ambition and big dreams to create a globally significant company.
— Lauren Hall