Bold, loud leadership may be valuable, but organizations need to recognize that there is more than one way for employees to contribute effectively. When we talk about feminism in the workplace, we generally discuss the importance of empowering women. When we say empowerment, what we are really suggesting is that women act more like those
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a "mix of experience and fresh faces" in her 14-person ministry following the party's first Caucus meeting. At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Ms Palaszczuk announced her cabinet would feature eight women, including Indigenous MP Leeanne Enoch. All 44 Labor MPs met at Parliament House earlier on Sunday
David Gonski has always had a long queue outside his office – as a Freehills partner, at his corporate advisory firm and, today, as a pre-eminent chairmen. Leading director Maxine Brenner, remembers waiting outside his Investec office at Chifley Tower in Sydney when a young woman – a newly recruited receptionist at the investment bank
Sheryl Sandberg is beautiful, brilliant, a billionaire and chief operating officer of Facebook. Last year, her book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, was a bestseller for months and she is popular for her speeches to women’s groups. She’s also happily married with two small children. So she believes a woman can
Chairman of Transfield Services Diane Smith-Gander still remembers being called into the office of her new Westpac boss John Morschel to talk about pay. Smith-Gander had resigned herself to the fact that Morschel was on a cost cutting mission and her long promised pay rise would have to wait. Instead, Morschel wanted to know why
I heard a joke the other day, it goes something like this, “How many women does it take to change a light bulb in an Australian boardroom? Nobody knows because they’re usually not at the table.” It’s a facetious start to what is a serious topic and while there has been some incremental growth in
Uncertain economic times could impact on Australian companies’ inclination to promote more senior women, warns Diane Smith-Gander, the new president of Chief Executive Women. “We seem to have one shock after another coming through the system,” she said in an interview with The Australian. “First it was the iron ore price and now it is the
The small number of female chief executive officers in Australia is about to get even smaller next week when prominent Westpac boss Gail Kelly steps down. Her seven-year tenure at the top began in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis and since then the number of women on boards of top 100
Researchers at talent management consulting firm Caliper wanted to find out if there are certain personality traits associated with women’s leadership success, as well as challenges that hold them back. They asked 85 women at the senior vice president level or above who managed a functional area like marketing, research and development, and sales, to
Leadership is never easy; yet, it is one of life's greatest experiences. The work of a leader is much more difficult today in this ever-changing and distracted world. Leaders need to rise above all the noise to form strong, effective bonds with their teams while envisioning the future and navigating the present. There is always
