Rather, she thinks about her days as having 24 hours that she can balance between her personal and work lives, and her weeks as seven days that can also be carved up. 

Working across different timezones for Microsoft, she still works more than a 40-hour week but will take time out during the day for a few hours to do something else and catch up on the weekend.

Once a quarter, she blocks out a week where she puts herself on “leave from meetings” to focus on the big picture. She uses the time to focus on strategy, as well as team development and getting across the latest trends in the industry. 

As Director, Specialty Technology Unit at Microsoft, this approach to work is one Wise shares with her team, encouraging them to find what works best for them and being honest about how it’s working out for her.  

“I’m transparent about my challenges and success, and this gives them permission to do the same,” Wise tells Women’s Agenda.  

Microsoft’s approach to hybrid work and flexibility is bucking the trend of the push to get employees back to the office Monday to Friday. Team members can choose between working remotely for less than 50 per cent of their normal work week, or they can work remotely 100 per cent of the time if they have manager approval. 

The flex work policy is centred around recognising individual needs and promoting work-life balance. It also aims to support employees to work during the hours that are best for them in delivering according to expectations. It supports wellbeing and adaptability, but also productivity in recognising that people have individual approaches to getting their best work done. 

A blog post published more than four years ago by Kathleen Hogan, Executive Vic President and Chief People Officer, outlining the approach to flexibility still stands – again bucking the trend of some other tech firms to increasingly get people back to working in more traditional ways. “Moving forward,” she wrote in October 2021, “it is our goal to offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture,” 

Increasingly, we’re seeing how workers want the best of both worlds when it comes to remote working and time spent in the office. Microsoft describes this as the “hybrid paradox”, noting figures from its 2021 Work Trends Index, a study of more than 31,000 workers in 31 countries, finding that 70 per cent of workers wanted flexible work to stay, but more than 65 per cent craved having more face to face time with their teams. 

For Elena Wise, staying flexible on how and when she works enables her to get the most out of her time, and to be constantly thinking about the future. She’ll dedicate headspace for planning, thinking and learning, and try to block out Mondays as meeting-free days – unless she needs to travel or there’s an urgent issue. “I use this time to get on top of key actions for the week ahead, and to upskill on some of our latest AI training, which really helps given how quickly the technology is moving.” 

With a career spanning some of the world’s largest organisations and biggest markets, including AMEX, PayPal and Google and ten years spent in Japan, Wise has developed her work style to be able to respond to needs across international borders. 

Asked how she establishes herself in new cities and markets, she recalls making her first international move and being given the advice always to give such a move at least six months because wherever you go, you’ll need time to adjust culturally and there will be times when you just want to pull the pin. “Patience is key,” she says. “Building relationships and trust is crucial and learning from different perspectives enriches your experience.” 

Wise says she spends time meeting people one-on-one both in work and social contexts, joining local business chambers, clubs and expat groups, and notes the importance of staying connected with current past colleagues and contacts. 

Wise is a pioneering woman in tech, now one of Microsoft’s most senior leaders in Australia and having spent years in senior leadership positions, including as country manager and GM Japan of PayPal and Country Manager of Google Technical Services in Japan and Korea. 

Looking broadly across the tech industry, she wants to see more companies pushing the focus beyond diversity and hiring to focus on inclusion, and understand women’s needs and perspectives. 

“There is a need to provide flexibility and tools for women to work in ways that suit their personal and professional goals, and not expect them to fit into rigid or traditional, often male-dominated or male-created, models,” she says. 

Wise wants to see more male allies getting involved in women’s networks and agendas to understand the experiences women have. She highlights one particularly positive experience of this at Microsoft, where she is seeing strong interest from male employees seeking guidance or support for partners experiencing menopause, which is one of the areas their Families Employee Resource Group is currently focusing on. 

“Companies in all sectors need to support women throughout their life cycle better, not just when they are having children, but also when they are caring for elderly parents, managing illness, or experiencing menopause, for example,” she says. 

Just as there is no one working style that will work for everyone, there is no set communication style for leading a successful team. 

“As leaders, we need to adapt our language and approach for different audiences/team members to help get the best outcomes – be those different genders, cultural backgrounds, or generational adjustments.”

Women’s Agenda spoke to Elena Wise to learn more about flexible work, thanks to our partnership with Family Friendly Workplaces.

This year Microsoft will be measuring their policies against the National Work + Family Standards as part of the Family Friendly Workplace Certification, having been certified for the previous two years already. Microsoft says it’s important employers pursue family-friendly workplace accreditation to demonstrate a commitment to work-life balance, gender equality, and employee well-being, and also for attracting and retaining the best talent and enhancing a company’s reputation. 

The post Take ‘leave from meetings’, block time for thinking: How this Microsoft leader thrives with flexibility  appeared first on Women's Agenda.

She hasn’t taken promotion after promotion with a sole focus on one industry, nor did she start her first career in psychology with leadership aspirations. She hasn’t served in a CFO position, which is the most common prelude to taking a CEO role. 

Rather, she’s taken opportunities as they have come up and been driven largely by the need to build financial security for her family. Now, she wants to share more about this drive to help normalise conversations about earning more money as an immediate and necessary ambition for many women. 

“As a single parent for around 15 years, if I’m brutally honest, a lot of the career decisions I’ve made were driven by financial necessity, for a long time,” she says. 

“I tried to search for and pick jobs that paid well so I could provide financial security for my girls.” 

But while there was no set career plan, Taylor does say one thing she did deliberately do was examine opportunities carefully to determine how and if they could take her to the next step.  

“If it wasn’t the perfect opportunity or the one I really wanted, I would reframe it in terms of being another opportunity for my career that could lead to the thing I really wanted. And in the meantime, it could pay the salary I needed.”  

While Taylor always ensured the opportunities she did pursue would align with her values, she is open about the financial goals she had earlier on in her career in the hope it normalises the conversation among women. 

Taylor’s kids are now independent, but her drive for achieving better financial outcomes has seen her make career changes, shift industries, pick up management positions and increasingly take on more responsibilities. 

Having been in the CEO role of Women & Leadership Australia for around 18 months now, an organisation that provides courses and symposiums to support women in leadership, Taylor’s career now incorporates leadership of the organisation, as well as advocating for women’s financial security and empowerment. She does this by sharing some of her own experiences, as well as leveraging the research work Women & Leadership Australia does and the anecdotal evidence they have from the thousands of women they work with every year, to highlight some of the barriers facing women on pay, promotion and opportunity. 

She also says that it’s important to think about what your years of experience bring and might extend to. 

“I think we actually need to start talking about that. ‘Hey, I need to be paid well for the skills and the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over 40 years of working.”’

Taylor started her career in psychology but moved out of clinical work before moving into vocational education and training. 

She took a job with Mission Australia and worked her way up the ranks and into higher management positions, giving her the experience to become Deputy CEO of the Australian Institute of Management. Taylor’s first CEO role was at Government Skills Australia 

Taylor says she’s in a dream role at Women & Leadership Australia now, especially being a “card-carrying feminist” since the age of 14 and quickly realising that almost everyone working for Women & Leadership Australia is doing so because of their strong belief in the power of gender equity. She adds that the diversity of their workforce extends well beyond gender and results in a “range of terrific humans who work for us.” 

“The key role of a CEO is to set the structure, set the strategy, set the tone and set the culture so that people can actually do their job to the best of their ability,” she says. “So with those things set, it’s then getting out of their way and letting them do those jobs.” 

Sparking conversations is also essential for a leader, she says, even if it’s just about saying “hello”. She shares a strategy she once used in an office which involved putting time aside early to respond to emails and set things up for the day before actually blocking out time in the diary to ensure she was available to greet and check in with team members as they were starting the day. 

Taylor says setting a tone around culture and strategy should be a no-brainer for leaders, but that she has seen many senior managers who routinely do the opposite and ultimately make it harder for people to succeed. 

Looking into 2024, Taylor will be leading Women & Leadership Australia as it further grows its leadership courses and continues a national program of conferences. 

She believes the next year will be pivotal for addressing some of the barriers holding women back from leadership. 

Pay transparency particularly is set to be a game changer, with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency set to release the gender pay gaps of organisations with more than 100 employees within the first few months of the year. 

“If people call it naming and shaming then so be it,” she says on firms seeing their gender pay gaps published. “If you have more than 100 employees, then you have an HR team. You should have the resources to address gender inequity. 

Taylor says we should expect the competition for talent to also be a key issue for leaders in 2024, given the continued skills shortage and Australia’s low unemployment figures. That means workplaces will need to work harder at providing great policies for potential and existing talent, especially around flexibility, work-from-home options, paid parental leave and other areas. She especially wants to see more men taking up flexibility, highlighting how such trends will ultimately support women. 

“Leaders need to focus on shifting the conversation about flexibility being a woman’s issue,” she says. 

“Flexibility is about breaking down patriarchal structures which we know don’t just negatively affect women – they negatively affect men as well.” 

Taylor also sees 2024 as bringing a greater push for more evidence on how leadership programs and other activities are actually shifting the dial for women in leadership. Women & Leadership Australia has been measuring such activities for some time, with a 2021 survey of 2000 participants highlighting what their programs have delivered for them. 

The push for transparency on program success will also be important considering the gender pay gap data WGEA will be publishing. Organisations will want to see evidence of what works. 

“We don’t want participants to be taking on courses and wasting their time on things that might be nice to do and feel good but don’t actually impact their world or work in any way,” she says. 

Taylor highlights the role of Women & Leadership Australia in providing an alternative to more traditional coaching, especially for women who may spend a lot of time at work and at home dealing with the needs and demands of others and aspire to build on their own personal 

“We hear from women that coaching is often just another way of trying to get them to do things a certain way when actually they want to do things their own way. And they ask, ‘why is my style or my approach less valued than others? Why do I need to be coached to be a certain way?” 

As for providing a women-only program, Taylor says that the research shows women’s only programs provide psychologically safe environments. “We get the pushback, ‘what about the men’? But frankly, men have had it all their way for a really long time. And I’m not saying they don’t need support, but there is a whole lot of stuff out there that has been designed by men, for men.” 

Taylor says that in her 18 months in the role, she’s genuinely been overwhelmed by the quality of the programs and symposiums. 

“Yes the outcomes for women are driven by the quality of the content and the teaching and the practical solutions offered, but it’s also driven by the psychological safety of providing a women’s only environment,” she says. 

Women’s Agenda has partnered with Women & Leadership Australia in 2024 to elevate the voices of women involved in their symposiums and programs and to report back from their events. You can check out all the upcoming symposiums here. https://www.wla.edu.au/symposium/

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Of course the impulse is always there to ‘mask’ – pretend – something women, especially women like me, are very used to doing in life to fit in and be taken seriously. Yet what I have learned is that when I allow myself to fully be myself, I’m actually more confident, more capable, which means I can be more influential. So that advice, ‘don’t ever change yourself’, has been really impactful.

Neurodivergence more common than you think

Australia has some of the highest rates of neurodiversity in the world. Up to 1 in 70 Aussies live life on the Autism spectrum. ADHD affects 5-7% of the population. Lots of us have multiple diagnoses to contend with. Add developmental delays, dyslexia, and a range of psychiatric and other disorders into the mix and you realise just how many people are impacted.

I remember the first time I tried to study with a friend. We were both reading the same paragraph in a text book; in a couple of minutes she was done, but I hadn’t processed a single word. It shocked (and terrified!) me. Sometimes ‘everyday’ tasks – like getting to places on time, reading emails or writing reports, studying for and writing exams, even writing a cover letter! – can feel impossible as a neurodivergent person.

Master of your own happiness and success

My eventual dual diagnoses of ADHD at 25 yrs old, followed by Autism at 27, after arriving in Melbourne from India were honestly life-changing. Finally, after a lifetime of ‘knowing’ and years of pressing various doctors for help, having some answers gave me a sense of freedom I’d never felt before; to stop labouring over what I wasn’t and start really leaning into all the things I did really well, that excited and interested me, and the value I brought to relationships and work and my studies instead.

I already had a degree in Telecommunications Engineering but after being accepted to study Design Innovation and Technologies at RMIT, a whole new world opened up. I discovered a love for innovation, problem-solving, and creative expression through technology. AR and VR were still fairly new but here was a field that was highly visual, dynamic, and creative, that I could apply my traditional engineering knowledge and skills to without getting bogged down in formalities.

So my advice to anyone in a similar situation who might be wondering how to move forward in their careers or education, is just jump in. Explore everything that interests you and when you find that perfect path, you’ll know.

Neurodiversity: advice for employers (and co-workers)

Understanding and embracing neurodiversity isn’t just a game-changer for the individual. Once workplaces start adapting to and better catering for all of us, they open themselves up to greater innovation, to new and exciting ways of doing things and solving problems and with that, success. I absolutely credit having a versatile work environment and the willingness of particular managers, such as James Litjens (ex-NCS), who have embraced me as I am, as being integral to my professional and personal growth these past few years. It’s so exciting.

If you’re an employer, here are a few tips for being more open to and getting the most out of neurodiverse employees:

● Be flexible. In recruitment, have you ever considered how someone might actually prefer to be interviewed? Do you require a written cover letter, or could you allow for applicants to submit a video application?

● Be flexible. Can you flex on work hours? Can you allow or enable people to customise the way they want to work on or deliver a project? For me, the fear of having to conform has been debilitating in the past, whereas (rather than forcing me to follow a specific process and structure) if I am allowed to follow my own way of working and given a clear written instruction of what is expected or what needs to be done, it not only gets done, you get the absolute best from me.

● Be flexible. Regarding policies and procedures, have you consulted any neurodiverse people about how your workplace policies and procedures are formatted or communicated? Neurodivergence is a spectrum and different people will have different preferences or requirements. So my advice is, just ask.

● Be flexible. Neurodivergent people might need some flexibility to enable them to operate more efficiently at work (and be sensitive about it), so be cognisant of that. There are lots of practical ways workplaces can accommodate people’s diverse needs like having adjustable lighting, allowing noise cancelling headphones and fidget toys, or even making sensory/quiet rooms available.

So much more than a buzzword, flexibility is vital for neurodiverse people in every aspect of life.

If you are neurodiverse yourself, my advice is simple. Instead of fighting against or shying away from the way your brain works, embrace it. Leave that toxic job. Be sensitive to your own needs and stay away from people who bring or let you down. Instead seek out activities, studies, friendship circles and employers who not only understand but who embrace your uniqueness, and who spark joy. They’re out there.

PS In case you’re wondering, of course I worked with someone to help me make sense of all of these thoughts and put pen to paper for this piece…I’ve always dreaded writing and processing text-based information. Left to my own devices this article might have taken months to write by myself. In fact if I had my way you’d be listening to a voice memo or watching a video of my musings instead!

The post Here’s how I learnt to thrive in the workplace as a young, neurodivergent woman appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke MP is just 21 years old and won the seat of Hauraki-Waikato in October’s general election.

On Wednesday night, Maipi-Clarke from Te Pāti Māori (the Māori party) stood before the Parliament chamber to deliver her first speech in the House.

She began with an invigorating haka, with her family, friends and members of the whānau (Māori word for family/community) joining from the balcony above.

Maipi-Clarke spoke both in Māori language, Te Reo, and English.

“We’ve come so far, but we’ve got a long way to go,” she said.

“We are here, we are sailing, we are navigating – just like our ancestors.”

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A post shared by Te Paati Māori o Aotearoa (@maori_party)

At 21 years old, Maipi-Clarke was given advice before entering Parliament House as the youngest MP in more than 150 years – “to not take anything personally, or it will eat you up.”

“Well, Mr Speaker,” she said, “I can’t help but take everything personally that has been said in this chamber.

“In only a couple of weeks, in only fourteen days, this government has attacked my whole world from every corner.

“How can I not take anything personally when it feels like these policies were made about me?”

Two weeks ago, thousands protested on the streets of New Zealand, after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s government announced they will abandon plans to review the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the Crown and Māori leaders 180 years ago. The government also announced they would reduce the incorporation of Māori language in government organisations.

Despite legislation that passed in 2022 to phase out smoking in New Zealand, Luxon’s government announced they would also scrap this law. Smoking and tobacco-induced lung cancer disproportionately affects Māori people in the country.

It is because of this reason – the house “tampering with things they shouldn’t touch” – that Maipi-Clarke felt the need to step into Parliament and represent her people, especially coming generations.

“I am not fearful of this place, or this debating chamber,” she said in her speech.

“No matter what comes out of this government, I will make sure our kids hear us.”

Maipi-Clarke said it wasn’t always on her radar to become a parliamentarian at such a young age.

“At 21 years old, I can definitely say this was not the plan. I was perfectly fine growing my kūmara (sweet potato) and learning maramataka (Māori lunar calendar),” she said.

“But this House kept tampering with things they shouldn’t be touching, and that’s why I left the māra (garden) to come here.”

The New Zealand Parliament sat in silence and hung on to every word of Maipi-Clarke’s powerful speech, but the young leader said that it wasn’t her moment – this moment was for her people, past, present and future.

“Every time you hear my voice, it will echo of my ancestors. Every time you look me in the eyes, you will see the children that survived,” she said.

“Over the next three years, you will see history rewrite itself without a pen.”

The end of Maipi-Clarke’s was met with applause and a standing ovation from the Parliament chamber. As fellow Te Pāti Māori members congratulated her, her supporters in the balcony broke out in song.

The post Youngest New Zealand MP in over 150 years delivers powerful first speech appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Turns out I was wrong.

Over the past 10 months I’ve been stretched beyond what I knew to be my own personal limits. I’ve sunk to new mental lows, and risen to meet challenges at new, soaring, surreal heights. I’ve achieved more than I ever thought was possible and been broken into pieces in the process, finding now that the sharp, shattered pieces are coming back together, edges a little smoother, but in an infinitely stronger rearrangement.

I’m incredibly grateful for the experience. Mostly.

I know in time I will find the lessons within the more challenging moments. However, watching the state nominees come through recently for next year’s awards, I reflected on the 18 strong, inspiring women in this next cohort, each nominated by someone who wants to recognise their  tireless efforts to make our country a better place, and asked myself if I felt okay with any of them enduring some of what I have this year as a woman in a high-profile position in this country?

The answer to that question, as you might have guessed, is ‘no’. Because not only are they human beings who deserve to be treated kindly and with respect, but they are also trying to make a difference, to change things—lives, communities, our country, maybe even the world.

Too often it’s these women—the ones who are doing big, bold work that dares to disrupt the status quo—who are cut down with criticism and commentary on what they’re wearing, what they’re saying or who they’re dating, with little focus on the change they are making.

So from my perspective, the least I can do now is offer a few words of reflection, a heads-up that can perhaps serve as a bit of a leg-up, so they can keep doing the good work.

Here are my hopes for you, future female Australian(s) of the Year…

I hope your voice is heard, and that you are able to continue your work without having to defend the need for it, simply because others are fortunate enough to not have experienced it themselves. Critics of my appointment as Australian of the Year had clearly never seen up-close the heartbreak and distress of living with body image issues and eating disorders, or experienced the immeasurable harm they cause to sufferers and their loved ones.

Know that your message is important. People might use your words against you or misrepresent the truth to try to undermine your cause, but don’t let the doubters be the loudest voices. You know who you’re here to help. Focus on them, and not the noise.

I hope you make a firm commitment to prioritise self-care in a year that can be demanding and relentless. It’s not indulgent to take care of yourself—mentally and physically—at a time when you’re giving so much to others.

I hope you choose to reject the narrative that you cannot be doing good things in the world and earning the money you need to pay your mortgage, feed your family and enjoy your life at the same time. Making money and making an impact, while they need to be managed carefully and ethically, are not mutually exclusive concepts. Perhaps the world would look different if we didn’t hold so tight to the idea that, when it comes to making change, ‘unless you’re scraping by, you’re not doing it right’. Value your time and expertise when it comes to the commercial opportunities that will inevitably come your way. Don’t unwittingly create your own gender pay gap.

If, like mine, your path to get here has been unconventional, I hope you are taken seriously—for the change you’re making, not the letters after your name. You don’t need anyone’s permission to change the world, just the courage, determination and commitment that got you onto that stage in the first place.

I hope you have the passion and energy to grab this opportunity with both hands, and the courage to make hard decisions when they arise. Being a leader brings with it many privileges but also many challenges, and sometimes you will have to make tough calls in the course of this work. They won’t always be popular, and not everyone will agree with what you’re doing. But as long as they come from a place of integrity, you can’t go wrong.

I hope that you are able to show yourself kindness and self-compassion, and recognise that all previous winners are united by two things—this title, and the fact that we are human. The title is Australian of the Year, not Robot of the Year, so you will make mistakes (I know I have!) Own them, learn from them and move on. Your cause is far too important to be distracted by endless mental loops about what you ‘could’ or ‘should’ have done.

And finally, I hope that among all of the endless travel, meetings, talks, awards nights and media calls you can revel in the lighter moments too. If you can take the work seriously, but not yourself, you’ll find humour in unlikely places, and these moments will sustain you—like the other day, when I could only laugh as I caught myself on a plane reading the Forbes magazine on my lap while watching Ex on the Beach on the screen in front of me. Again, we are all human, each of us a beautiful, messy, walking contradiction. Don’t feel the need to be someone you’re not.

The title of Australian of the Year is a true honour, and this year is one I will never forget. I hope you will have the same opportunity to grow and learn over the next year, and to continue to make this country a better place—because that’s what this is all about.

The post From honour to wisdom: a year as Australian of the Year appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Zoe Daniel MP, the independent member for Goldstein proposed a Matter of Public Importance (MPI) before the House of Representatives on Thursday, addressing hate speech and violence against the Jewish and Islamic communities across the country.

Her motion came after a clash in Caulfield, which sits in the Daniel’s division of Goldstein, erupted between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protestors last week, sparking outrage from politicians over the violence.

Daniel spoke before the chamber on Thursday, describing the impact of the current events in Gaza on communities around the country.

“Anti-Semitism is on the rise. Many Jewish people are fearful and anxious inside and outside their homes. Some students from Jewish schools are avoiding wearing uniforms. Jewish businesses are facing protests and boycotts,” Daniel said.

“At the same time, Palestinian Australians and others are traumatised by events in Gaza. I am too.”

Today, the community independents led the way, showing parliament at its best. I proposed a Matter of Public Importance, appealing for social cohesion rather than opportunistic attempts to divide and inflame directly affected communities, including our Goldstein Jewish community. pic.twitter.com/3rvgUiUV1N

— Zoe Daniel MP (she/her) (@zdaniel) November 16, 2023

Daniel expressed her concerns not just for the Jewish community in Goldstein and across the world but also for the innocent lives lost in Gaza, which has been reported to have exceeded over 11,000, more than 4,000 of which are children.

“I am desperately concerned about those in the Jewish community, in Goldstein and across the world. I am also heartsick at the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza, especially children,” Daniel said.

“The two feelings can coexist. Indeed, they must.

“We cannot allow distress to turn into hate and anger in a way that divides us.”

Division in the House and beyond

Question Time in the House of Representatives on Wednesday highlighted the risk of division over the conflict.

Several Parliamentarians condemned the words of leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, when he linked anti-Semitism to the recent controversial High Court decision and directed the blame to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Dutton’s words were branded as “reckless”, “extremely dangerous” and “beyond contempt”.

Leaders have a responsibility to unite the country, not divide it. pic.twitter.com/QtTwzQuxlf

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 15, 2023

The division that Dutton attempted to cause (according to the Parliamentarians who spoke out against the LNP leader) sparked Zoe Daniel MP’s proposed MPI.

In solidarity, other female independent MPs rose and also spoke out against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Australia.

Dai Le MP, the independent member for Fowler, said that while Gaza is not exactly on Australia’s “doorstep”, it is deeply affecting the country’s multicultural and multifaith society.

“It’s critical that we are conscious of Australia’s multicultural community and recognise that both the Jewish and Muslim communities have probably been impacted the most,” she said.

Le cited reports from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which reported 221 anti-Semitic incidents in the last month, 42 of which occurred within just one week.

Likewise, the Islamophobia Register Australia reported 133 incidents, which Le noted is likely to be higher, since Islamophobia largely goes unreported.

“Australia does not condone this abhorrent upward trend of targeted violence against any communities in our diverse country,” Le said.

Dr Monique Ryan MP, the member for Kooyong, called on leaders to “take us forward with empathy and with generosity”.

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A post shared by Monique Ryan MP (@mon4kooyong)

Social Cohesion

This week, a report found social cohesion in Australia has reached its lowest level on record. 

The report from the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute shows that Australians’ sense of social inclusion and justice has been declining and is the largest factor impacting our lowering level of social cohesion. There is less belief in Australia as the land of the “fair go”, declining by 16 per cent since 2013.

Discrimination and racism are also concerns, with 18 per cent of Australians saying they had experienced discrimination in the last 12 months based on their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion. This figure rises to 28 per cent for people born overseas and 39 per cent for people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Kylea Tink, the member for North Sydney, raised the findings of the report on Thursday in the House of Representatives and condemned the lack of cohesion not just in Australian society, but also in the chamber.

“Who are we when we allow that in this place? Who are we as a parliament and who are we as leaders?” Tink said. 

“A socially cohesive society is one where all groups have a sense of belonging, participation, inclusion and legitimacy.

“This sense is being severely tested at the moment, and I am seeing it, heartbreakingly, in my community.”

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A post shared by Kylea Tink for North Sydney (@kyleatink)

Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi, said she is witnessing it as well in her own electorate.

“More constituents have written to me about this conflict between Israel and Hamas than on any other issue this year,” she told the House of Representatives. 

“My heart goes out to members of Parliament here and their constituents who have been directly impacted. It is clear that Australians are deeply distressed by what is happening in the Middle East. I am deeply distressed by what is happening in the Middle East.”

Being Australian, the land of the ‘fair go’

At citizenship ceremonies, MPs deliver a speech, describing the values of Australia.

“We believe in a society in which everyone is equal, regardless of their gender, faith, sexual orientation, age, ability, race, national or ethnic origin,” the speech that MPs deliver at citizenship ceremonies reads. 

“Ours is the land of the fair go, in which respect and compassion underpin our care for each other and our willingness to reach out to those around us in times of need.”

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A post shared by Allegra Spender (@allegra.spender)

The member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, read out these “incredibly moving words” before the House of Representatives on Thursday. She called on the government to hold up these values.

“We are in times of need,” Spender said.

“We need to reach out to each other now. We need to stand up against antisemitism, against Islamophobia and against racism. 

“We need to consider our words and actions carefully.”

The post As Australia appears divided, women on the crossbench push for unity appeared first on Women's Agenda.

For Rana Hussain, Founder and CEO of Good Human, sponsorship is a “career-making” endeavour rooted in the active intention of championing another person within an organisation. 

“I’m a visual person so I really see someone climbing up a mountain and being pulled up by the other person and doors opening up for them,” Hussain shared on Tuesday in a webinar on sponsorship, run by Women’s Agenda and Cultivate Sponsorship.

So what is sponsorship? 

Founder of Cultivate Sponsorship, Katriina Tähkä, told the webinar that sponsorship is best described as an intentional act when someone has a seat at the table and they use it to create a pathway for another person’s career. 

“As Rana mentioned, your career can feel like a mountain, but the reality is that when someone does that, the mountain gets smaller. It actually just creates a much easier pathway through the organisation,” Tähkä said. 

Often, it can take years to build a sponsorship relationship like this organically in a workplace, but through Cultivate Sponsorship’s programs, organisations can establish structured sponsorships between two people who are strategically paired. 

Two individuals who have been through the Cultivate program are Lynsey Dyer, Associate Director and Design Manager at AECOM New Zealand, and Mark McManamny, CEO of AECOM ANZ. 

As CEO of AECOM ANZ, McManamny said he is able to use his position as a sponsor to be deliberate about the progression of other people’s careers, and identify opportunities for women working in the business. It’s something he’s done as Dyer’s sponsor.

“Sponsorship for me is a great way for us to disrupt bias, a great way for us to accelerate careers, and a great way for us to really create that diverse organisation that we know delivers much better results for us overall,” McManamny told the webinar.

For Dyer, being matched in a sponsorship relationship with McManamny came after she was put forward to participate in the program. She says it was an exciting opportunity to reflect on her career goals with a trusted, senior colleague. 

“It was a good opportunity to take that plunge and really start to think about what I wanted out of my career,” Dyer said. “A lot of the time you don’t really get a chance to stop and really reflect and discuss that with someone that’s really quite impartial to your immediate career.”

So what else should you know about sponsorship? Here are some of the key takeaways from our panellists:

Get intentional about your ambition

If the road to sponsorship is not clear cut in your organisation, Tähkä encouraged women to get loud about their ambitions and to work to create networks of people that are willing to listen. 

“Get a bit louder about your ambition. If it’s in your head and no one knows, no one is going to talk about it,” Tähkä said.

“Often people do these amazing 90-degree turns and try something different, but you’re not going to do that if someone’s not backing you. So de-risk all of that by speaking up about your ambition in a really thoughtful, authentic way, and people will listen.”

Dyer agreed, and said the first port of call could be to raise the idea of sponsorship with your manager. 

“Just say, ‘hey, I’ve been thinking about sponsorship. What do you think? Is there someone that you could put me in touch with’,” Dyer said.

“It’s about having those conversations and trying to work it into your goals.”

Sponsorship is key to cutting through bias and systemic barriers

As Rana Hussain noted in the webinar, systemic organisational and cultural realities can often mean that women of colour, or women of any kind of intersection, are overlooked for career progression and promotions, regardless of how hard they try. 

She noted the power of sponsorship to help women overcome these structural issues and have their career ambitions taken seriously. 

“Sponsorship is one of those things that I’ve seen that’s a really practical way to just cut through, and bring people forward and shine a light on them… and get to the point where they are seen and heard and get spoken about,” Hussain said. 

Sponsorship should be a partnership of two equals

While every organisation has inherent power dynamics at play, it’s critical that sponsorship relationships are built between two people who see each other as equals. A key part of this is developing a sense of trust, as noted by Mark McManamny.

“One of the great things about the program from my perspective was the ability for it to accelerate trust between a sponsor and the sponsee. For sponsorship to really work  you need a really great understanding of each other,” McManamny said.

Hussain also noted that it is imperative organisations engage in conversations about power dynamics, and how this might impact sponsorship.

“It’s about having that conversation. How are we going to build trust?” Hussain said. “It’s about framing the sponsorship relationship as a coming together of equals.”

Sponsorship can help leaders engage in self-reflection 

As McManamny highlighted, being a sponsor allowed him to self-reflect and learn about the experiences of others working within the same business. 

“The sponsoring experiences allowed me to reflect on myself and to hold a mirror up, and to build some empathy and to build some reflections on the experience, the experiences of other people and how that can then inform you in your role as a leader,” he explained.

“Once you have that understanding of that individual – understand their desires, their strengths, their opportunities – you can then start to talk about what those opportunities might look like.

“It’s not just a one way strategy of sharing information. It needs to go both ways.”

You can find out more about Cultivate Sponsorship here.

The post Here’s how organisations can get intentional about the career-making potential of sponsorship  appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Globally, only 34 women serve as heads of government and state in 31 countries. At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt last year, only seven of the 110 leaders present were female while less than 34% of countries’ negotiation staff were female with some teams made up of more than 90% males. These delegations participate in negotiations on key climate issues such as limiting fossil fuel use and funding. 

Women also have less of a voice when it comes to reporting on climate change with recent data showing just 27% of voices quoted in online climate change news belonged to women.

This indicates the tough road ahead – with some experts saying that gender equality will take another 130 years if we continue at this rate. But perhaps, what’s needed is to look back, and reflect on female representation and contribution according to history.

Cultural proof

Mythologically, females have been connected to nature for thousands of years. In Inca mythology, for example, Mama Pacha or ‘Pachamama’ is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. ‘Mother Nature’ is the personification of a life-giving force, and the word ‘nature’ comes from the latin word ‘natura’ – meaning’ to give birth or character’. Our Earth, and its natural forces, are the perfect balance of strength and femininity.

When we look closer to home, the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ culture (the world’s oldest surviving one) and their Indigenous women, have played a crucial role in the protection and preservation of Country.

Indeed, the very safety of our planet is dependent on balance. This balance is a cornerstone idea at Veolia where we call it Ecological Transformation. In short, it means we must give back what we take, replenish what we use, and preserve what we can. Right now, the balance is grossly out of whack, and we’re feeling the consequences worldwide.

Call me an optimist ― and maybe that’s because I see ecologically transformative ideas being produced on a regular basis at Veolia ― but I believe this can be turned around. What we need for our future are the brightest minds, the best contributions and the most passionate people. It matters not who they are, or where they come from. But right now, the balance of female voices is not representative. It’s inequitable.

More than ever, it’s more important for the voices of women to be heard. We need female engineers, scientists and marketers. We need female operators, logistics experts, engineers and ecologists. We need sustainability experts, policy makers, writers and lawyers. We all have a role to play, and something of value to offer to our planet.

Promote women’s representation in climate policy and decision making

Today, I believe we are paying the price for a lack of diversity in female education over the years.  And the UN states, “Women are increasingly being recognised as more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men, as they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on the natural resources which climate change threatens the most.” As climate impacts are felt, it’s the most disadvantaged among us that will be paying the biggest price.

Facilitate narratives that inspire women to pursue careers in STEM

In Australia, just 15% of STEM qualified jobs are held by women and just 23% of senior management roles and 8% of CEOs in STEM qualified industries are women. And women are getting paid less ― in 2022 the gap between men and women’s pay in STEM industries was $27,012 or 17%.

Thankfully, we are seeing some progress. As the mother of a young daughter, I’m delighted that in Australia girls currently make up the majority of students in many year 12 STEM subjects, including in the fields of biological sciences, earth sciences, chemical sciences and agricultural and environmental studies. In Veolia, women are playing a greater part in our business every day, from the teams on the ground right up to the C-suite where our CEO is Estelle Brachlianoff. But I live in a privileged world and work in a forward thinking company, and this is time to consider what we can all do to raise our voices for those who are less heard, who have less opportunity, but just as much to give.

To tackle climate change, bring about ecological transformation and take on the other sustainability challenges that confront today’s organisations, leaders must acknowledge the interconnectedness of these issues and seek integrated solutions to achieve greater female participation in higher levels of management ― it’s very simple, women can’t aspire to be what they can’t see.

So here’s to balance, and the ‘mother nature’ within all of us – the fierce protector of Mother Planet, and preserver of parity.

The post Unearthing the power of female leadership in sustainability appeared first on Women's Agenda.

As employers look to invest in greater diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the phrase ‘bring your whole self to work’ is often promoted as central to the workplace culture the organisation is trying to foster. 

But without an inclusive leadership culture, these policies will fall well short of their potential. 

And you don’t have to look far to see the result of employers failing on inclusive leadership, even from those with generous policies and the best intentions of being socially progressive.  

Take parental leave policies for instance. Twenty years since being outlawed in Australia, pregnancy and caring discrimination continues to linger (both out in the open and behind closed doors) across employers large and small, and it is acutely felt by new parents pre, during and post parental leave, especially when returning to work. Likewise, for those caring for loved ones with a disability, long term illness and aging relatives.

New data from the University of South Australia, released in August, found that 60 per cent of mothers returning to work after parental leave believe their opinions are often ignored, that they feel excluded, and are given unmanageable workloads. Incredibly, many workplaces still lack basic facilities to support new mothers, with a quarter of those surveyed saying their workplace does not provide appropriate breastfeeding facilities. 

Further, the UniSA researchers found that one in five new mothers were refused their requests to work flexible hours or from home. Thirty per cent of pregnant women surveyed said they received no information about their leave entitlements. 

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of women said they felt they needed to hide their pregnant belly at work, and 13 per cent of respondents said they were treated so badly during their pregnancy, leave, or after returning to work, that they had no option but to resign. 

Similarly, mothers are not alone, other studies show fathers also report feeling a lack of access and empowerment to be involved in caring duties including utilising flexible work, parental leave and caring policies to contribute to their caring responsibilities because it isn’t culturally acceptable, or safe to do so, in their workplace.

The above results are often symptomatic of a failure of inclusive leadership, not necessarily the policy itself.

It’s fair to say that even those employers who offer great parental leave policies aren’t immune from instances of overt and covert caring discrimination.  Employees often report that it’s their relationship with their manager, how understanding and inclusive they are, that makes or breaks the policy intentions.

Whilst workplaces often focus on policy inclusions when designing them, employees are often being left short-changed and let down by leaders ill-equipped and trained to manage the diverse and inclusive needs of their people.

Who are the inclusive leaders? 

Inclusive leadership is the foundation of underpinning a workplace culture that cares for its people, its customers and its community.

Inclusive leaders recognise the need for policies, and embrace practices that ensure those announcing a pregnancy, taking leave or returning from leave have the options in place to provide the best possible transition to becoming a working parent. 

Inclusive leaders support and enable a workplace culture that encourages all team members to navigate work and life commitments effectively. Inclusive leaders create workplaces where it’s widely understood that there is a zero-tolerance policy to harassment and discrimination of all forms, including against pregnant women, new parents, and anyone with caring responsibilities. 

Inclusive leaders will proactively recognise the challenging periods and moments that matter to an employee and pre-empt where and how they may need extra support. These leaders will listen to the needs of employees, and will actively engage to determine what, if any, issues are cropping up that may be creating barriers and address them.

Inclusive leadership is an emerging area, but one that’s essential for meeting the modern demands of the workplace. 

But few leaders have these skills. Just five per cent of the 24,000 leadership assessments by consulting firm Korn Ferry resulted in leaders classified as “inclusive” – meaning barely one in 20 leaders have this skill.

This is despite separate research by Harvard Business Review finding that the number one determinant of an “inclusive workplace” is leadership, ahead of an employer’s mission, policies, practices and co-worker behaviours. March 2020 research found that what leaders “say and do” makes up to a 70 per cent difference as to whether an individual reports feeling included or not. 

Proactive over reactive 

Other recent studies highlight the importance of inclusive leadership for enabling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) generally across an organisation. Elizabeth Broderick’s recent review of the culture at EY, called following the tragic death of Aishwarya Venkat, highlighted how even in big firms with competitive employee benefit policies and HR resources, people can feel excluded. 

One key finding from Broderick’s report into EY was on just how variable leadership was across the firm, with some employees experiencing “exceptional leadership” and others experiencing “sub-optimal leadership”, resulting in each person’s experience being shaped by the “leadership lottery”. 

Broderick’s review surveyed 4,500 current and former EY employees across Australia and New Zealand, finding that one in four do, at times, feel excluded. It found that 15 per cent of employees have experienced bullying in the past five years, while ten per cent had experienced bullying, and eight per cent had experienced racism. 

Among Broderick’s 27 recommendations is to review key performance indicators to include expectations that all leaders achieve a certain level of people leadership capability, including in leading diverse teams, in order to be eligible for progression. 

Broderick also suggests introducing further measures for accountability on staff retention, such as by sharing the cost of excessive turnover back to the service line. Additional recommendations include developing the firm’s approach to leadership through training, coaching and mentoring on people leadership, including ensuring that leaders gain awareness of the impact of their style on those they work with. 

As Broderick notes in the EY report, “Leaders at all levels of an organisation establish and influence the culture, but committed and courageous leadership at the top, where power is concentrated, is particularly critical for driving any cultural transformation process.”

We’ve seen at Family Friendly Workplaces how leaders who embrace inclusion become champions for change. They inspire others to follow, and they create workplaces that support the mental health, safety and wellbeing of employees and their families. 

Too often, we see employers relying on Employee Assistance Programs to address issues that emerge in the workplace, alongside office perks like free lunches, gym memberships, yoga rooms or one-off office days and initiatives, like the upcoming (and still very valuable) ‘R U OK Day’. While these initiatives do have a place, they often sit on the side of reactionary approaches, and/or put too much onus on the individual to try and sort themselves out. 

Employers need to be proactive and see the responsibility they have for their own workplace cultures. They need to focus on ‘prevention’ rather than attempting to cure issues that occur, and that’s where inclusive leadership is so important. 

Teaching inclusive leadership

So can inclusive leadership be taught? We believe it can, especially with so much research and analysis now available on how to promote these skills, and given the analysis now available on leaders who have successfully led with this approach. 

According to Dr Juliet Bourke from the University of NSW Business School, there are six core pillars of inclusive leadership. Leaders who embody these principles can drive cultural change. They can improve employee engagement and also achieve better business outcomes. Helpfully, these pillars all begin with the letter ‘C’, and include curiosity, cultural intelligence, collaboration, commitment, courage, and cognisance.

This form of leadership intentionally seeks out, listens to, and acts on diverse perspectives. Under this approach, leaders will make equity a workplace priority, challenge bias and behaviour (including language) that lacks inclusivity. They will understand the need to accommodate different needs and communication styles. They will recognise that every individual has varying priorities and responsibilities. They will be aware of the need for workplace flexibility and will actively demonstrate working flexibly themselves.  

Achieving all of the above obviously takes a huge effort, an open mind and a continual appetite for learning and self-discovery. But the benefits are enormous for what an inclusive leader can personally achieve, as well as the value they bring to others and their organisations.

The post Leadership culture ‘makes or breaks’ even the most generous workplace policies  appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Authenticity has long been seen as the hallmark of an inspirational leader. And being authentic is inextricably linked with being vulnerable. 

Brené Brown catalysed this idea in her famous TED Talk, The Power of vulnerability, while author and speaker Simon Sinek has been reinforcing it for years. 

Our professional brands are now indelibly coloured by a range of powerfully humanising personal aspects – a phenomenon only strengthened by a pandemic that drove a deeper integration of the personal and professional. 

Yet it can be tempting to “do vulnerability” in an invulnerable manner.

Genuine versus surface-level vulnerability

We joke about those transparently self-serving job interview answers to the “biggest weakness” question: “I’m too punctual” or “I’m just such a perfectionist”.

Yet far too often, “vulnerability” comes in the form of a semi-manufactured, surface-level humble brag too.

Tales of how we triumphantly emerged from the ashes of commonplace mistakes or temporary failures can create a feel-good, hopeful aspect to our professional narrative. But they can also be quite superficial and miss an opportunity for proper connection and inspiration.

So many of us walk around with hidden traumas that impact every facet of our professional and personal lives.

Yet it’s still uncommon to see any mention of trauma infiltrate our professional narratives. We still fear that speaking openly about certain uncomfortable topics will lead to us being stigmatised and criticised within our professional spheres. 

But I believe trauma might just be important when it comes to presenting our most authentic professional selves.

Trauma’s many forms

To clarify, my professional expertise is in professional and personal reputation building. I am not a psychologist. Rather, my understanding of trauma is deeply personal. 

The traumas I’ve experienced over my life cover sexual assault, domestic violence, miscarriage, and more. They led me to hundreds of hours of trauma-informed counselling and the type of self-education that becomes urgent for survival. 

This unfortunate crash course revealed how varied our traumas can be. 

For example, traumas can range from constant micro-aggressions, to “little t” traumas (relatively minor events), to “big T” traumas (deeply disturbing and/or life-threatening events or situations).

They can be “acute” (singular, brief, and narrow in focus), “chronic” (prolonged or repeated), or “complex” (multiple events that are invasive, interpersonal, wide-ranging, and long-term).

There can be a perpetrator, such as in the case of rape or bullying. Or there might not be, such as the case of a miscarriage or a car accident.

No matter the form, being legitimately vulnerable about your traumas – particularly in a professional setting – can be immensely powerful. 

Trauma: the case for yes

Being (genuinely) vulnerable can result in a range of benefits for leaders and the teams they support.

Doing so can create powerful connections with others who have travelled a similar path, or inspire those at the start of their journey. It can demonstrate resilience, bravery, strength, empathy, and even problem-solving skills.

These are all traits of a great leader.

But, to take it one step further, true leaders should also want to uplift and inspire large groups of stakeholders and society as a whole – which is exactly what can occur by speaking out.

Speaking out can help to normalise and de-stigmatise situations that should not have been stigmatised in the first place. This uplifts all trauma victims and brings abusive behaviours to account. As I often say, it should not be embarrassing to have been abused. But it’s definitely embarrassing to be an abuser!

Speaking out helps others to understand. When I talk about my experiences as a woman to my husband and any male colleagues and contacts, I find that many men have no idea of the full depth of what women experience due to their gender. It’s often the same when people with a disability, people of colour, or trans people talk about their experiences to me.

Speaking out might inspire someone else to follow and call out bullying or other traumas in their workplace. If this was to become commonplace, it could result in healthier workplaces and industries for all.

Speaking out has so many flow-on effects for businesses and society. And we all have the potential to affect some of these positive changes within our personal spheres of influence. 

And these positive impacts will be further accelerated and amplified if enacted by those in leadership positions, who often set the tone for a whole organisation, and can even impact the culture of their wider industry.

Trauma: the case for no

Regardless of the above benefits, trauma survivors must prioritise protecting themselves.

If you are still actively processing a trauma and are in your earlier stages of healing, it may hurt your progress to make yourself more vulnerable. This is especially the case if your triggers are still intense, frequent, and/or unpredictable.

If you suspect a co-worker might be triggered by you speaking out, it’s worth putting their needs first and allowing them a workspace free from triggering discussion.

If your professional sphere is not emotionally or psychologically supportive, it also may not be safe for you to speak freely about personal matters. Please don’t put yourself in a position where you are professionally punished for speaking out about your trauma. You’ve already suffered enough.

Finally, you should not include your traumas in your professional narrative if you don’t want to. Nor should you ever feel as if it’s your job or responsibility to do so. Speaking up can also create even more work for those who are already contending with overload.

So remember, even if you see a clear opportunity to speak up, or are actively asked by others to do so, you should always remember that it’s OK to say no.

We all have different levels of comfort when it comes to sharing who we are on a personal level. We also carry different levels of privilege that may make speaking up a little easier for some, but harder for others. Not all of us need to be advocates. 

Those who are in a position to open up and speak out can do a lot for those who can’t.

If you need help or if this article raises issues for you, please know that help is available. You can reach out to:

1800 Respect: 1800 732 732 or 1800respect.org.au

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au

Headspace: 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au

The post Why leaders opening up about trauma can be incredibly powerful appeared first on Women's Agenda.

It’s telling that women have been calling out this mess – including Labor Senator Deborah O’Neil and The Greens Senator Barbara Pocock. 

And it’s telling that two women from the PwC board have resigned, and are now taking on some of the public scrutiny regarding just how deep this disgusting betrayal of the Australian public actually runs. 

Meanwhile, it’s telling that the nine partners who were stood down by PwC on Monday regarding the leak are yet to be named. There are believed to be dozens of partners with at least some knowledge of what went on, given their names appear on emails related to using confidential Australia tax reform information to help win clients.  

And it’s telling that a quick scan of the partners and leadership teams across the tax practice (you can find them here) reveals that this is an area that doesn’t have anywhere close to the gender balance of other PwC teams, especially as you dig into relevant tax capabilities that might be associated with this scandal. 

Women are becoming the face of the public scrutiny of PwC, but women did not hold the leadership positions at the height of this scandal — during the years that the firm used confidential information about Australia’s tax reforms (acquired as a government client) to help drum up business with and support other clients in paying less tax.

Former CEO Luke Sayers held the CEO role from 2012 until May 2020, covering the period at the firm that has been called into question. Sayers is also president of the Carlton Football Club, as you can guess he’s well-connected across corporate and political Australia. 

Sayers ran the tax and legal practice at PwC before being elected CEO. His CEO successor – Tom Seymour — also ran this tax practice, before taking on the CEO role in May 2020. Seymour stood down a few weeks ago. 

Also once in leadership in the tax team was Peter Collins, the man who has so far taken the “one bad egg” heat for the scandal, who leaked secret government intelligence that was later used to help clients sidestep new multinational tax avoidance laws in 2016. He was PwC’s former international tax leader, and has since been deregistered by the tax practitioner board for two years following its finding that Collins had “failed to act with integrity, as required under his professional, ethical, and legal obligations.” Good thing Collins can return to offering advice in the mid 2020s according to this board, but in the meantime the Australian Federal Police is investigating. 

Until now, it’s mostly been Seymour and Collins whose faces we’ve been seeing — but the culture hardly ends there.

Now, two other names have been associated with the scandal and are having their faces splashed across the front pages  – likely on account of their tenure on PwC’s board of partners and their own decision to resign, rather than being directly involved themselves. Those names are two women: Tracey Kennair, chair of the governance board, and Paddy Carney, chair of PwC governance board risk. Both made the decision to step aside from their roles, with the announcement on monday. And like the Australian Financial Review put it today, we also  “can’t help but notice it’s two women who received the most public drubbing on Monday.”

We also can’t help but notice the depth of Kristin Stubbins’ potentially impossible difficult task ahead, at a firm that has never before had a woman appointed as its Australian CEO.

On Monday, Stubbins apologised to the community and the Australian government for “betraying the trust placed in us” and “breaching your confidentiality”. 

She also apologised to clients, and to the 10,000 or so employees of PwC – at least those not involved in the scandal who she said have been, “unfairly impacted”. 

And she shared her commitment to clean up the mess. 

“I am fully committed to taking all necessary actions to re-earn the trust of our stakeholders, and as we work through this process, I am committed to being fully transparent,” she said. 

It’s a pretty big apology to have to make in your first couple of weeks in the role, possibly one of the biggest such apologies in corporate Australian history. But it’s not one that’s been accepted either, The Greens have called for all government contracts with PwC to be terminated, while calls for everyone involved in these tax leaks to be named continue. This open letter doesn’t make everything ok, nor do a number of partners walking out the door mean accountability has occurred. 

Stubbins role will also involve addressing morale at the firm which, as most can imagine, has reportedly been pretty low, given the many departments that would have absolutely nothing to do with this work. 

So Stubbins is mopping up a mess internally and externally. She’s taking the public scrutiny – while her predecessor left weeks ago and the CEO before him, left in 2020 and doesn’t appear to be saying much at all right now. Stubbins may then get the additional unenviable task of trying to build back the firm. 

Leave it for a woman to finally be appointed to such a role, just as the role becomes the public face of trying to explain what happened, and win back trust from the government, the Australian public and the firm’s clients – while retaining a sense of positivity and optimism in the future for the sake of the thousands of staff who remain. 

Meanwhile, with an independent review of the firm’s operations and culture to be completed later on in the year, PwC has finally committed to publishing the results of the review in full, after previously only committing to giving us a summary of the key recommendations. 

By ‘us’, let’s remember that we’re referring to the Australian taxpaying public who have funded a chunk of the tax division of this firm, and its culture. PwC currently has more than $200 million in government contracts. And to be fair to the many thousands of PwC employees who have absolutely nothing to do with this betrayal, they deserve to receive the full report also and trust that their employer really is doing everything possible to be transparent and committed to cultural change.

The post The women taking the public scrutiny of the PwC mess  appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as prime minister in January was a courageous and pragmatic decision for herself, her family and her party. Although many said she’d done a great job as leader, she rightly reminded us that a great leader is “one who knows when it’s time to go”.

Since hitting stellar heights in mid-2020, Ardern’s Labour Party had dropped significantly in the polls and was trailing the opposition National Party throughout 2022. The “Jacinda effect” had switched from being a uniting force to a polarising one. With an election coming in October, it was time for a change.

Her decision to stand down was as politically astute and timely as her elevation to leader of the Labour Party in August 2017. After all, Labour is now ahead of National in recent polls.

By the time she gives her valedictory statement to parliament later today, Ardern will have served as an MP for nearly 15 years. While the intervening period has undoubtedly changed her, she remains in many ways the same person she was as a novice backbencher.

In her maiden speech to the House of Representatives in 2008, she expressed the small-town values that got her started:

Some people have asked me whether I am a radical. My answer to that question is very simple: I am from Morrinsville. Where I come from a radical is someone who chooses to drive a Toyota rather than a Holden or a Ford.

She described herself as a social democrat who believed in human rights, social justice, equality and democracy. She spoke especially about work, education, community and the reduction of poverty – child poverty in particular.

All fine aspirations. But back then, Ardern’s Labour Party was looking at nine long years in opposition after Helen Clark’s three-term government lost power. Unable to break the run National’s John Key enjoyed as prime minister, Labour went through one leader after another while Ardern rose through the ranks.

In mid-2017, despite a mood for change, it still looked like the election wouldn’t go well for Labour, at the time polling down around 25%. Then, at the beginning of August, Andrew Little handed leadership of the party to Ardern. With just seven weeks until the election, it was either an inspired move or the ultimate hospital pass.

As history shows, however, Ardern’s elevation immediately energised Labour’s campaign. It also drew international attention to the New Zealand election, as what became known as “Jacindamania” changed the mood on the streets and in the media.

Accidents of history

Critics sometimes labelled Ardern the “accidental prime minister” – a rookie “appointed” by Winston Peters, whose New Zealand First party held the balance of power in post-election negotiations. Conventional wisdom has it that Ardern simply offered Peters a better coalition deal, despite her party having won fewer seats than National.

But Peters gave those critics some more ammunition during a recent TV interview. He appeared to reveal that New Zealand First was forced to choose coalition with Labour when then-National leader Bill English alerted him to a potential leadership coup by Judith Collins.

According to Peters, English had assured him Collins didn’t have the numbers to pull it off. (Collins would eventually become National leader, of course, losing spectacularly to Ardern at the 2020 election.)

This sliding-doors version of events may be conjecture. But Peters can’t have forgotten how Jenny Shipley had rolled previous National leader and prime minister Jim Bolger in 1997. That ultimately led to the breakup of the National-New Zealand First coalition in which Peters had been deputy prime minister and treasurer.

Perhaps, then, we have Collins to thank for Ardern’s elevation to the top job. We’ll probably never know.

Rise and fall

The “Jacinda effect” wasn’t a flash in the pan, however. Labour’s election support went from 25% in 2014 to 37% in 2017, and then to an extraordinary 50% in 2020. Coming on the back of Ardern’s exemplary leadership through the COVID pandemic, it was an unprecedented result under the country’s proportional MMP system.

Her belief in “kindness” as a political force appeared to have been vindicated, if not for long. While New Zealand eventually recorded the world’s lowest excess mortality rate during the pandemic, this success was far from cost-free. In particular, there was a human and political price to pay for the lockdowns and border closures.

Businesses struggled, many New Zealanders abroad couldn’t return, and many resisted the pressure to be vaccinated. No nation escaped unscathed, and in New Zealand resistance to vaccine mandates boiled over on the grounds of parliament in early 2022.

Some protesters were angered by Ardern’s trademark empathy and kindness, which they now perceived as a false front. Due to the extremist elements among the protests, she refused to address them directly.

Ardern’s positive leadership reputation was earned on her responses to tragedies: the Christchurch terror attack, the Whakaari-White Island eruption, and the pandemic. But no sane politician would have welcomed such crises.

Nor were they part of Ardern’s social democratic plan. In fact, they hindered it. She did a lot for child poverty and family incomes, in line with her core values. But those achievements were overshadowed by a pandemic response that upended her government’s fiscal policy.

Promise unfulfilled

So, if catastrophes were the making of Jacinda’s career as prime minister, they were also the breaking of it. From her first campaign speech in August 2017, she had created a sense of promise that her government was ultimately unable to fulfil.

She claimed climate change was her generation’s “nuclear-free moment”, and that a decent, affordable home was everyone’s right. It sounded great, but on both counts progress fell short of expectation and need. Later, she would capitulate on a full capital gains tax to help solve the housing crisis. That allowed coalition partner Peters to claim credit for the backdown.

But it would also be wrong if the lasting narrative was one of failure to deliver. Her government’s Child Poverty Reduction Act now mandates reporting on progress towards poverty targets, bringing the problem into the engine room of fiscal policy. The Healthy School Lunches program helped reduce food insecurity.

Future governments will encounter strong political resistance if they try to rescind those measures.

Even those tireless advocates for children, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), gave Ardern qualified approval following her resignation – although the truce didn’t last long. CPAG was back on the attack when Stats NZ reported “child poverty rates for the year ended June 2022 were unchanged compared with the previous year”.

A complex legacy

In the end, Ardern did not use the single-party majority she won in 2020 to fix the things she’d wanted to fix. When her government saw a problem, its default setting was to say “let’s centralise it” – as if that would do. Good social democratic government was sidelined by bureaucratic shakeups in healthcare, education and (before the plan was cancelled) public broadcasting.

An elaborate structural reform of water services became mired in controversy over Māori co-governance and loss of local democratic control. The sixth Labour government’s only potentially historic contribution to the development of New Zealand’s social security system – a proposed unemployment insurance scheme – was quietly shelved after criticism from both left and right.

So, will Ardern be remembered as one the great Labour leaders? To do so would put her in the pantheon of Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser, who achieved so much in social security, healthcare and education, and who led the country through the second world war.

It would also place her next to Norman Kirk, whose 1972-75 government universalised accident compensation, introduced the domestic purposes benefit, and stood against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

It’s a high bar, but not unreasonable to make the case. Ardern broke through barriers for women, most notably giving birth to her daughter while she held office. She united the country after the mosque shootings, soothing what could have become a divisive moment. By listening to the scientific evidence and advice about COVID, she helped save countless lives.

Ardern will undoubtedly be remembered as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s outstanding prime ministers. This may not be for reasons of her choosing, though. Once the disaster management is accounted for, there are no major lasting achievements for which her government will be cited in the history books.

What will be remembered is Ardern’s exemplary and highly effective leadership through COVID. Yet there is no “kind” pathway through an unkind pandemic. Nevertheless, Jacinda Ardern is owed gratitude for all that she did – and acknowledgement of all she had to endure – to get her nation through it.

Grant Duncan, Associate Professor, School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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