Candid conversations with directors on the interests and insights that have shaped their careers.
Most valued career lesson?
I started my career in media as a journalist and then became an editor of women’s magazines. I was later approached to launch a new type of magazine for the Australian market, called Australian Good Taste.
I’d never edited a food magazine, but the CEO, Eric Beecher, said to me, “If you can edit one magazine, you can edit another”. I decided that if he had confidence in me, I should have confidence in myself. I backed myself and it was the very best thing I could have done.
Top-of-mind governance issue?
There’s a few of them, but social licence to operate is a big challenge for organisations — and for all the right reasons. The implications, if you don’t think them through, can manifest in a number of ways. But the one that keeps me awake at night is our obligation as employers to ensure that all our people are safe when they come to work, that they feel they can speak up in the workplace, and that they’re not being bullied, excluded, discriminated against or harassed.
Future of leadership?
Increasingly, I’m seeing that we are moving from the old-fashioned “control and command” leader who consumes the room, to one where leadership is shared and is passed down, so people feel the appropriate delegations are in place to be able to make decisions. This also creates a greater pool of future leaders. Ruling by fear seems to be disappearing, as it should.
Favourite tactic for managing a challenging diary?
I’ve always managed it myself, so I know what I’ll be doing at any given time. Sometimes, it gets challenging, but I have a spreadsheet that covers the next few years and as the dates come in, I colour-code the organisations and they’re in the spreadsheet. I’ve always been a forward-planner.
Favourite TV series?
I love The Bear. For something more lighthearted, I’d also recommend the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham, about a football team from an economically challenged working class town in Wales. Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have bought the club and created something the town can be really proud of. It’s about the club, the people and the impact sport can have on a community. It’s fantastic.
Favourite dish to cook?
I’m not a good cook — my husband does all the cooking. However, I can make a fairly OK Thai chicken curry — and I can make fried rice from scratch, courtesy of my Chinese father. I moved in with a friend after finishing university, and she was a fantastic cook. When it was my turn to cook, I panicked a bit, but my dad talked me through it on the phone.
Favourite travel spot?
My husband and I went to Lake Como for our 25th wedding anniversary a few years ago, and I fell in love with it. I’ve been almost everywhere in Italy — my mother is Italian — but the real standout for me is Lake Como. I can’t wait to get back there. If you’d like a restaurant recommendation, my favourite is Il Gatto Nero. It’s in Cernobbio, up on a little hill above the lake, and it has the most spectacular views.
Directorships: Chair Adore Beauty, non-executive director AICD, Southern Cross Austereo, Transurban, EnergyAustralia and Autosports Group, advisory board member National Foundation for Australia-China Relations
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