Practical steps

As we celebrate another International Women’s Day, it’s a good time to reflect upon where we are today, how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go before we get to a place where women can truly thrive, without fear of sexist or misogynistic behaviour in the workplace.

There continues to be much heated discussion on this topic, and so rather than joining the furore and the ‘rhetoric versus reality’ debate, I thought I’d focus on some practical steps we can all take to bring greater awareness and to ultimately drive the behaviour change that is required for women to survive and thrive in the workplace and in leadership.

The unfortunate reality is that misogynistic behaviour in the workplace is still commonplace, and it is important to shine a light on it to bring visibility, awareness, accountability and consequences to unacceptable behaviour. 

Much of the poor behaviour is ingrained in an older generation of men who are fast finding themselves redundant, and over the next decade I believe they will find ongoing employment harder to achieve.

At a time when it is difficult to attract and retain top talent, organisations are increasingly focused on their culture and on protecting their employer brand and reputation – both are critical to success. 

Time to stop the gender competition

On the whole, I genuinely believe there has been a significant pendulum shift, and now it’s time to change the narrative. Too often we get stuck in the debate of men versus women; that the success of women has to come at the demise of men. I personally believe this is the wrong lens. 

While championing women in leadership, we also need to embrace the modern male leader and stop pushing a gender divide. We need to work out how we coexist to the benefit, inspiration and empowerment of the entire workforce. 

This will take time and a concerted effort, but systemic change will come about by behavioural alignment to an organisation’s culture and values. This needs to be coupled with ongoing reinforcement, education and holding your workforce to account on what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour.

When I started at Zenith seven and a half years ago, we had a 55/45 split male to female in our executive team. Today, 70 per cent are women. Our philosophy has always been to hire the best person for the role, from both a skillset and culture, and a values point of view. 

With a significant skew towards women, this could have the potential to create an imbalance – but it doesn’t. The three men on our executive team – Sydney MD Jonny Cordony, Brisbane GM Warwick Taylor, and National Head of Digital & Data, Joshua Lee – are all great champions and advocates for women in leadership, with their respective leadership teams predominantly comprised of women. 

There is no tug of war between genders, but rather a mutual respect, trust, sense of inclusivity and support to ensure the overall success of our agency and our people.

I look forward to a time where we are no longer having a gender leadership debate or competition, but rather a north star for effective and inspiring leadership where gender has no place. 

Values set a leader apart

So, today as we celebrate International Women’s Day, I encourage all women to channel their inner Wonder Woman. Define your mission, your goals and your personal values, and go after them. 

Surround yourself with people that will support you on your journey. Identify the leadership qualities that you admire in others and start to shape your own version of your leadership. Know who you are and what you want to be known for. And focus on what you can control, letting go of what you can’t.

Your success is not defined by how fast you progress, compared to or to the detriment of others. It is defined by who you are, your personal values and who else you support along your journey. The more you lift others, the more you yourself will grow, and that is the foundation of a great leader.