First up was our event ‘In conversation with Harrison Young’ at McGrathNicol in Melbourne. Harrison, a director at CBA, spoke about the challenges of being a (bank) director which can be encapsulated in his essay "Serving Stakeholders".
Next up was the National Foundation for the Australian Women AGM and Board meeting in Canberra. Happily your scribe was able to report progress with ‘Women at work in the 21st century’. This donor- funded joint NFAW/ NLA project aims to capture the images of women working in less traditional areas. Click here for the first in a series of what will be a larger collection of photographs. The pictures are SENSATIONAL.
Next up was a visit to Mission Beach (Glorious FNQ) and my familiarisation / due diligence meetings with the Australian Chocolate Company Ltd (Charley’s) before I formally become a director. Your scribe is now more knowledgable about chocolate making, agriculture and marketing for innovative online businesses. Members of the Innovation Marketplace take note.
But the big news for Charley’s is that Chris and Lynn Jahnke can rightfully claim to be among the top 18 cocoa growers in the world. More to come on Charley’s, but you can check out the chocolate at www.charleys.com.au and the Cocoa of Excellence Awards.
The final stop was Brisbane. First up, the Next Generation of Female Leaders Queensland Syndicate presented their project and personal journeys to invited guests at a NAB hosted event. Thanks to Peter Stafford and the team at NAB for hosting. Then onto Mercer for lunch with guest speaker, Julie McKay, who has spent her career in various roles related to diversity and inclusion, including as Australian head of UN Women. Her latest is at PWC.
Some takeouts from her excellent remarks;
- Many companies make a start at addressing diversity and inclusion. But even modest advances are seen as challenging the dominant (white male) culture so that real progress is hard to achieve. Perhaps the case of two females in a meeting looking like a take over.
- Companies need to pay heed as they will lose the battle for talent if their culture is not attractive to the next generation of employees.
Thanks to all those WOB women I encountered along the way for their continued goodwill and support for us.
Ruth