THE AGENDA 30 Meet the women redefining business in 2018 INTRODUCTION Get ready to meet The Agenda 30. hese are the women redefining business in 2018. Some Tare leading empires they created, others are driving industry bodies, others again are leading massive teams or organisations. All of them will in some way transform business this year. Learn their names, if you don’t know them already. You’ll be seeing and hearing a lot from them. We put questions to all the women included on this list and received responses from the good majority of those approached. Where possible, we’ve included their input. We’ve also asked their plans and priorities for 2018. The following will keep you in the loop of who to watch out for this year, and also offer some valuable insights into how these leading women operate, and what they know about career and business. This eBook is made possible with the support of the Australian Institute of Business, which offers a range of high quality tertiary programmes for busy working adults, including Australia’s largest MBA, The Agile MBA™. We thank the Australian Institute of Business for the support, and encourage you to check them out. The Women’s Agenda team. CYAN TA’EED Cyan Ta’eed is the co-founder of one of Australia’s leading tech companies Envato, a digital marketplace where people go to buy and sell creative, digital goods like music, videos and graphics Having started the business in her 20s from her parents’ garage, Cyan is now worth more than $184 million and been featured on the BRW Rich List. She’s redefining business through her huge success and prominence as an Australian woman in tech and a role model to current and future women in STEM. Cyan says that leadership has been a learning process, and she’s adapted to strategies that work for her. “What makes sense to me is ‘servant leadership’, which is broadly to lead so that the people I work with (to the best of my ability) have the opportunity to develop, become more autonomous, and be more fulfilled in their work lives,” she says. “If I reframe my leadership to serving my team and the business (and the community) it allows me to be more transparent, share failures or weaknesses, and work quite holistically. I’m in every way a work in progress, but that’s what I strive for!” This year, Cyan is ramping up her new chocolate brand Hey Tiger, a not-for-profit supporting cocoa farming communities in West Africa. “Usually people who start social enterprises have a really clear idea about their social impact and are developing their skill-set on the business side,” she says. “We’re going about it the other way. We understand the business side but need to do some work to wrap our heads around the impact side. We’re lucky to be partnering with The Hunger Project in Ghana to ensure we’re being impactful straight from the get-go.” “If we don’t improve gender diversity and get more women involved in the creation and development of AI, then it will never equally and fairly serve our society.” “Artificial Intelligence is expected to be incorporated into every application, app and service, at least on some level in the coming years,” she says. “We need to be mindful that machine values are human values. If we don’t improve gender diversity and get more women involved in the creation and development of AI then it will never equally and fairly serve our society. The AI of the future should be for all, and therefore be built by all.” As a tech entrepreneur, Ally concedes it can be difficult to ALLY WATSON separate work from life. As such, Ally Watson is the founder of ground-breaking education she plans to dedicate more time program Code Like a Girl, inspiring young women to to self care and nurturing a clear consider careers in coding and tech more broadly. headspace in 2018. “I need to make time for myself he runs events across the “I’m extremely excited to help when and where possible. Self-care country at a low cost, so women lead up this initiative as I truly S can be a term we associate with with an interest in the tech industry believe it will have an extremely bath bombs and face masks but for can participate without huge positive impact on the Australian me, it’s about parenting myself - financial stress. workforce,” she says. finance spreadsheets, savings and 2018 is set to be a big year for Code Ally is focused on keeping up-to- cooking my own meals,” she says. Like a Girl, with Ally launching a date with new tech developments “When I’m rested, well fed and paid internship program, which and sees this as imperative for happy I can tackle half a week’s will place 50 women into technical the future of Australia. At the work within a day. I’ve learned how intern roles within Australia and same time, she worries that new pointless it is to burn myself out or link them with mentors -- with an movements, like AI, could cause stick to 9-5 when I’m not in the right overall aim of eliminating gender problems for a country that is not headspace.” gaps in STEM. yet gender equal. Dina Kotsopoulos Dina Kotsopoulos is an emerging leader in the financial sector, heading up product management for BT Financial’s, Panorama suite. Next year, she’s focussed on growing the platform and navigating upcoming regulatory change in financial services. “Commercialising our investment in the new Panorama platform and providing a best practice customer experience will be me and my team’s key objectives leading into the new year,” she says. She’ll also be hard at work “supporting advisers and customers through upcoming regulatory change and helping them find efficiencies in their business.” She was also able to propel her career in finance and gain new opportunities, after achieving an MBA with the Australian Institute of Business. Heading up a team of fifteen, Dina suggests that her success as a leader, stems from those who taught her the ropes. “I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve had amazing leaders who have always given me their time and wisdom,” she tells us. This has been integral in shaping me into the leader I am today, and has helped me identify where my personal and professional development areas are.” Although Dina concedes she’s not the best at taking up flexible work arrangements, it’s something that she strongly encourages for her team. “I have people in my team who work part time, 9 day fortnights and/or 4 day weeks from home and they love it,” she says. “I’ve always been a people leader and I’ve found that the team around you influences your experience by challenging you and teaching you how to be better (and what not to do!),” she says. “Hard work and deliberate focus on progressing my skills, capabilities and brand have also been a part of my leadership journey.” ELIZABETH PROUST Elizabeth Proust chairs the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and is one of Australia’s most influential women in business. This year, she’ll add the board of Lendlease to her long CV of board appointments, on top of existing commitments at Nestle, and the Bank of Melbourne. As a long-time advocate for increasing the number of women on boards, Elizabeth is regularly featured in the media for the AICD’s push to see women holding Catherine Tanna 30% of Australian board positions across the ASX 200 by the end of 2018. While the target is tough (and EnergyAustralia’s Managing Director was actually looking out of reach at the end of 2017), Catherine Tanna is transforming a legacy Elizabeth continues to campaign and initiate difficult energy retailer into a business with a strong, conversations about why this is so important for the county’s future. progressive future, and servicing 2.7 million customers in the process. Elizabeth also has some big hopes generally when it comes to shifting the dial for women in business. “I think She has a wealth of experience in the gas and energy that there has been a sea change in the acceptance of sector, having held various roles at BHP Petroleum and women in business but we still have a long way to go, Royal Dutch Shell. She was also appointed to the Board especially in executive ranks,” she says. “We need to get of The Reserve Bank of Australia in 2011. serious about ending the gender pay gap and taking advantage of the talented women in our communities Catherine has been vocal in her condemnation so that they reach their potential and the whole country of partisan politics in Australia and believes an benefits. independent approach to energy policy needs to be “Not enough women have financial experience and we delivered to achieve long-term goals. all need this in our personal lives as well as careers. I would like to see women becoming financially literate in Under Catherine’s leadership EnergyAustralia much greater numbers than is currently the case.” continues to roll out new and reliable access to affordable and cleaner energy supplies. Elizabeth says joining Lendlease will give her the opportunity to learn about a major global company and “We’ve set ourselves up to bring together in 2018 how she can make a difference within it.