Introducing the New Chair of the DFK International Women in Leadership Committee
Can you share a bit about your personal journey and what led you to take on a leadership role in the Women in Leadership committee?Anne Brady, IWILs founder, persuaded me to join the committee not long after Gravita (CBW at the time) joined DFK.
Since then, I have really enjoyed getting involved with IWIL – the Mentoring Programme, marching through March and speaking at the various conferences over the years. It has been a real privilege to work with the incredible group of women and men that sit on the IWIL committee, and so when I was asked to take on the leadership role, I jumped at the chance to get more involved.
Who are some of your personal or professional role models, and how have they influenced your approach to leadership and advocacy?
Growing up and as a young accountant there were very few prominent female accountants to look up to. Certainly, no TV shows – as one of my colleagues recently pointed out, Accountancy just isn’t sexy, unlike law! But ever since I joined the industry I have worked with really great (male) Managers and Partners (I am not going to name names; they know who they are!) who have shown me what real leadership looks like – and each one of them has done it in a different way. This has taught me that there is not just one way to lead, and we each have to find what is right not only for us but for those we want to lead.
On a personal level, my greatest role model has always been Annie Lennox. As a self-proclaimed Global Feminist, she uses her influence to promote equality for women around the world these days, especially in those places where women really are still considered second class citizens. Back in the 80s it was clear that she is also not afraid of being different or of standing out from the crowd….and her wig collection was amazing – I owe a lot of my style choices to her, although you can blame my shoe collection on Carrie Bradshaw!
Were there specific experiences or challenges in your career that fuelled your interest in advocating for women in leadership?
When I first joined the accountancy profession over 2 decades ago, it was hard to find female role models. The practice I joined was a small but well-established partnership and they had never had a female partner, and certainly not one that looked like me! Being the first internally promoted female partner at CBW is something I am incredibly proud of, and I owe my Partners a huge debt of gratitude for showing faith in me and supporting me to get there.
At Gravita, I am proud to say that I am one of 10 female partners, and there are now so many more women in senior leadership roles than there ever was, including our CEO. There has been a huge shift in that time, but I still think it is important that the women coming up through the ranks have strong female role models to provide a bit of guidance from time to time. One of the reasons I wanted to be part of IWIL is because a lot of the work we do is designed to encourage those who are not quite sure what being a woman in leadership can look like. Often enough these days, the barrier is one of confidence rather than anything else and so it is important to show that there are lots of different ways in which someone can be a leader.
In what ways do you foresee engaging male colleagues and leaders in supporting the committee's objectives?
We are really fortunate to have a lot of support from the guys across DFK already. Both Adam (Cramer) and Steve (Amigone) have been brilliant additions to the IWIL Committee in recent years, and their enthusiasm and support has been fantastic and often provided a different angle on issues, which has been really helpful. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and to keep having the same conversations, but having a mixed group really helps to broaden the scope of our discussions.
We have also had a lot of support from men joining the Mentorship Programme. I am well aware of the positive impact of having a mentor - I had (and still have) some incredible male mentors who supported me over the years and so I am sincerely grateful to those men who have helped us with the Programme. Sisters cannot always do it entirely for ourselves, because there simply is not enough of us yet, and so having the support of our male colleagues is still really important.
What is your vision for the Women in Leadership Committee, and what specific goals do you hope to achieve during your tenure?
Anne and Anelle are both very hard acts to follow and so I want to thank them both for the legacies they have left us to build on, and so my first goal is not to mess it up!
I would really like to see the Mentorship Programme continue to flourish over the years to come. I have loved working with everyone who has made this happen, and also enjoyed being a mentor for the first time this past year. I really hope that more people will join us in doing that in future. Bringing the next generation of leaders along with us is so important and it has been wonderful to read the feedback we have had from this year’s cohort of both mentees and mentors.
On the charitable side of things, we have been supporting Kiva for a number of years now and there is a nice pot of money that the charity uses to loan out to women across the globe to help support their businesses. Because this is a loan scheme and not just a handout, the money comes back to the charity when the borrower no longer needs it so that it can be recycled to support the next woman to need it. IWIL is able to have some influence on where the money goes, and it is our goal to try to help at least one woman in every country across the world. That may take a while, but we are confident that it will happen. I would also like to look at widening the charities we support from next year, so if anyone has any suggestions…
Finally, I would like to work towards bringing more of the women within DFK together. With the boom in video calling, the world has got a lot smaller and so that is now easier than ever to do! We all work best with the people we know and like, and by meeting regularly, we can strengthen those bonds. The hope is that we can all do more business together, as well as bring the next generation of emerging leaders along with us, and work with DFK as a whole to build a more connected future.