Women & Leadership Australia Mini Mag

Summer 2011

Inspiring men:

Graeme Samuel – Past Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

At the recent NSW and Victorian Women’s Leadership Symposiums, Graeme Samuel – outgoing Chairman of the ACCC – gave a frank, witty and deeply honest portrait of one man’s views on women in leadership roles, both at the ACCC and beyond.

In his keynote address, he explored everything from the role of men and changing cultural attitudes to boardroom quotas, priorities and strategies for increasing women in leadership roles.

Women & Leadership Australia is proud to reproduce the transcript of Graeme’s full speech here.

Good morning.

A question: ‘Why would you bother listening to me on women’s leadership issues?’

(Putting aside that my time as Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission finishes in just over a month) … In general, I’m an example of one of the old blokes that you’ve got to get rid of, so you can get my job and other jobs like it.

That’s based on the assumption that there will be or already is a woman out there, somewhere, who wants to chair the ACCC – maybe even in the audience today.

As I’ve said publicly on other occasions, because of the responsibilities governments have entrusted to us, the ACCC’s work is relevant to the welfare of all Australians in many different ways.

One day the privilege and responsibility of chairing that institution will be a woman’s. It’s an exhausting job; but it’s an exhilarating and immensely satisfying job; and I would strongly encourage those interested in the challenge to set their sights.

I believe that I am the token bloke to have his photo appear in the brochure for this symposium, so my second question could be: if you were having just one male speaker this morning, why didn’t you get someone a little easier on the eye?

But in answer to my first question: I guess the organisers who kindly invited me here today must have thought that somewhere in what I’m saying might be a bit of information or a viewpoint that will spark off some further thinking; maybe even the kernel of a strategy or tactic that will lead to a ‘Grace’ sitting in my chair, instead of a ‘Graeme’.

Even if I just set off a bit of a debate on, say, my views on quotas (which I’m convinced would have come up in discussions here already); even if we disagree – I hope those outcomes in themselves might justify my invitation.

We have our first female prime minister, our first female governor general, our first female chief executive of a Big Four bank. I don’t know exactly when we will no longer need to be speaking of ‘firsts for women’ like this: first female head of BHP, first female Reserve Bank of Australia Governor, first female head of the Australian Taxation Office, Australian Securities and Investments Commission or the ACCC, first female head of Cricket Australia – but I do look forward to a time when it’s not so remarkable for reasons I’ll elaborate on shortly.

I do believe we are on a positive trajectory. There are challenges that I want to note today and significant changes I believe we still need to make. However, I’m optimistic that there is momentum for organisational change; and that it is not too far away that … the right woman, in the right place, at the right time …

… gets my job, and others like it, grasping the opportunity to lead an agency that has such a powerful impact on the Australian community and economy.

Women at the ACCC

Firstly, I should give you a quick snapshot of the gender balance at the ACCC. You can then judge for yourself how comparatively far down the road we are in my workplace.

I’ll concede that the ratios appear not that different to the (let’s face it) ‘imbalance’ you’ll see at many private and public-sector organisations: reasonably proportionate at the junior levels, often far more blokes at middle and senior management and then, maybe, a little bit of a positive note at board level.

Of the ACCC’s 840 or so staff, including Commissioners, just over half are women.

Here are the figures at various levels – proportion of staff who are women:

So we recognise there is a dip in the middle; great strength in the entry levels – in fact more than three quarters of this year’s graduate intake is female; but the numbers in our Senior Executive levels drop away steeply (especially in Band 1); and then we see the percentages rise again in the highest ranks, but the numbers there are very small.

Even though we recognise there’s work to do, those proportions are pretty good compared to many listed company boards and other agencies, where the executive level is generally between 10 and 20 per cent.

Overall, I won’t be making particular statements today tailored to public institutions: I believe what I have to say is more broadly applicable to a lot of Australian organisations. You can of course compare and contrast it with your own experience and understanding.

Just returning specifically to women at the ACCC for a moment, we actually ran a competition through our internal newsletter for people to come along to these symposiums.

We set people the task of saying, in 150 words or less, what is meant by ‘women’s leadership’. Some of the responses described things such as leadership styles; some described what I guess you could call organisational goals and processes.

I’ll try to incorporate some quotes from the responses as I go, so that you’re not just hearing from this old bloke; but you are hearing voices from among the 800 or so – I’ve got to say – outstanding colleagues with whom I have the privilege of working. I’m not necessarily endorsing them word-for-word; but I hope they might, too, provoke a few thoughts.

I’ll start with a reasonably non-specific quote, from one of our current female ‘grads’:

"Although leadership knows no gender, women’s leadership is a unique blend of experiences, insights and qualities.”

End quote. Champagne drafting like that might give you an idea of the calibre of the young women on our grad program – which augurs well. I probably can’t express my thoughts and experiences quite as elegantly as that graduate, but I’ll give it a shot…

The momentum for organisational change

Let’s talk about what I believe is an apparent momentum for organisational change.

• The situation has improved considerably in recent times
• Particular businesses and peak bodies like the Australian Securities Exchange and the Australian Institute of Company Directors and others have taken stronger positions
• My sense is the cultural shift is well under way

Why is this important?

Two key reasons:

• We are potentially cutting off a huge number of strong and innovative contributors
• All the data shows that we’re in for a real talent squeeze – we need all the options we can get!

Nothing surprising in those statements. But what do we do?

• I believe ‘blanket solutions’ won’t work
• We need to tailor approaches to different industries and cultures.

Let’s go straight to that word: ‘quotas’.

There may be some instances where quotas would work – but these should be self-imposed and not mandated.

In my view (having built and managed businesses, been a company director and a close observer of many and varied corporate cultures), ‘Australian business’, if I can speak of such a monolith, is not accepting of these kinds of dicta if they are inappropriately applied.

If they are inappropriately applied, they will reinforce the prejudiced claims of tokenism and feelings of resentment.
If they are inappropriately applied, in my view they do women a disservice.

I don’t know specifically what women at the ACCC think of quotas and we didn’t seek specific responses on that in our competition. But of course many of our female staff note the imbalance across society. I’ll give you an extract from one competition response, from a woman in a team leader position:

“Why is it that there are far too few women in the top positions? I know it’s not because women aren’t as smart or as effective leaders as men.”

The question this woman then asked was whether that was because of child-rearing responsibilities – and I want to come back to that.

I don’t wish to misquote this female colleague or quote her out of context but she went on to say:

“Like most issues I am sure there is no one right answer. Perhaps we are just not used to seeing women in senior positions and, if we have a few more, then more will come!

“What I do know is that there are some great and some lousy women leaders, just like male leaders, but there needs to be more of them.”

I totally agree with that last phrase. And we have to remain agile and consider a range of ways to get to that point – but we must understand that there is more than one way to achieve that end.

I’d like to give you some more responses from our staff, to set the scene for the next few observations. Again, I’m not picking them because I agree or disagree with any particular sentiment and I won’t address every point they make. In fact, I tell you what, I’ll stop editorialising and caveating. I’ll do what more blokes should do: stop talking for and over the top of women and let them speak for themselves.

First extract:

“Women’s leadership means three key things. Firstly, that women are able to, on their own merit, take on leadership roles in any given field and excel in them.

“Secondly, that they inspire and role-model for the women around them, even those they are not directly leading – they are a source of inspiration to women in the wider community.

“Thirdly, that they, as women, act as leaders for all members of their team and community equally, regardless of gender or other differentiators.”

Second extract:

“Women’s leadership means promoting, recognising, encouraging and celebrating women in, and into, leadership roles. Although many women are hesitant to put themselves forward for leadership roles, and lack the confidence to be successful, this is slowly changing due to such initiatives as this symposium.

“Promoting women into leadership roles requires actively identifying both opportunities for women and identifying women who want, or may want, those roles.”

So what does this bloke think?

Cultural attitudinal change

One: We need broad changes in cultural attitudes – and that will be more effective than, for example, narrow process changes or similar isolated initiatives. We need to break out of the male-club mentality.

I’d like to relate one personal experience outside the ACCC. I was once a member of a male-only club, the Athenaeum in Melbourne. The club hierarchy declined to discuss introducing women members. The members of the club of course have every right to establish their own rules, but this was not a club for me. I handed in my membership card.

In a touch of irony, at the time of a major meeting of members in Melbourne to discuss this matter, I was overseas in San Francisco, meeting with Neelie Kroes (European Commissioner for Antitrust), Sheridan Scott (Canadian Competition Commissioner), Deborah Majores (Chair of the US FTC) and Christine Varney (the soon to be appointed Assistant Attorney General of the US Department of Justice, antitrust division).

If I had been meeting with them in Melbourne, I would have needed to choose some other venue than the Athenaeum Club.
And if I wanted to have lunch with the Governor General, Prime Minister, Queensland Premier, NSW Governor, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, countless Federal and State Ministers, business leaders and colleagues at the ACCC, I would need to secrete them away in a separate dining room at the Athenaeum Club reserved for mixed gatherings!

Two: We need to seek out suitable women candidates – not just those perennial favourites who appear on every head hunter’s list of potential female appointees to senior positions; but trawl through the vast array of available talent for the right person, not just the right profile!

Female role models, male champions

We also need to emphasise female role models and male champions. I’ll discuss the path trodden by just one of the ACCC’s outstanding female role models in a moment; but on the topic of male champions…

We need them at the boardroom tables. I am an advocate of breaking the pattern from the inside. A single male champion can dislodge traditional male-club thinking from its comfort zone.

Other issues

There is another issue we must discuss. There is an issue with the number of women in the pool.
I will continue a quote from one of our staff that I began earlier, the one that started with: ‘Why is it that there are far too few women in the top positions?’

That colleague went on to say:

“Is it because the burden of childcare falls predominately to women? When a couple starts a family, it is usually the woman who leaves the workforce or goes part-time. You don’t often see people promoted or given acting opportunities when they are part-time.”

Blind Freddy can see that child-bearing and child-rearing is an issue here; although it’s blind Frederica who generally cops it.

The following is my view – and would no doubt generate vigorous debate at the ACCC, as it might here.
Women and their families make choices around children which do have the effect of taking – almost invariably – the women out of the loop for a period of time.

I don’t underestimate the challenges women face who step out and then come back into the business world or those who try to juggle work and home.

I wish I could have, for example, asked ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court to come along today and give her views on this topic. (Incidentally, Sarah chairs our Commission sub-committee with perhaps the most muscular name, Enforcement – and she is responsible for overseeing the bulk of our litigation work; as is, on the executive side, our Deputy CEO, Rayne de Gruchy).

But Sarah is just back from maternity leave for her fourth child and I think she appreciates being able to settle back in to the office for a little while first before we return her to oversight of the ACCC’s litigation and enforcement negotiations.

Her commitment to her role at the ACCC is illustrated by the fact that her pre-natal leave was just eight hours, and she returned to active duties just six weeks after having given birth! She has a dedicated partner and family, who have assumed a sharing role in their family’s care and upbringing.

There has been much commentary about how to structure workplaces to take account of the demands of family at the mid points of careers; and I think developments in job sharing, part-time and work-from-home options are to be applauded – for both men and women.

Like many other organisations, at the ACCC we have tried to harness technology to help out here. None of the following would be surprising:

• All staff can remotely and securely access the ACCC IT network, from any laptop or desktop or even an Internet café in Timbuktu if things get really tough, through what we call ‘ASNAP’. When they log on this way, they access the same desktop they get in the office, with all the same functionality
• Many staff are issued highly portable devices such as Blackberries and, increasingly, tablet computers, including yours truly, who I think can immodestly claim the mantle of being the first iPad user in the organisation after having snapped one up on release day
• With Commissioners and staff based across many states and territories, we have long used videoconferencing for weekly meetings at all levels – including the weekly Commission meetings where our most important statutory decisions are made. This of course means that, for example, for Adelaide-based Commissioner Sarah Court returning from maternity leave, we can cut down on her travel commitments.

When it comes to boards, however, there is a choice made by all contenders – male and female – about their level of commitment, taking other responsibilities into account.

Fundamentally, it must come back to the quality of the candidates and the best interests of the business …

… Though I’m firmly of the view that these can at times be too narrowly defined.

Confidence

I want to talk, briefly, about confidence. I’ll start by plagiarising one of my female colleagues again. I’ll repeat her observation, which I gave you just a moment ago:

“Although many women are hesitant to put themselves forward for leadership roles, and lack the confidence to be successful, this is slowly changing due to such initiatives as this symposium.”

In my case, to offer just one - not-isolated – illustration on this issue, I knew one senior team leader who hesitated about putting herself forward for advancement. A mentor’s support was vital in inspiring her confidence to put her name forward; and in ensuring that the message was heard at the highest levels that she merited serious consideration – because, sometimes, if there any internal blockages, removing them can only be effected at only most senior levels.

I’m sure this experience resonates with all you.

In this particular case, I’ll just say that the rest is history – of a positive kind.

McKinsey did a major piece of research covering 2500 men and women in senior ranks and importantly it revealed some tough and generally unpalatable outcomes:

“… [the report] uncovered some more insidious, difficult-to-address problems… [which] include senior executives’ perceptions that certain jobs just shouldn’t be available to women and …”

This is a striking statement:

“a tendency to reward men for their potential but women only for their performance.”

And this theme is borne out in very recent work from the US Centre for Work Life Policy in another major survey, which revealed what we have long suspected – that men have a much greater appreciation of networking than women:

• 83 per cent of men said it was as much about who you know; and
• 77 per cent of women expressed the view that skill and competence would get them promotion – that it was more about ‘how well you did your job’.

So there’s recent statistical evidence, albeit American, that women are still subject to discrimination in some roles, and that they operate differently in the workplace.

It’s important to hear these realities expressed – even if we thought they were long gone. We can’t tackle the problem if we can’t describe it. But it’s not surprising that many women make the eminently rational decision to lower their career sights and pursue a different lifestyle.

Let me revert once again to McKinsey:

“Many women react to these barriers and biases by reducing their corporate ambitions in favour of achieving greater satisfaction across their lives – and companies lose out entirely.”

ACCC mentoring program

So what are we doing at the ACCC? To address these issues we have a number of initiatives, including day programs for the women of the ACCC and coaching support by external providers; but I want to focus on our Women and Mentoring Program.

This has an internal focus and provides a framework to enable women employees to receive regular guidance and support from more senior and experienced women and men at the ACCC.

Mentoring is widely seen as a very effective means of providing talented women with connections and support in a way that suits – no need to play golf, or join a club, but an appropriate focus on developing skills and getting recognition.

The ACCC program provides the chance for women to discuss their career development and leadership opportunities with current senior leaders and managers.

It is, quite simply, aimed at retaining talented women within our organisation.

We expect the mentoring relationships to:

• Provide a supportive and confidential environment for women to plan their career development
• Reinforce the value the ACCC places on diversity of talent and
• Also, challenge the mentors to develop their management and leadership abilities.

We plan to finish our first quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the program in March 2012, and test the outcomes – such as the number of women applying for Senior Executive Service positions at the ACCC.

Conclusion

Let’s end on a positive note.

I was heartened to hear that, according to the McKinsey report I mentioned earlier, as women rise up the leadership ladder, they become more optimistic:

“One striking discovery is that women who have progressed from entry-level jobs to middle management, and then from middle management to senior management, have, at each stage, an increasing interest in being leaders and an increasing belief that opportunities exist.”

Let’s hope that trend increases.

I’m retiring as chairman of the ACCC in a few weeks, so that’s one more old bloke out of the way.

Yes, the next chairman is also a bloke – a good bloke called Rod Sims. But after him, who knows? Right woman, right place, right time.

Best wishes to you all in your careers and endeavours. ●

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