Women in finance share lessons in leadership

At the Women in Finance Summit, held on 15 November, Vicki Stylianou, Group Executive Advocacy and Professional Standards at IPA, Anja Pannek, CEO of MFAA and Sarah Abood, CEO of FAA shared candid insights from their own careers – highlighting the importance of resilience, confident communication, and building inclusive workplaces. 

Overcoming gender bias

Drawing on her days in law, a particular experience that resonates with Stylianou was a high-powered court case early in her career.

“I was in resource law, and I had a lot of banking clients as well,” she says. “It came through to me that the client didn’t want to work with me because as a woman, they didn’t think I could handle the different people, politics, and shenanigans that would go on.”

Even though Stylianou ended up staying on the case, the rumblings of dissatisfaction were a constant undercurrent.

In response, aside from being the best she could be, Stylianou gave back what she received.

“People were trying to undermine me all the time, so it was just being alert to that and surrounding myself with those who … were on my side – building alliances with people who were going to support me,” she says.

When others try to undermine your confidence, that’s when you need to exude it the most, advises Stylianou.

“Those lessons have stayed with me since,” she adds.

Moulding communication style

Men and women often have different communication styles – particularly in the boardroom, thinks Abood.

“Those meetings are so important, almost like the arena of business. They see it as a battleground,” she says.

The way females are socialised in society is not always conducive to this environment.

“Generally, still, we’re socialised to be agreeable, to wait to be asked and to be supportive of others,” says Abood. “I’ve certainly had the experience of walking out of a meeting not having said a single word, watching men interrupt each other gaily.”

Learning how to “jump in elegantly” is a skill Abood has tried to hone over the years.

“How do you jump in and be heard without everyone secretly thinking ‘she’s just dominating the conversation?’” she says.

“If you can’t be heard, you can’t progress, and that is such an important element of communication.”

Mistaking confidence for competence is something humans are prone to, irrespective of gender.

“If someone seems confident in how they communicate, we assume they know what they are talking about and that they’re right – unless there’s good evidence to the contrary.”

In Abood’s view, women could harness that misconception better for their own leadership capability.

“We’re often the ones being a bit diffident and using the word ‘just’ in front of our sentences,” she says.

“[But] it’s very important to develop a confident communication style … because that’s how we express our ideas and that’s how others judge us.”

A good way to improve those skills is to ask a colleague for feedback. 

“Ask what they think of how we communicated and be prepared to hear it if maybe it wasn’t 100% awesome,” Abood says. “But also have people who are your cheerleaders and will pump up your tires.”

Ensuring women feel valued in the workforce

As an organisation with a predominantly female workforce, IPA strives to live and breathe diversity and inclusion across the business, says Stylianou.

“We have an extensive diversity and inclusion program that is constantly looked at, revised, and implemented,” she says.

A key focus for the organisation is addressing the gender pay gap, which is still prevalent in the accounting profession.

“Within IPA, we have spent a lot of time closing the gender pay gap,” she says.

This year, IPA also established a wellness retreat for women, held in Daylesford, Victoria – focusing on mental and physical well-being, and lifestyle.

“That’s something we’re going to be doing every year,” Stylianou says.

Look beyond guilt

When women enter the workforce, there is often equal representation, as well as pay grades,  in many professions.

But for those who go on to have children, the mid-career stage can be one of the most stressful points in life, says Abood.

“Everything goes really well until there’s a point at which you either have a family or everybody assumes you’re going to have a family, and we see the pipeline of women coming through to the very senior roles seem to have been blocked,” she says.

It’s not uncommon for women to feel constant guilt for not always being present in every aspect of their lives.

But Abood believes women need to let go of their own self-judgments. 

“We’ve got to be able to accept that the house is messy, or that the kids didn’t get their lunch packed today, and not take it on ourselves,” she says.

“We need to help men take on those responsibilities so that they’re truly shared.”

Women also need to abandon the guilt they feel investing in networking and building relationships – often seen as time taken away from their jobs or families, Abood believes.

“I had children earlier in my career, and the idea of going to an evening networking function wasn’t even on my radar,” she says.

Investing in those relationships is something she wishes she had done earlier.

“It was absolutely legitimate and important for my career, my family, and my ability to provide for them.”

Balancing Professional Success with Personal Fulfilment

While the professional side often ends up becoming a source of personal fulfilment for Stylianou, she tries to compartmentalise – particularly when travelling for work.

“What has worked for me is the ability to draw the line very squarely around an experience and then move to the next one,” she says.

While conceding that she perhaps prioritised her career at the expense of other things, Stylianou believes it’s important to accept your choices.

“I don’t ruminate over them,” she adds.

You can have it all, just not at the same time, agrees Pannek.

“Especially if you run your own business, it’s not like the day starts and the day finishes,” she says. “You have to figure out where you get your energy from and where your boundaries are.”

For her part, Pannek is a big believer in the “oxygen mask” – prioritising sleep, exercise, and good food.

“I need to take care of myself and know how I can build the things I need for me, so I can be the best person for my family, my team, and my organisation.”

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