‘I speak with the strongest Australian accent I can manage’

More than 2500 insurance professionals attended local sessions at this year’s virtual Dive In diversity and inclusion festival, to hear some confronting and inspiring messages

By Miranda Maxwell

Ming Long, QBE Independent Non-Executive Director, spent a lot of time at the pub as part of her trajectory to becoming the first Asian woman to lead an ASX-listed 100 company.

The self-declared introvert and teetotaller adopted a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ approach but says it is now time for those in leadership roles to do their own adapting.

“I changed myself to be what they wanted to see in a leader … an alien exterior to help the thinking that I am one of them,” Ms Long told almost 200 virtual attendees at this year’s Dive In Festival.

“I am a non-drinker. I went to all the bars and I drank water every single time because they needed to see me as one of the blokes – that they could accept me – and also then see me as less risky, because it is difference that scares people.”

In insurance especially, difference is seen as a higher risk profile, she says, because “diversity is going to challenge the status quo”.

Ms Long, who is also AMP Capital Funds Management Chairman, was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to the financial and real estate sectors and to diversity and inclusion. She took up her current QBE director role in June last year and also chairs the insurer’s Board Audit Committee.

She is frequently asked how she “made it” to such senior roles and reveals she felt the need to conform, for example deliberately speaking with the strongest Australian accent she can muster to overcome stereotyping in which “people see me as a woman, people see me as a person of an Asian heritage”.

“It’s like this Jedi mind trick: this is not an Asian woman that you see in front of you, she’s Australian.” In a remarkably candid session, “Diversity in the C Suite: Why we need more voices around the table,” Ms Long says Australians need to ask themselves whether their team members feel truly comfortable and included.

“I’ve never felt like one of you. I’ve unfortunately never felt like I belong in this country and I’ve pretty much felt I had to pretend the whole time,” Ms Long shares. “Ask yourself, do you think that they feel like they belong?”

Ms Long says all of those with seniority need to champion others who don’t have the capacity to be as resilient and advocate for themselves. At a recent board meeting, she questioned whether there was consideration for those with a disability, or Indigenous Australians, or socio-economic excluded people.

“If they are in our midst, why are we not using their perspective and their skill and the fact that they’ve had to navigate some of these challenges throughout their life in forming a strategy that is going to be more inclusive of them?”

Australian boards are too weighted toward candidates who went to “sandstone” universities, live in affluent suburbs, row or play rugby and other characteristics that are irrelevant to leadership capability.

It is these biases that are too often unconscious and Ms Long urges insurance industry powerbrokers to “recognise your blindness” and be inclusive of people who are “not like you”.

“The responsibility lies with leaders. Don’t just keep on looking back at the capability we have seen in the past and think that’s relevant for the future. There’s a plethora of talent around you if only you would recognise their capability.

“If you sit with the status quo you absolutely have more power than someone who does not.”

Ms Long expresses frustration that she is always challenged that promotion should just be down to “merit”. This is in the eye of the beholder, she says, and “at the moment for CEOs is a six foot two Anglo Saxon man”.

“I’m sounding a little bit frustrated because I always get asked the merit question,” she tells festival attendees. “Of course we are picking people on merit but it depends on how you define it.”

Here to stay

COVID-19 forced businesses to hastily shift to flexible working arrangements, bringing into the mainstream a concept that has paved the way for women to pursue a career and raise a family at the same time.

And the way the corporate world has adapted to the sudden change has been welcomed by panellists who participated in a Dive In festival event on what the post-pandemic landscape could mean for female representation in leadership roles.

Gillian Davidson, a Partner with Sparke Helmore Lawyers who was on the panel, believes the developments in the last several months have pushed the conversation forward in a positive way.

“For those who are still trying to explain flexibility was not just about working mothers or perhaps a small cohort of carers… [this pandemic shows] that actually it applies to every single one of us,” she said.

“That has been a great thing, because I feel so much of the conversation that we were battling with no longer had to happen. We’ve felt it, we’ve lived it. That’s great for me and for women. It has been a tremendous thing.”

She isn’t the only one who is feeling upbeat.

More than 80% of the 600 attendees who signed up for the virtual event say they were more optimistic about the increase of women participation and representation in senior leadership positions in 2021.

But the work is far from over even as flexible workplace arrangements inevitably become the new office normal post-COVID.

Emma Walsh, Chief Executive of Parents at Work and panel moderator of the Future Opportunities for Leadership event, says stereotypes and perceptions still surround the concept.

“Traditionally they have been a barrier to women’s participation into more senior roles,” Ms Walsh said.

Women still disproportionately continue to do most of the bulk of the load in households and we know this has a profound and real impact and implications for women’s ability to fully participate in the workplace, develop their potential and obviously rise to leadership positions.

Kevin Bates, Group Head of Risk and Insurance at Lendlease, a listed property group, thinks the “flexible working” term has reached its expiry date.

“The observation is I actually hate the phraseology,” Mr Bates, who is one of the panellists, said. “I think we need to get that out of our lexicon.

“It’s working. It’s that simple. It shouldn’t be a point of difference now for employers to say we offer flexible working. You offer a working environment. It should be up to me to decide how I execute and how I perform. Don’t tell me it’s a differentiator and I expect it.”

Closing the gender gap when it comes to female representation in senior leadership roles remains a challenge for many industries. The insurance industry is no exception.

At Zurich, the insurer has committed to a 40% target of female representation in leadership roles by 2021.

Tim Plant, Zurich General Insurance Chief Executive and host of the event, told attendees the business has an equal number of men and women on its general insurance executive team.

“At Zurich, we are committed to increasing the number of women in senior leadership positions,” he said, adding there are also a number of initiatives underway to support the company’s female talent pipeline.

“These include our female sponsorship program and a new partnership with a job recruitment platform Work180 to help attract more females into our advertised roles.”

Insurers must avoid paying short lip service to diversity and be mindful it is what you do not just what you say. People will watch for the signs of authenticity in efforts to be more broadly inclusive and will quickly detect disingenuous corporations.

“It is like your children. They can tell when you are arguing even though you haven’t told them,” she says.

Self-interest can play a role in incentivising change though, as while cultural shifts are hard in the short term, those who don’t embrace diversity risk making themselves corporate dinosaurs.

“If you don’t want to lead a diverse team, you will be less successful … because if you haven’t by the time you encounter me, unfortunately I am not going to promote you,” Ms Long says. “Eventually it is going to come undone. You are less relevant to me as a leader in an organisation of the future.”

Ms Long urges insurers to take on these difficult conversations at the board table and compensate for the starting assumption of many employees down the ladder that there is no future for them in the organisation if there is no diversity at the top.

“What are you going to do about that?” Ms Long asks. “It’s very easy to have G-rated discussions at work. I think we need to move to MA.”

‘Free of fear’

Brenda Mukomberanwa remembers speaking with people who were angry, bored and lonely, and some conversations that were simply weird, during a personal insurance call centre job that marked her entry into the industry.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Ms Mukomberanwa, says juggling family life and a new job in a new country was challenging, and the calls could be stressful. Once, after a technical fault, lines suddenly lit up with a queue of disgruntled people who thought phones weren’t being answered.

“It was probably the toughest job I have been in. There are hundreds of calls coming in daily,” she told a Dive In Festival session. “I would find myself mentally exhausted at the end of the day.”

Ms Mukomberanwa moved on from that rocky start to build a rewarding career in insurance, working in New Zealand and Australia, gaining experience in underwriting and broking and meeting amazing people who have offered support.

“This is such as an amazing industry with so many opportunities,” she says. “I guess from the outside it looks all stuffy and boring, which is why it is so important that we change the image to attract talent.”

Ms Mukomberanwa, Principal at broker Marsh in Perth, says the industry has come a long way in its willingness to talk about diversity and inclusion, but there still needs to be more awareness and education, particularly around unconscious bias. In her past experience, that has included perceptions around women juggling family responsibilities.

“What I found is that people would make assumptions about my availability without even checking with me,” she says. “You can be excluded from industry functions or miss out on opportunities to travel because people assume you are a mum with young kids, you can’t be involved.”

Her advice to those building their careers is to seek out mentors who can offer advice, be pro-active around pursuing goals and take advantage of the opportunities on offer. It’s also important to raise issues that may be causing concern or distress.

“You spend most of your day in the workplace and your mental health is important,” she says. “Which is why it is also important as well for organisations to create environments where people can actually feel free to speak up without fear of any backlash.”

Ms Mukomberanwa told the session on attracting and retaining diverse and high performing talent that as a leader she encourages instilling pride and accountability for work accomplished, while also highlighting the importance of being approachable and finding areas of connection with team members.

“You don’t want a manager who is always angry and grumpy,” she says. “You don’t know what is going on in someone else’s life, and we all deal with life’s challenges very differently.”

insuranceNEWS October/November 2020