12 minute read
The Leadership Award
For a woman who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, overcome challenges, shown determination and exemplified team spirit – in a business or organisation.
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Proudly sponsored by: Mansfield & Co Recruitment
THE LEADERSHIP AWARD
Smashing glass ceilings! Deb Penulana was the winner of The Leadership Award in 2021. She works for DEWC Services - a veteran owned and operated Australian consultancy firm operating within the Defence Industry. They provide expert technical services within the ISREW and Cyber domains. Driven by a robust set of corporate values, DEWC is committed to an enduring approach that places primacy on the needs of its clients, ensuring the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is enabled to meet contemporary security challenges. They are passionate about providing technical expertise that helps Australian Defence Force people stay safe when in harm's way, enabling them to come home safely to their families.
My favourite phrase at the moment is “growth and comfort do not coexist”, so ladies, let’s keep following our dreams and convictions, seize opportunities as they arise, break through the glass ceilings, celebrate and achieve amazing things together.
What an inspiring note for Deb Penaluna to finish her acceptance speech on! We're excited to dive into the world of leadership with Deborah - bringing women to the front.
// It’s so vital to have women in leadership roles, because of the unique skill sets and perspective we bring. As the winner of The Leadership Award in 2021, you’re someone who demonstrates this every day! What do you love most about working in a leadership role?
My role as a leader is to help my team reach their potential. I take enormous pride in seeing my team succeed. My team all bring unique perspectives which brings ‘colour’ to our work. I am also really fortunate to be able to choose my own team. In doing so, I’m able to bring people into my team who have strengths in areas where I’m lacking. I am all about corporate culture, so fostering your corporate culture is really important. In business, corporate culture is your true north, guiding and shaping what you do. I love working in a culture that is inclusive, high trust and high performing; it helps us all bring out the best in each other. // How do you believe women in leadership contribute to creating a thriving work culture within organisations?
There is a lot of toxic masculinity in the corporate world, often expressed as a bit of a ‘boys' club’. Citing the recent Federal election, it is pretty clear this type of culture achieves negative outcomes, with the major shift in ‘teal’ votes being truly indicative of broader societal expectations that the ‘boys' club’ is no longer acceptable. Women bring a voice of inclusion because we’ve experienced exclusion and being undervalued at work. In my experience, women strive to achieve through inclusion and collaboration rather than individualistic and egotistical competitiveness. In being collaborative and inclusive, respecting the values and opinions of others, we achieve far more together. It is perhaps because of the struggle for equality, which women have been working toward for generations, that women have pretty good EQ and we seek to improve ourselves for the betterment of ourselves and the collective.
Female leaders demonstrate their ability to shape workplace culture in a positive and productive way because we’ve seen and experienced the contrary; we can empathise, analyse and do things differently. I am very fortunate to work with a great team of men and women who share our values and do things differently.
// What advice would you give to any women aspiring to work in leadership roles?
Go for it; the world needs more women in leadership! Know yourself. Value yourself. Keep an open mind and learn something new every day; remember it’s a journey and everything you do adds to your ‘lessons learned resume’. Read widely. Surround yourself with people you value. Build your network – SA Woman is a great place to do this – there’s a lot of women following their hearts and doing great things with incredible passion. Last, but not least, be courageous and believe in yourself.
To read Deb's acceptance speech in full, follow this QR code.
Discover more about DEWC at dewc.com
Margot John, KX Pilates, was the People's Choice Winner of The Leadership Award in 2021.
THE LEADERSHIP AWARD
2022 Finalists
To connect with Yvonne Sears and discover more about her, follow this QR code.
YVONNE SEARS, ISD CYBER
ISD Cyber is a Cyber Resilience consulting company servicing clients across the country, specialising in blended resilience programs that span the fields of Business Continuity, Cyber Security, Information Security management, Privacy, IT Continuity and Disaster Recovery. Originally ISDefence, founded in July 2016 and rebranded ISD Cyber in November 2021, we are an Adelaide based, independent and ISO27001 certified Cyber Security company. We take care of clients nationally and internationally, but we have dedicated ourselves to growing 100% of our capability in SA. We do this to enable our SA clients access to broader expertise and skillsets, right here in Adelaide.
Mistakes do not mean you have 'failed'; they're an opportunity to learn.
What do you love most about being in your role?
Enabling others to build confidence in a safe environment, having a 'tribe' of people that share our values and to take the lead.
It enables me to be the change I want to see.
Our vision is supported and influenced by our personal values, that makes it easy to stay on track as your gut instinct jumps in when it's outside of that.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received about your career? The first best piece of advice I received was from my mom, who defied her family’s restrictions and became a school teacher. Her advice to my sister and me was, that you need to work hard and stand on your own two feet and be financially independent. Everything else in life is secondary. Over the years I’ve received a lot of great advice, including: As a leader, you are always on display. Which means that your behaviour knowingly or unknowingly influences the behaviour of your team and others who follows you. Once you accept a poor standard, that will be the new benchmark. And my recent favourite: Your talent will take you to the top, but your character will keep you there. What do you love most about your role? I love that it ranges across a variety of different businesses, from rail holidays, cruise and luxury accommodation to food and beverage. This brings complex technology adoption challenges, which I enjoy solving. In turn, it enables my team and me to grow professionally. Another part of my job that I love is the opportunity to travel to different parts of Australia and collaborate with our operations teams on technology transformation initiatives. This not only helps me to appreciate the diversity and cater to the different customer segments but also to understand the day-to-day operations and build strong relationships with our teams across Australia. Above everything, what I love the most in my job is my team and my colleagues. Our passion and enthusiasm for our business are electric and our commitment to do the best of our ability and achieve great outcomes is visible. I love the diversity in our team and the effortless collaboration, which makes our team high performing. What is the biggest thing you have learnt from being in your role? This is not only my first role in tourism, but this is also my first General Manager role. I had to learn a vast number of different technologies quickly, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The role brought many project, budget and vendor management challenges and along with them, the opportunity for more learning. I learnt the best way to drive technology changes for stakeholders with a varied range of technology skills. Journey Beyond grew from 3 businesses to 10 within a couple of years. The new acquisitions brought new learnings. However, the biggest learning I had was when COVID hit. I learnt that it was possible to support a team by letting them go and bringing them back together when it was possible. I learnt how strong and happy a team can be when the positive culture is driven by everyone in the team, rather than a leader.
MADHUMITA MAZUMDAR, JOURNEY BEYOND
Madhu is the General Manager of Technology in Journey Beyond. Proudly part of the Hornblower Group, Journey Beyond is a national business focused on bringing Australia’s most unique and iconic experiences to life. Journey Beyond owns and operates Rottnest Express, Cruise Whitsundays, The Ghan, Indian Pacific, Darwin Harbour Cruises, Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, Outback Spirit, Melbourne Skydeck, Eureka 89, Journey Beyond Cruise Sydney and Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures. Madhu leads a 15-member IT team and oversees the fulfillment of technology needs of over 1,200 staff across Journey Beyond businesses. In addition, Madhu serves on the Board of the Birthing Kit Foundation Australia.
To connect with Madhumita Mazumdar and discover more about her, follow this QR code.
THE LEADERSHIP AWARD
CASEY ANNETTS, NAB
Regional Manager Small Business at NAB. Small Business is an energetic and highly engaged division that has transformed rapidly to deliver for our customers. We have taken on customer feedback and moved bankers back to local areas, simplified our processes/policies/systems to make it easier to serve our customers and invested heavily in our people. Outside of work, I love to spend my time outdoors, running my dogs at the beach or exercising. I am a passionate wine and food lover, and have convinced my fiancé Matt that it is ok to spend most weekends testing out wineries because we live in SA.
To connect with Casey Annetts and discover more about her, follow this QR code. What is the best piece of advice you’ve received about your career?
Say yes and figure it out later because I promise you will miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The best opportunities throughout my career have been the ones I was least expecting, at an unplanned time in life and required the most amount of effort to succeed.
I moved 11 hours with no connections in a new state in the country town of Clare. Every opportunity to meet new people, volunteer at the local sports club, buy a beer at the local pub, visit a new business - I took and welcomed it with open arms. The lesson that I learnt from that experience was becoming confident to place myself in the driver’s seat and not allow others to dictate my pathway – you can achieve goals outside of a traditional pathway and usually feeling uncomfortable means you are growing yourself in some way to set yourself up for the next opportunity.
What do you love most about your role?
Customers and colleagues. Behind every customer there is a story, and it’s that story that attracted me to this segment in the first place. I love meeting new people, celebrating success, learning new things and being there to offer support when things don’t go to plan.
I wanted to initiate change, be better for our customers and create a personal touch to a banking proposition that had been lacking it for some time. My team are phenomenal, and I have had the opportunity to recruit close to 30 South Australian people under my leadership over the last 3 years that are advocates of SA, employed in SA and spend their salary within SA to support our economy. I have challenged the perception that people must move to Melbourne or Sydney for their next opportunity in finance, as it exists right here in SA.
Connecting myself to the customer outcome and being genuinely interested in wanting to help them succeed. There is no better feeling than being the catalyst that enabled a crazy idea that initiated in a shed on a Sunday afternoon to get off the ground or being able to support a business shift their goal posts because they are doing better than expected. Conversely, it could be being the lifeline for a business owner when something outside of their control impacts day-to-day operations. Small business owners are so grateful, authentic and resilient and it is an absolute privilege to work with such a diverse customer base.
To connect with Simone Douglas and discover more about her, follow this QR code.
SIMONE DOUGLAS, THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK HOTEL
Simone Douglas is a business powerhouse. She is the Publican and Licensee of the Duke of Brunswick Hotel, Executive Director for BNI Adelaide North, CEO of Digital Marketing AOK and a best-selling author with her books "Seriously Social - turning your online game into real-world gain" and “The Confident Networker”. She also sits on the marketing advisory group for BNI Australia, serves on the Branch Council of the Australian Hotels Association SA Branch and is co-founder of the Hospo Owners Collective. Her businesses have garnered more awards than can be comfortably included in a bio, and her passion for supporting business, community and industry is well known.
What key moments led you to starting your business? In the case of The Duke of Brunswick I was looking for office space and found a pub by accident. The rest is history.
What is the biggest thing you have learnt from being in business? You are never the smartest person in the room, someone always knows something you don't.
What obstacles and opportunities have you found from being a woman in business? Opportunities are everywhere when you are comfortable with who you are. Doors open when you use your voice and ask for what you want. If someone is holding a door closed, find another door.
What has been your biggest triumph? Using all my skills and talents to force change for an industry on its knees. Making an immediate and critical difference to thousands of South Australians in the process through the Hospo Owners Collective campaigns.
Throughout the ups and downs, how have you stayed true to your vision? You can always control your response to the things around you. In remembering that change is constant, whether the present situation is good or bad, it is always going to change.
What has being involved in the 2022 SA Woman Awards brought to your life? Being involved in the awards process has been great and reaffirmed how many amazing, talented women in business are around me. It gives me faith for the future where women will continue to shine brightly, lead boldly and build communities that make the world a better place.
