As you should very well know, our Women in Media Awards are fast approaching – in fact, they’re only a month away! To celebrate this wonderful fact, and to get you excited to celebrate the inspiring women in this industry, we’ve spoken to one of the most diverse companies we could think of.
An impressive 50 per cent of MediaCom’s executive leadership team is female – meaning the company knows a thing or two about women in senior leadership roles.
Which is what our Women in Media Awards are all about! B&T believes in the notion of: if she can see it, she can believe it and then she can be it. And these leading ladies at MediaCom sure are something to look up to.
Gemma Hunter (pictured below) is the global executive creative director of MediaCom, and head of MBA Australia, said balanced and diverse leadership is important to any organisation, no matter the size.
“We are an industry that communicate to people, all people. Diversity is us as a nation.
To create great communication campaigns that truly resonate and drive behaviour change and purchase intent we must understand who we are talking to and what motivates and drives them. The best way to do that is with people that can naturally understand their audience,” she said.
And Katherine Williams (pictured below), managing director of MediaCom Brisbane, added that “diversity needs to be supported by equality” in order for everyone’s voice to be heard.
“I want to look to a future of our industry where there are more senior female chairwomen and CEO’s, where our male and female senior leaders work in strong partnership to offer diverse opinions that drive our industry forward.
“And I want to see more diversity than just gender, because diverse perspectives are valuable, especially when supported by an open mind to dream big and take action,” she said.
And MediaCom is definitely a diverse company beyond gender – the company’s CEO, Willie Pang, frequently speaks on diversity, and was even a panellist at our very own Changing the Ratio in May.
Nicole Boyd (pictured below), MediaCom’s chief client officer, said that the company’s management team work so well together because they have a diverse team, and a diverse set of skills.
“No individual gender can deliver on this diversity as both males and females typically bring a different perspective to the conversation.
“There is research that suggests that gender diverse teams perform better. It supports a healthy working culture where people can motivate and support one another to perform at their highest level,” she said.
“Females are strongly represented in our industry however; the challenge is the balance within senior positions within organisations and particularly at executive levels.
“I don’t think the question is why diversity is important but how can the industry better understand and support female leadership. There is still too much looking at the world through a man’s eyes and not enough understanding of females and what they bring to business,” Boyd added.
Within MediaCom, there are a ton of initiatives that support female leadership, including flexible working hours and programs around mentoring, leadership skills and wellness.
Chief investment officer Nicole Turley (pictured below) said her favourite is a leadership program for women called Walk to Talk – which is especially important because according to Turley (and a few international studies) businesses with more women at the helm do better.
“There have been many studies around the world identifying business with more female leaders at the top are more profitable, are more innovative and have greater employee loyalty,” she said.
Williams added that more and more younger women could be leaders without the title or role.
“Leadership isn’t necessarily related to a title or job description, so young women starting out can exercise leadership traits in their everyday work – by extending the hand to help others around them, by showing vulnerability to ask for help themselves with a willingness to learn and grow, to enthusiastically accept opportunities, and by knowing their worth and being true to their word,” she said.
And Boyd echoed a similar statement, but said that “leadership is key, regardless of gender.”
“Over my last 14 years with MediaCom and being part of the national leadership team, we have always had gender balance,” she said.
And as for why women are vital in this industry? Hunter said the question barely needed to be asked any more.
“The fact that we need to ask that question shows that we are still not there in terms of equality and diversity,” she said.
“The question we should be asking is, why anyone who doesn’t understand how vital equality is to our industry still has a job.”
B&T‘s Women in Media Awards 2018 will be held on Friday 17 August 2018 at Doltone House – Jones Bay Wharf. Grab early bird tickets to the event here and find all other info on the website.
