WPP’s ANZ president Rose Herceg is the daughter of Croatian immigrants and one of the top leaders in the Australian advertising industry.
In the third instalment of this the B-Side vodcast series, produced by The Growth Distillery in partnership with B&T, Dan Krigstein asks Herceg what makes a great leader, why she got into advertising and her remarkable career.
Herceg puts down some of her success to how she was raised by her parents.
“What I have realised is your childhood really determines a huge amount about how you are as a human being on the planet and a leader,” she said. “I had these incredible parents who were feisty. Phenomenally good at raising kids, (they were) born to be parents.
Herceg said that she learnt to be fearless, humble and fearless growing up.
“My father was an exceptional father. The greatest human I think I’ve ever met. “He really set his kids up for a world of wonder. He would say things like, jump off a cliff, I promise you a safety net will appear. He was this incredible teacher. And I think if you are fearless as a child, you will be a really nice human being when you grow up. And I think that’s the cornerstone. So my B Side is my family and how I was raised.”
She advocates people read views that are unfamiliar and the opposing view to their own belief system.
“I am a huge believer in learning the things you don’t know,” she said. “Great leaders can see the opposing view. They take from that what is working, adapt it and (use it). Leaders that are dogged, leaders that are set in stone, that are set in concrete are not very good leaders.
“My favourite leadership style is people that say, this is my opinion, prove to me that it should be something else.”
Herceg said that WPP has a culture where staff are able to disagree and speak up. She said there are two traits that she values more than others in leadership: decency and honesty.
Watch the full episode of Rose Herceg’s B-Side with Dan Krigstein below.
