Belinda Rowe has used her Lifetime Achievement Award at B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, to call for more empathy in the workplace along with bigger opportunities for women to build the “experience capital” needed to become future leaders.
Rowe, who was recognised for a career spanning media, advertising and communications, told B&T following her win that the industry has a responsibility to look after its people as it undergoes another period of significant disruption.
Check out all the winners from the B&T Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
Rowe’s own career began at a time when the media industry was considerably more male-dominated.
She was a founding member of Optimedia in 1998 and became one of the few female agency CEOs of the time, leading a business that went on to secure major clients including Nestlé, Telstra, News Corp and Jetstar.
She later became an executive leader and shareholder of Mojo, playing a significant role in the agency’s success before its sale to Publicis Groupe.
In 2009, Rowe moved to the UK to become global managing partner of ZenithOptimedia, later taking on the same role at parent company Publicis Media.
Her leadership has also extended well beyond agencies. Between 2003 and 2009, Rowe served as chair of the Australian Federation of Advertising and was instrumental in its transformation and the incorporation of other communications industry bodies into what became the Communications Council.
Today, she sits on the boards of ARN, the Sydney Swans, Temple & Webster and Sky New Zealand. She was also inducted into the MFA Hall of Fame in 2023.
But reflecting on her time as a female CEO, Rowe said the experience came with a significant sense of responsibility.
“I felt a lot of responsibility and a bit overwhelmed in a way because you’re walking into rooms where decisions are being made, and mostly they were men,” she told B&T.
“You’re also dealing with a lot of media owners who are all men, and it was all a very different culture back then.”
For Rowe, standing her ground was important, but so was surrounding herself with talented people.
“I really surrounded myself with a lot of great people,” she said. “Those great people were all exceptionally talented and really helpful. We all worked together as a team to drive a disruptive approach to the market, and that was exciting.”
That belief in collective responsibility remains central to how Rowe views the industry today.
“This industry is an incredible industry, and we want this industry to be amazing in the future,” she said. “Check out the room. How much excitement is there across the room? I mean, that’s inspiring, and we want that to continue.”
Rowe continues to mentor people both within and outside the industry, with a particular focus on helping women develop their careers.
“I’m very passionate about helping women develop and enjoy what they’re doing, as much as to obviously grow and become great leaders,” she said.
“There’s so much change going on and disruption, and that’s only accelerating. So it’s imperative that we all work together, and always think about the workplaces, the leaders we have, how we’re building experience with those leaders to ensure that we’re getting them to keep growing in the industry.”
Why confidence isn’t the problem
In her acceptance speech, Rowe expanded on the need to rethink how the industry approaches women’s career progression.
She argued that women should be encouraged to find mentors, build networks and put themselves forward, but said the industry also needs to examine the structures that determine who gets access to opportunity.
“We should be asking a different question,” Rowe told the audience. “Is it about our workplace? Do women feel this lack of opportunity and disengagement? Is it the workplace creating limited pathways to promotion? How can we change this?”
That means looking closely at job design, leadership culture, career pathways and access to opportunities, she said.
Rowe questioned whether senior roles have been designed in ways that are compatible with the other responsibilities people have in their lives, arguing that workplaces should create cultures where “contribution and performance matter more than presence”.
She also challenged the industry’s tendency to frame confidence as something women themselves need to fix.
“We know that women can hold themselves back from opportunities because they don’t always believe that they are ready, but let’s not make confidence another thing that women are told they need to fix,” she said.
“We need to unpack this because confidence doesn’t develop in a vacuum. It develops through experience.”
Rowe also highlighted the concept of “experience capital” – the knowledge, skills and wisdom accumulated throughout a career – as a more useful way of thinking about professional development.
“Careers aren’t built through one big promotion,” she said. “They’re built through the difficult assignment, the bigger client, managing a team for the first time, taking responsibility for the P&L.”
For Rowe, the progression is straightforward: experience builds competence, competence builds confidence, and confidence creates the courage to take the next opportunity.
“That’s the cycle we need to create,” she said.
“So, open up the opportunities, learn to stretch, allow mistakes without mistakes defining you.”
The future of the industry
Rowe highlighted how much the industry has changed as a result of AI technology.
“Our industry has been reinvented again through AI,” she said. “AI will reshape our industry completely, change the way that we’ve been working and completely change the value chain.”
She argued that women need the opportunity and confidence to experiment with new technologies, lead businesses and, crucially, have a seat at the table when decisions are being made about how AI will shape the industry.
“The next generation of women should not simply become better at navigating the industry we inherited,” Rowe said.
“This should be focused on helping each other design the industry that comes next.”
For Rowe, receiving recognition for her own career therefore comes with a responsibility to help create better opportunities for those following behind.
“Recognition matters, but recognition also creates responsibility,” she said. “It’s about what we make possible for other people.”
Ultimately, Rowe believes the future of the industry will depend on people taking shared responsibility for creating it.
“Where men and women of all diversities share responsibility for change, where women are helping to create, and where the women coming from behind us have greater opportunities than those of us who came before them,” she said.
“That’s the future I look forward to seeing for the industry.”
