Businesses must drive change to encourage more women into corporate Australia, Carnival Australia Executive Chairman Ann Sherry AO has told a QUT Business Leaders’ Forum.
Ms Sherry told the crowd at The Hilton Brisbane that companies must continuously evolve to find success and boost diversity in boardrooms.
She spoke about her “zig zag” journey from growing up as a chemist’s daughter in Gympie to boss of the largest cruise ship operator in Australasia.
During a career that has seen her work as a radiographer, social worker, banker and advisor to former Prime Minister Paul Keating, Ms Sherry said the power of change had been a constant factor.
“The world has changed, and thank goodness. My world growing up had no women of prominence,” she told the forum.
“The pace of change has been an incredible gift. I’ve been able to both drive change and have been a beneficiary of change as well.”
She joined Westpac, where she would rise to become CEO of Westpac New Zealand, at a time when women were “completely invisible in Australian banking”.
“But that was change. And that was a dramatic pivot point in Westpac that today has led to 50 per cent of management in Westpac being female. That’s how it started,” she said.
Ms Sherry’s mission to transform Westpac into an employer of choice saw her lead the introduction of paid maternity leave in corporate Australia for the first time.
“It was like a domino in corporate Australia,” she said.
“Within a year virtually all the top 50 companies in Australia had rolled out paid maternity leave. When you have power you have an obligation to drive change … it allows you to do amazing things if you grab the opportunity.”
With no background in tourism, Ms Sherry’s move to Carnival Australia surprised some but she has achieved annual double-digit growth over the past decade.
“The opportunity was to take a broken business and turn it into something amazing, which ten years later is what’s happened,” she said.
“My journey has been a zig zag of opportunity, challenge and adventure … it’s put me out of my comfort zone regularly, it’s stretched me, and it has given me great success.”
Ms Sherry continues to advocate for greater diversity and gender equality in organisations but said more work was needed to help the next generation of young female leaders.
“All change requires vigilant and continued effort. There are still plenty of organisations that have barely started. It’s got to be really systematic and if it’s not embedded in a culture and a system then it’s not there,” she said.
“There still aren’t enough women coming through … there’s too many words and not enough action. I think there’s an opportunity for us to move this faster because it’s moving faster in other parts of the world and we’re appearing increasingly old-fashioned.
“The Australia I grew up in was closed and conservative. The Australia I dream of is open and fit for the future.”
Media contact:
Rob Kidd, QUT Media, 07 3138 1841, rj.kidd@qut.edu.au
After hours, Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
