Authored by Global Women Member Jenni Prisk.
As a strong values-led leader Donna, has more than 25 years global executive and governance experience. Currently on the Board of the Australasian SkyCity Entertainment Group, Donna has previously held roles as the CEO of TSB and GM of Baycorp. She recently initiated and co-hosted the first of the Global Women’s Taranaki Women in Leadership series.
I asked Donna about the stories she heard from the speakers and guests.
“Agnes Naera and Powrsuit co-founder Kristen Lunman come from different backgrounds and perspectives but both are in a place where they uplift women in different ways, which demonstrated to the audience that there are different styles of leadership: understand your strengths and find opportunities that allow you to leverage them; follow your heart; put your prime effort into everything; ask for help by quickly articulating what you need; be a driver not just an enabler, and remember that it’s OK to say no! Raise your hand for work that is strategically important. So how do we ready women for these roles?
By investing time in your own growth and development. Give yourself 30 minutes a week to read something important; create a personal board of women to learn from their approaches, and the value of differing roles; offer practical advice that women can take away and utilise. Agnes has a ‘cup of tea moment’: spend 15 minutes with someone and be clear about your ask – they can give you words of wisdom in a short amount of time. However, you must put the work in before you reach out to that person.
Both Agnes and Kristen were passionate about Impostor Syndrome (IS). These words are not doing us service, sometimes you are out of your depth so accept those feelings, then step into the situation and do it well. Think about IS as a moment in time to address, not a way of being.”
Are women sufficiently recognized in their leadership roles in the Taranaki region, and all of Aotearoa? If not, what is holding women back?
“The visibility of women in leadership roles in Taranaki is far less obvious than if you are in city (even though women in the region are doing incredible mahi.) The regions foster a lot of innovation; they are the engine room of the New Zealand economy; however, the natural mechanisms of connection materialise in a bigger city because more opportunities and role models are available. Young women and girls can only be inspired about what they can be when they can see it. In 48 hours, all spaces for this session were taken!”
You have an illustrious career as a leader in the banking and entertainment arenas. What are your biggest takeaways from your experiences?
“I have been brave, and open-minded to opportunities that have played to my strengths: careful listening, people-oriented, driving change and transformation, working with different cultures, and jumping into things that were uncomfortable. When you are the only non-Indian person in an 850-person business which was at times quite confronting, I learned that we are more similar than we are different. We all have superpowers that we must express in a way that feels authentic. “
And Donna’s closing comments:
“I’ve been fizzing since the Leadership session! So much excitement and energy in the room representing all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and industries. We had 15 spots for High School students. We have a lot of power to lift up younger women. When our GW members travel around NZ, especially if they’re going somewhere that is far flung, what if they could they find a couple of extra hours to meet with a woman or a small group of women in the area to share a ‘pop-up chat’ on their needs and desires? There must be something out there that we can engineer simply. We can create magic!”