Dame Joan Withers on Leadership and Governance

Dame Joan Withers has had an illustrious business and governance career spanning decades, from her early days in media as CEO of Fairfax NZ and The Radio Network, to her current roles as Chair of The Warehouse Group and director at ANZ New Zealand, Sky Network TV, and Origin Energy.

She was recently inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame and sat down to share her insights and advice on everything from collaboration and work ethic to mentoring and resilience.

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What personal qualities or habits do you believe contributed most to your success in leadership roles?

“I think for anyone these days, it is imperative that as a leader you can encourage great people to work around you. I think being able to have that sort of collaborative approach is really important.

“I think the other element of my personality is my work ethic. In business there are no shortcuts. You have to do the mahi. It is essential even when you get to a governance position that you understand the detail of the industries you're working in and the specifics of the business environment, so that you can work with management to ask the right questions.”

What do you believe makes an effective board chair, and how do you approach building consensus and trust across diverse boards?

“You need to get the right composition of directors around a board table, and boards today are very disciplined about that composition. It's no longer the case, as it was back in the early days of my governance career, where it was a mate from the golf club who would be recommended for a seat around the board table.

“You want people who ask questions in the right way, who elicit wisdom around the board table. It’s particularly important for the chair to be able to make sure that people aren't shut down. I’ve seen that happen; someone will make a suggestion and someone else will say ‘that will never work’ or be disparaging. It’s important to get that dynamic right.

“I think, too, as a board chair you've got to make sure that directors understand where the line is between governance and management. There is a propensity with some directors to cross that line and get too far into the weeds. It’s important that directors have the right information and knowledge to be able to ask the right questions, but at the end of the day management are either looking for a decision or the next steps going forward.”

What's one piece of advice that you wish you'd received earlier in your career?

“Not only in my career, but in my life, I think if someone had reinforced the idea that you don’t sweat the small stuff, that would have helped me enormously.

“I think getting things in perspective when you're going through any sort of career, or life in general, is really important, because it is very easy to get overwhelmed by stuff that you've really got no control over or that you only have a limited amount of control over. And actually, being able to step back and think ‘is this really going to matter in three months, six months, 12 months, five years?’ is an important thing, in terms of being able to not only survive in business, but to be able to thrive and have that balance in terms of your lifestyle.”

How did your experience as a woman in executive leadership evolve over the years, and what challenges did you face and overcome?

“I've been really lucky to live at a time when there was an enormous momentum for women to go into higher roles, both in executive life, but also in governance.

“In the early days of my career, when I was a part-time advertising sales rep in a community newspaper and there were only two women on the sales team, you'd get people coming in and saying, “good morning, gentlemen,” and just ignoring us. I think you can take heart in the fact that those people disappear along the wayside, because they can’t work with other people if they’re going to rule 50 per cent of the population out.

“Apart from those early skirmishes, I've benefited in that there's been a real push to get more women into executive roles. When I was a CEO, there were very few women CEOs - it’s much more the norm now. And in governance, most big boards would have somewhere between 40 and 50 odd per cent female representation now. So from that perspective, the world has changed enormously in the time I've been involved.”

What’s your approach to mentoring and developing future leaders, and what qualities do you look for in emerging talent?

“Mentoring is something that people who are at my age and stage get approached about a lot, and it’s one of the reasons why we set up On Being Bold, which is a group of nine senior women leaders in New Zealand - we were all being asked to have cups of coffee to try and share some wisdom, and we found what we think is a more effective way of doing that.

“We try and expose women to a range of leadership styles, a range of experiences, and we have a major conference every year in December where we get about 1200 attendees. The idea is then people can find what’s relevant to them and use that to take it forward.

“I think we’ve got a great future in New Zealand, because the leadership talent today is really looking for a much more diverse approach to what their career aspirations are. Today, the world’s their oyster, as long as they apply themselves, get the right experience and qualifications, and use the right tools within their toolkit.”

What legacy do you hope to leave behind from your career, and how do you want your career to inspire other people?

“I think I will leave people who’ve worked with me with the impression that I always did my best for the companies that I was on the board of. I hope my work ethic rubs off on others, on the younger directors who work with me now, so they understand that you really do have to put the time in to understand the company and the industry that you’re working with.

“I just try to have a positive influence on those I’ve worked with, and the knock-on effect of that is if they behave in the same way, then that hopefully improves governance for New Zealand.”