Why I joined the Business Chicks, Business Club

Image Credit: businesschicks.com

I’ve always loved the Business Chicks events – they are always inspiring, give you perspective and a great way to connect.  The Business Chicks brand is strong and it has a strong ability to bring out the best in people.

Whiteark was launched in July 2020 in the middle of Covid19 and I am lucky to have an amazing Co-founder who is so supportive of me and everything we are co-creating through Whiteark.  We have a great team here and 2020 was our foundational kick-off.

In January 2021 I was reflecting on finding some like-minded people that would give me connection, perspective, different experiences and an opportunity to grow.  I research and joined Business Chicks Business Club.

The induction session was expectational – inspiring to see so many ladies doing great things for them and looking like me for an opportunity to connect, learn and grow.  The fire side chats and virtual events have been great and I’m so excited about attending the offsite in early May 2021. An opportunity to reflect, connect, challenge and really help support each other as we grow our businesses. 

In your life, you need to find your kind of people. 

People how lift others higher.  Who bring out the best in you.  Who teach you, who support you and that always know they have your back.  What I have learnt about myself from joining Business Chicks Business Club:

1. People genuinely looking for support / connection

2. Women are amazing at running their own businesses and juggling so many other commitments

3. It’s an environment where people want you to be successful and they are interested in you and how to support and help you

In Corporate life, it’s disappointment that it’s normally the more senior women that have made it that don’t provide the support for the women coming up the ranks, why is this?  Maybe’s it’s why women go and start up their own thing and do something bigger / better for themselves.  I’m passionate about supporting women – helping them find their voice, work through the things that are holding them back and giving them the opportunities to prove to themselves how amazing they are.

If you are looking for your kind of women, people to raise you up, support, connect and provide a sense of tribe – and we are in this together – look no further than Business Chicks Business Club.  I’ve only just started but I feel like it’s just what I need right now and probably forever.

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Need support in your organisation? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Leadership – your legacy

It doesn’t mean you are old – legacy.  What leadership legacy do you want to leave?  What kind of leader you do want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

When I think about Legacy I think about leaders that I have had in my career. Which ones have inspired me and which one disappointed me.  I use this to work out what kind of leader I want to be. How about you?

Words that I want around my leadership:

• Strong

• Decisive

• Quick to respond

• Caring

• Challenging

• Outside comfort zone

I want to be a strong decisive leader that is focusing on the greater good of the organisation and team.  Sometimes this requires you to make hard decisions but you do it for the greater good.   I want to encourage, challenge my people and get them outside their comfort zone to do bigger things and know that I have there back.  My role is to bring out the best in people, team and organisation and this is about finding the people to invest in and the people to manage out/exit. 

Great leadership will not make you popular but it will make you respected.  No one wants to be unpopular but as a leaders if you are too focused on making people like you and not upsetting people you will likely be an average leader at best. You have to make the hard decisions – you need to take people on the journey.  Change management is not a person/role it’s the way leaders take the team on the journey.

Leadership is a journey – you need to fail to learn and be the best leader you can be. It’s a decision every day, it’s being honest when you get it wrong and it’s having another go the next day – it’s being resilient.

There have been a number of leaders that I have admired in my career – David McGregor from EY, David Thodey from Telstra.  These leaders taught me about finding your way, being your authentic self, there is no perfect way but find your way.  It is such good advice.

I have learnt just as much from the leaders I haven’t respected and it’s made me realise on the leader I don’t want to be – selfish, focused on individual gain and not taking a strong stance on unacceptable performance.

I love to learn from leaders; what works for them, what doesn’t and what they have learnt on their journey. The highlight of my week to do the Chiefs podcast focused on getting lessons and learnings from a range of different leaders.  Tune in …we should add in link.

At Whiteark we are lucky to work with so many amazing leaders, to get leaders to connect and to provide thought leadership and other insights to leaders on key topics that are important to them.

If you want to know more about us, reach out for a no obligation chat.

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Want to talk about building your leadership team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our founder has a combined experience of over 20 years’ working as Executive in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Founder Whiteark

8 Key lessons we have learnt from launching our own podcast

We launched Whiteark - The Chiefs Podcast in October 2020.  We have loved every minute of it.

What makes leaders tick? The Chiefs gives you insight into what makes our great leaders so great. With organisation’s top chiefs in the hot seat each week, we chat about the highs – and lows – and lessons along the way; tackling the biggest issues people are facing today. We know that leading can be a lonely role and we believe that learning from other great people is one of the best resources we have. So join us on our journey, and enjoy the stories behind some of the greats…

At the end of May here are the key statistics for our podcast:

• Number of Episodes: 32

• Key Topics covered (maybe some groupings) – People and Leadership, Impacts of Covid, Post Covid Recovery, Data, Transformation, Innovation, Sales and Service.

We have interviewed a range of leaders; young, older, CEO, Executive, owning and running their own business.  Each leaders provided so many great tips and lessons around their leadership journey.  It’s very inspiring.  In 30 mins it’s amazing what you can learn about someone. 

We feel privileged to have some amazing leaders that have shared their stories with us and our leaders and we are also privileged to have so many loyal followers. 

When I reflect at the end of the week; on my highlight it’s likely that that the podcast will be my highlight – I’ve met someone new, I’ve learnt something new and it’s given me some inspiration / perspective.  I feel very honoured and privileged to be able to take their precious time to share their journey and wisdom with our Whiteark family.

There are 8 key lessons we have learnt from interviewing 35+ leaders on The Chiefs Podcast:

1.   Everyone has a story – regardless of age/role etc everyone has a story to tell.  Tell your story so your business understands how you got here and what this role means to you.  People want to know your story.

2.   People learn most from their mistakes – failure is ok -it’s how you respond that is important. Everyone makes mistakes, yep it’s true but it’s how you respond that separates people.  Learn from your mistakes and move forward.

3.   Your job is to make hard decisions.  It’s not all about consensus, you need to make the right decision for the organisation.  Listen, understand and make a decision – your people will respect you for it.

4.   Sometimes your job is lonely so finding like-minded professionals for connection is important.  For me business chicks business club has been a God send but find your mentor, your support network.

5.   Trusting your employees and giving them he environment to flourish is critical.  Trust is easy to say but actions speak louder than words. 

6.   Being able to navigate ambiguity is critical – make decisions, pivot and dealing with ambiguity and moving forward will be critical.

7.   Being a leader requires you to be at your best – look after yourself – put your oxygen mask on first and ensure you look after yourself so you can come back tomorrow for another day.

8.   Be authentic – authentic leadership – be yourself and your people will respect you and follow you.  While it’s talked about a lot really being true to you and being your own leader is critical.

While there are other lessons that we have learnt these would be have been the top 8. 

We continue every week to bring you leaders that inspire, challenge and give you a different perspective. For an investment of 30 mins of your time – please tune into The Chiefs each week on Wednesday to ensure you don’t miss a beat.

If you would love to be on our podcast – please click the button below and we will be in contact.

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Want to talk about building your business? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Will Covid-19 make or break you?

We have had a year of ambiguity and we will never go back to ‘normal’ for some industries and companies this has meant growth / opportunities and for others it has been meant something quite different.

Regardless of how I have been impacted professionally; everyone has been impacted personally.  This experience could have been positive or not so much. 

However I believe we are in the fork in the road…which path are you going to take?

We are now in May 2021 and you need to be clear is Covid19 going to make or break you?

What we know:

• The world has changed

• Companies have changed

• Households have changed

• How we think about work/life has changed

• A lot has changed

• We are not going back to ‘normal’

• There is ambiguity

• Consumer/Customer expectations have changed

How we respond?

Our initial response is survival – what do we need to do to survive Covid19 – personally and professionally.  The focus was on being able to survive and working out how to work with teams remotely. 

The response then shifted to thrive – how do to create opportunity. Restaurants moved to delivery, takeaway and industries and businesses pivoted.  Looking for opportunities to capitalise/optimise the business.

We are now living with ambiguity but businesses need to start revisiting its strategy, priorities and operations to ensure it is maximising its results.  We don’t have all the answers, we don’t know what normal is but continuing to move forward, make decisions and pivoting on changes is critical.

Key things to ensure you consider:

1. Customer/consumer expectations & how this has changed. Use data to validate.

2. Do you need to rethink your supply chain, suppliers and how you source your key services/goods?

3. How can you make your operations more cost effective?

4. Do you need to rethink your talent strategy – what do you need to own, what can be outsource/partnering  

5. Measuring what matters and report regularly so changes can be made?

6. How do we maximise the cash flow of the business? Focus on short term and long-term initiatives to drive improvement in cashflow

7. Revisiting investments to ensure it supports new priorities reviewing investments to ensure it supports new priorities and ensure aligned return on investment.

As a leader in an organisation it’s imperative that you take decisive action to ensure you set up your business for success.  Running scenario analysis and understanding the ‘what if’ are important to understand how you will pivot if something changes.

It’s a chance to relook at priorities, operating model and how you measure success for your business.  It’s the chance to show strong leadership with your organisation and team and ensure it maximise it chance for success.

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Need support in your organisation? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark