Corporate Australia needs to ditch old processes and 'org-hack' itself to keep up with Silicon Valley

This article was first published in Business Insider Australia, October 12 2017.

If Australia wants to compete with global innovators, corporate culture needs to change.

GirledWorld co-founders Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski want to equip the next innovation generation of female leaders, founders and STEM experts with the enterprise skills, and access to female business role models they’ll need to excel in the future of work.

Grummet told Business Insider that GirledWorld focuses on embedding purpose across everything they do, and building a startup culture that fosters creativity and human-centred design.

“We’ve worked and studied across the US, Asia and Europe over our career lifetimes, and it’s interesting to compare the cultural dictates of those economies,” Grummet said.

“What is clear is that comparatively, Australia’s corporate culture is inherently conservative and currently bound by legacy processes, hierarchies and systems that actually impede innovation.

“In the context of a data-driven knowledge economy, the advent of exponential technologies, rapid communication and a fragmenting marketplace, it’s clear that corporates will need to embrace change, employ human-centered design to put the customer at the heart of their business model, and embed purpose in their culture if they are going to survive.”

If you compare Australia to the Silicon Valley start-up scene, for example, Grummet said the companies there have an intense focus on being scalable, 'scrappy', agile and adaptable to change – driven either by the consumer, the marketplace or the technology.

“In that environment of rapid value shift, traditional industries and companies simply have to adapt to survive and this is driven by startups,” Grummet said.

“So companies and corporate cultures over there are actively trying to org-hack themselves to stay agile, redefine their purpose and drive intentional innovation.”

Grummet recently returned from a trip to the Valley, where she participated in deep-dives in innovation labs with the likes of Google, Airbnb, Twitter, Tesla, Silicon Valley Robotics and Singularity University.

Unfortunately, changing your culture is not something Australian businesses can just “copy and paste” from Silicon Valley, Grummet explained.

“In order to stay globally competitive and locally relevant, we must create and nurture our own culture within a start-up ecosystem that drives net job creation for Australia’s future economy.”

In the next 12 months, Grummet says girledworld's focus will be on three things: building an entrepreneurially minded team, scaling to reach more girls across Australia with a digital platform and continuing to embed purpose across their business to deliver on their mission.

“Five years from now we would like to have a multi-national team working within an operating culture that is diverse, positive, purpose-fuelled and that lives by its values, providing active mentorship and future career pathways to girls.”

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Join girledworld, Google, The Australian Futures Project and Blackbird Ventures at NAB 23/11.

GirledWorld Co-founders Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski are members of the NewCo Advisory Council, and will be presenting at the Melbourne NewCo Festival on Thursday November 23 at NAB's The Hall in Melbourne. For tickets book here.

The Panel Event entitled 'Redefine the Workplace Paradigm: How to get women to stay, lead and succeed', will feature guest presentations and girledworld Co-Founders in conversation with Sally Ann Williams, Engineering Community & Outreach Program Manager, Google, Ralph Ashton, Co-Founder, Australian Futures Project and #WTFAustralia, and Nick Crocker, Partner, Blackbird Ventures. Tickets here. (Event details below and full NewCo Melbourne schedule here.)

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NewCo Melbourne: Redefine the Workplace Paradigm: How to get women to stay, lead and succeed brought to you by girledworld.

girledworld will explore the third gender revolution as we unpack diversity as an innovation driver, hear from experts about purpose-driven female leadership, and smash up workplace status quo and unconscious biases. Join us to build your toolkit on how to drive cultural transition in a positive, sustainable way, and how to create connection between industry and education to build the female pipeline of future innovators, leaders and founders.

NewCo is a festival of innovation and inspiration where mission-driven companies invite you inside their offices to share stories of positive change.

Business Insider Australia is the proud media partner of NewCo Melbourne, which kicks off on 22 November. Get your tickets and see the full schedule at www.mel.newco.co

Bringing up businesses and babies: Why women need mentors to make it work

As a working female who knows all too well the pace and juggle of balancing the needs of four busy daughters with the mid-career portfolio demands of building a startup, speaking engagements, active mentoring and board directorships, time is the core currency I trade in these days.

There are only so many hours in any given day, and the opportunity cost of time ill-spent down an email black hole or in zero-outcome meetings mean I've become more binary about how I will and won't spend my business time.

I choose to work with people and on projects that align to my purpose, and that solve for problems that really matter. It means the work can dial up and down as the projects demand, and it also means I therefore have to know when to flick the switch to family.

But like many women of my generation raising businesses and babies, finding true balance can be a challenge.

Sometimes the mix is just right, other times all wrong. You wing it anyway, and remind yourself that balance isn't static, and life is a continuum of change within which we chart our course, adjusting sails along the way where we need to. Some days are rough and tough, others blue-skied and calm watered (personally and professionally).

But in the mix of busy, I have, and always will, carve out time for mentorship. Because bringing up businesses and babies is not an easy juggle, and to make it work I have relied on the active mentorship of generous, intelligent women to help me navigate the way.

Because I have lived the benefit of having other women empower and mentor me, I believe in paying it forward. Daily, I still draw on the power and knowledge well of my collective circle to stay afloat, accelerate my opportunities and make strategic career choices. In fact some of the best business decisions I've made were shaped with mentors.

Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will To Lead has a dedicated chapter called Are You My Mentor? and in it she explores the idea of mentorship, and how to find the right mentors for your personal and professional stage.

Some of her key points about mentorship are that at its best it must be:

1.  AUTHENTIC: Healthy and effective business relationships take time to nurture and develop, and most often arise organically from real human connections where there is inherent mentor/mentee chemistry, authenticity and generosity. Find mentors who understand who you are, what your values, vision and purpose are, and who will then bring people into your network who share this, too.

2.  RECIPROCAL: Mentorship cuts both ways, and provides both parties with the opportunity for growth, transfer of knowledge, personal learning and professional extension. The mentor can sharpen and shape their leadership style through mentee feedback, and the mentee can also provide “grassroots intelligence” on industry insights, market intel and internal culture (access the mentor would not otherwise gain). In turn mentors can push you to your limits, challenge your thinking, strategically connect you to key stakeholders, champion your cause and actively market you and your business to amplify your message/vision.

3.  ACTIONABLE: Mentors and mentees must commit to progress, and measurable outcomes. In order for both parties to benefit most from the relationship, mentees must create actions around advice dispensed, embed key learnings, and then circle this back into the learning loop with mentors.

4.   AUTONOMOUS: Great mentors don’t cut the path but light the way. The greatest learning for mentees is learning by doing, even if it means failing and floundering a few times before charting the right path. Taking autonomous steps but knowing you have someone to bounce off when the going gets hard can be just the support you need to realise your potential and better achieve your goals.

Some of the most successful women I know have attributed active networking and mentoring to their success, saying that by putting themselves out there, finding their tribe and building a trusted group of people around them, they have achieved far more than could ever have done on their own.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a mentor or seeking active mentorship as a mentee, there are now multiple organisations, digital platforms and online communities offering professional and personal coaching services if you’d like a hand to get started rather than reach out to your existing networks. Everwise, Mentorloop, Inspiring Rare Birds, Business Chicks and Mogul are just a few.

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SHE MENTORS - SUMMER NETWORKING PARTY

Inspire9, Richmond, Wednesday November 1, 6.00pm-8.00pm

Alternatively, if you’re in Melbourne and would like to connect in the real with a room full of female business women from all walks of life, register for the She Mentors Summer Networking Party at Inspire9 in Richmond on Wednesday November 1 6.00pm-8.00pm, and join me alongside Gemma Lloyd of Diverse City Careers as part of a She Mentors event celebrating female mentorship and the power of networking.

Lloyd is the co-founder of DCC Jobs, Company Secretary of the Diversity Practitioners Association (DPA), winner of the Sue Wickenden 2016 Entrepreneur Of The Year Award and has served on multiple not-for-profit Boards including IT Queensland Females in and Technology and Telecommunications (FITT).

In this event Lloyd will share her journey at the helm of DCC Jobs, where she has been campaigning for flexible working conditions for women, and regularly presenting on topics including diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, developing confidence for career success, and personal branding strategies, so will have a wealth of knowledge to impart to the audience.

DCC is a social enterprise helping women pursue rewarding careers, particularly in sectors with high gender inequality rates. Since its conception, DCC has grown rapidly and is now regarded as one of Australia’s leading authorities on gender diversity.

The DCC jobs board is Australia’s only exclusive jobs board, meaning employers must be pre-qualified before advertising to ensure a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. DCC were winners of the 2016 #techdiversity awards and finalists in the 2015 ARN Women in ICT Awards in the Innovation category.

I’ll also be sharing my story and some of the thrills and spills as a social entrepreneur, Mum, mentor and co-founder of girledworld.

Mainly, I’ll be chatting about how I’ve charted my career path around businesses and babies, built connections and communities along the way, and what I’ve learned from mentors and other extraordinary business women in my network.

There’ll be plenty of time for Q&A and networking afterwards, so we can all share stories, forge new connections and learn from each other.

I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Madeleine Grummet
Co-Founder & CEO girledworld

She Mentors Summer Networking Party.
Bookings here.

Why STEM Matters to Girls.

We wish we could candy coat the stats but the numbers just aren't moving - women and girls remain grossly underrepresented in #STEM fields, and according to a recent Australian Government National Innovation and Science Agenda Report only one in four IT graduates and fewer than one in 10 engineering graduates are women.

Further, women occupy fewer than one in five senior positions in Australian universities and research institutes, and represent just one quarter of the STEM workforce overall.

This is a critical problem. Why?

Because STEM matters.

It matters because to secure Australia’s future economy, we need STEM to drive innovation, so we desperately need girls to step up to STEM, to grow their tech skillsets and mindsets, and to equip themselves for the future of work.

This will take a concerted, national effort as there are multiple cultural, institutional and organisational barriers that discourage girls and women from studying STEM, and that limit their opportunities to pursue careers in this space.

We need a movement. And it will take time.

But a big part of this is actually showing girls what they can be.

STEM role models matter. 
Girls can't be what they can't see. 
And don't know what they don't know.

So we need more STEM role models inspiring girls, science teachers, educators, media, entrepreneurs, executives, manufacturers, editors and policy-makers so more girls start to select into the mix.

This is what will start to sweeten the numbers. 💓

At Girledworld we're honoured to have the support and expertise of amazing female STEM mentors talking to and teaching girls STEM, and showing them some of the great careers built on STEM.

You can learn, meet and have the chance to chat with them at the girledworld SUMMIT at the University of Melbourne's Wade Institute the weekend of June 24/25.

Be inspired by global and local leaders in tech, deep dive coding, hear from extraordinary STEM leaders about how they started, and push your career thinking to reimagine what you and your daughters can do to embrace STEM and equip yourselves for the future of work.

Join us to make the change.

GIRLEDWORLD SUMMIT
A life-changing event for girls/Mums/Teachers/Mentors ✖️✖️
EARLY BIRD TICKETS ON-SALE NOW!! 
Get in quick before they're gone!
See you there!

Young Musical Talent Tilly Vickers Willis to perform at girledworld SUMMIT!

We love celebrating talent, especially extraordinary up-and-coming girl talent. 🎙

So we're thrilled to confirm Tilly Vickers-Willis, a 17-year-old amazing musician from Melbourne, as part of our talent-studded lineup for the @girledworld SUMMIT at the University of Melbourne on SUNDAY JUNE 25 (Early Bird Tickets selling now here!)

Playing piano, guitar and singing for most of her life, Tilly started writing songs around the age of 5 and turned to it as a serious craft aged just 12.

Says the songwriter: "My songs form out of necessity and reflect my careful observations of the world around me, exploring ideas such as youth, societal expectations, young love, nostalgia and an exploration of political & world issues."

Her big, bold and haunting sound is acoustic and simple, inspired by strong female artists such as London Grammar’s Hannah Reid, Missy Higgins, Lorde, and Isabella Manfredi, and to date Tilly has performed at a range of events and backyard gigs including scoring her first radio gig on 3AW with Billy Pinnell, Grubby and Dee Dee last month. 

You can lose yourself in her sound on soundcloud at soundcloud.com/tillyvw

And see her power and talent in the real @girledworld @unimelb SUMMIT (link in profile 🔝)

BOOK YOUR EARLY BIRD TICKETS NOW for the GIRLEDWORLD BIG IDEAS SUMMIT
Saturday June 24 & Sunday June 25 at the University of Melbourne ✖️✖️ 

Featuring a seriously amazing lineup of speakers and experiential workshops from @unimelb @wadeinstitute @ibm @airbnb @atlassian @tomorganic @airwallex @girlgeekacademy @adorebeauty @frank_bod @startupvictoria @wiseunimelb @whatsnormal_  @fya_org @doremecreative @mumtaza @oneroofwomen @mapunimelb @theleaguewomen @coolaustralia @philipdalidakis @launchvic and stacks more!  ✖️✖️ 

@girledworld - Building the next generation of female leaders, founders and #STEM champions.

It takes a community of many to change the life of one.

And just one empowered girl to change the world of many. 🎙✖️✖️

The Experience Age - a night at PwC as a STARTUP

This week the team at girledworld paid a visit to the new PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) offices located in Southbank, Melbourne, for The Experiences Event.

With 360 degrees of the city, the new state of the art office facilities filled with open plan offices, technology and collaborative spaces were an enviable setting, which provided the perfect backdrop to begin discussions about the future of big business in Australia.

To begin the evening, we were invited to select three of following perspectives: 

1. Student experience: Going digital to raise the bar on student employability
2. Connected Retail Experience: Maximising the engagement of tomorrow's customer in a connected retail world
3. Employee experience: How creative communications is changing the employee experience
4. Solving wicked problems: Co-designing solutions to wicked problems in an experience-led world
5. When data is the difference: Three ways to use data to reduce cost and engage your customers
6. Cyber Security: Security by design
7. Disruption: Swimming against the tide - Disruption in established organisations incorporating a Blockchain case study
8. Government: Solving big problems and rebuilding trust in Government

We selected the following perspectives and here's our biggest take-aways from each: 

1. Student experience: Going digital to raise the bar on student employability

• Given the way that students (at both secondary and tertiary levels) interact with one another, technology needs to be at the core of key communication strategies
• Understand what the outcome of tertiary education is --> employability 
• When designing curriculum, ensure that the end goal (of employability) is always engineered into the educational framework. Students must be skilled and ready for employment 
• STUDENTS are educational institution's CUSTOMERS

3. Employee experience: How creative communications is changing the employee experience

• Internal communications within companies continues to be under-utilised and under-valued
• Storytelling is the most effective way to communicate KEY information. This can come in many forms including storybooks, one page posters, in-office interactive technology displays
• Digital communication tools do not completely replace traditional communication media (i.e. paper materials)

4. Solving wicked problems: Co-designing solutions to wicked problems in an experience-led world

• Human-centred design approaches are now becoming more "mainstream" 
• Ensure that diversity is at the core of the design process - bring the right people into the design process 
• Understand the PROBLEM that you are trying to solve 
• Co-creation leads to a deeper connection, higher engagement and ownership of solutions 

Following the live perspectives, a panel presentation included the following: 

• Airbnb Australia & New Zealand Country Manager, Sam McDonagh

• Telstra Group Chief Technology Officer and previous Ericsson Australia and New Zealand CEO,  Hakan Eriksson

• NSW Treasury Director and previous EGM Strategy, Education and External Relations at SunSuper, Andrea Forbes

• Previous Executive General Manager of Channel Ten and PwC's current lead of our Chief Marketing Officer Advisory, Russel Howcroft

• Commonwealth Bank National Director of Health, Caitlin Wilson

The all-star panel including representatives from Airbnb, CBA, Telstra, NSW Treasury and PwC

The panel discussion largely focused around discussions of innovation (integrating innovation projects into large companies), technology (like 5G and drones), disruption and addressing national problems of the future (like health industry and the ageing population of Australia).

From a start-up perspective, it was fascinating to see the discomfort and struggle that large corporations are experiencing in relation to the broader market which is being rapidly disrupted by innovation, technology and startups! The future is going to be vastly different to the past and present. That's why we need to ensure the next generation is prepared and skilled accordingly with the soft and hard enterprise skillsets to adapt to this rapid change.

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At girledworld we're constantly seeking new information and checking in with industry to ensure our eduTech resources and experiences for Australian girls are relevant and in-tune with the employment landscape of the future. We are developing world-leading educational experiences for Australian girls, so that they have the resource and skill-sets to succeed in the future of work - whatever that looks like!

If you have any suggestions regarding resources, events or initiatives you think we should be aware of please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@girledworld.com  - we're always up for a great conversation! 

A year on: The unexpected learnings from Entrepreneurial Education

It’s a year this week that Madeleine and I met for the first time.

We were two in a cohort of almost 20 students, all about to start a year-long Masters program at the University of Melbourne’s Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship.

Adding to usual first-day nerves, there was another layer of anxiety shared amongst us as this was a brand new course, curriculum, faculty and with a building that wasn’t quite finished yet.

Before this first week I had never heard of lean, agile or a business model canvas and it turns out I had no real understanding of entrepreneurship. I’d heard of Branson, Jobs, Gates … but that was pretty much it!

This past year I have been on a completely unexpected learning curve.

Yes, I’ve learnt a lot about business, innovation and the world of Silicon Valley but the most profound learnings are applicable to much more than just entrepreneurship…

Here are some of the highlights:

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1. Find your person

You hear people encouraging you to “find your tribe” quite a lot and, I must admit, I cringe a little when I hear that saying.

But I do think that finding people who energise, encourage, challenge and support you is so, so, so important.

What is misleading about “finding your tribe” is that it makes it seem like you need to find a whole group of like-minded people when, really, all you need is just one person.

I feel extremely fortunate to have turned up at the Wade Institute at the same time as Madeleine. We’re the same and different in many ways but every time we talk (which is a lot these days) I feel inspired and energised, with the belief that we can do whatever we put our minds and efforts to.

We laugh a lot. We have meaningful conversations. We have many shared values. And most importantly we listen to and empower one another. 

Entrepreneurship can be a very lonely road at times so make sure you’re on the journey with the right people. 

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2. Learn to love learning

Before my Masters I never thought that I liked learning. Scarred from undergraduate degrees that required endless prac reports and essay after essay, at my first graduation ceremony I vowed that I would never go back.

Ha! It took me just under three years to break that promise and I was enrolled in a post-graduate degree.

So what was different this time around?

By the time I turned up to do my Masters I’d already seen the inside of three different organisations. Some things I liked, some I didn’t. But what really struck me was in some work environments, continuous learning wasn’t a thing. You learnt your place, your job and that was it. If you weren’t surrounded by curious people, you could easily stop learning right then and there.

I never thought that this was an issue until I found myself desperate to acquire new skills, seek new information and self-educate outside of working hours. I didn't want to admit it but I missed learning.  

Entrepreneurial education has taught me to scan, read, gather information from any reliable source. From reading case study after case study, I’ve seen how little bits of information can drive big change and innovation. You need to keep your eyes and ears open for information all the time - you never know when the dots might connect on something amazing!

Amusingly now, I’m dabbling with the ol’ PHD idea ... but give it a few years at least!

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3. Just start

Put your hand up if you’re highly self critical *typing pauses as I raise my hand*

It can be so hard to judge your performance. Expectations are unrealistic. Nothing is ever good enough.

It can be easy to be in a constant state of ideating and planning without ever actioning anything.

This is fear.

You need to move past it. 

My message to those reading is to simply start. Whether it be entrepreneurship or something completely unrelated, just start and see where it takes you.

A year ago that’s exactly what we did and we haven’t looked back. We’ve had a year of learnings, new friends, connections, inside jokes and a whole lot of memories!

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4. Be kind to yourself

During our last semester stress levels were high. After a presentation, one of our professors came up to me to see how I was feeling. We’d spent weeks and many late nights preparing for this presentation and in hindsight it was pretty good! But being the hypercritical personality that I am I was immediately looking for all the weaknesses and areas of improvement in our performance.

After a few minutes of drilling questions to our professor like “What do we need to do differently next time?” and “How can we improve the value proposition of our pitch?” he stopped me and said:

“You are one of the most self-critical people that I have met in more than a decade of teaching university students. Today was good. The work was good. You’ve put a lot of effort into this. Be kinder to yourself and the work that you have produced. Yes - you can always improve but everything is ok. ”

Wait. What? You're not supposed to know that I’m self-critical - you’re just supposed to think that I’m a smart, hard-working student.

Yet this little bit of insight and feedback made me start to really think about the way that I treat myself.

And it isn't just limited to your professional life. My best friend recently told me a piece of advice.

She said:

“You need to talk to yourself the same way that you would talk to me or any of our friends. The next time that self-critical voice starts drilling you, just stop and imagine me. Would you say the same thing to my face?”

We’re so kind and encouraging to our friends but so quick to criticise ourselves.

I haven't mastered this one yet but I’m learning to be more mindful when the self-critic in me comes out to play!

Yes, be nice to others but BE NICER TO YOURSELF!

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It's amazing what a difference a year can make.

Here's to another year of new friends, learnings and memories in the making!

- E xx