It's frequently said that marketing is under-represented in the boardroom yet gaining a board position is the second most important career goal for marketers, according to a recent member survey by the Australian Marketing Institute.
Women, too are underrepresented on boards. Currently, just 23% of board members in the ASX200 are women, as of June 2016. In the year to date 40%, of new board appointments (36 people) have been women so there is a shift occurring.
David Gonski, the author of the Gonski education report, is one of Australia’s most renowned businessmen and board leaders. He sits on numerous boards and is currently chairman of Coca-Cola Amatil and the ANZ Bank and Chancellor of the University of UNSW. He took to the stage at a recent event hosted by women's networking group Senior Women in Media and Marketing (SWIMM) to shine a light on how women in the media and marketing industry can get “board ready”.
Gonski was talking alongside Holly Kramer, formerly the CEO of Best & Less who masterminded the discount retailer’s transformation. She stepped out of executive life 18 months ago to take on four permanent board positions at Nine Entertainment Co, Australia Post, AMP and Woolworths. The discussion was moderated by Sky News presenter Laura Jayes adn some of Australia's top media women were in the room.
Having a varied career and strong network is a benefit to securing a board position because it's about what you know and who you know. And a charity board is seen as a good stepping-stone towards a corporate board.
But key to finding success in board positions, according to Gonski, is finding a company or business that you are passionate about.
Gonski says he is frequently asked how he finds the time for all his business interests and replies that if he's genuinely interested, he seems to find the time. If he doesn't care, he doesn't find the time. It's unlikely, he added, that he would take up a board position with a sports team any time soon since he lacks any interest in sports.
It is a very personal decision as to when you feel ready to take on a board position, said Kramer and Gonski.
Gonski believes that if a woman sees a job description but is missing one of the requirements, she won't go for the role, whereas if a man reads the same description and has only one of the capabilities, he'll apply anyway. It's something that could be holding women back.
While admitting that broad generalisations are risky and don't apply to everyone, it's a common state of play, he says.
Gonski also emphasised board-level roles are not a part-time job. Nor are they easier than exec roles, which he finds is a common misconception.
Kramer agrees, admitting that the 18 months she has spent in board roles have been the busiest of her career.
“You can't treat it as a part-time job. People won't stand for that. I've never worked so hard,” she adds.
Kramer believes that gender wasn't a disadvantage to her finding high-profile board positions. Quite the opposite. As there is a concerted effort from companies to address the imbalance on boards, for women with the right talents and capabilities, there are more board opportunities opening up.
“I found that for me the opportunities came from companies facing disruption and wanting to transform themselves to be more customer focused and customer-centric,” she says.
“There are many more that are looking that way. I've always valued diversity, not just gender, but thinking. It gets to better decisions because you have different ways of thinking. But I have never valued it more than being on boards because there's just 10 people who have to make a decision. You have to hope that everyone has a varying degree of perspective. I'm so glad I'm on boards where everyone doesn’t think he way I do,” she says.
Gonski agrees.
“A board is a team, and in my opinion, yes you need diversity and you need people good at marketing, bean counters and lawyers. But you need a level [of business acumen] before you even look at that. Not everyone has to be a bean counter, but you have to understand beans," he says.
"You could have the best customer-centric marketing guru join the board, but if they don’t understand business, when things go wrong - and they do – I don’t know if I'm comfortable them being there. When you're in the trenches you want a person who has business experience.”
The discussion around diversity inevitably turned to quotas. While there is a concerted effort to make sure boards are more representative and not dominated by men, quotas are not seen as the way to go.
Germany has a new law mandating 30% of top board roles be held by women, as an effort to accelerate change. But neither Gonski nor Kramer are in favour of quotas as the way to achieve balance.
Both are in favour of targets and believe Australia will get to the target of 30% by 2018.
“I don't want to be told who I can have on my board. We have to get the best people round the table and the people in this room can get there on their own resource. Not as the token woman,” says Gonski.
Kramer added: “I don’t think anyone feels comfortable with quotas, but there are targets, and there are targets with teeth. Diversity on boards happens if the CEO and the board believe in it. You're either a believer or you’re not, and today, it doesn't look smart to not be a believer.”
The discussion gave practical tips for the necessary capabilities but there are also moves elsewhere to help marketers move into board positions.
The Australian Marketing Institute has recently partnered with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AIDC) and with Board Direction to offer eduction programmes and courses.
AMI CEO Lee Tonitto says: “Boards are increasingly in search of marketers with authentic marketing skills and it is rewarding to know that AMI will be assisting marketers to gain a seat at the board table”.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop me a line at rosiebaker@yaffa.com.au
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