Event

Empower & Elevate - Women in Finance Leadership Series: Inspiring Success

4 min read

November 7, 2024

Driven by a joint recognition and need for inclusive leadership that addresses the issues for working women who are already in leadership or are just starting their career journey, INFINZ, Financial Services Council (FSC) and the FSC's Empower Women have come together for an event series to create impactful change.

The ‘Empower & Elevate: Women in Finance’ leadership series will consist of three tailored events, each addressing a unique aspect of leadership development. The first event ‘Inspiring Success’ took place on Thursday 7 November 2024 and was sold-out.

Key takeaways included:

Small actions lead to big changes. Our panellists shared key insights into what good leadership looks like, and practical advice on career planning such as:

Be open about your goals and opportunities you are interested in, for others to remember you when the opportunity arises.
When leading a team, understanding what motivates the individual rather than what works for you and others is the key to unlocking performance.
"What you walk past is what you accept": calling out inappropriate remarks and behaviour every time to build a safe and respectful culture.
Micro-aggressions are small acts of discrimination that we should all address (e.g. 'we'll take you off the international projects while you have young kids'). Here are some simple ways to respond in the moment from Powrsuit.
Reframe leadership as exciting and fun, rather than extra responsibility and burden to encourage more women to take up leadership opportunities.
Finding creative ways to address lack of time or flexible childcare arrangements, such as taking children on business trips and finding local childcare.
Limiting beliefs act as an internal handbrake on our careers (e.g. "I shouldn't go for the promotion while pregnant"). Make a point of identifying and challenging yours.
Resources include Powrsuit's free newsletter for actionable self-leadership insights in your inbox every week.

Speakers:


Tracey Walker (Facilitator) Head of Institutional Banking, Westpac	Ginny Openshaw Head of Institutional Relationships, ANZ NZ	Juliet Tainui-Hernandez Non-executive Director, ASB Bank, Ngai Tahu Holdings Former RBNZ GM Transformation	Natalie Ferguson Co-founder, Powrsuit, Co-founder, Hatch