Future leaders must step out of what they know, explore and see what the world is like outside their bubble.

by Moderator August 20, 2022 0 Comment

Debby Lo-Dean is a person who wears many hats. She works in four main areas, that are, the Innovation space, Community Service, Small business and the creative arts.

She is known as a connector bringing together people and departments that have a shared interest and possible alliances. She is an ideas person who is known to get things done. She has a passion for innovation and the fact that Innovation is a result of finding a solution for a problem.

She considers herself very lucky that she was nominated to attend Singularity University in the USA. She was one of the few female attendees. Having the opportunity to study the latest in technology that is addressing global problems from world-leading organisations like NASA, Google, Stamford was an amazing experience.

Becoming one of the Directors of the Gold Coast Innovation Hub has given her the opportunity to help more startups and the innovation space and also connect globally.

In the last year, she and her husband created and launched a new Gin brand, Paradise Distillers using Australian botanicals and promoted stories of her hometown through their labeling and social media posts. They support local suppliers and manufacturers as much as possible.

Her community work is a source of inspiration as her community leaders group band together to help the community with food parcels and with general answers to questions.

Seeing Asian hate increase, she felt the responsibility to take action and wrote a short film which was made on a very small budget and it won at the World Film Carnival.

How do you balance work and life responsibilities?

To be honest work and life responsibilities can have blurred lines sometimes when you work from home. Some people have negative things to say about social media but I have found having social media platforms and connecting with family and work colleagues individually and in group chats wonderful. I can also speak to family and business colleagues anywhere in the world. At home, we always try to have dinner together and catch up on whatever is going on. It is very important to me to try to see my girlfriends once a week. It may not be every week but most weeks. Although our children are grown adults we still get excited about watching newly released movies together. Work/life balance is always a challenge but we make do. When starting a new business, we have to work long hours and a lot of stress on top of the challenges of Covid. The most important thing is to try and manage that. I find that meditation and yoga is a good way to relax the mind and stretch. We also take turns with the chores around the home. You have to forgive yourself for not being able to do everything and schedule in down time.

As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career?

I was a stay-at-home mum for a long time but during that time I sat on different community boards. The biggest barrier is being a part of a board that is predominantly male and having your ideas dismissed or stolen by someone else. We have many organisational boards here that are not culturally diverse or show female equality. Many traditional boards are still male dominant and the same people are on all the boards year in year out. I would also say wage inequality and opportunity for females to be taken seriously. Being an Asian Female leader has also had its fair share of barriers as looks sometimes define you before you open your mouth. There can be an element of racism that can be experienced at any time even though I was born in Australia. I find that the only way to overcome this is to just do what needs to be done and prove to people that it can be done. You also have to document it. When doing media expect that you will have good and bad comments. Learn to be media savvy.

Who inspired you and why?

I am inspired by my ancestors that overcame so much adversity including the Sino-Japanese war, indentured labour in Australia, and the White Australia policy to be part of a migrant community that just gets on with it and helps grow Australia. I am inspired by my babysitter as a child who fled from the war in the UK and Europe, traveled, and began the cabaret scene in Australia. I am inspired by Barrack Obama who is well-spoken, well-read, and still humble, he promotes the creation of a better world and supports youth initiatives. I am also currently inspired by a new friend who offered his time to help me freely and could see when I was sad and did small things to cheer me up. I have met many people that have achieved great things and they have entrusted me with small personal snippets in their lives, they all inspire me to do more. I am inspired by all the creators, storytellers, and scientists, and innovators trying to solve problems that sometimes we ourselves have created. I am inspired by startups that work tirelessly to get see their vision come to life. Most of all I am inspired by the youth that sees a problem and invents a solution with the notion of purely helping others, without bias or negative intentions but is motivated from the heart.

What are some traits you think great leaders possess?

Great leaders must have empathy, they must be able to put themselves in other people’s shoes and truly listen. You cannot lead if people do not want to follow. You must develop trust and not put yourselves above others. You need to have critical thinking skills and think strategically. You need to be able to inspire and be logical. When the going gets tough you need to be able to stick it out. Your support in an hour of need is sometimes the strength that is needed to avoid panic, calmly come up with a solution and go on to be a better than it was before. You have to be kind. There may be bumps in the road but your ability to be a great leader will show if you can navigate the bumps with calmness, logic, and more importantly with support from those around you that will rally to help you if you have taken the time to develop those relationships. I recommend that in order to be a great leader that you learn to have confidence speaking in front of others, speak clearly. Learn how to be comfortable doing interviews for the newspaper, radio, podcasts, television. Be media savvy and it is good to have poise and be presentable. Be prepared to answer difficult questions and show authority and knowledge. Don’t be afraid to be a change-maker and learn conflict management skills. Create your own vision that is inspiring and unites people to want to contribute.

What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?

The next generation of female leaders has so many positive role models. I would like to say to all future females, explore, step out of what you know and see what the world is like outside your bubble. Take bad experiences and learn from them. Be inspired by both women and men. Have audacious goals, be friendly, kind, and supportive. Give to the community and they will give back. Never stop learning. Find your passion and your purpose. Be an inspiration. Find people with common goals and passions and build something with them. Be truly interested in the people you meet and the stories that they tell. Be a student. Don’t let negativity stop you. If you are told you can’t do something prove them wrong. Take time to rest and enjoy the world. Be excited about other people’s successes. If you don’t understand something look it up and turn it into your own simple summary. Then share what you have learnt when the time is right. Listen and don’t be afraid to comment, pick the right time. You can be subtle and get your meaning across or if your personality allows you, be more forthright. Either way, get your message across, and don’t let others steal your thunder. Don’t be afraid to promote your wins. No one will know your achievements if they don’t hear about them. But be humble and thank those that helped you to achieve your goals. Be comfortable networking and asking for collaboration opportunities. Find like-minded people to help achieve your goals. There may not be a current collaboration opportunity but there might be one in the future. Create a good network list.

Do you experience resistance when you are leading men?

I find that once you can have a decent conversation with a man and work out that you have common interests, you generally will be able to find something to talk about. The difference is when you come across a bully, it is best to just walk away. The worst thing you can do is let them provoke you. I do however understand that some older men were brought up a different way and it will take a lot to change them. Each male is different and you have to take the time to find out what they are like. Walk away if you feel uncomfortable. We have to understand that men and women are different. I find that when I start to talk about complex issues I start to get some respect. I may get a little resistance in the beginning but generally, I am ok. The main thing is to find a team that works collaboratively whether they are male or female.

What is your management style? How do you like to communicate with your team?

Right now is the easiest time in history for communication. There are so many platforms to use. Each country has different preferred platforms and once you find out what they are it is easy to communicate. I still prefer face-to-face when possible as you have a better connection with people and will be able to see nuances and be able to pick up on things that you don’t during an online meeting. It also gives you a chance to get to know, connect and build rapport in a comfortable setting. My management style is a supportive one and one that is fairly democratic. I give guidance and come in when needed to be the person who can connect and speak in order to get the deal done. My Gold Coast Innovation Hub board is very collaborative and we can connect daily sometimes using Slack. We manage events and projects on Trello. For my Gin company, my husband takes on the main role but we both man equally. For my community leaders group, we communicate in a group chat and leave messages at any time. Whoever sees it first might have a solution and share that. We are all equal.

What was your organizational culture few years ago for women and working mothers? Do you feel the company should make annual efforts towards improving the culture for their cohort?

It is interesting that the board I sit on was originally male dominant but when the going got tough the males quit. It was a little bit like the man will save the day feel, but in fact, at the end of the day the women on the board stayed and the men left. I could not consciously let the team down. I stayed and helped manage the rough times. We managed by working collaboratively with our networks and peers who all put out their hands to help. When you have a positive organisation whose mantra is to unite and connect entrepreneurs it is humbling to see the people that are willing to stand up and support. We are now thriving and there are more females on the board than men. At the GCHUB we are very collaborative and supportive of each start-up or scale-up that uses us. We also have a co-working space that lets businesswomen and men with families that usually work from home have a place to come and rent a casual desk to connect with others and have a chance to network with other business owners. We don’t mind if they have to bring their children in occasionally. Our staff work their own hours from the office and at home. We are very supportive of working mothers as our founder was a single working mother herself. I think we have a well-balanced culture in our organisation. We are constantly looking to improve processes as a part of our business culture.

Are there common threads from the backgrounds, experience and skills of current women leaders that future women leaders can learn from to inspire their own Global Goals leadership journeys?

From my experience, the women leaders that I know have been through their own hardships and understand the amount of work that has to be done for an organisation to work properly. They all have grit. They are strong characters that can inspire others female or male. They have generally worked with a lot of men and held their own positions. These women are smart, well-educated, but not just from academia but from life experiences as well. These leaders are warm and inviting but also tough when they need to be and not afraid to call a spade a spade. They are also not afraid to praise other women and build them up and stand up for women or men that are being treated unfairly. They work for others and the benefit of the team, community, or organisation. They show confidence in speaking and genuinely want to achieve a better future.

What actions can both women and men take to encourage a greater number of women to lead on the Global Goals from across sectors and industries, including business, government, academia, and civil society?

There are young girls that I have met in not very good situations that don’t know any better than the lives they lead, we need to find ways where their voices are heard and given the encouragement to speak, learn and build confidence. We need to reduce fear, make childcare affordable, and make jobs more flexible. We can allow hybrid work situations where you spend some time working from home and other time in the office, there needs to be a balance. We need to support good women who want to run for politics. It is not easy and they have to have tough skin, they need to be able to speak up and be well-spoken but also they need to be well informed. There should be more opportunities to study politics for women. There are quite a few women in academia here so I would encourage universities to support female studies and offer more grants for women. I think there needs to be more internships in civil jobs as older staff retire they need to teach a new crop of women the nuances of the job. We need to allow women to be creative but also teach them new technology and how to use it to create their own path that could lead to jobs or their own business. Finally, I think we need to teach women to think for themselves, make mistakes and learn from them in order for them to lead on Global goals. We need to have more foundations for women that get the opportunity to be supported and promoted.

The world is in