Women in Leadership with IBM Garage Lead ANZ, Kylie McLean

On Sunday 8th March 2020 we celebrated International Women’s Day. On this day we recognise the progress we have made towards gender equality, as well as being a call to action to accelerate full equality. I also take the opportunity to reflect on the women in leadership who have inspired me over the previous year.

International Women’s Day started in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. At that time there were only 8 countries in the world where women were allowed to vote. And equal pay was unheard of, assuming that women were allowed to work at all.

Since then we have come a long way. Today there are women running their own businesses, as well as CEOs of large corporations.

However according to a study by IBM, only 18% of senior leadership positions – including C-suite, vice president, director and senior manager positions – are held by women.

In addition, in Australia the Chief Executive Women (CEW) ASX200 Senior Executive Census 2018 reported there are only:

14 female Chief Executives in the Top 200 ASX-listed organisations, and
24 female Chief Financial Officers

So why are there so few women in leadership?

This is something I discussed with Kylie McLean in the latest episode of The Females in Tech Show. Kylie is the IBM Garage Lead (ANZ), a division that works with customers to quickly create and scale new and innovative ideas. Kylie is also the Executive Leader for Women at IBM in Australia and New Zealand.

In this episode Kylie McLean shares her insights on:

Why there is still a big gap of women in leadership (7:53)
The role confidence plays in leadership, and how to overcome your imposter syndrome (11:44)
Kylie shares her advice for women looking to enter a leadership role (18:20)
How to stay your authentic self in leadership (25:30)
And the Do’s and Don’ts to negotiating your next salary increase (31:54)

Episode Resources

IBM Institute for Business Value study, Women, Leadership, and the Priority Paradox
Chief Executive Women (CEW) ASX200 Senior Executive Census 2018
Follow Kylie McLean on LinkedIn
Multipliers by Liz Wiseman

[Full Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means we receive compensation, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through the link.]

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