The XX factor

• Marguerite McKinnon
• 2 February 2010
• Page 1 of 5 : single page

It's the elixir of life, the special ingredient in a recipe for success. Some have it, others want it, many can get it - if they choose to. We call it the XX Factor: the positive influence of women in business. As Marguerite McKinnon reveals, some business leaders develop emotional intelligence, family/work balance and an inclusive leadership style - others are born with it.

What is the XX Factor? When Nett spoke with the businesswomen who recently gained industry-leadership recognition the Telstra Business Women's Awards, we discovered they share some special attributes that other business leaders can gain from:

• Humanity - empathy, more ‘human' networking, people skills, negotiation, emotional intelligence
• Natural leadership styles - inclusive, collaborative, networked, team focused; not just relying on own abilities, working with other people's expertise
• Resilience - when you've grown up aware of inequality and inequity, you develop ways of dealing with it
• Balance - commonly-shared desire to achieve a better family/work balance
• Organising abilities - equally skilled in managing the big picture and multitasking
• Flexibility - both in approach to challenges and resolving them
• Demonstrativeness - providing recognition, support, reward and ‘positive outcome'-focused feedback
  

###

If we're to learn anything from recent economic crises, the oldschool business archetypes have had their day. We've been let down by business leaders emulating the cold, reptilian smugness of Gordon Gekko (Wall Street), the mercilessness of Rick Roma (Glengarry Glenn Ross) or the tyranny of Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane).

Our real life business heroes are rewriting the script, proving you can be smart and competitive without losing your humanity - the XX Factor is coming into its own. At the 15th Telstra Business Women's Awards in late 2009, we met some amazing business leaders who demonstrate this new approach to business.

The scientist: Dr Cathy Foley 

Winner of the Nokia Business Innovation Award

The judges felt that Dr Cathy Foley is a great advocate for women in science. She has led a multidisciplinary team over many years to produce significant technological breakthroughs and she is an outstanding example of the convergence of business and science.

"I think I'm very different to most physicists. In Australia, physics tends to attract a certain personality type and I guess I act quite different, almost the opposite. I'm very outgoing I suppose. I am from a large family and being in the middle, it's about knowing how to get on with a large group of people all of the time," said Cathy.

Since primary school, Cathy wanted to be a scientist. Unlike the rest of her family who gravitated towards business, she was hooked thanks to an enthusiastic science teacher at her Catholic convent high school, who introduced a Harvard science course which mixed science with history and experiments. The only female in her year to complete a PhD in Physics at Macquarie University, Cathy spent the next twenty-five years at the CSIRO perfecting her research on super conductors - particularly YBCO (Yttrium barium copper oxide), which, when cooled by liquid nitrogen and used in her team's rotating gradiometer system, is used in mineral and marine exploration. The Defence Department is also knocking on her door for research into magnetic anomaly detection systems. She's one of Australia's top scientists, in charge of more than one hundred and fifty people and the first female president of the Australian Institute of Physics. She also has three children - and set up and ran a childcare centre and after-school care, at the CSIRO.

In many ways, Cathy has been a trailblazer. "I'd be honest in saying that it hasn't always been easy being a woman and being taken seriously. Some people found me threatening or a bit over-the-top."

The trick, she says, is breaking down those initial barriers.

"My management style is very much one of bringing people with me, rather than command and control. So it's recognising that some of the best ideas come from the people I work with rather than everything being my idea. Thank goodness they're all very clever and terrific people!" she said. "I've found that having a huge amount of flexibility has meant that people will go the extra mile to make sure that as a team we are very successful."

If there is one thing she could teach men about business, Cathy offers up a surprise tactic to success.

"I think showing your weaknesses is really powerful. One of the things I find most disarming is when you've got someone, whether it's an irate customer or an upset staff member, or wife, or husband, or child, and admitting you've done something wrong. There's nothing more disarming than agreeing with someone when they're getting angry and saying, 'Yes, you've got every right to be upset about that. I was wrong,' or, 'I'll get someone who's good at this to deal with it.' I found that to be probably the most useful thing I've learned along the way - just accepting the truth at any time."

The cheesemaker: Kris Lloyd 

Finalist in South Australia's Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award category

If cheesemaking was an Olympic sport, Kris Lloyd would be one of the world's greatest athletes. She's won a swag of awards since starting up her cheesemaking business ten years ago.

"My family owns a vineyard in McLaren Vale. One of the things we always thought would be really nice would be to not only to do wines, olive oils, vinegars and verjuice, but also cheese, to just sort of finish it off."

But the CEO and Head Cheese maker of Adelaide's Woodside Cheese Wrights has a secret - she knew nothing about cheese when she took over the failing business which was throwing more cheese out than selling it.

"I kept the cheesemakers on and really supported them. I introduced a marketing plan, business processes and quality assurances. I spent about two years concentrating on that and really supporting the staff."