About the speaker
Our speaker today is Ms Pauline Vamos.
Pauline is the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.
She has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry and prior to her current position, she has held a number of roles such a Regulator, Corporate Counsel, Head of Compliance, Strategic Risk Consultant, and a Trustee Director for other organisations.
Pauline is a member of the Australian Taxation Office’s Superannuation Industry Advisory Group; on the Board of the Banking and Finance Oath (BFO) group; and a member of the Advisory Council for the Centre for International Finance and Regulation.
Pauline was recognised in 2013, as one of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence. She is a qualified lawyer and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Laws from Macquarie University.
It gives me great pleasure to invite Ms Pauline Vamos to deliver the occasional address.
Speech
Good evening,
I acknowledge the presiding Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Faculty Dean, staff, distinguished guests, graduates, their families and friends.
I would like to share my views this evening on personal leadership.
The three key messages I would like to share are:
· Identify your higher purpose
· Seek to GROW
· Be a valued work colleague
Your higher purpose is the thing you want to be remembered for and it will be the reason why you follow particular paths throughout your life. My higher purpose is that I ensure systems don’t destroy people’s dreams. By knowing this purpose I have the confidence to change careers and identify future roles. It means I’m flexible in what I do but it frames my values and behaviours of the person I want to be.
To seek to GROW is to do four things, to set
goals, to take responsibility, to organise yourself, and to learn wisdom.
As university students you have learnt the power of deadlines, they are powerful because you have a goal you have to work towards. You do not get in a car without knowing where you are going. The same needs to be applied to life. Understand where you are going and what success looks and feels like.
You must take responsibility for your own behaviour including ethical conduct and moral compass. We all make mistakes, the important thing is to take responsibility for those mistakes and learn from them. The more you take responsibility for yourself, the more others will help you.
Planning is critical to success, planning means you are organised. Always think about the process to get to your goals and who can help you along the way. Things just don’t happen.
Learn wisdom by knowing your blind spots and the impact you have on other people. Take time to understand what type of personality you are and how you can best interact with others.
Finally, be a valued work colleague. I’ve added this in because so many people start at the work place without thinking about what type of work colleague they are going to be and the environment and culture they are joining.
In any working environment you must be a trusted team player. Compare in your mind those relationships where you have trust and those where you don’t and you will see a stark difference. Concentrate on the three C’s – collaboration, communication and closing. By closing I mean being able to sell. Throughout your career you will be selling yourself, your ideas and your value. Do yourself a favour and do a sales course.
Empathy – have empathy in the work place by understanding the bigger picture and putting yourself in others shoes. Lastly innovate. Innovation is not always a light bulb moment, it is small improvements and they are often the best.
So find your higher purpose, discipline yourself to grow and be great to work with.
Like many people in this room I was not born in Australia, I came from a very poor background, I stuttered as a child and my father did not believe in women having higher education. I put myself through years 11 and 12 and through university. When I started work the glass ceiling for women was more like a concrete slab. So believe in yourself and don’t put roadblocks in your way.