‘Don’t lead like a woman’: Industry leaders reveal the worst advice they’ve been given
At the 2019 Mumbrella NeXt conference, up and comers in the industry were able to anonymously ask industry leaders questions about what life is really like at the top. Here, Brittney Rigby recaps some of their key insights, including the worst advice they have been given, and how they manage to ‘switch off’.
When a panel of industry leaders was asked for the worst advice they’ve ever received, Coles CMO Lisa Ronson’s answer came first: “Don’t lead like a woman”. But for Katie Rigg-Smith, CEO of Group M’s Mindshare, the worst advice-giver has sometimes been herself.
WPP’s John Steedman tapped her on the shoulder in 2013, when she was chief strategy officer, and offered her the CEO position. That weekend, her boyfriend proposed, and she spiralled into doubt.
“I’m 34, I want to have a baby, there are no other female CEOs at many media agencies to emulate. I can’t possibly do this and have a baby,” she thought.
“I texted Steady and said, ‘We just got engaged. I’m going to want to have children. Give it to someone else’. No-one knows about this yet,” she told a room of up-and-coming industry talent at Mumbrella’s NeXt conference.
Very disappointing headline to refer to what was otherwise a great panel and overall event.
Hi Disappointing,
Sorry you feel that way. We’ll just have to disagree on this one.
I do agree it was a great event and panel, however the reality is this was Lisa’s response to the question, and many women (both senior and across the board) are often given advice of this nature – “Man up”, “Don’t be emotional”, “Try to be one of the boys”, “We like you because you don’t make a fuss” etc etc. This attitude exists, and it’s a problem.
It is also very clear both Lisa and Mumbrella are framing this as terrible advice, and the article gives an excellent wrap of what was an insightful panel.
I’m glad you enjoyed the event,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
I agree with disappointing.
This panel discussion was clearly greater than a commentary on gender leadership (which is still an important issue to address) and so the headline may have put some people off from reading the full article and therefore missed out on some great insight. As a father, I found Katie’s comments very profound but may have skipped over them if I didn’t already have a propensity for following her and missed out on a valuable lesson.
Mumbrella would be better served to avoid click bait headlines
Have to agree with Disappointing. Whilst not to deter from gender inequality issues in the workplace (as they’re undoubtedly one of, if not, the biggest contemporary workplace issues), 70% of the article focuses on work-life balance. Click-bait in its finest form.
I’m not going to plow in on the title debate, apart from to say it did garner my attention. Great initiative and article. The more we discuss this the more we address conscious and unconscious bias. Love the Steady comment.
Steady’s response to Katie wouldn’t surprise anyone who’s worked with him. One of the industry’s best.
Great article. Love the Steady story, and thats exactly what has made him a such great boss, leader and mentor to many throughout his entire career.