She Leads with Tracey Spicer

Posted on 8 May, 2015

May is the month to be empowered. And why? Because in just under two weeks, a group of renowned women leaders will converge in Canberra for the YWCA Canberra’s She Leads Conference.

Following on from a resounding success in its inaugural conference last year, the YWCA Canberra are expecting yet another overwhelming response and hope to beat their record of 170 women. But it’s no surprise with a stellar line-up of speakers including Kate Carnell AO (CEO, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Yamini Naidu (Director & Chief Storyteller, Yamini Naidu Consulting), Rebecca Skinner (Deputy Secretary, Defence People), Jessica May (Founder & CEO, Enabled Employment) and our very own HerCanberra writer, Nip Wijewickrema, (Founder, GG’s Flowers & Young Canberra Citizen of the Year)…just to name a few.

Yet a conference can only come together with a fantastic emcee and this year’s She Leads host is no exception. You may be familiar with the name from her days anchoring on Channel 10 or heard her voice over the airwaves, these days the lovely Tracey Spicer is keeping super busy but still finds time to mentor and inspire women along the way… And I had the pleasure of chatting with her earlier this month.

Jessica: What are you up to these days?

Tracey: I’ve got a really portfolio of work at the moment where I combine all the different mediums. It’s wonderful with all the fragmented mass media to be able to a little bit of everything. I still do news anchoring on Sky news and a lot of writing for Fairfax, and now for the Mama Mia network as well for a website called Debrief Daily, which I’ve started just last week. I also do radio broadcasting, emceeing, and keynoting speaking and what brings it all together thematically is that it’s all stuff that I’m passionate about. It’s all women’s issues and social justice and they’re the things I’m really passionate about.

It all sounds very exciting! But it must keep you busy?

Yeah, it’s pretty good because I’ve got two small children, so it’s wonderful to be able to do all this stuff and still have enough time to spend with them. Hubby and I work our hours around the children, so it’s a wonderful 50-50 parenting thing we’re both satisfied in our career but really hands on with the kids.

And I guess that’s really important as well in today’s day and age (as cliché as it still remains) about women understanding, and believing, they can have their career, they can still be leaders and they can still be a mum at the end of the day…

That’s exactly right, because it’s not the kind of thing that’s ever asked of a man. My husband is never asked ‘Wow, how do yu manage work and children?’ and that kind of annoys me because it’s always asked of me and yet we’re 50-50 parents. It’s almost insulting to him in a way because why isn’t he asked about that because he finds it a juggle as well so i think we’ve got to change the conversation where we ask both men and women, “Look how do you both manage the work/life balance and what can businesses do better and what can we do better?” individually to incorporate all of that into our lives.

With She Leads open to a diverse range of women of all ages, of all demographics and different stages within their career…so what attracted you to say yes to She Leads?

I’ve done a bit of work for the YWCA before and know a lot of people involved with them; I just think it’s a wonderful organisation. What I love about their conferences is that they offer very practical advice. It’s not esoteric. A lot of women’s conferences are very much pink posters everywhere, ‘You go girl!’ and I think that’s fine to boost our confidence but it’s very hard unless you address the structural discrimination in workplaces that prevents women from becoming leaders. And that’s what I love about the YWCA’S program – they give practical advice to women about being able to breakdown those structures and understanding that those odds are stacked against us but we need to learn specific skills to be able to break down those barriers. I just love that it gives you almost a toolkit.

Have you come across barriers throughout your career in moving forward as a leader in your industry?

Oh yes definitely. When I started out as a journalist in the mid to late 80s, it was incredibly sexist, I mean it still is but not as bad as it was back then. I was told quite a few times explicitly that I would only being this job for a couple of years and then I’d meet a nice businessmen and he’d look after me for the rest of my life so I’d never have to work again.

When I decided to have children, I was told ‘You won’t want to come back to work after having children, you’ll want to be at home with the baby.’ So you know there was quite explicit stuff that was said to me that I thought even at the time ‘Wow, this isn’t even the 1950s.’ When I had my second child, I had my contract terminated unexpectedly and part of that was this thing about women in television needing to be sexy, and not being mothers or bigger. So the challenges I’ve had in the workplace have been a directly related to this structural discrimination against women and this expectation that when women get to a certain age or a certain stage of life we’re no longer wanted in the workplace.

We do really need to change that…

Oh yes, absolutely.

So with all that in mind and leadership being the key focus of She Leads, what does it mean to you to be a leader?

I’m not naturally a leadership personality to be honest with you. I’m a very good 2IC. When I was at school, you know there were the old power groups, and I was just happy to hang around with someone else who could make the decisions and I would just follow. As I’ve become older I’ve realised that it’s important to share your experiences and support other women. I guess I’ve become a leader almost by accident. I’ve always been a passionate person about ideas and helping others, about mentoring and women’s rights.

Keynote Speakers from the inaugural She Leads Conference last year.

The only way to spread the word on that is to become a leader. I’ve gone on quite a dramatic journey in the last 10 years realising that the things I say and the things I do set quite an example for other women and I’m very conscious of always trying to set a good example and doing the right things. I think becoming a mother helped with that too. I’ve got a daughter and I want to be a good role for her as well. So my leadership journey has required me to build a lot of confidence there because it’s not something I’m very strong at. In a way it’s almost grasping the power instead of running away from the power, because it can be scary.

You said that you weren’t naturally a leader when you younger and you’ve developed into it. Obviously, it’s an ideal that She Leads identifies and tries to encourage women to really embrace is that there are different types of leaders, why do you think it’s important for organisations like the YWCA and women like yourself to keep encouraging women, of all ages and demographics, to keep pursuing that leadership goal and to really own that role?

That’s a great question and Eva Cox talks about this a lot. The old model of leadership was very hierarchical and some would almost say like a dictatorship whereas leadership models are changing into become more collaborative with the new collaborative economy. This suits women in the traditional way that previously we have led, that we are historically, naturally very collaborative. I’m very collaborative and I like to bring people on board; get their best ideas and then move forward. So I think the time is now for businesses to look at the changing leadership model and think ‘Who suits this?’. I think it’s also good for women to look at the changing leadership model and think ‘I don’t have to be some kind of dictator, I can be someone who is collaborative if that’s more my nature and bring people along with me and know that I can still be a strong leader.

Following on from that what are three things women can do to embrace the journey of becoming leaders?

Ah, another really good question.

#1 Have confidence in yourself — I think number one is to have confidence in yourself. We know that traditionally because of the way women have been treated and disenfranchised over many decades and centuries we often don’t embrace the confidence. We often question ourselves. Don’t question yourself. Have confidence that you can be a leader.

#2 Be true to yourself — You can’t be a kind of ‘cardboard cut out Linda’ that you should be if that’s not what’s in your heart. You’ve got to follow your own journey.

#3 Just go for it — It’s easy to think ‘No, I don’t want to pick up the phone’ or ‘No, I don’t want to send that email’…or ‘No, I don’t want to go for that role because of x, y and z.’ There could be a million reasons that we can build up in our minds for not going for it. Even if you’re not a 100% ready, just pick up the phone or send the email anyway. You’ve got to take that first leap…

And finally, why should women attend the She Leads conference?

Women should attend the She Leads conference to get the toolkit they need to become strong leaders. It’s all well and good to think ‘I’m right for this role, I’ve had this kind of training’ but as women we need specific advice because of our gender about how to breakdown the structural barriers in any workplace. You will get the toolkit you need from the She Leads conference.

The essentials
What: She Leads Conference
When: Tuesday 19 May 2015
Where: Hotel Realm, Barton
How much: From $149.60 (concession) to $550 (corporate)
Web: www.ywca-canberra.org.au

Follow the She Leads Conference across social media using the hashtag #SheLeads2015.