Only 22 per cent of new businesses launched in the past decade have successfully scaled. Three prominent Australian leaders are coming together to help change that. Hosted by Third Space People, they will share their stories and advice on what it takes to scale in 2023 and beyond, in a free one-hour virtual panel event: Leadership Conversations.
Held on the 8th February, the panel event is for women and minorities in business who are planning to scale their business, are currently scaling or are working in an SME and are interested in how to further position themselves as leaders in business.
Panellists include:
- Jennie Rogerson, Global Head of People at Canva which has 3,200+ team members in 8 countries, more than 110 million monthly active users and was last valued at US$40 billion.
- Zhoe Low, General Manager at July which has grown by 640 per cent over the past financial year, winning Smart Company’s 2022 Smart 50 Awards for the fastest growing SME in Australia.
- Gail Asbell, Co-Founder of Upstate Studios who secured a multi-million dollar capital investment in 2022 from global retailer, Cotton On Group’s Innovation Fund, to scale Upstate Studios to 50 locations nationally.
The panellists will share the wins and learnings of their leadership careers and discuss what it really takes to scale successfully, lead throughout the ongoing global climate, how to realistically focus on culture in the early stages of business and the relationship between leadership capability and commercial success.
A CB Insights report found that 35 per cent of the reasons for the failure of a start-up were related to the people and culture of the company, reinforcing the strategic importance of leadership ability when scaling a business.
Third Space People founder, Hareta McMullin shared, “as we continue into a year with inflation, higher interest rates, talent shortages and low unemployment rates, knowing how to develop a great team culture and lead through significant change has never been more critical.”
Research recently published by Slack on leadership and the war for talent, found that people value good leadership and stability over salary when choosing an employer. The report also found that those with poor managers are more likely to feel burnt out and ‘quiet quit.’
Zhoe Low, General Manager of July shared, “we’ve recently gone through a period of rapid growth, with more than 80 per cent of our team starting in the last 6 months. Because we’ve had so many new hires, it’s been top of mind for us on how we keep the magic and connection of a small start-up whilst expanding. I really believe that an inclusive culture and considered leadership is imperative to building high-performing teams.’
McMullin added, “the goal for this event is simple. We want more women and minorities to succeed in business. Leadership capability, and therefore representation, is part of that. Coming together as a community to share, educate and support is one way we can be part of the solution. This event will inspire, empower and mobilize women and minorities at all stages of their career, across the SME landscape.”
Female founders who register to attend the panel event will have the opportunity to apply for a fully funded scholarship to join Third Space People’s Founder to Leader program. This program is designed to support female founders who want to scale their business, develop great team cultures and lead with confidence.
The Leadership Conversations panel event is free to attend and you can secure your seat here.