“Every opportunity is a platform for change.”
This is the key message Deloitte consultant Amanda Bott took away from her time as a scholarship participant at the iLIVE2LEAD international leadership summit in Washington DC earlier this year.
The woman who said it to her, Mpule Kwelagobe, is nothing short of inspirational, having used her title as Miss Universe 1999 not to become a model, but to become a powerful advocate for sustainable development and an influential voice for the fight against HIV/AIDS in her native Africa.
One suspects that Bott is also on the path to bringing about positive change.
A former national champion triathlete and world championship competitor, Bott faced a tough choice while studying commerce at the University of Sydney: should she put everything on hold to pursue her sporting dream, or go full throttle after a career in business?
During her three years of study, Bott took advantage of the flexibility that came with an academic and sporting scholarship and threw everything into her training.
She pushed herself to the limit, both physically and mentally, and, in her final year, something became clear – the life of a professional sportswoman didn’t hold appeal in the longer term.
“I raced and I trained as hard as I could, and that allowed me to see for myself where my potential was,” she says. “At that point, I knew I wasn’t going to be an Olympian. That was my dream. I was either going to be an Olympian or pursue my other love and passion, which is commerce and business.”
Thus began Bott’s journey with Deloitte.
Starting out as a graduate 18 months ago, Bott first had her eye on a position in the Risk team. But this soon changed as she was persuaded that she might be better off in the highly sought after Consulting (Strategy & Operations) team – a position she now loves and an unexpected opportunity for which she is now thankful.
With a Malaysian mother who grew up in poverty, Bott ¬– who is the first in her immediate family to graduate from university – learned early on that opportunity is not something to be taken for granted.
“My mother always said that whatever I choose to do, I will face obstacles, people who don’t believe in me, and unfair situations. But she said I shouldn’t be disheartened by it, but look at it as a chance to improve myself,” says Bott. “Coming from a background of few opportunities, just hearing her stories and understanding what she went through makes me appreciate every opportunity I have.”
And there is certainly no shortage of them in Bott’s life.
Recently, iLIVE2LEAD offered to send her to a Women’s Economic Forum meeting in France in October as the organisation’s Asia Pacific representative. An amazing opportunity, undoubtedly – but Bott turned it down.
“Unfortunately, the dates clashed with a family holiday in Malaysia, and I haven’t seen my grandmother, who is very old, for two years,” she says. “I thought, it’s an amazing opportunity, but I will continue pursuing and earning opportunities like that. What I can’t go back and change are my values, and my family is my number one priority.
“When I think about the person I really want to be in the future, that helps me make the best decisions.”
And one of those decisions, says Bott, was joining Deloitte.
Not only does she genuinely love the work, she’s also been surprised at how supportive her employers have been in allowing her to pursue her passions and bring them into the workplace.
“Deloitte allows me to do my day job, but also pursue my passion for leadership and development. Being able to balance those things and bring my passion into my work has been absolutely amazing. It just makes work so fulfilling,” she says. “I’m excited to develop leadership content for the Inspiring Women initiative and try to change, in some small way, the way that women can get involved through their careers at Deloitte.”
At the age of just 23, Bott isn’t afraid to dig her heels in, lead the way and think big. But she has also come to the realisation that some of the biggest challenges she faces come from within herself.
“I am quite self critical, and I think a lot of that comes from my sporting background because everything is always very measured. You are always measuring yourself against something or someone, and I bring that into my work,” she says. Bott considers her Deloitte counseling manager to her greatest advocate and source of advice in her career so far.
“He has helped me understand that I need to give myself time to learn and look at the big picture – where I have come from, where I am now and where I am going. The support here has made me a lot more self aware, so no matter what challenges I come across, I have a strategy for how to tackle them, and I can definitely turn it into a strength.”