Shirley Randell: What I’ve learned over my career is to say yes to opportunities.
This is one of the most inspiring career stories we’ve ever told, and proves that success really can come at any age. After catching up with Shirley Randell earlier this month and learning she’s recently partially now retired, we thought we’d publish this edited extract of Shirley’s story, which we first shared in January 2015.
Shirley Randell AO thought she might be “too old” to have her story featured on Women’s Agenda. Hardly. Still working in Bangladesh at 74, and having worked in more countries than many people have visited, her career has been complex, dramatic and full of wisdom-enhancing turning points. What better story could we tell?
Randell says the big career ‘turning point’ – the one that saw her leave her home in Australia to pursue development work overseas – came when she was in her fifties, after being sacked from a CEO role at a Victorian council.
“I was 55 at the time,” Randell says on the move that wasn’t unexpected given the local government reforms going on at the time. “I thought, ‘there’s no real reason for me to look for roles in the public service’. A friend of mine who was in PNG at the time said I should consider an Asian development bank role there.”
So she did. When that position came to an end she decided to continue exploring development work — sometimes paid, sometimes not – wherever she could see opportunities to apply her knowledge and leadership all over the world. She’s been forced to leave certain positions due to her age, and others because of difficulties getting insurance.
Assignments in Rwanda, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and PNG (to name just a few) have always carried the same underlying purpose and mission for Randell – to contribute to international relationships and improve processes, relationships and quality of life.
Randell’s currently working with the Ministry of Education in Bangladesh as a Secondary Training Program Specialist. Her email signature lists three numbers where she can be contacted: one in Bangladesh (where she takes my call before heading out for a morning swim); another in Australia; and the final in Rwanda – where she lived for nine years and still regularly visits.
It’s the latter she speaks rather fondly of, particularly the Centre for Gender Development she established in line with reforms that followed the devastating genocide in the 1990s. Rwanda’s parliament leads the world in terms of women, with around 64% of elected officials female and women leading many of the major portfolios. Randell dismisses those who continue to speak negatively of the country, “I think all of us are far too optimistic about just how quickly democracy can be brought in to a country,” she says.
Randell married young at 18, and says she was initially very religious (her thoughts on spirituality have changed as she’s encountered different religions and met more women around the world). She and her husband taught Aboriginal children in remote parts of Western Australia before taking their four children on a three year term with working with the Methodist Church in PNG, where she decided to go to university.
When she returned to Australia in her early thirties, she says she scored a “lucky” break under the Whitlam Government by getting a job with the public service where she served 15 years, including with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Public Service Commission. She was awarded membership of the Division of the Order of Australia for her contribution to public service, particularly in education and international relationships. She’s held many major appointments, including as CEO of the City of Whitehorse and Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Ballarat, and has a PhD from the University of New England.
Randell’s completed the majority of her international assignments in the last twenty years working with AusAID, the United Nations and a wide range of capacity building and women’s projects and groups on the ground. She’s currently a patron of the Australian Centre for Leadership Women and a member of numerous boards locally and abroad. Her website offers a comprehensive outline of the projects she’s worked on and the experiences she’s had all over the world.
Randell divorced her husband after a “good thirty years”. Together, they now have 12 grandchildren and one great grand child. She says it was a happy split, and has given her the space to keep moving around the world.
“I’ve had a lot of privilege, and that’ one of the reasons working in development is so important to me,” she says. “It’s pay back for the wonderful life I’ve had. I have had a very supportive husband and children.”
Her plans, for the moment, are to keep working as long as she’s healthy. “I don’t see myself retiring, although I probably should. I like the idea of doing more writing and I have a wonderful family that gives me such joy. I’m still paying off a unit in Sydney would you believe!
“I’m really comfortable to take life as it comes and to see what opportunities arise.”
The short facts on Shirley Randell’s story
Born. Perth.
Grew up. In Western Australia, I left when I was 27.
High school ambition. I had a vision to be a medical missionary in Africa. I was planning to do medicine but fell in love when I was 14 and married when I was 18. While I’m not a medical doctor, I’m a doctor, to some extent I feel I’ve filled that mission.
How do you stay informed? I use social media, Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn. I get up in the morning spend an hour on the computer before going to work, I have an hour in the car going to and from the office which is a great time for catching up.
And manage your wellbeing? I go to the doctor every year and have a range of medicines I take. I take aspirin every day because a lot of my friends have died from strokes and I don’t intend to! I take a five minute walk [to a local club] and swim every morning and return for an hour until I’m picked up by a car to get to work. I also have my network of friends and I always advise women that it’s so important to have a network.
Who and what do you lead at the moment? I am leading work on gender and social inclusion and education, improving the quality of teaching in Bangladesh. We are revising the curriculum here. I am still acting as a mentor, particularly to two women. In terms of my computer work, I’m in contact with a large network of women who still see me as a leader around the world. I write and I’m still doing some work in Rwanda.
Leadership superpower? It goes back to the strong support I had from my parents. I was bright early, and when I could read signs my father would say, ‘Shirley is going to be a doctor’. So I had that vision of being a doctor, which really comes back to the support of my parents. I never had any discouragement.
Advice to 18-year-old self. What I’ve learned over my career is to say yes to opportunities. I would, coyly and modestly say, ‘I don’t know if I’m ready!’ And then find I wouldn’t be asked! Women need to be confident about who they are and recognise the strengths that you have rather than the weakness.
