Twitter account (@ANZ_AU) has
more than 62,300 followers, compared
to the Commonwealth (@CommBank)
with 54,200, NAB with 36,900 and
Westpac with 33,900.
ANZ’s LinkedIn following of nearly
191,000 blitzes any of the other banks.
“Every time the women talked at an
event, then turned their speech into
content for BlueNotes, then hosted a
discussion on the topic on social media,
they got great feedback,” Gome says.
“Being visible is a form of giving – not
an arrogant exec-selfie.”
DON’T LOOK BACK
Gome says women need to encourage
each other to become more visible.
When women confide their fears of
speaking in public or question their
performance, their women friends tend
to empathise instead of challenging
them.
“We need to counter those messages,
and tell each other: ‘Your hair looked
great’, or ‘let it go’ when women are
ruminating on their performance. We
need to encourage each other to do
every speaking event, from conferences
to the school council. How else are we
going to become more visible?”
Molloy, however, believes that women
need to learn to give themselves
permission and to stop relying on
validation.
30
GLOSS JULY 2015
“One of the things I learned when I
started working for myself is that I
have to market, brand and sell myself,”
Molloy says. “I realised that I was
wired to wait for someone to give me
permission to do something.”
Beware of becoming too comfortable,
she says. “We all feel a bit vulnerable
when we are visible, but that is a good
thing. It isn’t the enemy. It means I am
requiring a little more of myself.”
MEMORISE THIS
Women are subtly trained from our
earliest moment not to blow our own
trumpet, to name our talents, or to
claim our achievements.
That leaves us uncomfortable with selfpromotion.
Yet building your public profile – in the
media and elsewhere – is an essential
leadership skill. We cannot become
leaders if no one is aware of our abilities
and experience. We need to become
comfortable with self-promotion.
Remember Harry Potter’s invisibility
cloak? It was a magical garment that
rendered whatever it covered invisible.
I reckon all women are given one as
young girls, and our job is to throw it
off.
I agree with both the ANZ’s head
of social and digital media, Amanda
Gome – that we must help each other