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Why respect, authenticity, and listening to the voices of those with lived experience is key to communication for great leaders

   
Why respect, authenticity, and listening to the voices of those with lived experience is key to communication for great leaders

This blog previews the third episode of the Driving the Equality Agenda Podcast. Listen to the full episode on Spotify here.

The leaders who are the best communicators all bring an incredible amount of authenticity and respect for those they are speaking to, says past CEW President Sam Mostyn AO.

In episode three of Driving the Equality Agenda, Mostyn said she’s been lucky to watch and learn from many great leaders throughout her distinguished career including Justice Michael Kirby and Prime Minister Paul Keating.

”I’ve watched many other leaders and people I’ve admired for a long time, people I’ve worked alongside, and just watch what I think is effective communication and why it works,” she says.

“And often, it’s just about an incredible amount of authenticity, bringing the personal forward and always grounding it in respect.”

As the Chair of the Federal Government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, Mostyn and her fellow members will advise the government on many issues facing women in the Australian economy. Her appointment follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressing the CEW Summit and thanking women for their work across the country. The Prime Minister explained how it gave the government the confidence it needed to place gender equality at the centre of the economy.

“It feels like there is real momentum for change,” Mostyn says, “a time where preparation meets opportunity.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last decade particularly, about preparation being as much about what you don’t know as what you think you do know,” Mostyn says.

“I think one of the traps of leadership is that you get further and further way from the lived experience of people.

“So, I go out and find out and sit with those women, and I would just want to listen and learn. So that when I’m then out and have a voice and have a remarkable and unique and privileged opportunity to speak, I don’t just peak on my behalf and my experience. I can hear in the back of my mind, back to that chorus, the chorus of women’s lived experiences that I’m really bound to be able to represent.”

Learn more by listening to Episode three of Driving the Equality Agenda.

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