ple. Before being involved in Champions of Change or Heads Over Heels, I hadn’t done enough work to consider why things were the way they were. Once I had the opportunity to understand, I could be part of personally taking and encouraging practical action including the basics: setting goals, tracking progress and seeing what works and what doesn’t – just like any other business process.  I guess there would be three main learnings that have come from these two organisations.  The first is that if we don’t intentionally include women, and people from diverse backgrounds, then the system will unintentionally exclude them. At a fundamental societal level, inequality is built into our processes, our systems and our day-to-day ways of working. Given this, it is critical that we all are intentional about what we want to achieve because if not, the backdrop of our society will prevent progress. It’s essential that we go to the root of power to create sustainable change to these systems. What this means is that this can’t just be women’s work; it needs to be the responsibility of all leaders.  And I suppose a second learning is that fundamental to change is that leaders not just look at the data and theoretical value of a more diverse team, but they examine deeply and define their why: creating a head-to-heart connection around their commitment to change, because it won’t always be easy. When there is a head-to-heart connection, then leaders are more committed, and they set bold goals, and develop strong working-backwards plans from a vision, using all of the business process and resources that apply to solving any challenging business problem. A final learning that I have taken away is about the everyday power of individual relationships and actions in creating an equal playing field for women and diverse people. Head Over Heels aims to do this by making game-changing connections for women entrepreneurs, as we have learned that women tend to be less connected to the networks that traditionally enabled and even predicted success (funding, customers, etc). I have seen first-hand how one introduction has changed the trajectory of the business, so we should never underestimate the power of one individual taking action in their sphere of influence – whatever that is. Champions of Change is also built on facilitating relationships: CEOs, non-executive directors, government leaders (mostly men) coming together to step up their activism: listening, learning, and then taking action.  IR: A recent report noted that women of colour are still largely absent from leadership roles. Do you have any insights into why this is, and how it can change?  JM: The statistics and data are challenging and certainly demonstrate that a lot of work needs to be done. To make impact, we need to interrogate why this is happening. We need to track and measure to allow us to better understand what steps need to be taken. But I think it all comes down to being even more intentional about how we solve the problem. Making sure that we don’t unintentionally make progress for one group, at the expense of another. We must be conscious. We must listen and we must learn.  It is critical that business leaders treat this as a crucial business problem. Create a team of top talent who are working toward stringent goals to create real change. IR: Can you tell me about your career journey? Did you ever encounter obstacles due to unconscious bias or outright sexism? JM: My story is less about navigating challenges in a male-dominated industry, but instead about building my awareness of the root cause of gender inequality and recognising that the system is biased. I started my career working in McDonald’s as a teenager. I had a passion for serving customers and even then, I was fortunate to have some great leaders to look up to. In saying that, that portion of my career was absolutely characterised by everyday sexism. While I had been taught not to stand for it, it’s fair to say that there was also a certain acceptance on my part that “that’s just the way things are.” I am grateful that young people today have internalised much higher standards and the work that Kate Jenkins and other leaders have done about how the workplace must do better has enabled tangible progress. My acceptance of the status quo continued, when I went to business school in the US – only one in four of us were women. I am pleased that these stats have shifted since then and we have come a long way, because honestly, there’s really no excuse for robbing students of the opportunity to interact with a gender-balanced, diverse cohort. It was a transformational experience for me in terms of learning, but also because I met my partner there. Stating the obvious, but one of the most critical decisions you make in your career is who you choose to spend your life with. We’ve always approached our career and household choices as a team. For example, I worked part-time, flexibly for many years when my kids were young. As they grew older, we made the choice that I would take on a full-time role that involved travel, and this needed to be a joint commitment. When I started consulting, which recruited candidates from business school and therefore perpetuated the lack of representation, it wasn’t a surprise to be in the minority, but I admit I hadn’t really interrogated why this was considered normal and whether that was the right outcome for the firm and their clients. This changed when I met Elizabeth Broderick in 2011, the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner and human rights advocate, and had the opportunity to work with her on the early idea of the Champions of Change coalition and because of really critical mentors like Diane Grady and Carol Schwartz that the penny finally dropped. I realised it wasn’t women’s choices, it was a system that was completely anchored against us. Through conversations with inspiring women, I had an ah-huh moment, starting to understand the root of the problem and became motivated to do something about it. The solution was to engage men to listen, learn and take practical action in their sphere of influence – which turned into a five-year stint working with Liz and the Champions. The network has grown from eight to now over 300. The work during that time period led me to conclude that a return to a corporate leadership role was the best way for me to have impact, which is why I ended up joining Cochlear and then finding my way to Amazon. I think a leader’s role is to recognise when the systems aren’t delivering the intended outcome, and taking action. Once you understand that there are systemic barriers and how they can manifest, as a senior leader you can dismantle them by applying basic business principles. IR: What do you see as being the most important steps that business leaders or individuals can take to achieve gender equality in the workplace?  JM: Businesses need to address gender equity in the same way they address any other business challenge or objectives. Think about the toolkit you use to solve business problems – creating goals, assigning top talent to tasks and creating a project management plan – these are all tools that can be used to create gender equity within the business, just like any other task. One of the things that happened in Australia that made a real impact is when ASX organisations were required to report, and then set objectives, on gender balance and representation. When you set an objective, an intent is crystallised, forcing deeper engagement with the problem to be solved.  Once a goal is set, focus also makes a huge difference. The data must guide progress. Understanding where the challenge is in the pipeline is critical. There are basic steps businesses can take like auditing recruitment processes to make sure there is no bias, looking at promotion pathways and interrogating whether there’s a difference in promotion rates, and ensuring pay equity. At Amazon, we’ve learned a lot about getting the basics right: gender-neutral language in job advertisements, equal representation on all interview loops, interview design that focuses on our leadership principles to try to avoid bias – make a big difference.  It’s all about applying good business process to an important business problem. Tackle it as you would any other business problem by applying that same tool kit. Get your best leader working on it. Gender equality or building a more diverse team isn’t a passion project; it is a serious business imperative. IR: How does Amazon Australia offer equal opportunities to its employees, as well as the brands and suppliers it works with? JM: At Amazon, our leadership principles guide our day-to-day behaviour. And these principles should also guide how we generate equal opportunities for our employees. For example, one of our principles is to ‘deliver results’. Thinking about this goal, we need to lead with this principle to set goals around gender equality in the workplace to ensure equal opportunities and ultimately drive results. Our culture is governed by our leadership principles and great goal setting.  We have an incredibly diverse team, with people from all over the world, over 100 languages spoken, and a leadership team comprised of many women. And the women leading at Amazon aren’t just in the retail division. They’re in operations and technology where we know it tends to be a male-dominated world. Amazon attracts a diverse crowd and a personal vision I have for Amazon is that it becomes the most diverse place on Earth. Because that’s what is ultimately going to deliver the best results for our customers as we invent and innovate on behalf of them.  Retail in its very nature is a diverse industry. It caters to the needs of everyone, and Amazon seeks to represent this customer base within its team. We also have thousands of small to medium businesses who sell their products through Amazon who come from a huge diverse array of backgrounds.  IR: A growing number of people have been calling out International Women’s Day initiatives as PR stunts that don’t really drive change. What is your stance on this?  JM: If you consider the history of International Women’s Day being spurred on by the universal female suffragette movement to establish basic rights for women, you can recognise the significance of the day. I view it as an opportunity to reflect on those who have come before us and who have helped us achieve such material gains. I believe we should rejoice that something like International Women’s Day has become a mainstream, global date, following its adoption by the United Nations. It’s quite easy to be cynical, but what we should be doing as businesses is critically reviewing what still needs to be done and what we can be doing better. But then finally, and a piece that so often gets underestimated, is we need to be reviewing what are people doing personally to achieve gender equality. It can be as simple as helping a colleague or raising someone’s perspective who might be struggling to find their voice. If you’re a father, it might be signing up for canteen duties or being a room parent at your child’s school – a role we know is traditionally more feminised. Celebrating doesn’t mean there is still not more to be done. It is a day to reflect on its origins, and to think about what we as individuals can do in our everyday lives to make true impact.