Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 24 November 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

For our last session of 2015, we are delighted to welcome Dr Rosina McAlpine to present “Starting 2016 with clarity, conviction and confidence”.

Did you take advantage of the opportunities that crossed your path in 2015 or were you too busy simply trying to keep up with the fast pace of life?

Imagine what it would be like to start the new year with clarity, conviction and confidence – stepping into life with no self-doubt, no self-criticism and no negative self-talk. It is possible when you understand how your negative beliefs limit your potential and how even a small shift in your perspective can open exciting possibilities. In this talk, Dr Rosina McAlpine will explore the difference between self-esteem, self-confidence and self-efficacy and explain how understanding the distinctions can lead to a new self-concept and a more empowering way to approach your relationships, parenting, friendships and work.

Self-esteem and self-confidence are not the same thing, yet most people fail to understand the crucial difference. Self-esteem is the judgment you make about yourself. Take a moment to reflect – would you say you have good self-esteem or low self-esteem? Perhaps you feel confident and have positive words of encouragement for yourself – even when you make a mistake or fail. Or if you’re like most people, you may project confidence to the world, but inside you doubt yourself and your worth. Perhaps you look to your achievements or to others to feel of value. Over the coming weeks leading up to this talk, think about how you esteem yourself. Are your thoughts about yourself predominantly positive or self-critical or a mix of both? Take a mental note of how you talk to yourself and reflect on the choices you’ve made during 2015 based on your beliefs about what you could or couldn’t do.

When you learn to truly appreciate yourself just for who you are – and realise that you’re only limited by your own thoughts and beliefs  –  you’ll be able to step into 2016 with a new clarity, conviction and confidence.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Business School and has a Masters degree and a PhD in education. She is an internationally recognised, award-winning researcher and educator receiving 5 outstanding teaching awards and 5 international best paper awards. Rosina’s research interests include navigating and negotiating work-life balance and gender equality. Since becoming a mother, she has developed the Win Win Parenting program to help working parents overcome the challenges of modern day parenting. Delivering her parenting program in the corporate world, Rosina’s clients include: Lendlease, Macquarie Bank,  CPA Australia, The Australian Human Rights Commission and Red Balloon among others. A keen researcher using the latest research in child development, Rosina has edited a book with chapters from leading minds around the world in psychology, neuro-science and biology for the book entitled Inspired Children: how the leading minds of today raise their children.

This will be a fun, enlightening talk, followed by canapés and lucky door prizes.  To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 20 November 2015.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 27 October 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

This month we welcome Career Coach and Personal Leadership Expert Holly MacCue for a talk on ‘How to Design Your Own Career Success’.

Have you ever asked yourself what success in your career actually means to you?  Can you relate to the feeling of getting caught up in what you ‘should’ be doing to achieve success, or have you ever found yourself panicking about where you are ‘supposed’ to be by now?

Do you feel that you have done everything ‘right’ to get to where you are today but still sometimes find yourself asking ‘is this IT?’?  Can it sometimes feel like advancing your career and getting to where you want is an endlessly moving milestone? 

Would you love to know how to stop ‘chasing’ your career success and start designing it?

In this talk Holly will share the 7 simple strategies to designing your own career success on your terms.  This is the exact step by step system that enabled her to move from stress and burnout in her marketing career to learning how to align her passions to her work; achieve personal meaning and fulfilment (without quitting the corporate world to teach yoga on the beach), and create two successful businesses in a new country with no networks.  Holly’s passion for this work is driven by the desire to empower other women to connect their career success with what is really important to them.

In this talk she will cover:     

·         The big ‘problem’ with success that could be holding you back from achieving your biggest career breakthroughs, and how to overcome this.

·         How your mindset can make you or break you; an introduction to the ‘science of positive thinking’ to understand how you can mentally and physically keep yourself stuck.

·         The 7 simple strategies to start doing things on YOUR terms so that you can achieve personal meaning and fulfilment in your career.

·         Building our ‘success consciousness’ to easily attract more of the opportunities you really want.

·         How to unlock your ‘Inner Winner’ and channel your ‘Inner Critic’ to learn how to get out of your own way.

·         The best way to fast-track your results (that ironically most people do everything possible to avoid).

·         Proven techniques to achieve your goals in a balanced and sustainable way.

Originally from the UK, Holly has lived and worked in England, France, Spain and Switzerland before choosing Sydney as her home in 2013. Holly passionately helps clients all over the world to find the clarity and confidence to ‘unlock their most courageous self’ in order to design their own career success.

With a background in Brand Management working for leading multi-national organisations on million-dollar brand portfolios, Holly leverages her corporate experience and capability insights to help her clients to create an authentic, personal brand that accelerates their career success and fulfilment.

Having experienced several years in multiple fast-paced and challenging corporate roles, she understands and values the power of a positive mindset as the enabler to long term success.

This personal experience has led to a long term interest in the impact that our ‘Inner Winner’ and our ‘Inner Critic’ can have on every aspect of our career performance, as well as our overall quality and enjoyment in all areas of our lives. Holly leverages the power of the subconscious mind in her coaching programs to help others understand, develop and implement their ‘Inner Winner’ strategies.

Holly is a firm believer that we each have the ability to design our own success, which led her to create her hugely popular ‘Career Success by Your Design’® 1-1 coaching program.

Holly is also Founder of a successful training business ‘Future Focus Training and Development’ through which she delivers personal leadership programs that equip emerging talent across educational and corporate organisations. 

Holly is a strong advocate of personal development and has studied with the industry’s top thought-leaders for the past decade.  A qualified Personal Performance coach, she attained her Diploma with Distinction from the world’s largest coaching organization, The Coaching Academy UK. Accredited in DISC profiling, Workplace Motivators and Emotional Intelligence, Holly incorporates these multi-science tools into her training and coaching programs with powerful results.  She is a Neuro-Linguistic Practitioner, certified by NLP co-creator John Grinder, as well as a Licensed Goal Mapping Practitioner; the unique world-leading success system developed by Brian Mayne, and is proud to be the only Practitioner in New South Wales. 

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 23 October 2015.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 29 September 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

For our September session we are hosting a fun Speed Networking event!  In our recent survey, over 64% of members said they want to know more about being effective communicators plus 58% of members want more networking opportunities.  Here is your chance to practice your communication skills, network and increase your confidence in a relaxed, informal forum.  Come along for tips on increasing your communication and leadership skills, learn more about your fellow members and have some fun along the way.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 25 September 2015.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 25 August 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

For our August event, we welcome back Peter Knight, of Knight Partners to discuss Benchmarking:  How to use it in a practical way in your business.

In an energetic and engaging discussion Peter will be sharing:

·         What is benchmarking and how it works

·         The benefits of benchmarking and how people use it to improve their business

·         Practical ideas that can be used to help your business

·         How to bring about improvements in performance

·         How it can be applied to all areas of a business

Peter Knight heads up Knight Partners accounting practice, which does tax and accounting but he has more fun working with clients as a business coach.

He does a lot of work with franchises and last year set up the Franchise Accountants Network. This is for accountants who have franchise clients or who work in a franchise and provides tools and resources to help them.

He has recently been guest judge and adjudicator at The Great Debate, where the best students in the MBA program from Melbourne University took on the Australian Graduate School of Management.

He was also recently the guest lecturer in Shanghai at the Symposium of Chinese Accountants, speaking on practice growth, development and branding.

He has also recently spoken at the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Kuala Lumpur, on practice development, and was the keynote speaker in Singapore last year at the Master Course for Public Practitioners

Peter was a Contributing Author to the Practice Management Manual published by the International Federation of Accountants, of which CPA Australia is a member.

He was also the Lead Author in the recent Practice Management Manual Update commissioned by CPA Australia, as well as being a Contributing Author to the Firm of the Future White Paper.

Peter was one of the founding Partners of Hayes Knight which was established in 1994.  Within 6 years they had offices in each capital city around Australia and two offices in New Zealand, with 38 partners and 350 staff, making them the 25th largest accounting firm in Australia. 

He has been a lecturer and tutor in Advanced Financial Accounting at Macquarie University and is a regular speaker at Conferences, presenting widely throughout Australia and overseas.

Peter is a Former President of CPA Australia (NSW) and is former chairman of the National Board of Public Practice, and he also served on the NSW Public Practice Committee. He is also a National Judge for the prestigious Small Business Awards, and also a judge for the State level awards.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 21 August 2015.

“Insights to Meeting Customer Expectations” - Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 28 July 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

At our July discussion, Tony Ward, Managing Director and Ashley Gross  APAC Customer Success Manager at Survey Monkey will present the results of the Women in Business Survey, and provide “Insights to Meeting Customer Expectations”

They will also cover key aspects of communications including:

•             Implicit vs Explicit information (“the what” vs. “the why”)

•             Understanding what question(s) you are trying to answer

•             How to ask a question.  The difference between well and poorly worded questions

•             Asking the right people

•             Using the right platform to help you to make better decisions

•             Interpreting the results

Come to this insightful communications presentation to hear what separates great communication from good communication, hear the membership's feedback and participate in a group discussion. 

Ashley Gross is the APAC Customer Success Manager for SurveyMonkey based in Sydney. Originally from the United States, after graduating with a degree in Economics, Ashley spent the majority of the start of her career as a marketing manager for startups and small businesses in the technology industry. After getting her hands on a tool that essentially changed her life, Ashley made the switch to help others similar to her as a Customer Success Manager, working most recently for Microsoft as a CSM for Yammer and O365. She has a passion for how technology can help change the way we do business and how data should be a major part of our decision-making process.

Tony Ward is a technology executive with 20 years of experience, including MD, COO and CMO of mid to large size organisations in diverse areas such as marketing, sales leadership, product marketing, business operations, strategy and start-ups.  Tony is currently the Managing Director of SurveyMonkey, which is the world's leading provider of web-based survey solutions. They enable individuals and organisations both large and small to make better decisions, faster in a cost effective manner.  Prior to SurveyMonkey, Tony ran the 3rd largest business in the world for LinkedIn as the Director of Talent Solutions in ANZ. He was a founder of a cloud start up, COO and CMO for Microsoft Australia with full P&L responsibility of a $1 Billion+ business. Tony’s primary focus is on building great teams and helping to grow businesses.

 To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 24 July 2015

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 23 June 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

This month Ivan Ang will be presenting: How To Breakthrough Your Career Ceilings With Confidence.

You may be familiar with the "Glass Ceiling" that has been holding women back from reaching the top of the corporate ladder.

You may have even heard of the "Bamboo Ceiling" that affects people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Is there something that can be done to breakthrough these career-limiting ceilings?

Ivan Ang, Founder of Leadership Signature Coach believes there is.

A lot of encouraging progress has been made by many companies in terms of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity. It is clear that more work is required for real organisational change to continue to gain momentum. That momentum requires strong leadership.

How confident are you in presenting yourself as a leader? Who do you look to as role models? How can you start being recognised for your own unique leadership abilities that you already poses?

In this forum, Ivan will take you on his journey of how an introverted young migrant boy from Singapore was able to develop a successful career in financial planning. Ivan will share with you the lessons he learnt about leadership from his experience and from years of personal research, including:

1) Why most people are just copycat leaders

2) How you are already a unique leader but don't know it; and

3) What you can do to become a person of influence and start leading today!

Ivan will take you through a step-by-step framework that he has developed to help you discover your own Leadership Signature. You will begin to gain confidence by understanding the true value that you bring to your team, to your employer and to the people you care about most in your life. Become a person of influence and an agent of change so that many will choose to follow and go to you for guidance.

At the forum, Ivan will talk briefly about the recently released 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey titled "Mind The Gaps". If you would like to receive a copy of the Executive Summary and to find out how you can connect with Ivan before the event, please click on this link:

https://ivanang.leadpages.net/cpa-wib/

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 19 June 2015

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 26 May 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

This month we welcome back Jen Dalitz to present Curiouser and Curiouser: Uncovering opportunities and inspiring action.

Why is it that our childhood curiosity gets left behind when we begin our careers? What if you could rediscover your inner curiosity and creativity to find smarter, faster, simpler ways to get things done? How can you motivate yourself and your team to keep learning, and produce your best work ever?

In an environment that is more and more demanding, our bodies and souls are being tired out by the business world.  Our wellbeing is dictated by deadlines. Our consciousness is cornered by what we’re told to buy, to do and to say.  Through rediscovering your curiosity you can recalibrate your professional creativity and bring more energy, ideas and innovation to work. Overlay this with a simple framework to translate your ideas into action, and you’ll easily achieve more, with less. 

In this seminar you will:
-       Learn how to rediscover the skill of being curious and be introduced to routines, rituals and tools that will re-energise your work
-       Understand how curiosity keeps you (and those around you) motivated and open to fresh ideas
-       Receive a framework to convert your creative ideas into tangible outcomes that will take your performance to the next level.

Get curiouser and curiouser, and discover the wonderland of opportunity right behind your office door.

 Jen Dalitz is a business strategist and change agent.  Her expertise lies in getting people focused on what needs to be done, keeping them on track, and inspiring them to achieve more, with less. 

Whether facilitating your strategic planning, writing a research paper, emceeing your major business event or addressing a live audience, she draws on real experiences from over 20-years as a leader in finance and management consulting, and as an entrepreneur and founder of three thriving businesses. 

Jen is particularly passionate about creating gender-balanced workplaces and communities and this is a common thread in her work; for both men AND women deserve to realize their full potential and have true choice, happiness and meaning in their lives.  She has also invested almost a decade in the social sector as board director, Chairperson and CEO. 

Jen is the recipient of an Edna Ryan Workplace Award for improving the working conditions of Australian women, has been listed in the inaugural 40 Young Business Leaders List by In The Black, and represented Australia in a BBC global debate on the advancement of women and the Millennium Goals and the Women’s Summit hosted by Malaysia’s Minister for Women.

Away from her desk, Jen is the mother of a small child and lives with one foot in Sydney and the other on her farm in the country. 

She is a regular social commentator across all media channels and blogs on business, life and leadership at The She-EO Blog.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 28 April 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

I am excited to welcome Reyna Matthes as our speaker for our April meeting to present “Influencing Others through Operating Styles”.

In this forum we will look at the importance of flexing our own operating styles for maximum impact on those people we influence using Executive Central’s Operating Styles model. Flexing operating styles enables us to effectively lead, influence, and motivate others.

The forum itself is experiential, fun and participative, for maximum engagement. Participants will gain an actionable matrix for assessing both one’s own preferred style and the possibilities for flexing style.

Reyna has worked for the last 20 years at senior executive levels, firstly in the publishing industry and then as Managing Director of her own public relations and marketing company and for the last 8 years as a Director and an executive coach with Executive Central. Reyna offers a wealth of specialised expertise in:

•        Executive Coaching and Executive Leadership

•        Women’s Leadership Development

•        Organisational Development Programs

•        Designing and Delivering workshops

Reyna Matthes is a highly experienced coach, facilitator and former senior executive. Working from a strengths-based leadership model, Reyna helps her clients identify and maximise their own unique perspectives and talents. Reyna engages, challenges and inspires participants to switch on their power so that they make an impact and achieve the results they want. Reyna has coached hundreds of senior men and women in a diverse range of industries, including professional services, financial services, telecoms, banking, IT and pharmaceuticals. Reyna’s passion for leadership rubs off on her participants, who emerge from leadership programs, forums, workshops or coaching with inspiration, confidence and a strong focus on achievement.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 24 April 2015.

Women in Business Discussion Group Tuesday 31 March 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

I am thrilled to welcome Sue Langley as our speaker for our March discussion.  Sue will be providing “Insights into Neuroscience”  With the fast pace of change putting an increasing demand on us at work, leveraging the brain’s capacity for creativity, positivity and influence has never been more important. The better we can understand and tap our neural potential, the better we can manage and lead people through change.

The Insights into Neuroscience session explores the dynamics of the human brain and provides new insights into what really affects our thinking and behaviour. Participants will learn how to use neuroscience to engage others and enhance performance, why people resist change and what you can do to harness change potential in yourself and others.

Join us for this thought-provoking and engaging session with practical neuroscience expert Sue Langley, as she converts neuroscience and emotional intelligence research into tangible tools and practical applications you can use every day to enhance effectiveness and decision making. Seen on the ABC TV series Redesign my Brain, Sue will give you insights into how to retrain your brain for improved performance.

Sue Langley is a speaker, facilitator and master trainer who inspires people to apply emotional intelligence, positive psychology and neuroscience to become the best they can be. Founder and CEO of the Langley Group and Emotional Intelligence Worldwide, she is considered the leading advisor in Australia on the practical workplace application of these fields.

Currently conducting research linking neuroscience and creativity, Sue was the first person in the world to complete a Masters in Neuroscience of Leadership. She holds a BA in Psychology and Management from Monash University and has studied positive psychology at Harvard. Sue is also the published author of “Positive Relationships at Work” in Positive Relationships by Sue Roffey (Springer 2012) and two children’s books based on positive psychology principles. She sits on the Board of Wellbeing Australia and is a member of the Australian Psychological Association. She is also the leading brain behind the world's only Diploma of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing.

To attend, please RSVP to Reis at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Friday 27 March 2015.

Women in Business Discussion Group Thursday 26 February 2015 | 5.45pm – 8pm | CPA Centre Level 3, 111 Harrington St

I am excited to start our discussion group with a very interesting speaker – Joanna Maxwell.  Joanna will be presenting “Creative Thinking: Your Career Edge”.  Change is in the air - change in what we do at work, how we manage our work and what the future looks like. It’s tempting to pretend it’s not happening, to put your head under the doona and continue as if it’s business as usual. But there is a better way.

If you want (or need) to reinvent your working identity, creative thinking tools will help you come up with fresh ideas and new options - and differentiate yourself from the competition. Creative thinking will give you the edge in staying relevant and ensuring that you can leverage new career possibilities.

In this informative (and entertaining) session, Joanna Maxwell will highlight the tips and tricks to help you develop agility and think creatively about your brand and your future. You’ll look at your career history in new ways, you’ll learn the power of having three solutions, and try out different techniques that you can continue to apply after the session.

Joanna Maxwell is a keynote speaker and accredited coach and trainer who works with individuals and businesses to help them flourish. As the owner of Work In Colour, she uses the power of creative thinking to help clients advance their careers, find new possibilities, generate ideas and solve all kinds of problems in the workplace. (And enjoy themselves along the way...)

To attend, please RSVP to Grace at cpawibfb@gmail.com or via Facebook by 5pm Monday 23 February 2015.

For more details about CPD hours see our blogspot http://cpawomen.blogspot.com/p/cpd.html.

Please update your own CPD Diary if you attend this meeting as CPA Australia no longer do this.

Memberships for 2015 are now due, please forward your payment as per details below:

$30 for CPAs or $50 for Non-CPA Australia members in 2013 (no pro-rata, non-refundable)

Payment in advance via EFT

Bank: NAB

Account Name: Women in Business Discussion Group

BSB: 082088

Account Number: 186893555

Please email Felicity for a receipt at cpawibfb@gmail.com

Hello members!

Welcome back to another year of the Women in Business Discussion Group.  We have plenty on the agenda for 2015.  Our first session is on Thursday 26 February.  Joanna Maxwell, from Work in Colour will be providing tips on Creative Thinking Your Career.  More details will follow soon.

Even though our first meeting is on Thursday, the rest of the year's events will be on Tuesdays.  For the full schedule for 2015, please visit http://cpawomen.blogspot.com.au/p/schedule.html.

The committee and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Kind regards,
Ellie Smith