and look at what qualities are valuable in a leader,” she says. “I have done multiple personality tests at work over the years and I'm never in that red quadrant, the driver. I'm a collaborator: that's where my strengths are. That's not necessarily typically been seen as a leadership trait.” In many ways, however, her equanimity has also been
an advantage when managing teams and clients at work. “I have been able to manage difficult clients and call
out negative behaviour that I've seen in the workplace. Having honesty and integrity has also helped to build people's trust and confidence in me as well.” She believes that having open discussions about
what makes a great leader will help to shift the dial in organisations and open up greater opportunities for women in global mobility. “The only way we're going to remove the gender
barrier is to change the conversation about leadership style, traits and attributes,” she says. “We need to remove some of that unconscious bias.” It is also possible, of course, that many of the workplace
personality tests could carry an unconscious bias that favours and promotes more ‘masculine’ style leadership qualities such as drive, assertiveness and competitiveness, although that conversation is now changing.
WOMEN LEADERS IN GLOBAL MOBILITY Julia believes that
the global mobility community is
actually further ahead than many industry sectors in its integration of female talent, and diversity and inclusion. “I think we're a step ahead of many other industries
in global mobility and to maximise that talent we need to look at recruitment strategies, promotion opportunities and international assignments and make sure that we approach them in an equitable way. That means asking women if they want an assignment and not discounting them before the interview stage because of their gender and potential family commitments. “It was quite interesting to me when I told people at
EY in Sydney that I was going to London on assignment with two children and a working husband,” she says. “Even though I was in a global mobility practice, people were saying to me: ‘Wow, that's amazing. I never thought that would ever be possible’.”
GLOBAL CAREER IN MOBILITY AND ASSIGNMENTS Julia’s formative years were spent globetrotting. She was born in the UK and moved with her family and father, who was a global commodities trader, to the US when she was 12. Then the family moved to Thailand. Julia went to boarding school in the UK, and then relocated to Australia where she finished school and university. “Having a global childhood really opens your
eyes to all sorts of different people,” she explains. “You become more resilient. You become more flexible and able to adapt to different scenarios. You learn how to navigate people and situations and develop how you communicate.” She first worked in Sydney for Arthur
Andersen’s global mobility practice in what was then called “assignment management services”. “It was very new and the whole global mobility practice was very small. It was a very exciting time and there were never two days the same.”
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When Arthur Andersen was dissolved after the Enron
scandal, Julia moved to EY, which she describes as “a very fast-paced, high-pressured environment”. “In a partnership, although you're a team you're also
needing to go out and win business for yourself and possibly your own survival in the organisation,” she says. “I learned about the full spectrum of global mobility from compliance to advisory skills. I developed the ability to work under pressure and to work with highly driven people in a male-dominated environment.” She was sent to the UK on an assignment with EY,
which was supposed to last three years, but which ended after 24 months when she was headhunted by Santa Fe. “I'm your classic failed assignment,” she says, “It was
a three-year assignment and I was very happy at EY but I was approached by Santa Fe and the more I spoke with them, the more intriguing the role was. I ended up leaving EY early and joining Santa Fe two years into my assignment and became global head of relocation and assignment management there.” As well as a demanding job, Julia has two teenagers, a
husband, dog and two cats. “There's a lot going on in my house,” she says. “I'm quite strict about working hours and I rarely answer emails late at night. I've always been very strict about family and non-family time. When I'm at work, I'm 100% work and when I'm with family, I'm 100% family and I try to enable my colleagues to do the same. “Early on in my career again, when there were limited
role models, workplace personality tests would give you feedback on your skills gaps or your unknown weaknesses. I think we should instead be talking about maximising your strengths. I’m glad the conversation is starting to move that way. It shouldn’t be about not speaking loud enough, but instead celebrating someone who develops good teams and motivates their staff. Surely, that's what should be maximised.”
Below: Julia speaking at the Relocate Global Think Women event at the IoD in London
THINK WOMEN
GLOBAL MOBILITY
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