AFL President Kate Roffey champions female leadership in sport on Women's Biz Leaders

[Music] meet the Trailblazer championing women's leadership in sport I'm Annie Gibbons women's Biz leaders Starts Now women's Biz leaders presented by women's Biz Global where each episode we dive into the journeys and successes of remarkable women in business in this episode we are honored to sit down with Kate Ry the first female president of Melbourne football club and deputy Chancellor at Victoria University Welcome to the program Kate hi Annie pleasure to be here it took a long time to become the first president didn't it it did we the oldest sporting club in the world and I think it took about 161 years to um get a female president so um didn't take us uh that long I guess but yes here we are now with a men's Premiership a women's uh Premiership at our football club and the only Club in history to actually have both uh won a men's and women's Premiership so we're doing our okay you're certainly doing okay but why did it take so long I think it's um it's an interesting thing Sports obviously always been very much a male dominated industry so time to change um I think it's just a timing thing it takes time people are coming through women are coming through it took a long time to get females onto Boards of of football clubs and I think when I started there were probably somewhere between 15 and 20 now there's 60 uh plus women on AFL football club boards so it's a process of getting getting you know getting enough numbers up there that people see it young people see it and say oh I can be what I can see exactly and that's what we're all about here now you grew up a country kid playing lots of sport very sporty uh and how did that influence the journey that you had as an athlete initially and then um from a corporate perspective really being a Trailblazer interestingly I think the the sporting bit actually gave me the courage to actually get up and try I think that's the thing people go how do you get where you go in a career and things I think it's resilience to actually get up again every time you get knocked down and there's plenty of times I've been knocked down but it's the courage to step outside the box and want to see something different and if you don't have the courage to actually say what if what could be what am I actually going to do if I open this door and just have a look behind it then you're probably going to stay in your comfort zone and so I think growing up in the country being a country kid having a motorbike and a tractor and a horse you know when I was when I was young it just gave me all this opportunity to try different things and so I've I've never looked and said oh that's a job for a boy or that's a job for a girl I go that's a job to get done should get that's right well whether it's fixing a windmill or fixing a fence or riding around the sheep or something it just had to be done so you got it done I love that do you have any specific strategies on leadership that you'd love to share with our viewers today because it's hard you know you get people like you who go hey there's a job that needs to be done why wouldn't it be me but it is hard it is and the funny thing is the I was talking to my young AFL women recently and I said the I I think the better leader you become the less you actually lead and the more you you just guide and you watch what people are doing and you try to get all the ducks on the pond at the same time and you try to get them all swimming in the same direction but you don't try to make them all go in a single straight line because everybody's so different and I think the greatest thing I've learned in my time as a leader and developing and becoming a better leader is great tolerance because everybody is so different and you know I'm getting older and my young people at my football club they're 18 when they start they're all staying the same age and I I don't understand you know that life anymore so I have to be a lot more tolerant and flexible I think um the better the leader I get the less I lead and the more tolerant I become well it's a different kind of leadership isn't it and I've noticed that in myself you know I used to think it's being up front and then I'm very much like you now I actually see it like you're at the back and you're actually just guiding and if you've got everyone in the right places they'll end up at the right destination you're kind of driving if you like uh which is an interesting way we could have a big discussion that but you're also the vice Chancellor of a university so you've got these massive roles how do you find juggling a very important role like that with the other ones that you have yes and neither of those are paid so I work full-time as a CEO but I think I'm very good at com compartmentalizing things so I have a a good memory so I can retain a lot of information and I'm able to switch between things very quickly quickly and effectively so I can spend uh an hour doing a Vic Uni something and then I can spend something on the football club and then I can be at work doing something I'm up early in the morning so I've got a lot of my emails and things done by you know 7:30 8:30 the cat comes and sits on my lap and we have a coup of coffee and I get all my emails done so I think really for me is about compartmentalizing and then I have my getaway space so I am a fine woodworker I make um handmade Furniture so dovet tail joints and mortises and tenons and things so it's very very technical and I have a big workshop at my rural property and that's where I go to actually focus on that and yeah and I absolutely tune out and I have a had a weekend we had uh the buy for the football so I had a weekend up in my workshop I'm back ready to go again because that's um cleared my head it's re refreshed me re-energized it's something completely different to what I normally do and out of it you end up with a beautiful armchair um as well that you can sit in it's quite miraculous I love that a productive Outlet of all the right reasons uh so you've you've tapped into there some of obviously your success principles of actually just knowing how you operate I'm hearing time management organization reading your body you're obviously a morning person uh what other um elements could you share with our viewers today that will really help them with their I think that the the thing is um stress so I'm a very calm person I I thought of when you get in a situation that's a crisis or that's difficult I've just looked at it as a challenge to work your way around and an obstacle to overcome I'm not the sort of person that yells at my staff if they get something wrong I just say okay well we've got to fix this and we move forward again and so I think that um being calm and just taking that minute to stop and assess first before you actually just race off in a panic and make a you know a poor or a decision that's not well rounded with all of the information and I think that's a natural thing for me I've always been a a very calm sort of person but if there's one thing I would say to people when they're in those situations under stress just take a breather take a little bit of time out try and get yourself in a nice calm spot and and look at everything look from the other person's I mean I've just developed this way of saying hang on I see it this way but how does that you know how does that person say whether they're a young staff member or a young football player and if you just stop and take a bit of different perspective you don't know what goes on in someone else's life you don't know what sort of day they're having you don't know what sort of History they've had so we that's so go back to that tolerance thing just I think that's a brilliant gold nugget to share with our viewers today I hope you've been writing that down because that is just so important and it's a hard thing to learn because you know we all want to be quick responsive we are reactive we're emotional and to get to that stage in your career development that you can go you know what the place is not on fire I can actually take a breath I can start seeing you know what led that person to do that behavior what's what's what's driving it you know seeing different perspectives it is a real skill but it seriously will change your life I would love to move on to sports Administration though with what are the the challenges and the opportunities in the whole world of sport we're seeing so much change in Australia at the moment when we're looking at women in sport it's been actually very exciting to see you know teams like the Matilda doing so well and that's actually changing other other sports as well by default what are you noticing in that area I think one of the reasons I call the matildas the Taylor Swift um phenomenon and the reason um we're not a a round ball football country that's not our traditional thing and so people always ask why the matildas get so much support and it's it's got to do with the the culture and the way that they present as a group but it's got to do with the crowd if you same as a Taylor Swift concert when you went there if you just turned up in your gun boots and a a riding helmet people would go great outfit there was there's no judgment and there's no and I think that's the matildas that's the women's sport phenomenon is that there's less less judgment and I think that's why people love going to the matildas because it's very very welcoming very it is and it's a it's a different sort of feeling that you get to really intense and um and sort of crowds that are a little bit more aggressive and and assertive and I think that's why we're seeing the women's sport in particular becoming a place where this uh often a lot more young young people there and so it's becoming a more inclusive and welcoming environment and that goes everywhere that sort of it's on the field you feel it it's in the crowd that you feel it and it's a really interesting and when we say sport is changing I think it's becoming more than just what happens on the field now the biggest change that we've seen as Sports administrators is the requirement and I think the opportunity that we have as sport organizations to drive other agendas as well so um domestic violence is a big one for example at the moment in AFL we've just um celebrated recognition of domestic violence um inclusive environments indigenous environments there are things that sporting clubs can really lean into and actually drive messaging around that and sports administrators that's not what we used to do or 30 years completely different Remis isn't it exactly and so it's it's much more a social license area so if you want to be a sports administrator now be prepared for it to be much more than just administrate Administration it's like being a CEO of my state sports centers trust where I'm the CEO we're responsible for more than just our facilities we're responsible for giving people great opportunities to enjoy sport whether they're Community users or whether they're Elite athletes and so it's it's really it's a powerful it's a powerful thing sport very powerful I think sport is just the best element of and can be the worst of of teams right it shows that you're only as good as your weakest link exactly uh and and so therefore even as as the administrator you're actually looking at your Club every single team in that area of are we all on the same page are we United because we see also how quickly teams fall apart how clubs can fall apart in a second from a moment uh that was just poorly managed or or not perceived in the right way not managed in the right way uh so do you feel that stress as a as a top administrator that it's you know it's a sensitive road that you you run as well or do you just have to back yourself I think it's um it's not about backing myself because I've got great support around me you know my board um directors they do more work than I do in reality so I always say surround yourself with diamonds that just makes me look brilliant so so I get the best people around and and I know that we will Co we will get through it we and again that calmness of just go back and assess and just be really clear about what seems like this you know massive big traumatic earthquake on the surface is actually you know it's not really that bad when you start to break it down into into bits and pieces and you know just in those sorts of environments whether it's politics or whether it's sport or whether you're the CEO of um Quantas or whatever it is it's just stop and take a breath because when you're looking from the outside it's not quite the same as when you're looking for the from the inside and there's a sense of calmness that comes with more knowledge about what's actually happening and realizing even in your worst scenario that the new cycle will be gone in a day or two and while you're taking that breath and you're taking it very seriously but it's a time to say okay we'll put out the fire but we'll wait but we'll also I'm imagining from your perspective go in there and do the hard work which will take time uh to to um to be able to flow out through the whole all the teams and clubs that you actually have so I'm just going to finish now on the on mentoring you're you're now a mentor to so many uh women and men uh so for those women who are wanting to get into sports Administration what do you advise them today I think the the thing I I always say is just when everyone's young they look down I call it the hallway of opportunities and at the end of the hallway they see this door with a big shiny star on it and everyone races to the shiny star door you don't know what's behind it I raced to it when I was younger I thought it was the door and you miss all of these things um doorways down the the hallway as you you race along and so just stop I say to young people build a block of experiences build a block of knowledge first stop and look in some of these other doorways because if you still want to head to the the CEO door or the president's door or whatever else it will still be there much of this thing is not going anywhere no right person right time right place Fant what life's all about thanks for being on the show today I have thoroughly enjoyed our conv ation and I thank you very much for joining us stop chasing those shiny objects all right just make sure that you see all the opportunities those golden opportunities that you might be racing by uh because those gold nuggets will always be there at the right time for you so thanks for joining us I look forward to seeing you very very soon you're watching ticker we'll have more in just a few minutes