Elizabeth Crouch is the moderator of Orijen’s Executive Women’s Business Future Female Leaders Program. As an experienced female executive in many sectors, she is a role model for many Australian executive women.
She has recently been profiled in the Financial Review after her recent nomination to the board of Brickworks. Key to the article was an exploration of her mantra for a successful professional career: “Being able to add value, particularly in things that are in a crisis or facing a difficult time, and still achieve a good outcome, is far more rewarding than going into something that is just ticking along.”
This is a mantra that has seen Crouch:
- Join the Board of NSW Public Transport Ticketing Corporation when a project to overhaul and update the ticketing process was seven years behind schedule
- Be Chief Executive of the Housing Industry Association when one of Australia’s largest insurers collapsed, halting large sectors of the building industry
- Now become poised to join the Board of Brickworks as it faces corporate governance challenges that will involve the Australian Securities Exchange
She says “In any situation, you have to operate how you always do; without fear of favour. You’re there for the best interest of the company and shareholders. You have to be judged on how you perform”.
“What I have learned over time that you go into a hostile environment like that, which I have done before, you just have to see if you can reach a level of understanding with people. Nine times out of 10 you will come up with a degree of commonality and then it’s the marginal stuff you argue about. Everyone has value to add, you just have to understand what value that is.”
Like many successful women, Crouch comes from a family background with lots of change as her family travelled around Australia a lot for her father’s job. “When I look at people I know who have been in a similar situation, they are resilient because you have to be. While I resented it at the time, it was a great gift to me.”
“I am used to operating at 110 miles per hour. I’ve had a corporate career for a very long time and I managed a six-month-old baby with a CEO role”.
Crouch indeed, proves that Australian women really can succeed in whatever field they choose to join.
To connect with Elizabeth Crouch and many other successful Australian executive women, Orijen’s Executive Women’s Business Future Female Leaders Program offers opportunities for one-on-one interaction and mentoring.
