Interview by Nick Everitt MIML
Rose-Marie Nathan CMgr FIML, or Rosey as she’s better known, believes that by working in complementary fields, we accelerate our skills, enhance our networks and make every day richer thanks to the diverse perspectives we experience. It’s this belief that has driven her to take on two roles. The first as Chief Commercial Officer and a Founding Mentor for Her Career – an organisation working to ‘fix the broken leadership pipeline’ for women in the early to mid-stages of their career. The other as Partner and Senior Sourcing Specialist at Customise Talent.
Rosey co-hosts the Her Career podcast alongside CEO Mikayla Hopkins which recently debuted at number one in ‘Career’ and number five in ‘Business’ (reaching the top spot the following day) on the Apple Podcast charts in New Zealand.
We caught up with Rosey to find out her thoughts on leadership, relaxing and the value of being part of the IML ANZ community.
Can you sum up your leadership style for us?
I plan with my team and implement those plans with clarity and milestones. I like to direct with collaboration and kindness and encourage growth and accountability through respectfully challenging conversations. I believe in always performing by example with integrity and authentic intent.
What values matter most to you as a leader? How do you ensure you stay true to these?
My top three would be integrity, vulnerability and success. I stay true to these by consistently asking for feedback and ensuring the space created for clients, team, colleagues, and associates is safe, and everyone feels respected. I’ve had to work on how I receive constructive feedback. In the past, I was only able to receive critical feedback from sources who made me feel safe. At times I felt personally attacked, or worse, I doubted everything I did based on one piece of negative feedback. I’m now much more comfortable in this space and have learnt to approach with curiosity as opposed to defensiveness.
What’s the best piece of leadership advice you’ve received?
You can have a management title and never be a leader. No matter your official title, how you inspire, empower, develop, and connect with the people around you, are the attributes that decide if you are truly a leader. Take the great and the terrible of what you have personally experienced from others, and how you want to impact people, and you’ll have a great framework for the leader you want to be and can continuously develop to every day.
What do you think differentiates leadership in Aotearoa from the rest of the world?
I don’t think we can generalise that to New Zealand. There are several organisations with fantastic leaders, and equally many with out-dated hierarchical structures and individual promotions based on tenure or success in a type of role, not as a leader. Overall, I think our leaders are more closely connected to operational tasks which can be a good or a bad thing if they’re too busy in the operation and not able to take a broader picture for strategy.
Tell us about something innovative that you’ve implemented in your business recently.
Recently we implemented ‘Member Mentions’, to not only celebrate the women in our hub but to share how other members can empower them and how they can empower others. Given we have a mission where we are “Inspiring 1 million empowered moments where women accelerate career, money, network,” this is a fantastic way for our community to embrace and engage with a critical core value of our hub.
How have you been able to relax over the last few months?
I was drinking more wine than I should but after reading Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker, I’ve managed to reduce significantly. Now I’m sleeping longer (much needed), enjoying more family and puppy time (soul recharging).
Do you have any good book or movie recommendations?
Book: The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.
Movie: My Beautiful Broken Brain on Netflix.
What do you value most about being a member of IML ANZ?
Content, interactive and educational webinars, along with the ability to extend my network through meet and greets, virtual for now but hopefully face to face soon, with alignment to others with the professional standards and values I hold myself to, across a wide range of industries. I also greatly value being able to display my CMgr FIML post-nominals as a sales and management professional to provide credibility and a sense of surety in my ability to new customers.
