Good Governance
Johnson, Alexandra. ‘Good Governance’. Acuity 2.4 (2015): 62-65. Print.
Experienced director and board chair Paulo Dwyer on good governance, good governments, and taking a gamble.
MELBOURNE-BASED Paula Dwyer FCA is a seasoned director and board chair, but she didn’t set out in her career to deliberately become so.
Now chairman of Tabcorp Holdings Limited and Healthscope Limited, and director of the ANZ Banking Group and Lion Pty Limited, she began working as a chartered accountant at PwC in the mid-1980s. She then went into corporate finance at Ord Minnett, then took up lead financial advisory roles with the Victorian Government, before moving into funds management and investment in Australian equities.
It was not till 2000 that Dwyer began her career as a nonexecutive director, building a portfolio of directorships in the government and not-for-profit sectors. In 2002 she joined the board of Promina Group Ltd. And by 2015, The Australian newspaper had named her in the top 20 most powerful women in Australian business.
Many factors come into play in terms of being an effective director. Background, skills and experience are important elements, but so too are key attributes such as diplomacy and the ability to work in a team. And a background in chartered accountancy gives you a solid grounding, she says.
Good leadership
While she did not have a specific mentor per se, Dwyer says she has sought advice from wise people over the course of her career. She is a keen observer of people and reads widely to inform her views about how corporations are run. But leadership doesn’t come from expertise and having a background in accountancy doesn’t mean you have the last say in financial matters on a board, she says.
Taking a gamble
Dwyer says some people have challenged her about being chairman of a gambling organisation. When she joined Tabcorp’s board the chairman at the time persuaded her by pointing out that governments are very heavily reliant on the revenue of gambling companies, and that gambling products can have profoundly negative impacts on communities if they are not delivered responsibly.
Good government?
Dwyer also enjoys being involved in the wider community debate. She is frustrated with the political landscape in Australia, which she believes is preventing the policy reforms that business needs. She says a prosperous economy leads to the material wellbeing of the community and everyone is struggling to reconcile community expectations around responsibility and regulatory oversight while generating good economic returns.
Being responsible
At board level, there is an increased expectation of accountability and transparency. Dwyer says that people take the responsibilities of directorship very seriously. The days of the imperial chief executive, when the board just rubberstamps management’s initiatives, are over. She says the role of a director is becoming more iterative and the interaction with management more frequent.
More diversity needed
Dwyer believes that more women need to be more involved in deciding where capital is invested in communities.
People from different backgrounds bring their perspectives and ideas and, although working together might not always be comfortable, this leads to better outcomes than come from a homogenous group making a decision.
While there is an increased focus on enabling women to achieve senior leadership positions, now we need results in terms of more women being appointed, she believes.