{"id":37780,"date":"2023-10-20T14:52:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/singtel-boss-chua-sock-koong-lean-whatever-way-you-want-just-support-other-women-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:52:18","slug":"singtel-boss-chua-sock-koong-lean-whatever-way-you-want-just-support-other-women-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/singtel-boss-chua-sock-koong-lean-whatever-way-you-want-just-support-other-women-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Singtel boss Chua Sock Koong: Lean whatever way you want, just support other women – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

You can lean in or out or sideways or whatever way makes you happy, according to Chua Sock Koong, who heads up the Optus parent company Singtel.<\/p>\n

Indeed, she herself didn\u2019t always \u2018lean in\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to be \u2018encouraged\u2019 to go for the CEO position,\u201d she told the 900-strong crowd at the annual Chief Executive Women (CEW) dinner on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI too suffered from a kind of reticence.\u201d<\/p>\n

She urged those in the crowd \u2013 some of the country\u2019s most powerful businesspeople \u2013 to mentor young women, and to be the kind of mentor they wish they had.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeaders create more leaders. Not just followers,\u201d she said. Chua said a good leader is like a good sporting coach, someone who can tell their players they can be better than they already are.<\/p>\n

Chua added that too often she\u2019s asked how she\u2019s managed to \u201cmake it so far\u201d as a woman, a question she said would never be asked of a man. She said she\u2019s now used to this line of questioning, just as she got used to walking into a meeting and seeing those in the room expecting she was the secretary and was there to serve tea.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn to laugh these things off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to overcome gender stereotypes is to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her advice to the ambitious women in the room, she urged them to go for jobs that offer great experience rather than those that will pay the first million.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think about making that first million fast,\u201d she directed at the CEW scholarship winners who were present in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, look for career options that will give you the opportunity to learn and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chua said women are still far too underrepresented in the business world, making up less than 5% of chief executives of the world\u2019s largest organisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larger the company, the less likely the head will be a woman,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it\u2019s absolutely essential that women support each other: \u201cBehind every successful woman is a tribe of other women who have her back,\u201d Chua said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CEW President Diane Smith Gander urged the audience to promote boardroom gender equity, and added we\u2019ll know we have gender equality when girls get the same pocket money as boys, and women get the same number of leadership positions as men.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<\/em>SoundCloud<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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