(Bec) Brideson has a mission to change the world's attitudes to women, economics and business.
A pioneer and innovator in commercially smart ways to market to the female consumer, she helps organisations develop strategies and solutions to make more money in what is the fastest growing economic market.
With over twenty years of success as a communications specialist, Bec is recognised for her work on big brands across categories such as FMCG, automotive and aviation, including the successful launch of Virgin Airlines in Australia. She is one of only 3 per cent of women globally to have held the job title of Creative Director, and is renowned for setting up Australia's first marketing-to-women agency, Venus Comms.
Now an influential facilitator, trainer, mentor and coach, Bec helps business leaders and organisations to uncover what women really want, expect and need from them and to transform this understanding into business growth.
She believes that a company's true competitive advantage is way more obvious and accessible than many think. From C-suite to CMOs, executive teams, digital, marketing and sales departments, Bec has proved time and time again the financial upside of womenomics.
Her ability to create clarity and focus around an industry and topic that is often misheard and misunderstood makes her a sought-after speaker. She has presented at numerous conferences throughout the world, including Cannes Lions, Indi Summit, Pause Fest, ad: tech and Mumbrella360.
Bec is married to an ‘adman' and has two young daughters. This is her first (but definitely not her last) book.
Acknowledgements
For just over a year, I set my alarm for 4.45 am so I could focus on my writing in a still and quiet house. It has taken me daily discipline and commitment to bring this book to its full potential, which is exactly how I propose you improve your own business.
I feel my purpose is to create a better world for womankind, mankind and human kindness. We all have an opportunity to add richness, warmth and value, and to help lighten the load for others. This book, I hope, is a step in this direction.
It takes a village to raise a child, and a community to write a book.
To my community:
Kelly Irving, my patient, clever and supportive editor, to whom I'm profoundly grateful. Lucy Raymond at Wiley – I am in awe of your strength and courage. Melissa Kuttan, my intelligent business assistant and cheer squad, and all of the Venus team, particularly Kiki Sarafis for brilliant design aesthetics and Sive Buckley, who ‘calms my farm'. Looking back on my career: Sean Cummins for the craft and the guts, and for being the catalyst to my steely determination and belief. Michael Faudet and Rod Bennett, two of the cleverest creative men in advertising, who believed in me at various stages along my career path and who championed me on my journey both in and out of the ad industry.
To my village:
My loving parents for the DNA, the opportunity and the education you gave your daughters. My sister Meg, my bestie Angie Douglas, my clever cousin Melanie Sheppard, and other women in my tribe including Georgia Murch, Jayne Ansin, Bec Cole, Donna McCrum, Tara Lordsmith and Chris Khor. You are all wonderful and strong women who lift me up and embolden me.
And to my husband, who had the courage to join me in life before joining me in my business. For the intellectual rigour, the productive debates, the development of our knowledge and the tough times we survived juggling babies and business and getting through it all. To my girls, Miffy and Winsome: thank you for being the strong, resilient and creative darlings you are. There is no end to my appreciation of my family for supporting me in my career and passion outside of the other most important job in the world – loving you all.
Preface
Imagine a page with the heading ‘Gender' at the top. On one side we list issues that we encounter in the HR or culture department, such as unconscious bias, wage gap, glass ceiling, equal opportunity and workforce diversity.
Somewhere at the bottom of the page we note more personal subjects around sexuality and identity, such as transgender evolutions, sexual preferences and the blurring of domestic roles.
Then over on the other side of the page we add another large head-ing, ‘Womenomics' or ‘The female economy', then note down some of the economic issues relating to women's impact in the marketplace and their financial leverage today in the consumer economy.
Now many of these points can be connected by dotted or blurry lines, but still they are all very different subjects.
It is no wonder that confronting these issues is inherently confusing, which often means this useful exercise ends up in the ‘too hard basket'.
On the HR side, many workplace headaches and difficulties can make us feel a bit uneasy, emotional or just worn out. Years of discussion of all this have made us a bit weary and wary, but treating genders equally while celebrating their differences is such an important dynamic when it comes to moving society forward. Unconscious bias is tricky because normally it is not visible on the surface. So if it is not apparent, how do we tackle it?
Sexuality and gender roles are so much wrapped up in personal preferences and lifestyle values that it's a bit like our political inclina-tions: we don't usually go around discussing them or justifying them because they involve individual choice. Nonetheless these issues often crop up at work and need to be understood because of the way they can affect the business or financial discussions of males and females as markets.
That women have a distinctive economic role is a fairly new revelation in the business world. Many business leaders don't know about it or understand it, or they don't see it as relevant to their bottom line. For many different reasons, they think the homogenising of gender is not an issue. They have traditionally viewed the world through a male lens, and they don't see why we should upset the applecart by changing this now.
‘Gender' is a word that makes many of us shrink and feel instantly defensive. It speaks to who we are in everyday life: the way we dress, which bathroom we use, how we identify ourselves and others. That's why it's a subject of nuance, and often confusion, and a political hot potato. But that doesn't mean we should ignore it.1
For a woman, presenting these arguments is especially problematic, for a really simple reason: most people think they are about to enter into an ‘HR / bias / feminist' discussion. Not true!
As a woman working in this market, I have built something of a reputation as an expert on gender opportunity. Still I find that many would rather dismiss such concerns as ‘women's problems' than take the time to understand that I am talking about ways the business might be more financially successful.
Culture/workplace gender issues, sexuality, the female economy (womenomics). When writing this book, I worked to keep the three subjects distinct in order to better understand them and appreciate what each brings to the discussion. But the fact is they are all part of the overall mix, so keep that page in your head and continue to visualise those dotted lines linking them. As you read this book, I hope you will start to see gender as a wonderfully powerful term associated with profits, product developments and market disruption, rather than as big blind spots.
The numbers and facts around womenomics are black and white, but there is still a big grey area to address – and that's what we'll be doing in the pages that follow.
Addressing our gender differences, when it comes to business, can lead to big bucks – so stick with me!
This book was written for forward-thinking trailblazers who are ready to take positive action in their businesses and organisations. It closes the gap between wanting to create change and knowing why we need it. It's for those decision makers who are having the conversation but are struggling with how to look at it