GII interview with VFMC's outgoing CEO: The next chapter
Global Investment Insights
with Lisa Gray, Ex-Chief Executive Officer, Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC)
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In April 2021, VFMC announced that Lisa would be transitioning from her executive career and on 30 September 2021, she departed VFMC, replaced by Kate Galvin as the incoming Chief Executive Officer. After nearly six years with VFMC, Lisa advised that it was time for her to pursue her interests across a broad portfolio of directorship and advisory roles.
Lisa shared her reflections on her time at VFMC and what her future holds in this exclusive interview with Global Investment Institute (GII).
Q. What are you most proud about from your time at VFMC?
A. The evolutionary nature of our transformation - designed and delivered by the people of VFMC.
While VFMC has always had highly capable people, we are in a fundamentally different place to where we were six years ago. We are now an innovative, contemporary asset manager with new investment strategies for managing across our entire portfolio utilising leading data, analytics and digital capabilities. All underpinned by a flexible and self-sustaining culture and workplace.
Q. What personal attributes have contributed to your highly successful and distinguished career that have been translatable across multiple sectors and industries you have worked across?
A. I am passionate about putting purpose, people and customers at the heart of commercial decision-making. Too many businesses operate as if they are mutually exclusive. In my experience, they must be in alignment to have sustainable commercial success.
I believe in devolving decision-making to the point of implementation. That is, getting the people who will have to implement the decision day-to-day, and live with the implications, to make the decision. They are well equipped to do this if you, as the leader, have provided context and long-term aspirations as an anchor for those decisions.
As leaders we are ‘unfinished’; we need to remain open to becoming better each and every year. That requires ‘real work’; it takes time and is not something that happens in and around our work. It is our work and it is founded in:
Asking questions with genuine curiosity
Courage, resolve and resilience
Authentic and real communication
Making the complex simple and accessible
Q. What vision do you have for the next chapter of your life, professionally and personally?
A. I have spent the last 25 years leading individual businesses or organisations. As I embark on the next phase of my career, I want to broaden and amplify my leadership contribution to extend across multiple companies and industries.
I hope to achieve that by building a broad portfolio of interests, including board directorships.
I believe that experienced business leaders have a significant contribution to make to the field of leadership and management education. As a practitioner, I am keen to share my insights and experience to help emerging generations of business leaders.
Q. What changes do you think are needed at the leadership and directorship level to steer organisations toward success in light of the challenges faced today and those emerging on the horizon?
A. The challenges for organisations in the future are multi-dimensional; uncertainty and the pace of change mean we need to be more adaptive than ever before.
Stakeholder expectations are broader and greater than ever and there is an increasing focus on how you do business, not just what you do.
There is an ongoing need to question and challenge your operating model and look for opportunities to purposefully disrupt yourself before you are disrupted by others.
Q. What lessons from your executive career would you share with others, including any pitfalls to avoid?
A. For me, one of the most important conditions in life is to have choice. This is critical from a career perspective. To have choice, you need to broaden and develop across different types of roles and business situations (eg start-ups, turnarounds) throughout your career.
Take risks and broaden your experience across functions and roles early in your career. Don’t just aim for a vertical path in one field. Gain breadth and be prepared to move sideways to gain new experiences and capabilities.
Take on those new and adaptive roles in your organisation. They will be challenging and difficult but you will learn invaluable skills, build experience and profile and ensure you are well placed for future roles and promotion.
Being open about your concerns and vulnerabilities makes you a more accessible leader and one that people will want to work with and learn from.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the individual and do not reflect those of their employer organisation.
All information contained within this publication is general advice only, as the knowledge levels and needs of all individual and corporate investors vary greatly this publication should not be used solely as a decision-making tool, further opinions and information should be sought before making an investment decision. It is the recommendation of Global Investment Institute (GII) that you seek the opinions of a fee-for-service, independent investment adviser before making any investment decision.
The authors, directors or guest writers may have a financial interest as investors, trustees or directors in investments discussed or recommended in this document. It has been assessed by the editors that these financial interests have not had an impact on the material contained here within.
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