risks Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Deep Tech Community Builder – Sally-Ann Williams

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023
by Claire

We’re really excited about the wonderful guest we have for you on episode 169 this week: Sally-Ann Williams.

Sally-Ann (aka Sally) is CEO of Cicada Innovations, Australia’s leading deep tech incubator for startups and scaleups with everything from quantum computing to life sciences, ag-tech, space and hydrogen startups. Cicada provides office space, custom labs, specialised equipment and training.

Over the years, Cicada has helped its resident companies raise 1.7 billion dollars in funding and they’ve also had 1.4 billion dollars in successful exits.

And right at the heart of the Cicada ecosystem is Sally.

Before joining Cicada, Sally spent nearly 13 years at Google in diverse roles mostly in the engineering team. There she was responsible, amongst many other things, for bringing street view to Australia and influencing school curriculum to ensure better teaching of technology and STEM subjects. She’s also always been a huge proponent for the start up ecosystem and women in particular.

In this episode you’ll hear how

Sally coped working with Google’s tech engineers without any technology background
How she goes about building or harnessing diverse systems to deliver positive long term change
The biggest challenge Sally faces running a deep tech incubator
Why she thinks seaweed is actually more exciting than generative AI; and
Her strategies for coping with chronic imposter syndrome.

Sally definitely sits in the box seat of what’s happening at the forefront of tech so we’re confident that you’ll find this conversation with her super interesting.

Enjoy this episode with deep tech and community champion, Sally-Ann Williams.

Useful Links

Sally-Ann on Linkedin

Cicada Innovations website

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Career Decisions

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021
by Claire

Welcome to this week’s mini episode all about how you should think about career opportunities. Making career decisions can be really stressful can’t it?

One guest who made a big impression on us with her career advice is the well known Australasian leader, Michelle Guthrie.

Michelle has had an international career including being CEO of Star TV in Asia, a senior executive at Google in Asia, and she was Managing Director of Australia’s national broadcaster the ABC – a term which ended in great controversy and was a challenging time for all involved.

Michelle really believes all of us need to take a few more risks and think about our careers with the long term in mind. She also has great advice on how we need to back ourselves more and trust we’ll figure it out even if it seems really daunting.

So if you’re in need of some reassurance and perspective on a career decision, then this is ten minutes you need to spend right now!

Useful Links

Our Full Interview with Michelle Guthrie

Michelle on LinkedIn

Interview

Que Dallara – Unlocks What It Takes to Be…

January 15, 2020
by Claire

From extreme disadvantage in her childhood, Honeywell Connected Enterprise (HCE) President and CEO, Que Dallara, has been driven all her life to ensure she and her family are far from the memories she has of begging for rice as a child refugee.

We’re in awe of what Que has so thoughtfully achieved over the years taking her from supporting her family and herself through school and uni, to reach the highest echelons of corporate America.

Que grew up in Australia and worked there for McKinsey and numerous corporates before moving to the US almost 20 years ago via an MBA at Insead. She worked in senior roles for Microsoft, TE Connectivity and now is running HCE for Honeywell. Que is leading the industrial giant’s transformative push into software sales and the Internet of Things.

Alongside all of this, she’s also the mum of three kids!

We urge you not to miss this episode which shares not only Que’s incredible life story but also some of the finest career advice you’re likely to hear.

In this episode you’ll learn:

What impact Que’s dramatic and dangerous escape from Vietnam has had on her life
How having to pay for her education and support her family, saw her running a successful business by the age of 16!
The one key thing Que realised she (and others) need to develop to keep progressing in their careers
How she goes about leading a major innovation play within a huge conglomerate.

Enjoy this episode with the humble, yet ever so impressive, Que Dallara.

Useful Links

Que’s LinkedIn

Honeywell – click on Honeywell Forge to see Que’s Division

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Interview

Ann Sherry – The Positive Change Agent

April 9, 2019
by admin

Ann Sherry is a change maker who’s notched up so many extraordinary achievements during her decades long and inspiring career to date that it’s hard to know where to start. Suffice to say Australian women have a lot to thank her for as one of the many things she’s responsible for is introducing paid maternity leave to corporate Australia.

She also transformed the cruise industry in Australia as CEO of Carnival Australia, notching up double digit growth every year despite having to deal with significant challenges.

Today Ann sits on multiple boards including Carnival Australia where she is Chairman, she is also Chair of UNICEF Australia, and a Non Executive Director (NED) with one of the country’s biggest banks, National Australia Bank (NAB), as well as Sydney Airport, Rugby Australia, the Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia and Palladium.

Ann has many accolades for her extremely varied career to date including a Centenary Medal, an Order of Australia and the overall winner of the Women of Influence award in 2015.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How having a baby with Downs syndrome at just 21 didn’t stop her from pioneering his care and returning to work when he was still young
How she’s learnt to be resilient and not be phased by others judging her
Why she thinks women need to take more risks
And why she controversially bought a host of brightly coloured pant suits shortly after becoming one of the first senior women at a major bank.

For listeners who outside of Australia, near the end of the episode we talk about how there’s recently been a Royal Commission in to banking in Australia – it’s basically a court-style public inquiry into misconduct which unearthed some serious misconduct across the industry.

So please enjoy this fascinating discussion with the inspiring and truly entertaining Ann Sherry.

Links to Ann:

Twitter

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