Laura Friend, Enterprise Account Executive, Amplitude
5 January 2021
When starting out your career everyone has come across that first truly influential leader. Someone who has, sometimes unknowingly, shaped your aspirations and left an impression that guides you for years to come. For me that person is Alicia.
The first time we met I was interviewing for my first “real job”. Having left university and with no interest to move to London, I had traveled to Australia on a whim with 6 friends. Not wanting to waste a year, I was keen to find a job which would give me real-world business experience, which was how I stumbled unwittingly upon Meltwater.
Meltwater was the ultimate school of graduate software-sales. An incredible culture, fast-paced learning environment, where I made a network of life-long friends and learnt the true grit of rejection.
It was during my interview to become a media consultant (a potentially vague and misleading description of what I would actually be doing) I met Alicia. At the time she was Area Director for Australia and New Zealand, with 4 direct and 28 indirect reports, and only at the spritely age of 26.
What I recall vividly was her calm but challenging style. When she questioned my responses in the final panel it was the hardest part of the process and the first time I felt in equal measure both inspired and terrified that I wasn’t going to get the job. Needless to say, a few days later I remember Alicia ringing me. In her true style, she made me painstakingly wait whilst she delivered and discussed feedback before telling me the good news. Since then, she has become one of my closest friends with an important seat at my boardroom table. I seek her input on every career (and sometimes personal) decision and walk away from each conversation having discovered something new about myself.
Having met Alicia whilst she was already a successful leader – it has been an exciting opportunity to delve into how she got to where she is today! Although she started in technology sales, the thread that weaves its way through her success is her understanding of how to scale businesses, build teams and get results. When she got the job to lead Naked Wines Australia, we both chuckled because she knew nothing about wine and had only seen e-commerce at work through her role at Afterpay – but they didn’t need her tastebuds, they wanted to scale and get results.
Taking a look at where it all began, Alicia went to university in Sydney to study law and economics but was quick to reassess her career path when she envisaged her life being billed in 6 minute increments. Having been surrounded by family run businesses she knew business was where she wanted to be, which was how she came across Meltwater.
“I was at a family birthday party sitting at the dinner table and there was a newspaper there, I flipped it open to the job advert section and there was an ad for (at the time) Magenta News. It said something like autonomous responsibility, portfolio management and something about KPIs. I legitimately had no idea what this meant the job actually was, but I thought, I like those words and I probably need some interview experience.”
That interview experience turned into a job offer and within 18 months Alicia had been promoted twice to become, at the time, Meltwater’s youngest Managing Director. Taking over from a very gregarious, English, 48 year old, who had a wealth of experience under his belt. It was nothing short of a daunting task. To help with this transition Alicia recalls advice the then CEO Jorn gave her:
“have high standards, lead by example and if you work harder than everyone else they will really respect you for it.”
Alicia shared that early on in her career, this was solid advice, but as she moved into more senior roles, she had to resist the temptation to rely on just working harder to get results.
“As with all good advice there are unintended consequences and traps if you follow it too literally. The interesting thing is the more senior you are, the more you should stop personally doing so much, reflect more, give yourself space, make good quality decisions and enable other good people to contribute because that is how they will learn. But I had trained the do more/work harder muscle group day in, day out for years.”
Reflecting on how her leadership style has changed over the years, Alicia can see in the early days it was more management rather than leadership (she thinks she would have made a very good drill-sergeant).
“I thought you had to be perfect and instructive with a tight leash. However, giving people room to make their own decisions, to feel the gain or the pain of a mistake, learning what to leave be, being more vulnerable and human, and coaching through highlighting patterns, questions and frameworks rather than instruct”
Everyone has their blindspots and one thing Alicia has learnt to manage, is the feeling of extreme responsibility. Those who know her know a core part of her personality is that she is incredibly responsible, dependable and wants to fix things. I often joke (in a very serious way) that she would be my first pick on a survival team during a zombie apocalypse. Whilst these are fantastic characteristics, they can be a double-edged sword, and, particularly early on in her career, Alicia admits to feeling an overwhelming personal responsibility if anything went wrong or if people were not happy, which was very draining on energy. An interesting comment and a characteristic I have often seen reflected in women.
Discussing her strengths, Alicia’s superpowers lie in what she calls her light-bulb moments and synthesising information. I have had many of these “a-h-a” feelings with her and I have always had an inkling she knows what the solution is before I do. My other favourite qualities of hers, include her persuasiveness and “get shit done attitude” (To any Scandal fans, she is essentially Olivia Pope). Alicia is never the loudest in the room, or the centre of attention, but when she speaks she commands attention because she has an innate ability to listen, cut through the noise and simplify the solution.
When talking about diversity, Alicia has struggled to pinpoint the exact combination of skills that have allowed her to progress in organisations where she is often the only female executive or board-member. During her career, she has unfortunately had more experience than she would have liked being the only female at the table.
“when you are the minority and you have a seat at the table, it’s important that you don’t give up that seat and make sure that you know you have been given it for a reason. Whilst you feel different, it is this that means others will listen when you say something and really notice you.”
She has always been a strong supporter of women’s careers and has a female majority in her organisation, and an even gender split in leadership. Something both her customers and I are excited to see!
Looking back on our time at Meltwater, it is interesting to reflect on how many great female leaders I was exposed to 10 years ago in Australia of all places. I am certainly no expert on the complexity of diversity, however on the topic of gender in-equality, I have personally felt the positive impact that great female leaders have had on my working life. When you can see someone like you being successful and supporting you on your journey, it has a direct correlation to your own ambitions and feelings of belonging. Which is why I think it’s important to remind myself of this perspective when thinking about why diversity is so important in all its forms.