“Leadership is not just a title; it’s an action and an example that inspires people to achieve the impossible.”
Since the 1st industrial revolution, the business community has witnessed seismic shifts. And it’s not limited to technology and infrastructure but mindset as well. It pushed women entrepreneurship, which was a fundamental change across the global landscape. But most important of all, it paved the way for design thinking. This helped in improving productivity and encouraged sustainability, allowing corporate leaders to be change agents. While these reforms are noteworthy, there is still a conundrum about leadership. Many people still assume leadership is about title, position, money, and fame. But, it’s actually quite the opposite. The traditional settings of dominance and authority have been reshaped to collaboration and teamwork. Validating this notion, we are pleased to present Colleen Callander, a multi-dimensional leader with a proven track in growing many brands, winning cultures, and environments that inspire people to grow and flourish. She believes leadership starts from leading yourself as one life impacts another positively.
Her thought of leadership attracted our attention. She is a dynamic force in her native land, Australia. Recently, Business Talk Magazine engaged in a holistic conversation with her for their upcoming edition, ‘Influential Business Leaders of the Year 2021.’ The following cover story is a comprehensive discourse covering her journey from plinth to paramount.
Colleen was born and raised in Geelong and grew up in a business-oriented family. At a very young age, she began working in the family business and, at 16, got the first taste of retail. Unbeknownst to her, this summer job was about to pave the way for a long and sustainable career in fashion retail. After 3 decades in fashion and spending 13 years in-between, helming two of Australia’s iconic fashion brands, Colleen sought to write the next chapter of her life. Throughout her tenures, the way leaders interacted with people intrigued her. Even though she looked up to people with fancy titles, she realized power and authority don’t qualify as leadership. “Leadership starts with the person, not the position,” she avers. She believed that actions reflect the type of leader a person wants to be and the world they want to build.
However, she wanted people to embrace a ‘new era’ of leadership – that puts people first with a focus on sustainability. Taking a bold decision, she founded Callander & Co. to impact, influence, and inspire people to be their best version and create a much-needed change in the leadership setting. Her ‘new era’ of leadership is one of collaboration, integrity, authenticity, and kindness. These inherent values have not only helped her change the rules, but build a sustainable trajectory for many brands. She became an inspiration to women of various ethnicities. She encourages them to come forward, share their voice and find the leader within themselves. Colleen is passionate about creating a world where people feel more confident and inspired, and empowered to live each day with clarity and purpose, and where organisations thrive in the way they lead. She has shared her journey as a guest speaker at multiple conferences and events, including the Sportsgirl Fashion launches, Business Chicks Australia, Inside Retail, The Agency Leaders Symposium, National Retail Association, and Conversations With Thought Leaders.
“The best leadership I have ever witnessed is where a person has a passion for a cause that is larger than themselves,” Colleen.
Colleen’s influential tenure and understanding of leadership have been the prime inspiration behind Callander & Co. Her desire to make a difference has sparked its growth beyond her wildest dreams and with several business streams to boot. In this new chapter, she can linchpin her thought process on a broader and deeper scale. And she is doing these through her Mentor Me Programs, Book, masterclasses, podcasts, coaching, and keynote speaking. Let’s understand these streams in a broader sense and how they inspire others to find and live their true purpose:
Colleen’s differentiated thought and understanding have put many feathers on her cap. For her, leadership boils down to motivating people to go places they would never otherwise go. Her work towards her dedicated cause has most recently listed her amongst ‘The top 10 Influential Business Leaders Making a difference’ by World Leaders. She got the ‘CEO of The Year’ Award from The CEO Magazine ANZ in 2014, for which she previously served as a judge in 2012. She also contributes an opinion piece to CEO WORLD Magazine. Her book ‘Leader By Design’ has raved a lot of positive reviews, with being nominated as a finalist in the ‘2021 Australian Business Book’ awards. She is also no stranger to the media being appeared on Sky News, The CEO Institute, Ticker NEWS, and has been interviewed by the likes of The Weekend Australian, Money Magazine, The Australian, Business Women Media, GT Magazine, Women On Topp, and Thrive Global to name a few.
Every inspirational figure has a unique tale of overcoming adversity and turning it into an opportunity. In 2007, Colleen faced her most difficult struggle yet: juggling her roles as a general manager at Sportsgirl and a mother of three children. “To say I was ‘busy’ was an understatement. With three children – Macey was just two, Trent nine, and Jake ten – an average day was barely contained chaos,” she says. She had a lot on her plate, from raising small children, running a house, interstate travel, to having days packed with meetings, appointments, and leadership decisions. This period, as she says, is a Formula 1 race car – not refueled and worn out in every way imaginable. “I was only 36 years old, but I was utterly burnt out. I just had nothing left in the tank,” Colleen comments.
However, she sought to see this through. She took a three-and-a-half-month break and completely fixed up her Formula 1 car – refueling, changing tires, and learning how to best take care of herself. She found a life coach and learned to say no without guilt and selfishness. She focused on establishing the structures and boundaries that shape her life. By focusing on self-care, she turned around her life as a mother, leader, friend, or wife. Colleen shares this burnout journey through her platforms to help others recognise their burnout signs, and through Callander & Co., she offers strategies to eliminate burnouts and live a life of purpose, success, joy, and fulfillment.
Kindness is a prioritised element in Colleen’s new era of leadership. It’s no epiphany that the corporate era rides on sales, margins, market share, shareholder return, revenue, performance, and profit, which are all essential for organisations to reinvest, innovate, and grow. Good leadership that begins with accepting people as assets and prioritising their needs and well-being has a significant impact on the success of the organisation and its bottom line. As a CEO, Colleen has always strived to create environments that connect people and make them feel valued, trusted, and empowered. This keeps her employees engaged and motivated to bring out their best and contribute to the organisation’s success.
Based on that, Colleen aims to encourage leaders to lead with kindness – something she has been doing for a long time. Any successful organisation needs a clear vision, long-term strategy with accountability for accomplishing its goals. It needs innovation, a sense of urgency, and entrepreneurial thinking. Kindness, with honesty and integrity, acknowledges the ‘Power of people’ and keeps people within an environment inspired. Shifting the focus from profit to people, purpose, and passion empowers creative thinking. Colleen believes an ecosystem that encourages people to take risks, open their minds, think outside the square, test and learn, and failure is progression – creativity will come automatically. Putting it simply, “One life positively impacts another.” When leaders provide much-needed support and the right environment, people will embrace creativity in everything they do.
Creating a great culture is difficult – but it is worth it. Colleen describes culture as a ‘way of being’ embedded in the ecosystem and associated with people and purpose. It encompasses beliefs, values, practices, attitudes, and behaviours that people share in everyday life. In an organisation, a strong culture propels work satisfaction, retention, relationships, performance, and progression. A strong culture fuelled by strong leadership attracts the best talent, retains them, and improves productivity and engagement. While Colleen trains these through various means, her organisation follows them to the note.
Callander & Co. is driven by positivity. Its culture empowers people’s happiness, commitment, job satisfaction, pushing them to collaborate and innovate. “When I think about culture, I describe it as what people do when no one is watching!” She affirms culture as a major USP in an organisation that needs to be taught and learned. It keeps employees connected with the organisation and inspires them for a sustainable career. Through Callander & Co., she promotes the need for openness, empowerment, collaboration, trust, and cooperation in an organisation’s culture. “I believe it is the foundation of a thriving organisation,” says Colleen. She further adds, “A great culture starts with you. If you are responsible for people, you are also responsible for the culture.”
From winning awards, breaking through glass ceilings to breaking records, and becoming acknowledged, Colleen has had a roller coaster ride. But it wasn’t just her blood and sweat, but also of the incredible people who believed in her and were with her all along. Their collaboration helped her create an alluring culture that nurtures and acknowledges success. “Here, people give their blood and sweat and tears and strive to see each other – and the organisation succeed,” says Colleen. Her criterion for success is having a good impact on society and individuals. She is here to disrupt the current quo, empower women, and encourage leaders to rise up and lead with kindness and sincerity.
Within 18 months of inception, Callander & Co. has established a niche for itself. In 2022, it’s planning to step up the game. While 2020-21 was full of disruption, it has allowed leaders to challenge and change the status quo. Organisations are now becoming more adaptive, encouraging new thinking, investing in people, and embracing collaboration. Within its brief span, Callander & Co. has built its forte in every business stream and is set to make an impact of a larger magnitude. In a broad sense, Colleen and her venture aims to imbibe equality and diversity in global leadership and encourage them to lead with kindness and compassion, acknowledge the power of people – creating leaders of the future.
“Be a role model to people. As human beings, we’re inspired by others’ stories of adversity, accomplishments, fears, and failures. It is through them we connect, learn, and grow. That’s why it’s so important to have role models and career mentors in our lives, particularly as new leaders.” – Colleen Callander
Colleen Callander on Social Media
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Business Talk is a digital business magazine that caters to CEOs, Entrepreneurs, VC, and Corporates. While working with entrepreneurs and business executives, we focus not only on their achievements. Our mission is to shed light on business entities, including their innovations, technological benchmarks, USPs, and milestones/accolades.
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