What do Trinny Woodall and Glenn Stevens have in common?

What do the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Glenn Stevens, and skincare entrepreneur Trinny Woodall have in common?

They are leaders with authenticity and integrity.

Trinny Woodall is in town this week. I am an avid fan of her skincare and makeup, and latterly her styling – which has led in a roundabout way to me qualifying as a personal stylist, so I can help others at a change point in their lives. Anyway….

There are a million and one leadership blogs, books, podcasts etc with varied formulas and philosophies. It’s kind of like diets, many are essentially the same it’s just about whether their framing keeps you focused, perhaps with more or less ‘guarantee’ related to their short cuts.

For me, the essential ingredient in a leader is values. Not the sort of ‘values’ you put in a frame on a boardroom wall, but the ones that ‘maketh the man’.

I worked for two central banks for a total of 22 years. As an economics grad entering the Bank of England it was about who offered me the job first. When I moved to Australia, it was about using my specialist central bank communications skills to achieve the life goal of living here. But I stayed at the Reserve Bank because of the man that led us, and I am not alone in that.

Many people in the Bank followed Glenn Stevens, and continue to reference him in their conversations and decisions, because of his integrity and unwavering focus on doing what was best for ‘the welfare of all Australians’ regardless of how hard the path might be.

Now, Trinny Woodall is obviously a very different kettle of fish! But here is the thing, she is open and unapologetic about who she is and why, and she stays with that when it is damn hard, often in a very vulnerable way.

Trinny is bloody determined, resourceful, and god is she resilient. She is also gracious but firm in the face of criticism – when it comes from online trolls, and also at the start when there was something like 250 rejections by investors because they thought she was too old and/or didn’t believe she knew her market (middle aged women – she was 53…)!

Trinny Woodall is all about her brand colours (BRIGHT yellow and silver), and Governor Stevens is definitely a navy pinstripe suit man – but as leaders, I respect them for the same reason. They have authenticity and integrity about who they are and what they want to achieve, and they do it in the face of serious adversity.

I want to be valued for those same things.

Glenn Stevens and Trinny Woodall have both been important to my career journey. I met one of them last night. She was as fabulous, generous, and thoughtful in person as she is on social media (and boy does she have energy!). It was also notable that a very high proportion of her team at the event have been with her a very long time, that says everything about a leader you need to know in my book. I can’t tell you how long it took me to plan my outfit though!

I look forward to my next cuppa with the other one, the navy pinstripe jacket will likely have an outing that day…