Radio show host and social commentator, Libbi Gorr, has shared her thoughts on leadership and empowerment at an AFA Inspire event in Melbourne.
The event was hosted by the AFA in conjunction with sponsor, TAL, as part of the AFA Inspire initiative, which is celebrating its second anniversary. It brought together a group mostly comprising female financial advisers and other female industry colleagues. The event also celebrated the launch of the 2015 AFA/TAL Female Excellence in Advice Award, and addressed issues involved in working within an environment that, according to AFA Inspire’s Victorian Chair, Nettie Handley, isn’t always conducive to females.
In seeking to help connect women in advice, and talk about the issues they face, guest speaker Ms Gorr shared with her audience her experiences in developing her own direction. She outlined five pieces of advice that she says have helped her navigate her path. Within a context where Ms Gorr suggested that a woman’s greatest asset in business and in life is other women, her five ‘excellent’ pieces of advice are:
- Be bold – be brave, take risks, be courageous and adventurous
- When in doubt, tell the truth – be straightforward
- Work out what you want – take a fair and reasonable position and stick to it
- Be in the moment – with children, family and friends; find the good things in the moment
- Know when it’s time to stop – know when it’s time to move on
You are in the business of happiness…
Ms Gorr suggested that financial advisers are effectively in the ‘happiness’ business. That is, by giving their clients the life choices that come with financial empowerment and eventually, financial freedom, they are in a position to be able to guide their clients on a path towards the happiness that can often be linked with that financial freedom and the choices it delivers. In reminding her audience that they should always keep their eye on the bigger picture of their life and their financial services career, Ms Gorr again emphasised, “You are in the business of happiness.”
According to TAL Regional Manager, David Mounsey, the AFA/TAL Female Excellence in Advice Award has attracted nominations from over 500 candidates in its first four years. Click here for more details about the 2015 Award, which marks the fifth year it has been presented. One of its aims is to encourage more female financial advisers to enter the profession, one in which Mr Mounsey noted the ratio of qualified financial advisers in the industry is still approximately four males to one female.
