Creating a Culture of Innovation with Helen Souness - CEO, RMIT Online
“Create a culture that innovates”
Helen Souness is a senior leader with a career that spans more than 20 years of commercial experience in digital strategy, marketing and product across market-leading enterprises including Seek, Lonely Planet, Envato and Etsy.
In August 2017 Helen became the CEO, RMIT Online and is spearheading the online university’s portfolio of short courses and degrees with the aim of proactively shaping the evolving nature of the workforce to ensure staff have the skills required to stay relevant in the technically advanced Industry 4.0.
With a wealth of knowledge and experience, Helen speaks regularly about her role as a female CEO for one of Australia's leading universities. She has a vision to inspire young girls to pursue learning and future careers in STEM, something that is vitally important for the next generation of girls. She also recognises the importance of businesses upskilling their workforce to stay relevant in Industry 4.0
According to the Dell Global Women Entrepreneurs Index, Melbourne is moving up the ranks of cities that support growth for women entrepreneurs. Yet despite both Melbourne and Sydney ranking in the top 50, just 17% of Australia’s female workforce holds a CEO position. RMIT Online’s CEO, Helen Souness falls into that 17%.
One of Helen’s latest initiatives is the launch of a Digital Leadership course, in partnership with Thoughtworks, which has been designed to equip emerging leaders with the skills needed to develop more traditional leadership fundamentals to succeed in their roles in the new era of digital disruption.
What’s one of your greatest accomplishments to date?
I have had many ex-colleagues and team members over the years follow me between jobs and seek my counsel regularly. I count their significant achievements among my most precious accomplishments. I think you measure your success as a leader by the impact you make on your mentees, perhaps more than what you achieve yourself.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve experienced and/or overcame in your journey as a leader?
I think my most difficult times have been when I’ve had tough feedback as it really is hard to take it on openly, without reacting defensively. Sometimes it’s taken me a long time to truly hear the feedback, but it has always been worthwhile. Even if I have ultimately disagreed with a perception (such as when I was told I was “too expressive to be an executive”). Perceptions are always true, even that of a stakeholder with conservative values - which has been common to many stakeholders through my career. Thinking about what I could do to shift that perception, whether true or not, helped me grow and learn to vary my style to be as impactful as possible
We all need a little support, no matter what our level as a leader. who do you turn to for guidance, advice or support?
I compare notes with the key members of my executive team constantly, to get their counsel and opinions on the issues we face. They are a talented and very supportive team whom I learn from every day. I find a few conversations with say my Chief Student Experience Officer Claire, Marketing Director Anshu or Director of Tech, Will, for example will round out my view on a problem, give me new angles, challenge my assumptions and set me on a clearer course to a decision. My colleagues throughout my career have been my favourite mentors.
Complete the following sentence, A leader is someone who “serves their people to ensure they are able to be successful.”
Connect with Helen:
To hear more about her thoughts on leadership, STEM, the future of elearning and much more you can find her on LinkedIn, or connect through RMIT Online on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.