People with Purpose: Whole lotta Rosie

Tell us a little about your background in the not-for-profit sector.

With no plan in place, just a commitment to service, social justice and adventure, I am so grateful for my career to date in the not-for-profit sector.

I have worked in the development and water sectors and as a volunteer as a foster carer, committee member and board director.

I started my career in education. With a love of languages and other cultures, I jumped at an opportunity to volunteer at a school in Indonesia.

This formative experience as a young person had a big impact on me – the school was resource-poor with no electricity, running water or teaching resources but rich in so many other ways.

With hindsight, I can point to many points in my life of examples like this where I have had the courage to seize opportunities that took me out of my comfort zone and help me grow personally and professionally.

That openness to new opportunities led me into international development. After six years in Indonesia, I joined WaterAid Australia at its inception in 2004 as the administration assistant.

I was overqualified and had to convince the panel to employ me and that I would stay. At that time, I was a new parent and wanted to have a role that didn’t involve travel. And stay I did – for 20 years!

I had a significant period as director of international programs, then became CEO for seven years.

WaterAid is a global organisation dedicated to providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene to some of the world's most vulnerable communities. A highlight from my time as CEO included a transformation process around diversity and governance.

Making the decision to leave WaterAid was one of the hardest career decisions I have made. I loved working there and it was difficult to leave as I loved the impact and the people, and we were thriving.

I delivered on my leadership ambition, which was to cultivate the leadership of those around me and they were ready. I am very proud of the succession story at WaterAid.

So, after 20 years in one organisation, I decided to imagine myself on a trapeze taking leaps of faith! In doing so I have taken on a part-time role, and alongside that I am doing a range of things including leadership coaching, being a celebrant and creating a podcast.

What is your role at the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust and what is the trust's purpose?

I am the CEO at the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust (PCT).

The Trust’s purpose is to foster courageous leadership to tackle water and environmental challenges. To deliver on that purpose we cultivate leaders through our transformative leadership program. We have more than 300 graduates of our programs who are an amazing network of leaders.

The late Professor Peter Cullen AO was a water scientist with a superb capacity to synthesise and communicate complex ideas in a simple, clear way to local communities, policy makers and politicians.

We were founded to continue his legacy, based on the philosophy that, to improve Australia’s water and environmental management, we need to enhance the link between good science and effective policy making.

This requires effective leadership skills, particularly around communicating in ways that bring science to life and make it relevant for politicians and policy makers. It also requires respectful, informed and meaningful collaboration, which is the key to responsible and sustainable water management, now and in the future.

So, we continue to create trusted spaces for leaders to grapple with challenges in managing our water and environment.

What are the biggest challenges Australia faces when it comes to managing our water and environment?

We have been developing our next strategy and reflecting on the biggest challenges we face to manage our water and environment.

Our top challenges include the climate crisis and biodiversity loss; the times we are in where wicked problems are getting more complex, compounded by a time of division, polarisation and increasing inequality.

As we face into those challenges the key will be the enactment of courageous leadership in service of Australia’s lands, waters, and peoples.

We see the way forward as leadership that enacts our principles:

• Speak truth to power
• Be led by Country
• Forge new paths
• Lead together
• Use knowledge wisely

We understand you are also working on a new podcast exploring the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace; it's due to launch soon. Tell us more.

I am so excited about our podcast!

I am part of the Not in My Workplace team, a group of leaders committed to addressing the issue of workplace harassment and abuse.

We formed in 2019 to grow our network in service of preventing sexual harassment. We undertook a range of activities including a number of conferences and worked alongside the Respect at Work inquiry and former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins to elevate her work.

We have seen so much progress since we formed but there remains much to be done. Sexual harassment happens in every industry, in every location and at every level.

The Respect At Work report highlighted that in the past five years two in every five women reported experiencing sexual harassment at work.

We know that this is preventable and the impact it has on victims and workplaces more broadly, so we decided to produce a podcast to capture stories and resources of leaders and workplaces showing the way in this space.

Guests for the series include Catherine Fox, Cara Glesson, Professor Skye Charry, Professor Michael Flood, Nevo Zisin, Chanel Contos, Helga Svendsen, Karina Noble, Div Pillay, Tarang Chawla and Dr Anna Cody.

They share their expertise on the Respect At Work legislation, governance and leadership, engaging men in prevention and allyship, intersectionality, implementing policies that support the prevention of sexual harassment, broader efforts to address gender inequality and so much more.

Please subscribe, share the podcast, and join our community of change.

What do you hope to achieve by launching the podcast?

We want to create change so that workplaces become safer, more respectful, and more inclusive.

We hope the podcast will be a resource that is listened to in all workplaces across Australia. Our goal is to amplify and elevate the work of others so in the show notes we share resources and organisations that leaders and individuals can connect with.