"Kindness is the new superpower for leaders."
Colleen Callander – Former Sportsgirl CEO, Founder of Callander & Co and ‘Mentor Me Women’, Author of ‘LEADER BY DESIGN’, Business and Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker and Non-Executive Director. Colleen Callander is an award-winning CEO and an inspiration to women of all generations. She encourages women globally to have the confidence to believe in themselves, their ability, share their voice and break through glass ceilings.
Colleen empowers women to step up, take action and become the leaders they always wanted to be in business and in life. Colleen also encourages organisations and leaders, both men and women to strive for a new era of leadership: one where we lead with kindness, trust, self-awareness, authenticity, and one that puts people at the heart of everything they do, and one that embraces more women at the helm. She is passionate about creating a world where people feel more confident to live each day with clarity and purpose and where organisations thrive through the way they lead. As the former CEO for 13 years of two of Australia’s iconic fashion brands Sportsgirl and Sussan, Colleen led with purpose, stayed true to her values, and created a culture that allowed people to thrive and shine.
Colleen is influential leader, highly respected and dynamic force with a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record in building brands, and is now sharing not only the past 13 years’ experience as a CEO but also the past 30 years of her fashion retail career and leadership knowledge through her business Callander & Co. In May 2021, Colleen launched her book ‘LEADER BY DESIGN’ which encourages women to live with purpose, change the leadership rules, find their superpower, and embrace the importance of self-care. She shares her thoughts on life in balance, her comeback from burnout and the power of building real confidence. Each chapter shares thought-provoking insights and advice to inspire all generations to live a life of passion and purpose, reach their full potential and create the life they deserve. ‘LEADER BY DESIGN’ has been met with rave reviews and immense success, including being nominated as a finalist in the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards.
Most recently, Colleen has been listed as one of the ‘Top 10 Influential Business Leaders Making a Difference by World’s Leaders’ and in 2014 was awarded the Highly Commended CEO of the Year Award – The CEO Magazine. Colleen is also an opinion columnist for the CEO WORLD Magazine. Colleen is a highly sort after Keynote Speaker and thought leader and is no stranger to the media having 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. Beyond her amazing career, the most important thing to Colleen is family. Colleen’s sees her most important and influential role in life as wife to Nick and mother of three beautiful humans: Jake, Trent, and Macey.
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Table of Contents
Tell us a little bit about your current projects. What exciting milestone would you like to share with our readers? (Don’t hesitate to delve into your achievements, they will inspire the audience)
Colleen Callander: After 30 years in fashion retail, and 13 years at the helm of two iconic fashion brands, it was time for me to write the next chapter of my life – which included the introduction of my business Callander & Co – Founder Colleen Callander. Callander & Co has had success beyond what I thought possible. It has grown significantly over the past 18 months, and so has its offering with multiple business streams. My purpose has always been to impact, influence and inspire the people around me so they can grow and thrive in all areas of their lives including their careers and show up as the best version of themselves each day. This is truly how organisations grow and prosper. Now in this next chapter of my life my purpose is the same. The most exciting thing is that I am doing it broader, deeper and on a much larger scale than ever before. Whether that’s through my Mentor Me Programs, through my book, masterclasses, podcasts, coaching, or keynote speaking, my purpose is to inspire and empower others to lead with confidence in business and in life.
Mentor Me Women is the platform through which I mentor groups of women of all generations and from different walks of life. Executives, mums, start-up executives, students, young women starting out in their careers, senior leaders, CEO’s and teachers… I have worked with all these women and more! Mentor Me Women inspires and empowers women to lead with confidence in their own lives – whether that be in boardrooms, organisations, communities or even the home. As a mentor, I guide, support, and challenge women to step outside their comfort zone, build on their leadership abilities, and set boundaries and goals that will empower them to take action. Mentor Me Women is about creating simple tools and actionable plans that allow women to navigate through life and leadership challenges, have a voice, step up, live with purpose and passion, and build real confidence both personally and professionally.
My book Leader By Design – Be Empowered To Lead With Confidence In Business And In Life was published in May 2021 and has had incredible success. I don’t believe we are born leaders: we all have the ability to become Leaders By Design. You can become the leader you want to be, the leader you wanted to have, and a leader people choose to follow. In my book Leader By Design I share my story of finishing school at 16 to building my career from the ground up to becoming one of Australia’s inspiring female CEO’s. My story underpins my message that anything is possible if you are passionate, work hard and believe in yourself. Leader By Design is part autobiography where I share my life journey including how my upbringing shaped the women and leader I am today and how I almost threw it all away when I hit burnout.
I encourage women and leaders to live with purpose, change the rules, invest in self, build confidence, lead with kindness and become the leader in your life. Leader By Design also challenge and inspires leaders and organisations to embrace a ‘new era’ of leadership. One where we lead with self-awareness, kindness, collaboration, trust, and authenticity, and one that puts people at the heart of everything we do. It is packed with tips, advice, insights, and guidance relevant to all generation and all ages – whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, an entrepreneur, a volunteer, a teacher, a coach, a student, or working part-time. Regardless of where you are on your leadership or life journey Leader By Design will inspire and empower you to believe in the power within, reach your full potential and create the life you deserve. Leader By Design Masterclasses also launched in 2021 with 12 different masterclasses on offer for senior leaders, emerging leaders, teams, business owners, organisations, and networking groups.
Leader By design Masterclasses challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, build on your leadership skills, set boundaries and goals, and leave you feeling energised, confident, empowered, and ready to take action! As a Business and Leadership Coach, and Keynote speaker, I am extremely passionate about inspiring not only this generation of leaders but also future generations and supporting organisations to recognise growth opportunities through cultural transformation, strategic direction, and brand differentiation to achieve business success. Through my keynotes I inspire the audience to embrace leadership as a lifestyle choice, to believe in the power of self, and to become a leader people choose to follow. Leadership stars with self. 70% of leadership is the way you lead yourself. How well you know yourself, your values, and your purpose. How well you build structure and disciplines into your life, how well you set goals and boundaries, and how you maintain positivity in the face of negativity. Great leadership in one of the most competitive advantages an organisation can have, and great leadership starts with you.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up?
Colleen Callander: In 2007 I was the acting general manager of the iconic fashion brand Sportsgirl, and I became the proverbial headless chicken. 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. As my role evolved, so too did my busy lifestyle. It involved everything from raising small children, managing the day to day running of a house, interstate travel, to having days packed with meetings, appointments, and leadership decisions.
I describe myself during this period as a Formula 1 race car – one that had not been refuelled, serviced, had its tyres changed or pulled into the pit stop in a very long time. Is it any wonder that I was feeling burnt out? I had just been going and going and going. I knew no boundaries and said ‘yes’ to everything, no matter how full my plate. I wanted to be the perfect wife, mother, friend, sister, and daughter and Iput everyone else’s before my own. Until I couldn’t do it any longer. I was only 36 years old, but I was utterly burnt out. I hadn’t lost my passion – far from it. I absolutely loved my job and was so proud of what I’d been able to achieve in my career. I just didn’t have anything left in the tank. I had hit a wall… any cliché you can think of, that’s how I felt.
I was very fortunate to be able to take timeout. I took 3 and a half months off and pulled into the pit’s for a well overdue service, refuelled, changed the tyres and had the best lesson in self-care ever. Burnout was a gift in some ways. It taught me that I can only be good to others when I am first good to myself, whether that’s in my role as a mum, leader, friend, or wife. I am passionate about helping other women recognise the signs of burnout before they reach the same dire point I did. I want to empower women to be comfortable with putting themselves first, and to live a life of self-care and self-love. I also want women to know the importance of boundaries. Boundaries not only help you prioritse your well-being and support a ‘life in balance’ but they also empower you to make healthy choices – emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Boundaries are about protecting the most important person – you!
Resilience is critical in critical times like the ones we are going through now. How would you define resilience?
Colleen Callander: Resilience is our ability to adapt, overcome obstacles, bounce back, and recover when things don’t go to plan or when we have setbacks. True resilience is the ability to take the lessons and find the strength to move forward. It’s often an easier road to shy away from problems or issues or situations or pretend they are not there but resilience is finding the strength to face them head on.
Certain factors might make some individuals more resilient than others, but I don’t believe resilience is a personality trait. Resilience is something we can learn and develop as we go through life and experience difficult situations. It is like a muscle and the more we use it the stronger it gets. We all face setbacks, failures, roadblocks and obstacles throughout our lives and what’s different for everyone in that moment is the way we choose to react, the decisions we make and the actions we take.
What is most important to your organization—mission, vision or values?
Colleen Callander: Values have been a big part of not only the way I live my life but also my approach as a leader and my values have not only set the tone for how I behaved as a leader and what’s important to me, but also how my leadership transcends through an organisation. I am always very concerned when I speak to leaders and organisations and they don’t know their values. It’s the leaders responsibility for setting the tone and manner for how the organisation behaves. Values are what’s most important in your life, those things that really matter to you, the ideas and beliefs that you deem to be most significant in the way you live and work.
Your values have likely been influenced by a range of things, including your background, events that have happened or you have witnessed, your upbringing or maybe your spiritual beliefs. You’ve probably learned many of your values from your parents, your grandparents your teachers, your religious leaders, a coach and the people around you. Your values are an important part of WHO YOU ARE and WHO YOU WANT TO BE. Values guide our behaviours and provide us with an inner compass and personal code of conduct to live by and knowing our values supports our actions, reactions and our decision making, just like it should in an organization. In my experience, knowing your values allows you to make decisions with clarity, confidence and gives you greater fulfilment in the way you live and work.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?
Colleen Callander: Leadership starts with you. 70% of leadership is how you lead yourself. How well you know yourself, your values, and your purpose. How well you build structure and discipline into your life. How you set goals within your own life, how you take responsibility and how you maintain positivity in the face of negativity.
No matter where you are on your leadership journey … I always start here. Values, self and purpose are the foundation of great leadership and I liken these 3 characteristics it to building a house. If you don’t build solid foundations of your house, cracks will start to appear, and your house won’t going to be standing for too long. As humans we are exactly the same. If we don’t build solid foundations for ourselves, we won’t be able to weather the challenges that life throws at us. Great leadership is about being in service to others and when our foundations are solid, that’s when we are ready to lead.
How important do you think it is for a leader to be mindful of his own brand?
Colleen Callander: Personal branding is hugely important not only for organisations but also leaders. Personal branding is all about your uniqueness and building a reputation on the things you want to be known for.
How would you define “leadership”?
Colleen Callander: Leadership is something that I am extremely passionate about, not only my leadership but the leadership of those around me. And when I talk about leadership, I’m talking about leading not only in business, but also leading in our own lives whether that be in your community, school, workplace or even your home. Leadership starts with self and we need to be leading in our own lives before we can lead anyone else. When I get asked about leadership I always start with what leadership is not. Leadership is not about a title, power, level of authority, the size of your pay packet or office or the number of direct reports you have.
We often look up to and admired people with titles, rank and positions of power, labelling them leaders. What I learnt over time in both business and in life is that these trappings do not automatically qualify a person for leadership. And in fact you don’t even need a title to be a leader. Every day we have the ability to lead through every action, interaction, reaction and decision we make. I believe we all have the ability to become the leader we want to be, the leader we wanted to have and a leader people choose to follow. Looking back, I now know that I was shaping myself into the leader I wanted to be by observation. I listened, I learned, I asked questions and I made mental notes of the leader I did and didn’t want to be for the future. From a young age I was always intrigued with the way people behaved, both good and bad.
What made people treat others with kindness and respect? What made people step over others for self gain? What made people create environments of fear, and others environments of collaboration? Why were some people caring and others cruel? Why were some generous and others greedy? Without knowing it, I was becoming a ‘leader by design’ – which is the title of my book.
Great leadership is where a person has a passion for a cause that is larger than themselves. Great leadership is inspiring and empowering people to accomplish great things. Great leadership is about showing empathy, kindness, compassion and courage in the way you lead. Great leadership is influence not authority.
And great leadership is perhaps the most important competitive advantage an organisation can have. My definition of leadership is “One life impacting another in a positive way” – Colleen Callander
What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Colleen Callander: Have a clear vision of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there. A clear vision is essential for focusing your attention on what matters most – again whether that be in business or in life. When leaders and entrepreneurs have a clear and passionately communicate it, this motivates people to act with passion and purpose and it points everyone in the same direction, working towards the same goal. A vision is about seeing the bigger picture, seeing beyond what’s possible today and looking towards what is possible in the future and although a vision is important, I want you to remember that people follow the leader first and the vision second. If people are not committed to you as a leader, they will not be committed to your vision, no matter how well you communicate it.
What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Colleen Callander: Kindness is the NEW SUPERPOWER FOR LEADERS. It’s a common misconception that being a kind leader makes you a weak leader.I believe the opposite is true:being a kind leader requires courage and strength. Kind leaders are very capable of making good and strong business decisions – even tough decisions with kindness. Kindness is the NEW SUPERPOWER FOR LEADERS, in fact I believe it is a new and powerful form of currency, one you can trade for loyalty, commitment and high performance. The thing about kind leadership is it brings different elements of authenticity, transparency, warmth, and trust and what I really mean is including a little of each of these in our day-to-day leadership. It’s time for kind leaders to step up and have a voice and be the game changers for not only our generation but also future generations. We can’t change the past, but we can help shape the future. Kindness starts at the top, and is one of my values and is right up there when comes to the way I led in my 13 years as a CEO.
Kindness may be one of the least acknowledged and appreciated leadership qualities, however I believe it’s one of the most important and one of the greatest gifts we can give another human. Understanding and valuing the people we lead and showing kind leadership is essential in today’s world and in my experience leads to happier, more motivated, collaborative and productive teams. Kind leadership is about setting clear expectations,holding people accountable, giving honest feedback, encouraging growth and high performance, pushing people beyond their comfort zone and building true human connections. Kindness can apply to so many areas of our lives: at work, in our relationships, with our children, family and friends, in our schools, and within our communities. It’s time to shine the spotlight on leading with kindness in every aspect of our lives.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Colleen Callander for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Colleen Callander or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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