Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Leading change

Marcia Griffin, Victorian Business Woman of the Year, told delegates that with 'change being life's only certainty', it is vital as leaders we assure the people around us that change is okay.

She agrees with Malcolm Fraser that life (and business) was not meant to be easy. She added, in the case of business, if it was easy all this would mean is that competition would be all that much tougher!

Marcia has built up a multi million dollar cosmetic business over the past 15 years. Currently, with over 4,500 consultants across the nation, she said the path to success has been a mixture of enormous challenge, extraordinary frustrations, many failures and, of course, successes.

"As you overcome each obstacle, you get closer to success," she said. "It is easy to give up but business is largely a daily problem solving exercise. Your ability to solve problems is vital for success."

She said that the key to problem solving is admitting you do not have all the answers, seek advice from others, get outside views and brainstorm. Above all, do not procrastinate or avoid problems, they will only come back to haunt you! She believes that as leaders we have to give to get. If we are seen as takers this is very disempowering for staff.

"You need to have clear goals about where you are going, have great systems in place and consistency - that you are doing it well everyday," Marcia said. "The journey is exhilarating but very exhausting. We must also remember that not everyone has the same desire to succeed as ourselves. However, by focusing on the positives we can overcome the negatives."

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