Ep 15. Olivia Ruello & The Power of Authentic Community

The Honest CEO Show, Episode 15: The Power of Community with Business Chicks CEO, Olivia Ruello

Caroline Kennedy (00:20)
Welcome and today my guest is Olivia Ruello and she is the CEO of Australia's largest community for women, Business Chicks. Olivia started her career in industrial relations before moving into senior roles in the HR and recruitment industries. At just 24 years old, Olivia was appointed general manager of a well-respected recruitment firm and went on to lead her team to win multiple recruitment agency of the year awards, largely thanks to her ability to understand customers and a commitment to creating a human way of doing business.

Olivia led the partnership and brand team at Business Chicks for four years from 2009 before moving to the Commonwealth Bank, where she drove a unique leadership and culture agenda for the Corporate Banking Division. In 2015, Olivia received the CEO Award for the development of a women's circle within the organisation. In January of this year, Olivia returned to Business Chicks in the role of CEO Australia, overseeing the business's 100 plus annual events, corporate partnerships, quarterly publication of latte and various other digital assets that assist and connect Business Chicks 44,000 members daily. Olivia sits on the advisory board of The Hunger Project, an organisation that aims to end world hunger by 2030 and has also led three hunger project leadership immersion trips to India. Olivia Ruello is moved and motivated by remarkable women and has a deep passion for women stepping into and realising their own power and potential. As the CEO of Business Chicks Australia, she wants to help women harness their strengths as females. Empathy, kindness, collaboration and connection to create a generation of leaders who care. Welcome to the show, Olivia. It certainly is a pleasure to chat with you.

Olivia Ruello (02:39)
Thank you so much, Caroline. It's great to be talking with you too.

Caroline Kennedy (02:43)
Now in January this year you became the CEO of Business Chicks Australia. Tell us about Business Chicks.

Olivia Ruello (02:51)
Yeah, sure. Business Chicks is a thriving global community now of women. We produce engaging content, events and experiences, all designed to connect women with inspiration, possibilities and each other. Of course, we're a huge global platform now and in North America, which is wonderful. And I've been personally been in and out of the business for 10 years, Caroline. So when I started as CEO in January, it certainly felt like coming home. You know, the business has grown since I left, but there's still that same energy when you walk through the door, that real spirit of women supporting women. And it certainly to me, nothing, you know, the community is really a community of women that has each other's backs and that has not changed in 10 years. So it was such a joy to come back as CEO in January, such a privilege.

Caroline Kennedy (03:45)
And I've attended a couple of the events since then and certainly noticed that, you know, it just seems like you've eased back in and like nothing had changed. You know, it's so natural for you to be part of the organisation and the community as well. Yeah.

Olivia Ruello (04:02)
That's good to know. Yeah. You know, we I certainly didn't want to make too many changes and that was not my intention at all. So we wanted to continue doing all the wonderful things that we're doing and just really evolve and enhance those things, which is what my focus has been this year.

Caroline Kennedy (04:24)
And as a team, you roll out over a hundred events a year. So tell us about those events.

Olivia Ruello (04:31)
Sure, yeah, such a fun aspect of our role, that's for sure. And our events are completely diverse and our experiences are quite varied. So we have our signature networking nights designed to make networking easy and fun. We have our big blockbuster breakfast events, which I'm sure you've been to, where we get up to 1400 or 1500 guests sometimes in one room. Generally that's a bigger name speaker, someone sort of inspirational.

We have educational workshops, which is a slightly longer form event model. And we now, last year we introduced a very large scale expo called Nine to Thrive, which we've just wrapped up again for this year in Sydney, Melbourne, which was a huge success. And our annual Movers and Breakers Conference, which is happening in Byron Bay at the end of October this year. So we have huge events. Previous speakers have included Gloria Steinem, a personal hero of mine. We were lucky to have Gloria in May this year. Arianna Huffington, Dr. Brene Brown, Seth Godden, Julia Gillard, von Pfurstenberg. I'm just going through them all in my head, many, many more.

So we run a full event schedule, but we also run bespoke once in a lifetime experiences such as our leadership retreat on Neckar Island. And a bunch of other highly curated thought leaders. And something that I'm personally extremely passionate about, our leadership immersion trips with the hunger project to countries in Africa and India. So we do a lot. You do.

Caroline Kennedy (05:58)
And when you roll them all off and you're explaining them to me, I'm like, wow, where do you guys get the time to put all this together?

Olivia Ruello (06:25)
I know the whole business works so, so hard Caroline, but and that events team, you know, they just are nonstop and they work so hard and they're so passionate about what they do. So I'm very privileged to be around incredibly talented people in this business.

Caroline Kennedy (06:41)
Well can't do it alone, can you? No. You're only as good as your team, that's what I always say.

Olivia Ruello (06:42)
No. it's a big team now as well, so we are growing and I'm very lucky we've got some incredible people here.

Caroline Kennedy (06:53)
Yeah. And nine to thrive was, um, in Melbourne recently, as you mentioned, and it was the first time that it was in Melbourne. was fortunate enough to go along on the Friday and what a fantastic event and the energy in the room and you know, women just really supporting each other and sharing their stories and particularly on stage and you just get a lot out of that. Don't you?

Olivia Ruello (07:17)
So much, you know. To me, it feels like two days where we're literally celebrating women and we're celebrating women's achievements and we're giving people an opportunity to come together and have a bit of fun as well. The spirit of 9toThrive is very vibrant and full of energy and very, very fun. yeah, we weren't sure how Melbourne would go, you know, to speak.

It's like completely honestly and it blew us away. That room, I'm so glad you were there, that room was electric and we were able to showcase, you know, perhaps speakers that we don't normally have on our breakfast event roster or other events. So it was a really great opportunity for us to introduce some new brands and speakers and ideas and thought leadership to our community as well.

Caroline Kennedy (08:09)
I think I also really enjoyed the stall aspect of it where I walked around and just was chatting with other business individuals, many that I knew, but it still was a really great environment just to have those conversations and everyone being in the same room as well, which doesn't happen very often, not in a, not in a, an environment where you can just walk around and, have those conversations. I mean, we go to the breakfast, which are fantastic and they're great experience to learn, but you rush out, do you know what I mean? To go to work or whatever it may be.

Olivia Ruello (08:45)
Absolutely. It's so funny you said that. And know our exhibitors said to us as well, you know we had over 100 exhibitors and they said just the opportunity for all of them to connect and build relationships with each other. know these are a lot of small businesses, some medium-sized businesses and obviously a couple of the bigger brands but the opportunity to network amongst each other they really really loved and valued so that was a huge component of 9 to Thrive and it worked really well.

Caroline Kennedy (09:15)
Now I'm a big believer in the fact that to grow a business, you must spend time working on your business rather than in your business. And that can be very challenging, especially as businesses are growing as well. But can you tell us about the growth and the journey of Business Chicks and the avenues you've really focused on for growing the community?

Olivia Ruello (09:38)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in my role, I certainly spend a lot of time working on the business. You know, my role is to really set the vision, direction, impact and strategy for the brand, you know, and get the team really engaged with that vision. So that, in my mind, means getting really razor sharp "why do we exist, what our purpose is, and what we wanna impact to be".

So it's been such an incredible year because Business Chicks has really grown quite organically over the last 10 years. We've never really had a marketing function, Caroline, you know. So it's been literally community, almost ambassadorship that's grown the community. So really this year it's been getting really razor sharp on, know, why do we exist and what do we want that impact to be.

But in terms of our focus for growth, we know that our community lives so much of their lives online and on social media. So it's important that we do too. So we've had to really, really evolve because the business really grew out of an events model to date. So, and events, we're never gonna stop doing events. We're never gonna stop innovating with events. Women still wanna eyeball each other. You still wanna be able to see each other and have conversations with each other. But digital certainly has to become our enabler. Our community is online. So digital is a big focus for us.

Actually, the last four months, the team's been heads down building a really exciting new web platform for our community. Yeah, which we're insourcing. So we've got a tech team. We've created new roles and new areas of the business in the last six months. So we've got new head of digital, we've got a new marketing function, we've got a whole digital team and tech team. So it's a really, really exciting time. you know, we've been known, I guess, historically for giving or creating amazing opportunities for members through events. But now we're focusing on how we complement those experiences with our online presence and what does that look like for members and how do we continue to add value to someone that would become a member of Business Chicks. So stay tuned, it's all happening.

Caroline Kennedy (12:01)
And it's really about the natural evolution as well because you look at how can we continue to contribute and add value to those members and the relationships and what does that look like next? And that's so important, isn't it? And as you said before about, you know, your role particularly is about working on the business, the strategy, your purpose, making sure you clear on your purpose and you continue to, um, add that value. I have sometimes, you know, a lot of when we work with, um, our clients, I find a lot of them just forget that. Do you know what I mean? Because it so bogged down in the everyday running of a business and it's really hard. And I understand that, it's about what drives you. What are you passionate about? What's going to get you out of bed in the morning or keep you up really late at night as well? you love doing, isn't it?

Olivia Ruello (12:58)
It's so tricky because I totally get that particularly in smaller businesses. You have to be completely in it and in the business and immersed in doing all the doing, but also create the space to be able to do the thinking, the whole on the balcony and in the dance piece, particularly for CEOs. You have to find that beautiful balance between being able to be on the dance floor, but also you know, on the balcony and seeing the big picture and making sure that everyone sort of stays really, really aligned with the vision and direction of the business. So that really does require you carving out time to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Which we all know women are extremely time poor. We don't do that very, very well. But certainly I try to make sure I spend a lot of my time working on the business.

Caroline Kennedy (13:49)
Yeah. And I think with the, hear a lot about, you know, people being time poor and we all are, we've all got the same 24 hours in the day. It's about prioritising though. And that's really important and understanding what those priorities are. Now Business Chicks is all about community as we've just talked about. It's about women and some men. I've seen a man and a fence supporting each other.

So fundamentally it's about the belief that together we learn, grow, challenge and kick ass, which I love. What's your advice for anyone who wants to get the most out of the network?

Olivia Ruello (14:30)
Yeah, I mean certainly my biggest piece of advice would be to take every single opportunity to connect with other members, whether it's at events or online. So say hi to people that perhaps you haven't met before. You know, don't always stick to that group of people that you know really, really trying to immerse yourself in the community. You know, come along to one of our networking nights, comment on articles, on social media. It's an opportunity to connect with members in digital way as well.

I would certainly say the more you put in, the more you get out. And the more willing you are to demonstrate that willingness to support others, the more people are willing to support you. It's really as simple as that. So asking other community members, know, what do you need support with right now? Always goes a really long way. We find that the people that give the most get the most back, you know, and members often tell me that it's because of the support of other Business Chicks that they've had the courage to really be bold and take risks. And we hear these stories time and time again. And certainly I would say that the way to get the most out of the community as well is to be real and open and occasionally a bit vulnerable. It's such a safe community.

So we really encourage people to just be authentic and be themselves and you really get the most out of. So when someone says, how's business? Fine, great, know, wonderful. Sometimes we encourage people to be real and say, well, actually it's really, really hard right now and I'm struggling with this. And we certainly find in our community there's a really strong spirit of being vulnerable and authentic and real. And that's one of the things I love the most about Business Chicks. So I really encourage people, don't put on that mask or that game face in the community, really, really get to know people and find commonality at that human level.

Caroline Kennedy (16:24)
And that is so important because business is hard and life is hard. especially if you're a female who has family and you're trying to run a business as well, there are also, there are so many levels that compound on there and having a conversation with somebody. I certainly know I've experienced this where by you say, this is really challenging me at the moment. I really don't know what to do. And generally somebody will say, I've been through that.

And this is what I did. doesn't necessarily mean that that's right for you. or, know, whatever recommendation they make, but at least it opens up the conversation and opens up your mind. to somebody who's been through that. And then you realize that you're not by yourself. You're not alone.

Olivia Ruello (17:09)
Absolutely, promise you there's someone else in the community that's going through what you've been through. You know, they might respond to that challenge differently, sure, but you know, there's a huge amount of empathy and understanding in the community and I, yeah, absolutely Caroline. I encourage people to really be open and honest with that. And I don't think we've ever had feedback from someone saying, listen, I sat next to this woman at this breakfast event or, you know, and I spoke to her about this and she sort of looked to me like I was a little bit.

We've never once had that feedback.

Caroline Kennedy (17:46)
It's a community of like-minded people. And I think that that's the key is that you identify with that. You identify with the community and that's why you join. And there's a large number of females out there that are like-minded, clearly because of the membership that you've got. But I want to go back to your point in relation to support as well, because I think this is so important. you know, attending networking events.

You know, for years as everybody has been, but what's really important for me is that, when I speak to somebody and they're really passionate and I think, how can I help you? You're first and foremost, how can I help you, excel or, how can I help you get towards your goal a little bit quicker, but actually genuinely wanting to help people, which is really important. And those values are so strong that.

It's reciprocal and not that you expect anything in return because I certainly never do, but if we just really, you know, put people first and weren't just self motivated continually, really, it just, it, it accelerates everything in my view. It's so important.

Olivia Ruello (19:00)
Absolutely. And Caroline, sometimes you might not be able to help someone, but even just the simplicity of being able to say to that woman, I believe in you, is often enough to give her that kickstart to say, you know what, I believe in me too, and I'm going to go back to my office and I'm going to do this and I'm going to tackle that challenge. Sometimes it's as simple as just telling someone that you believe in them. As corny as that might sound, we all need to know that people believe in us, you know? Yeah. Because it can be quite lonely, as we know.

Caroline Kennedy (19:35)
Now, Olivia, social media is a powerful tool in a tech savvy consumer world. Business Chicks relies heavily on social media. mean, you guys have been, whilst you said you never really necessarily had that sort of marketing strategy, it was something that's quite organic for you guys. And you do it really well. So what are your tips for business owners in maximizing social media?

Olivia Ruello (19:59)
Yeah, sure. mean social media for Business Chicks is a huge part of what we do. I think we've got over 220,000 through our social networks. You every time a member comes to a Business Chicks event and shares something, hashtags, Business Chicks, that's obviously a win for us. It means we're doing something right. And the best thing that we can do is to keep creating incredible content and experiences that our members will want to tell their friends about. So it's sort of as simple as that.

Certainly on tips for business owners, I would say don't just use social to push your product. Understand why someone would follow you on social and give them content that's gonna add value to their lives. Whenever we post anything on Business Chicks account, we absolutely always ask ourselves, what's in this for our members? And why would someone wanna share this with their friends? And also if you're in small business and you don't have the capacity to be on all social channels, choose two and do them really, really well.

Don't try and half do five different social platforms. Definitely pick two that resonate most strongly with you and you feel most passionate about and really, really do them well. And finally, I would say, know, treat your social media followers like you would any other person in the community. You know, be kind, be humble, have fun and don't ever, ever, ignore them.

You know the online world needs to behave and operate you know to a degree like the offline world. So that's something that we certainly do at Business Checks.

Caroline Kennedy (21:37)
Yeah. Yeah. And they're great tips, particularly, I think the one around don't try and be everything to everybody and be on every platform. And really identify where your target market, I suppose, lives as well, you know, because if they're not on Twitter, then there's no point in actually being on Twitter.

Olivia Ruello (21:45)
Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. And only you know your business and you know which platforms are right for your business.

Caroline Kennedy (22:07)
Now I believe that in business, your customers and your staff without a doubt make your business. Without them, you don't have a business. And coming from the corporate environment, this philosophy is not always recognised, but I believe that most, and I can see it all the time, a lot of entrepreneurial people really understand and embrace the importance of a culture in the workplace.

And I can see that Business Chicks culture is everything. Community and culture, think are the two words that I would associate with Business Chicks. what is the culture like? how do you work to keep the culture a focus for you as well?

Olivia Ruello (22:48)
Yeah sure. I mean the culture internally at Business District is very much a reflection of what our community stands for. So that's women and men, we do have some men I promise you, backing each other and saying I believe in you, which you know I spoke about earlier. It's a really really strong culture of collaboration and teamwork and having each other's back. In my mind you know culture to me is you know, the sum of those thousands of water cooler conversations that go on every day in offices.

You know, and I certainly know the conversations going on here at Business Chicks are entrepreneurial, innovative, they're service oriented. There's a willingness to be bold and take risks. That's very much part of our DNA and our culture. You know, when you have people coming to you for jobs, that's generally a sign of a really strong culture. And that's often what happens. in Business Chicks. And we have a lot of people that perhaps have left to try different things, myself included, only to come back years later, which is also a sign of a really strong culture. definitely, it definitely feels here like you're part of something that's bigger than yourself and everyone, you know, like we're doing work that's good work. And that's really important to us in terms of ensuring, you know, culture is a focus.

We do that in a thousand different ways every single day. But in my mind, the number one most important thing for me is that myself and my leadership team role model what we stand for every day, because I always say, you know, that the team can't be what they can't see, which is very, very true. And you hear that a bit in corporate culture and, you know, that sometimes works and that sometimes doesn't. But it's important that they see myself and my leadership group as being bold, as being risk takers, as being feminists, as being people that are driven to serve because they often emulate that and that really filters down to the whole team. Goodness, what else? I mean, we're a very relaxed culture. We regularly take time out to spend together. We're a highly flexible workplace and that's for everyone, not just parents.

And because we work so hard during the week, everyone gets to go home at one o'clock on a Friday. So that's every week. So yeah, I would say, you we're pretty, pretty lucky here. I mean, we're lucky as well, I guess, Caroline, because what we get to do is such incredible work. So there certainly is a feeling of service and privilege here in terms of being able to serve the community. And that's really felt quite acutely if you have conversations with anyone.

I just got an email this morning from one of our speakers saying, "I've never in my life experienced a more professional, fun, kind and caring team as your events team." And I'm sitting there trying not to have tears rolling down my face. It's so lovely to hear that because the team really do live those values every single day and across all touch points.

Caroline Kennedy (25:51)
And I think that's very evident at every interaction with your team, whether it be over the phone or at an event or even in the community online, whatever that may be, you can really see that the culture is about being of service and humble and community being the forefront of that.

And I even think, you know, what you said before about being bold, you guys are certainly very bold and the risks, you take risks, you really invest in how can we take this to a higher level that really fulfills our community and actually adds value to them as well. And the leadership side of things, I've always believed in that the leadership is vital to a business. So the leader really leads that business and the team emulates that everything emulates that and leading by example, leading from the front. You know, I always talk about leading your team into battle, not necessarily battle, but that's what it's about. And you've got to be at the front line of that. And leading them to success as well, doing all you can to ensure that they are successful in their roles and they really love what they do and they contribute.

Olivia Ruello (27:14)
Absolutely. And you know, I always say that in my mind, success is that we have this team that we, you know, build their skills and build their capabilities. And I want them to eventually get wings and fly away. I don't want to keep people caged here forever. You know, we need to be expansive leaders. You know, the best outcome is someone saying, you know, we had one of our gorgeous team members earlier this year say, you know, because of Business Chicks, I found the courage to find my true calling, which for me was social work.

So I'm giving up my whole career and I'm going back to university to study social work. And, you know, that's what I want to do in my life. And it was like, we celebrate that, you know, that's that, you know, as sad as it is for us to not, that wonderful woman in our team, she's living her best life and she's made a bold, courageous decision to do something different and I couldn't be more proud of her. That's what I want for the team at Business Chicks.

Caroline Kennedy (28:11)
Yeah. And that's a great example. And I think also leaders who invest in their team as well and mentor them so that they can grow and develop to the point where leaders make other leaders at the end of the day. That's it. You know,

Olivia Ruello (28:26)
Everyone's a leader. Everyone has to be a leader.

Caroline Kennedy (28:29)
Yeah, exactly. Now it's also very evident the Business Chicks is customer centric and that's a big focus as we talked about before with the community. So what steps do you take to ensure the customer is at the centre of everything that you do or the community is at the centre of everything?

Olivia Ruello (28:46)
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's literally a no brainer. Our community, you know, our customers or community are everything. And, you know, we are a community. That's what our business, we're in the business of. So without our members and subscribers, you know, we wouldn't exist. they literally are everything to us. We have a whole, you know, team that's dedicated to making sure that members know how to make the most.

I've been part of the Business Chicks community, for instance. So anytime you have a conversation, you speak to a real person. We invite people to call in and have conversations with us and that happens all the time and feel like you're one of one. You're the most important member in our community and we really got a lot of effort to make sure everyone feels that way. mean, we're quite well known for surprising and delighting our members.

you know, we're constantly looking for ways to do this. But really, Caroline, you know, every decision we make, so I might sit with my leadership group or I might sit with a broader business, but every decision we make is made with a lens of how will we make our members feel and what will our members take from the experience we offer them. We never lose sight of that. It's absolutely part of our DNA. And I can't think of a conversation that we have or a decision that we make.

We're the first component of that is what will our members think or feel. We don't just make empty decisions based on what's good for the bottom line, we make decisions around what's good for the community.

Caroline Kennedy (30:18)
Yeah. And, um, a lot of businesses could, uh, you know, take that advice on board and really consider that because, uh, and looking externally, talk about that all the time. Look externally, talk to your customers, see what they, um, you know, not necessarily what they need, but what do they think you should stop doing? What do they think you start doing? Involve them in the conversation and every decision that's made needs to be about them, not about you.

And that's how businesses thrive. I think Business Chicks is a prime example of that, particularly when you talk about that you've grown organically, you've grown organically because you've put the community at the heart of everything that you do. And I congratulate you guys for that.

Olivia Ruello (31:05)
Thank you, that means so much. And certainly that was something, it was, people that know Emma Isaacs, our founder, she's so driven to serve and that's just been from the get-go. I was around in the early days of when the business sort of started 10 years ago, it was taken over. And Emma and I would be sitting on the floor kind of packing gift bags, literally, there's a few of us in the office.

And I was running another business of hers at the time that was very involved in Business Chicks. And every product that we put in that gift bag, Caroline would be like, do you think the members are gonna like that or no? Should we not put that in a gift bag? That was 10 years ago. And I mean, certainly we're probably not packing as many gift bags as we used to, and I, but certainly we still, I've got a person that works full time on gift bags in this business and every decision she makes is is this something that women in our community might want to try or not try and I know that seems quite micro but that stuff and that detail is all so important to us.

Caroline Kennedy (32:14)
And it needs to be, and I also love that you talk about, and particularly, you know, Emma, I suppose is about surprise and, and, know, just sending little gifts to people. And I, I really resonate with that because there was at one point when I was in corporate and I actually wrote a book called The Power of Wow Why Thank You Makes Dollars and Cents.

And it is about that philosophy of, you know, thank you and recognising people and just being genuine about it. And that is so important and just making people feel special. It's not hard, you know.

Olivia Ruello (32:51)
Absolutely. Absolutely. So we try to do that as well as we can. It's super important to us.

Caroline Kennedy (33:00)
Now, I understand and I saw on social media that you guys recently hosted an exclusive leadership retreat on, as you talked about before, Necker Island with Richard Branson and attending this event is one of my goals and I will get there one year. So tell us about the experience so I can really gear up for it.

Olivia Ruello (33:20)
We'd love to have you. I mean, you know, I think the term life changing gets a little bit overused, but certainly for a lot of the community that have attended one of these immersion leadership programs, it has been completely life changing. You know, it's five days completely immersed in paradise, so I'm not going to lie, enjoying lunches and dinners and experiences with Sir Richard Branson, obviously. So he spent the whole time with us, which is really, really wonderful. Where the conversations are completely raw and real and honest, everyone's absolutely at the same level, including all the speakers that we curate for the program.

So it's really wonderful. They spend the whole time with us as well. know, certainly some of the relationships that have been built and the businesses that have been fostered during business trips, business trips to Neckar, they're incredible. That's the tangible, but it's also the, in my mind, the content and the connections that create the magic at NECA. There's no pretense, everyone's vulnerable, it's so real. And we really spend a lot of time and energy curating the right speakers for this program. obviously aside from Branson, we've had incredible speakers.

This year we had the wonderful social psychologist Amy Cuddy join us. sure a lot of your listeners know Amy Cuddy's work. We're the founder of Netflix. Join us. We had the incredible, I can't speak highly enough, woman from New York called Reshma Sujani who founded an incredible business, a movement called Girls Who Code. She's doing some know, life changing work, particularly in the new US, but has a very, very strong social presence in Australia.

So we take a lot of time and care to create the, you know, the absolute best thought leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world. So the mornings are spent in sessions and then the afternoon is all about connection of funds. So it might be going across to Wichita Island for a beach barbecue, swimming across in some instances and with gorgeous Adrian Grenier was with us, who the actor, he's a good friend of Richard's and he's doing incredible things to save our oceans. And so they all swam across and then we all went on sailboats or paddle boards or kayaks. And, you know, we do adventure sports or if you just want to relax and lie in the pool, we do, you know, sushi in the pool.

So, I mean, yeah, I'm not going to lie. Like it's a, it's a pretty incredible pinch me experience and one that yeah we put a lot of work and effort and energy into so yeah and the groups that have come out of NECA are lifelong friends. They just had a reunion last week actually.

Caroline Kennedy (36:34)
Yeah, I should see that they had a dinner, didn't they? Yeah. So Kelly from Edible Balloons, I had a chat to her a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about it and she said, you know, life changing was something that's the word she associated with it, but also, you know, and she's quite savvy from a business perspective, but she said she came away with so many ideas that she'd never thought about previously, you know? And she was so excited to come back because she could implement a lot of that into her business and will be doing so.

Olivia Ruello (37:12)
Absolutely, I mean and how can you sit there, you know at dinner next to Richard Branson who's one of the boldest entrepreneurs in the world and not feel inspired by it. You know, like he's pushing you saying, you know, what are you doing next? What's going on with this? And you're like, okay, okay, know, sure Richard, I'll make that happen. And then you've got 20 other women backing you saying, yeah, do it, make that happen. You know, the spirit of NECA is pretty remarkable.

Yeah, it's pretty remarkable and there's lots of dancing and cocktails and all those wonderful things as well.

Caroline Kennedy (37:45)
You need that as well. You need that as well. That gets the creativity going.

Olivia Ruello (37:50)
It does, they invite musicians and you know it's wonderful so yeah it was was pretty special.

Caroline Kennedy (37:58)
Well, certainly is on my list and I will kick that off soon. absolutely. Now, Olivia, I know this is a really big broad question, but what are the biggest lessons you've learned in business?

Olivia Ruello (38:13)
Yeah, and I mean, you know, that is a really huge question. So I'm going to focus on the things that I guess have been most impactful for me. And certainly in my mind, you know, so many lessons, but the biggest would be to really never confuse kindness with weakness. You know, the best leaders I know are the ones who are kind and have empathy.

So that whole kind of command and control style of leadership running your business just doesn't work anymore, Caroline. It's so outdated and you just as humans and as we evolve in business and the sort of businesses that we see popping up, the best leaders in my mind and certainly the people that I look to as really strong leaders are the kindest leaders and the ones that have the most empathy for their people, their customers, and really, really understand what it is that makes their customers tick, you know, what they want and what they want to get out of being part of your community or buying your product, you know, that has to come through strong empathy.

And I always say to people, don't ever, ever, ever confuse that with weakness because it's not weak, you know. And in my mind, the ability to understand how people feel is just the greatest gift. I mean, again, this, you know, lots of leaders will say this, but it's so important to me, you know, you're only as good as your people. know, if they're happy, motivated and engaged, then our community is going to notice, right? You know, which is why we get that feedback saying how wonderful they are, because they're not going to events feeling disgruntled.

They're not producing a beautiful issue of Latte Magazine feeling unhappy, you know, they're so inspired as they go into every single thing that they do, that that means that our community is going to be well looked after and served and make my job much easier obviously. But you know, I've certainly, you know, the biggest lesson I've learnt is number one, look after your people. Because, you know, our business, you know, is the sum of our people and how much they care and really to never confuse kindness with weakness because yeah, the strongest, most effective leaders I know are always the most kind and have the most empathy.

Caroline Kennedy (40:36)
And I completely agree with that. because for me, that's the core of everything. You know, I have really strong values and, and when I, as a, as a leader look at, and there are many varied leaders, but that old school leadership of, dictatorship just doesn't work nowadays. And business has become stagnant when leaders like that it is. And I've never, heard it put this way, you know, don't confuse kindness versus weakness, but that is so true, Olivia. And it's a great way to frame it because, and that leads into you're only as good as your team. And if your team are happy and motivated and they've got the right leader who's encouraging them and who's, you know, giving them autonomy and allowing them to investigate new ways of doing things.

Olivia Ruello (41:13)
Absolutely.

Caroline Kennedy (41:35)
That's how businesses evolve and that's how even innovation evolves, you know, it's about empowering them to be the best that they can be. And once you do that, people shine and it's amazing to see, isn't it?

Olivia Ruello (41:48)
Absolutely. mean the empowered teams create pretty wonderful things. I know that could be true. That's a fact. know, disempowering people and having leaders that aren't at all expansive, know, you wrote kind of, you know, task-driven employees don't create magic, I promise you.

Caroline Kennedy (42:14)
No, I agree with you completely. Now, what advice do you have for anyone struggling in business?

Olivia Ruello (42:23)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, certainly in my mind, I would say to anyone struggling, and this seems like a big picture kind of thing for me to say, but don't lose sight of your purpose and vision. And if you don't have a vision, work it out. your purpose and vision has to grant every single thing you do and every decision you make. You know, so I would be, you know, to use assignment, cynic work, you know start with what's your why and really use that.

Because sometimes you find when people are really struggling in business, they've really lost sight of why they started to begin with. And make sure that you're still passionate about it. Because if you're not, then maybe it's time to get out and be smart enough to know when you need to give it up. Sometimes it is more courageous to say, this hasn't worked and move on to the next thing and then you know, to then to stay with something and have it completely destroy you. You know, in Silicon Valley they always say, you know, you're not even taken seriously unless you've had two failed startups. Sometimes we persist and persist and if you're not still truly passionate about what you're doing and why you're doing it then you just need to question that. But if you are still, no I know why I'm doing this and I know why I'm passionate about it and I know what our purpose and vision are, then you know, be brave, be tough and stick to your vision.

But in my mind, and this has certainly been very, very true for me in my career, resilience comes through connection. The more connected you feel to not just your community, but to yourself, the better you're gonna be able to get through the tough times in business and the easier that it will be to get through those times and to have the support of other people reminding you that, again, I go back to this, that they believe in you. Sometimes that's enough to give you that injection or to help you, ask for help. So when you build that strong community, you feel much more connected and resilient.

That's always been the case for me. The times where I felt most disconnected from myself and my purpose and the business have been the times where I felt know, times I've been least resilient have been the times where I've got least connected. It's so obvious to me. And it's like reaching out to someone that's in my business community or a mentor or a friend really helps to ground you at those times in my mind.

Caroline Kennedy (44:56)
Yeah. And it's about surrounding yourself with those people that can lift, know, lift you higher and really help you, by you. And I believe in that so much.

Olivia Ruello (45:02)
Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah. And we spoke about it, Caroline, at the start. It's been honourable enough to say, I need some help. You know? And this is really, really tough right now. And this is what I need. You know, and I'm reaching out to you because I need your help with this or I need some support. You know, the big ask. There's nothing wrong with that. Like, everyone needs support and help. No one can do it alone. you know.

Caroline Kennedy (45:28)
And I love the point about purpose and vision. And when I work with businesses, that's where we start. We start with, you clear on your purpose and are you clear on your vision? What do you want for the future? Without having those fundamentals or clarity around those fundamentals, you're just struggling. just, you don't really have any direction.

Olivia Ruello (45:51)
Yeah, absolutely. And you don't need a big why. You your purpose doesn't have to be, you know, changing the world, you know. It has to be what feels true for you in your life and your business and completely diverse, you know. It doesn't need to be, want to end, you know, child trafficking, you know. Like purpose is such an individual thing for different businesses. And it's really important that you try and do that work to identify what that is.

Caroline Kennedy (46:22)
And that it's authentic to you and to the person, you know, that's funny. Now finally, what does the future look like for you and business?

Olivia Ruello (46:24)
Absolutely. Certainly the future looks really exciting for Business Chicks. We've got a really, really, really busy year ahead. We're going to be continuing to innovate and create new products and experiences for our members. I spoke about it at the start of the conversation. That includes the creation of a new global platform for women to connect and collaborate.

We've got a new product that we recently launched called Power Players, which is an incredible peer-to-peer mastermind or mentoring group that's facilitated by leadership experts. So we put together what we call packs of women that are running businesses. We will soon go to the corporate market with that product as well, but right now it's for business owners and entrepreneurs. And they really support each other and build really strong networks and support networks.

So we launched that recently, which is going really well. We'll continue. Yeah, I know at the moment it's Sydney and Melbourne, but we absolutely will be rolling that out nationally. We'll continue our efforts in North America and hopefully in other countries down the track. We really want to create a very vibrant global platform for women in business.

Caroline Kennedy (47:33)
Is that nationally?

Olivia Ruello (47:52) 
Of course, we're going to continue to bring our community access to some of the world's best speakers. We've got a few big names that we're going to be announcing in the next few months, which is really exciting. So it's a lot of work going on always in the background. And I guess in a big picture sense, Caroline, in my mind, it's an exciting time to be a woman in the world. And we want to be part of the reinvention of women's futures. And the only way we can do that is to support and help each other.

That's exactly what we're trying to do with Business Chicks. So everything we do moving forward and historically is going to be around how can we support women to bigger, bolder lives and what does that look like and how do we support women to move into business ownership or leadership if they're in corporate positions and what does that mean for them. Certainly that's going to be a really strong focus for us moving forward in the business. That's great. So lots going on.

Caroline Kennedy (48:49)
Yeah, absolutely. that's, you know, that, supporting women and particularly women stepping up, is, so important because, having those conversations is vital. Yeah. Having those conversations with everybody, the men in our lives, the women in our lives, just everybody. And, and particularly I find that, you know, because there are so many women that are suppose, I'm unsure about taking that step and I always encourage women just do it, you know? just if you get a great opportunity, say yes and figure the rest out later because you got, you got that opportunity presented to you because you're clearly good at what you do. Don't doubt that. and step.

Olivia Ruello (49:32)
Absolutely. if it's not presented to you, it. Yes. Seek it out, I would say, because there's a lot of talk and we could go on and on and on, so don't get me started. This is sort of my particular area of passion. But there's a lot of talk in this country, particularly around the confidence gap with women. And for some women, that's quite real. But in my mind, that has been a construct of the way that we've set up corporations in this country and the structures that we created and the unconscious bias that's existed for many, many, many decades. All the women I know are extremely confident. They're confident, they know their capabilities, they're capable.

Sometimes they need to be reminded of them, but they know that they're confident. But sometimes the system hasn't always supported that with women. now is the time women to demand that in my mind and for men to support that as well. You know, I always say this is a terrible analogy. So excuse me, but I do always say, you know, until we've got as many mediocre women in leadership as men, then we've not truly achieved equality. You know, so we've got to leave even the playing field.

Caroline Kennedy (50:53)
Yeah. And it's so true, Olivia. And it's something that I talk about as well, a lot. And I'm very passionate about is, demand that, you know, people say, and, and, we don't get paid as much. You know, there's a, what is it? A big gap there. And I say, well, you know what? I never got paid less than a man because I demanded what I'm worth and I own what I'm worth. And if we did that, bridge that gap a lot quicker rather than complaining about it, which I know it's not that they're complaining, but do something, take action. Action is where you get the outcomes.

Olivia Ruello (51:24)
Absolutely. And if you're working for someone else, when, you know, and this is a tip for employers and someone else going for roles, instead of sort of asking a woman, you how much do you expect to be paid for this role? Push back and say, great, what's the salary bracket for this role? Because women will always under-coach salaries more than men. So there's often, you know, a little bit of discrepancy between, you know, what do you expect to get paid for this role? A man might inflate a big figure, a woman tends to be, and that is a fact, a tiny bit more conservative with putting money on the table, push back and say, well, what's the bracket? And then I'll tell you what my expectations are. Oral. You know, just a little things that women can be doing as well to really, really demand.

Caroline Kennedy (52:14)
or alternatively do the research. I used to, I have a prime example is when I'd, you know, I have employees and we'd be going through their review process and my team members. And I always made sure that when this occurred, I made the individual feel uncomfortable. It was generally women. So they'd say, I'd like a pay rise. And I'd say, okay, so how much do you want? Oh, I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? Why are you coming in here if you don't know how much?

You tell me how much you want. And I would really challenge that because it's so important for them to understand the next time they go into a meeting, be prepared, understand what you want to be able to support, why you deserve that. This is how we bridge the gap because we own what

Olivia Ruello (52:57)
Excellent.

Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, 100 % agree. We're on the same page. So I won't.

Caroline Kennedy (53:05)
Yeah, I keep going on.

We've both got meetings to go to. So, but thank you so much for your time, Olivia. I really appreciate it. And thanks for all the good work that you and your team and Emma do to help the community and really sort of embrace, you know, supporting each other. I really do appreciate

Olivia Ruello (53:16)
It's such a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you. We love it. Thank you. Thanks for being part of the community.

Caroline Kennedy (53:34)
You're welcome.