How I Became - a CEO with Theresa Gattung CNZM.

Welcome to the ‘How I Became’ series where Billie talks to ladies across New Zealand who are killing it in their chosen career and see how they got there!

Trying to decide what you ‘want to be when you grow up’ is hard enough as it is and your careers counsellor probably won’t have all the answers you need.

HIB aims to give you a bit of insight into different career paths and what it takes to get there.

Name: Theresa Gattung CNZM

Age: 60

Job title: Businesswoman and Philanthropist

Current job: Founder and Trustee of Gattung Foundation, Board chair of several boards

Firstly, what drew you to working as a CEO?

I’m the eldest of four girls and I have to admit, as an older sister I’ve always loved being a bit bossy! On top of that, I like to be organised and make sure others are too.

When I was at The University of Waikato studying for a business degree, I read a book by Dr Helen Place about how few women there were in management. After reading that book, I said to myself ‘I’m going to be a CEO’.

I was 19 years old when I told myself that, and I set myself the goal of becoming a CEO of a large company by the time I was 40. In October 1999, I became Chief Executive of Telecom (now known as Spark) at age 37.

What subjects did you take in high school that you think helped?

I studied everything at high school from maths and English to the sciences and I also studied languages. But I don’t think what I did at high school led me to become a CEO, I’d attribute that to my business degree.

What did your pathway towards starting your career look like?

After I completed my business degree at Waikato University, I moved down to Wellington where I worked at TVNZ in sales and marketing part-time while studying for a law degree at Victoria University Wellington. I started right from the bottom in my career and worked my way up from there.

Following TVNZ, I moved to National Mutual where I worked my way up to being their Marketing Manager, I then joined the Bank of New Zealand as Chief Manager, Marketing. I stayed in each of these roles for a few years before joining Telecom. I started as General Manager, Marketing, and then worked my way up to running the New Zealand Business, before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer in 1999.

In total, it took me 20 years to achieve my goal. Twenty years of working my way up the ranks getting bigger and bigger management roles until I had the experience to become a CEO.

What did you study/where/how long did it take?

My first degree was my business degree with honours at the University of Waikato, which took four years. I then undertook a law degree at Victoria University Wellington, which I did part-time, that also took four years.

What was best thing about your job?

The best thing about the job was that it was constantly stimulating. Every hour of every day is different, and you’re working with wonderful people. As CEO of Telecom, I worked with some wonderful people, as big companies like Telecom can afford to hire the best people.

What was the hardest part?

The hardest part is the relentlessness of it. When you travel to meet with investors, your day job doesn’t stop. You also get things thrown at you that completely change your plans for that day or week, there are lots of early starts and late finishes, so you’ve got to manage how you take time to rest.

What surprised you most about being a CEO once you got into that position?

I think what surprised me the most was how different it is to be the final decision-maker.

Even in management roles on the level below, you can still talk to your CEO to get advice from them. I was prepared for a lot of aspects of the role, but that surprised me.

What did an average day look like for you as a CEO?

There was never an average day in the life of a CEO. The only thing that you can count on is that you will never manage to get all your work done by the end of the day!

What advice would you give to those looking to follow a similar career path?

I think if you want to be a CEO of a large company, then there is more than one way to get there. A relevant degree, like business, will certainly help you get there.

Joining a company that you admire, and having a boss that you look up to and can learn from is one of the best things you can do for your career – that’s my best advice. It’s easier to get a job as a business graduate now than it was five years ago, which helps.

What were the biggest challenges in your opinion to becoming a CEO?

It’s still harder to become a CEO as a woman. Our notion of leadership is still tall white men, so while there are more female CEOs now than there were in my time, it’s still much harder to be a woman in leadership.

There is also a bit of luck involved with it all. You’ve got to have good judgement about if you stay in a company or go somewhere else. You can have career setbacks and still bounce back, or you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What kind of skills did your job require?

You’ve got to have good communication and people skills and you also need to be a good judge of character, this skill is useful when picking good staff and suppliers. You also need to be reasonably diplomatic; you report to a board filled with other experienced businesspeople and sometimes this requires diplomacy.

What part of your job gave you the most satisfaction?

Most definitely leading my team, it was just wonderful.

What was an absolute highlight of your career?

There wasn’t really one highlight. When you love nearly every element of your job, it becomes very difficult to pick one absolute highlight.

What’s an unexpected element to your job that people don’t realise you have to do?

People don’t realise how relentless the job is. You can’t pick and choose what you have to deal with. It’s not an easy job, so if a problem comes to your desk, you know it’s going to be a difficult one.

People also don’t realise how much of a balancing act it is. You have to think about how you keep your personal relationships going and how you keep fit and healthy.

Describe your job in three words

Endlessly, endlessly, stimulating.

Theresa and her sister Angela have launched The Gattung Foundation – an initiative to address inequalities for girls and women, and improve animal welfare across Aotearoa. To learn more, head to the website gattungfoundation.nz.