Community demanding more of biz leaders: Dwyer

Speaking after she received the Melbourne Foundation for Business and Economics alumni Leadership Award for 2017, Dwyer told BlueNotes on video the views and actions of leaders were becoming increasingly pertinent to society as a whole.

"We should expect our leaders to be decent people doing the right thing - and be held to account for it."
Paula Dwyer, ANZ director

“The community is demanding more of their business leaders and expects them to model behaviour which is constructive for all of society,” she said.

As well as her role at ANZ, Dwyer is the chair of Healthscope, Tabcorp and holds a directorship at Lion. As a leader, she describes herself as a civil libertarian who believes in freedom of speech – and choice. 

“The role of commerce has to be balanced with the role of companies in the community,” she said.  “Part of that is how people behave and act, and what they value.”

The comments come after a number of business leaders – including ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott - personally signed a letter to the federal government last week confirming their support for marriage equality. Dwyer said such a move was an appropriate “place to land”.

“It goes without saying that the behaviours which [leaders] employ in day-to-day interactions with people are really important [for] the way organisations are perceived,” she said.

“We should expect our leaders to be decent people doing the right thing - and be held to account for it.”

Watch the video above to find out more.

Andrew Cornell is managing editor at BlueNotes