In conversation with Carole Micallef – for complementary leadership

UN Women has announced that the theme for International Women’s Day (IWD 2021) on 8 March 2021 will be: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. What do you take from that?

C.M: That in a COVID world – like in any world – inequality in leadership is still something we have to contend with! I mean, how amazing would it be if businesses could benefit from both typically male leadership – more focused on results, strategy, and power – and female leadership, with the emphasis on emotional intelligence, bonding, and success? So not equality in leadership for her, but genuine complementarity.

As a woman, what has been the biggest challenge in your career to date?

C.M: I’ve overcome a number of challenges in my career, including carving out a place for myself in a male-dominated environment. I worked for the Monegasque police force for 21 years. I also went back to school alongside working and looking after my family. But I see everyday challenges as the most significant: getting my teams to do things they once wouldn't have dared to do, or didn’t think they were capable of, and then relishing their success with them afterwards!

Who is your female role model, and why?  

C.M: I don't really have a female role model, though there have been many remarkable women over the years who have earned their place in the history books – that being said, I would like to acknowledge a few women who have made me think, sit up, and be proud.

Like Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin de Francueil (also known as Georges Sand) for example, who was one of the first women to prove that talent has no gender, even if she did have to trick people to do it.

And Madonna, who showed women how to rebel without shame or inhibition (she wasn’t the only one – we also had Bardot, Monroe and many others – but she was the most out-there of them all).

Closer to home, there’s my mother. She believes that anything good in life must be earned, and achieved through hard work, although now I have to admit she wasn’t entirely right: even with hard work you don’t always get the recognition you’re after. Still, she brought me up knowing that if you want something, you have to go out and get it yourself. I also learned that you can’t be arrogant, but you must always demand the best. When you apply that logic to yourself, your job, your loyalty, your honesty and your kindness, you can ask (almost) anything of your teams, without it feeling too much like hard work.