Madison life - tips + tricks: access all areas

To make it into the top job, it's still about who you know. Clair Weaver reveals the figureheads you need on your side.

So you want to make it to the top of your profession: president, CEO or company owner.
No settling into a comfortable middle-management job for you, clambering up a few rungs of the career ladder every few years but never reaching a position of real power. You yearn for the oak and leather opulence of the executive suite.
Burning ambition, combined with hard work and determination, will certainly get you a long way. But to hit the big time, it’s vital to know the right people – the industry powerbrokers who exert control behind the scenes.
These masters of influence can make or break careers with a shake of the head or a nod of endorsement. They hold the keys to success in corporate Australia.
To give you a head start on your journey to the top, madison has done some groundwork in five key industries. And, while you’re unlikely to secure a one-on-one meeting anytime soon, simple tricks like following trailblazers such as the ABC’s Mark Scott or designer Alex Perry on Twitter will provide unique career-enhancing insights.

FASHION
If you’re a budding designer, sign up for classes from Nicholas Huxley, head teacher of fashion design at TAFE NSW. Among his former students are hugely successful names like Akira Isogawa, Nicky Zimmerman, Dion Lee, Romance Was Born and Gary Bigeni. Perry has also been known to mentor up-and-coming talent. You’ll want to convince the most powerful buyers to stock your product too. “David Bush is the key person you need to see at David Jones if you want to get your clothes stocked there – and his counterpart Judy Coomber at Myer,” says Daniel Hill, general manager at IMG World. Hill himself is one of the industry’s top kingmakers – IMG runs Australian Fashion Week. “We work with 20 Fashion Weeks around the world including New York, Miami and Berlin, so our business certainly puts Australian designers in touch with the right global counterparts,” says Hill.
And if you want to be a supermodel rather than just a model, you need to get spotted by IMG scout David Cunningham, who has enormous clout and can instantly put you on the world map. The catch? You’ve only got a small window: he’s only in the country during Fashion Week. And to transform yourself from fledgling fashionista to household name, you need to impress the major magazines editors and fashion bloggers too.

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
It may sound obvious, but if you see yourself as a newspaper editor one day, you need to get your work noticed by News Limited boss Rupert Murdoch (publisher of The Australian and major daily metropolitan newspapers across the country), who takes a personal interest in appointing new young talent to top jobs throughout his worldwide empire. Other key figures are News Ltd CEO John Hartigan and David Penberthy, editor-in-chief of news.com.au. “If you are in print media and you don’t have some kind of access to the Murdoch empire, you are in big trouble,” says Professor Graeme Turner, media expert at The University of Queensland. “Simply the scale of their ownership of the print media is such that without them, you would have difficulty getting to the top.” Keep an eye out for potential mentors at rival news group Fairfax (publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) too. “They are highly volatile industries so just hanging in at one newspaper is not enough; if you are ambitious and want to move up fast, you need to move from one [company] to another,” advises Prof Turner.
In the magazine and TV industries, you should be getting yourself under the radar of David Gyngell (CEO of Channel Nine and ACP, which publishes madison); David Leckie (Channel Seven); media dynasty mogul James Packer (part owner of Channel Ten) or the ABC’s Scott. “The TV industry tends to be quite autocratic,” says Prof Turner. “Those at the top exercise an incredible amount of power so you’ve got to have [their] support to make it.” Radio legend Alan Jones is another powerful mentor to aspiring young people in media land. “The polite word for it is mentoring,” remarks Prof Turner. “The less polite term is nepotism or patronage. But because the industry is not tightly structured, you really do need to know about people and their links. It’s one of the reasons media people pretend to love each other.”

POLITICS
Arguably more than any other profession, knowing the right people is vital to moving upwards in the notoriously cut-throat arena of politics. Many start out by working as aides to ministers, which provides a foot in the door and some important names for your contacts book. “It’s also about knowing people behind the scenes,” says National Nine News political reporter Jacqueline Freegard. “It’s hard to get access to them because they are all so protected... you have to get through layers of bureaucracy.” If your goal is to be the next Julia Gillard, you’ll need to garner support from backroom kingmakers like MP Bill Shorten, Senator Mark Arbib and ALP national secretary Karl Bitar, who are widely credited with ousting Kevin Rudd to make way for Australia’s first female Prime Minister. If you’re a female Labor candidate, seek the backing of Emily’s List, a non-profit organisation dedicated to furthering women’s progression in politics. “Organisations like that do a lot to promote women in politics,” says Freegard, who has seen the “old boys club” culture being eroded over the past 15 years.

FINANCIAL SERVICES
Having a strategic career plan that allows you to leapfrog up the structure into key positions is the best policy in this sector. Sharon Collins, managing associate at executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International, recommends first finding a sponsor through your current employer or network who can champion you by providing references. “The best sponsors are those with vast networks,” she says.
At the same time, build a relationship with a consultant in a search and selection firm – they are plugged into the top job opportunities before they appear. Among the best connected are Graeme Bricknell, senior client partner and head of global financial markets Australasia at Korn/Ferry and Kate O’Reilly, director at Optimiss Consulting, which focuses on placing women. “Assist them when they call you seeking your thoughts on individuals, and you’ll remain top of mind when the right opportunity presents itself,” says Collins. Getting to know influential women in different parts of the market – like Belinda Hutchinson, chair of QBE; Gail Kelly, CEO of Westpac; and Katie Lahey, CEO of the Business Council of Australia – can provide a template for your career aspirations too.

SPORT
Considering the status, variety and range of levels in sports in Australia, there are plenty of opportunities to lead the way. If you’re interested in a broad spectrum of sports, get on side with John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee. “Given the permanence and prominence of the Olympic Games plus the level of funding from the government, John would be [a key powerbroker],” says a corporate insider, who did not wish to be named. Networking is vital, so to enter the arena of football management, introduce yourself to influential NRL board member Katie Page-Harvey, who is also CEO of retailer Harvey Norman. “To be a good CEO of sport these days, you need to have an understanding of broadcasting, sponsorship, commercial endeavours and relationships with government to ensure good investment,” the source adds.
Statistically, sport is still a man’s world at the top. But times are changing so it’s worth seeking advice – and backing – from powerful women who have broken some glass ceilings, like Kate Palmer, CEO of Netball Australia and the first-ever female chair of the Victorian Institute of Sport, and Lynne Bates, ex-board member of Swimming Australia. If anything, cultivating a relationship with such contacts will serve as inspiration in the battle to level the playing field in whatever occupation you choose.