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If You Have Something Worth Saying, Say It | Women in Leadership with Di Tompson · Project Emerald Collective

• Diane Tompson: we should be questioning what we're doing and how we're doing it. It should be part of the process of being a good leader, I think. remember that the fish rots from the head down in leadership. So if you lead by example and people follow you and you do a good job then your job is done. If you walk out of the office and no one knows you you've left that means you've done a good job Eve: Welcome to the Project Emerald Collective. I'm your host, Eve McIntyre. Every week I sit down with women who have chosen to live differently. Designers, founders, creatives, psychologists, adventurers and change makers. People asking bigger questions about how we live, work, create and connect. These conversations aren't really about fashion. They're about living with intention. finding the courage to be yourself and discovering what becomes possible when you stop living by expectation and start living by choice. If that's the kind of life you're creating too, you're in the right place. Now let's go. When Di first sent me some background ahead of our conversation, there was so much we could have talked about that I realized very quickly we weren't going to be able to fit it all into one interview. But what interested me most, Di, was wasn't the list of all the things that you've done, it was what has driven you to do them. So Di spent decades creating opportunities, advocating for others and contributing, often without seeking recognition for it. So today I'd love to explore the woman behind all of that. So Di, welcome. And when we take away... the titles, the awards and everything you've been involved in over the years. Who is Di Tompson? Diane Tompson: I think I'm a slightly mad woman who who wants to change the world and make people's lives more positive. I look to try and do that not with money, but with personal experience and help. right from the word go. I was very switched on to do that with my work with the Indian Ocean Islands, for example, the mentoring programme I wrote. at my son's kitchen table in New York of all places, I really felt that this is where Australian women could help people more fortunate than themselves without having to pay out the dollars and cents, you know? Because I often feel that money, and I've actually seen examples of it in Comoris, for example, where money goes to people that don't use it in the way it was intended. This gives people practical tools to make a difference in their business and therefore in their lives. And I think that's what keeps me from staying awake at night. Maybe early in my business cash flow kept me awake at night, worrying about how I would pay my people in the next fortnight. Now it's my ability to help others. And and I guess there are a lot of people in this world like it and they go under the radar a little bit like like myself, I think we get very sick and tired of people who are very good at telling everyone how wonderful they are and are believed quite often. I'm a sort of an authentic high integrity values proposition person who if I say I will do this, then I do it. And Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: I think it's very important that we don't make promises we can't keep and that we really try very hard To follow through. I promised I would write that mentoring program. I thoroughly regretted it for the hours that it took to write Eve: you Diane Tompson: it. But, it's still going eleven years later. Now that tells you that the woman in Mauritius, who is my friend Aline Wong, and I Have done this willingly and wanting to help those people that we saw needed help. She has some wonderful examples of the effect that it's had. And now she's managed to get the Mauritian Bank and various other people involved. I mean, she's moved mountains where I've only been able to move the hills. and we have now got. a legacy. I think that's the other thing that drives me a little bit to be honest. I don't want to spend my life helping people and then have no one kind of benefited from it in the end. So my legacy is that this program, this project, and maybe I'll have another one. I've just been suggesting in the last couple of days two projects, one in the Middle East and one in the islands close to Australia that under the banner of the French organisation, but Australia is collaborating with them. And to me that makes so much sense. we need to be very mindful of our neighbours. Sadly I haven't got Indonesia on board yet, but that will happen, I'm hoping. In my role and capacity as Vice President of FCEM in Asia I have to oversee new countries coming to join our association. And the way that I persuade them is okay, we're not an a networking organization, but we build friendships, we build faith and trust. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: And that's how we're managing to close barriers and have people really benefiting, I don't know how Anyone gets away with not having good friendships in business, for example, if you're in business. You need somebody who will say to you, have you only had that happen once? We've had that happen three times, and I'm talking about terrible things that happen in business, like someone defrauds the company or others, are incompetent and cause an almost fatal for the business. problem. these happen. Our thirty-five years we have actually had it now happen three times. And we've had to keep strong and keep going forward. And so my life is now becoming one where I faced challenges like COVID, and that was big for a manufacturing company because Malaysia said, right, we're going to close down for twelve weeks. And by the way, you people are going to pay everyone. Businesses in Malaysia went under after four weeks. Because most people didn't have cash flow for more than four weeks. Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: We bought equipment in Australia and took over the manufacture of small items which we were manufacturing in Malaysia and we did it in Australia. So Australia supported Malaysia because the Australian government quite sensibly didn't close down production of any kind. And that includes Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: food. I mean, you know, a bakery closes down. Where do you get the food from? Not everyone has the skills to make bread or cakes. so it had a huge impact on the country, closing it down in twelve weeks. We were Eve: Yeah, right. Diane Tompson: also building all the products for a COVID hospital in Singapore. So the Australian government and the Malaysian government got together and got us back to work. But my poor people in Malaysia, I mean, I'm so grateful that in anything we do in business, our staff come first. And so the most important asset in your company are your staff. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: And so when you take someone on, you always look for ability and whether they're going to work really well with you. And Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: very, very glad that this happened for us in a positive way. We have two brilliant young people running running Malaysia. And they had to cope almost without us, except by Zoom once a week. and they had a lot of work in the background to get that business ready for people to go back to work. So I think Eve: Yeah, right. Diane Tompson: I've had my trust betrayed a couple of times by staff, but I've decided I'm not gonna let them that affect me. Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: When I was at school, because I'm nearly six foot tall and female, I obviously got a hard time. And that has been part of my journey and part of the reason why I'm always trying to do better than anyone else. I have to prove to them that I'm worthy, you know, and even my parents to a certain extent. But what I've discovered is that I'm not going to have the word victim across my forehead. I've had friends who've been music teachers like me, have destroyed their vocal cords doing stupid things like going and teaching music with laryngitis and choirs. My own silly fault, and you would think, as a graduate of the Conservatorium in Voice. I would have known that I would destroy my vocal cords, but no. I did it anyway because I was trying to prove to the to the principal that I was worthy. And so I suffered then. I had to give away music teaching to a certain extent. I could not teach more than one day without losing my voice entirely. So a bit of a disaster. I think that what I decided was I would retrain and do something else. So it kind of came at the right time because in nineteen ninety one my husband decided if he didn't go out to do his consultancy he never would. So I had to stay teaching for four days while he did that so I could feed the children. It's quite an important fact that particularly teenage boys like to eat. Eve: Mm-hmm, I do. Diane Tompson: And a lot. So someone had to put that food on the table while we grew the company and I think I nearly burnt myself out at the time. I had three kids. I had the job of supporting him in in what then became the manufacturing company and we were totally equal, it was very busy for a long time. So anybody, any young businesswoman who says to me, Well, I'm finding it rather difficult, I say, just hang in there. You know, it will change. And it probably will relate to the age of your children, but people say to me, You've done so much. How can you how can you find the time? And I said, Well, I had three children, I I was just so full of doing things all day, every day, that when they left home, all of a sudden I had time. Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: And that's I think, isn't it, time that makes a difference in a person's life? Eve: I think it's stage, the stage of your life that you're at. That constantly Diane Tompson: Mm. Hmm. And Eve: changes with children growing up. Diane Tompson: does. And I think also you never make time for yourself. And I think if we're honest with ourselves, we women who are in business are probably guilty of that. you probably don't take time out through the day for yourself because you feel too guilty. in a national forum held in Hobart, one of the women there she didn't even have kids, but she said, How do I get over feeling not guilty when I'm not doing anything? Eve: Because we've been conditioned to be busy and that busy is productive and then we feel worthy somehow. Diane Tompson: Mm, mm. Eve: Which touches on your feelings of unworthiness fill anyone in that is not familiar with the company that you run with your husband and how Malaysia fits into the picture? Diane Tompson: And India now. So we've now and Eve: and India and Australia. Diane Tompson: Singapore and D Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: and Holland. Eve: How big is the company? Diane Tompson: know what it interesting you should ask that because Each campus is different. the one in Malaysia we've got about 60 people working for us. The one here we've got about 50. and India we're gonna have probably ten, I guess. Malaysia we've got four. Holland we've only got one. now we grew too fast what at one point. And that's because we had a communication and telemetry company. We didn't have the skills ourselves, I don't think. I think that's why this all failed. Everything went a bit pear shape because the manager we put in charge of it was not very ethical. And we didn't have the skills. I knew something was wrong, which is why I started to have monthly board meetings. But Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: I wouldn't have been able to put my finger on it because I'd never had an experience of this. So it was it was a real problem. But two thousand and three Philip and I had to make a big decision because until then we were manufacturing everything in Australia. It was getting more and more difficult to produce goods that people would buy because it was too expensive. And that's because we have such highly paid workers. we still retained pretty much all the staff from that time. So we've looked after them. We haven't lost anyone, but we haven't increased the size of the manufacturing here because we can't afford to. I would say that that's a really difficult issue for manufacturing in Australia. So we're becoming advanced manufacturers. Manufacturing here we manufacture everything from scratch with one assembler, we'll make say forty of one particular product. And he Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: tests all the way through to make sure they're working. Because we sell on quality, we're not quantity, because we knew China would do that instead of us. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: So y you have to be a little bit prepared when you're considering where you manufacture. However, Malaysia, they were selling one million odds. So that's quite a significant amount of sales. Eve: you Diane Tompson: The ringgit was tied to the US dollar. 2002 the US dollar dropped horribly. Forty per cent. So our prices went up forty percent because the ringgit was tied to the US dollar. So it was either forget about Southeast Asia and all the sales going on there, forget about Malaysia and do nothing. And we decided, in conjunction with brilliant people in Malaysia, that we would try and manufacture there and then you would pay no tariffs in the Malaysian countries, you would have cheaper labour Eve: Tell us Di about the mentoring program that you touched on earlier. Diane Tompson: Well, it's funny, I was listening to a program this morning about reverse mentoring and I was listening to th this man talk and I said, But that's what I wrote how can he suddenly claim that it's a new mentoring program? originally we would go over there and deliver to the people running it and tell them how we wanted it run. the Indian Ocean Islands. Mauritius, Eve: Okay. Diane Tompson: Camoras, Madagascar, Seychelles and Rodrigue. They're the five countries involved. in quite a few of them only speak French. So whatever we did over there, it had to be in French and English. But now that program is now in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, a lot of other African nations are using it because where the Mauritian Bank goes, that program is now going as well. And they give us a lot of money to help run the program. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were amazing and still are. They are giving us money to help support it. yes Eve: So where did the inspiration for the program actually come from? Diane Tompson: Well, from me I guess. Why did I do it? Because I was Australia's representative for the Indian Ocean Rim, the Aura Women Leaders Network. And I did that for three years. They got 100 senior business women from around the Iora region, and by the way, that's a third of the population of the world. It's rather significant. And they said, right, brainstorm what we can do to empower women. Okay. I thought. They're going to talk about women on boards and you know issues that we all have here, equal pay, or you know, no. Number one was peace, number two was education, And after that, a month later, I was in a congress in Taiwan for Leif chef d'Entrepolise Mondiale, FCEM. And I'd become really friendly with Aline Wong, who was a regional commissioner in the Indian Ocean Islands, and I was a regional commissioner at the time for Asia. And I said, okay, everyone has projects in Australia and Indian Ocean Islands, we don't have anything. What can we do? And she said, Well, we always need Australian mentors. Okay. I went away, I said, look, I can write the program, because I was mentoring university students here and I was a a mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation. So I kind of knew quite a bit about it, but I had some ideas of my own. we are the only initiative that ever came out of it. Because two businesswomen organized it, A lot of people who attend those things. They get they get paid to go over there and they're government employees or they work for the universities. But, you know, if you want to roll up your sleeves and make it happen, you've got to have someone who's had the ability and the knowledge of starting a business. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: And to implement it. You've got to have the tools before you can tell anyone else about the tools. knowledge is key, you don't have to be an expert, but for God's sake, find out the people who are and use them. And that's what they've done with us. Liz Ward is an expert in digital marketing. She does that topic. Andrea is expert on on communication. She does that topic. I did strategy. But Eve: So is this to help disadvantage women or women move into leadership positions throughout the area? Diane Tompson: It's it's it's not so much about leadership, it's more about becoming successful business women. Because Eve: Okay. Diane Tompson: we know that if we if we educate the women, the family are the ones that that benefit. If you feed the woman that knowledge, she will then be able to be empowered and run a successful business and she will feed the family Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: and educate the family. it's really a powerful message. I was Eve: Yeah, is it open to any women to apply? Diane Tompson: To mentor or or Eve: to be involved in the program. Diane Tompson: Yes, absolutely. mentors I'm always looking out for mentors, we need both French and English mentors. a lot of the women I'd met in FCEM who spoke French, I approached them and asked them, would they help? So we take our English mentors from everywhere in the world. I've got friends in England, Armenia India, everywhere. They're right across the world. Hilda Hetence, she's based in Monaco, she's running that program for me in with the French speakers. Eve: Yeah, right. Diane Tompson: when we joined Women Chiefs, we're told it's not a networking organisation. I I loved WCEI because when I joined I was in a male dominated industry. So these other women, like minded women who who were very intelligent, who had very successful businesses, I could talk to them and have a good relationship with them. I didn't ever sign them up to work for the company sometimes that happened but that was just unintentional. And we're told, no, no, it's not networking if becoming a good friend, if becoming someone that you know you can rely on is networking, then it's networking. Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: But on different level. it's peer to peer. It's relationships and just like my company is based on relationships. Eve: Yeah, absolutely. So Di, Diane Tompson: Mm. Eve: you've clearly been someone who doesn't just see things need changing, you tend to get involved and do something about them which I really admire. Were you always like that? Diane Tompson: I think so, yes. I've always been an entrepreneur, when I was about five years old and the boy over the back. Who became quite a famous film director eventually. He exhibited even at Cannes, which really impressed me. But Alan used to write plays and I was the one who went round the neighborhood and persuaded all the children to come and watch them, and then I challenged them thrippance. when I became a high school music teacher there was this rumour going around that if you really wanted to study music. music, you had to go to Rose Bay High School four months down the track I said, look, we've got kill this rumor. We'll get no one coming to the school. So I arranged for that concert band to visit every feeder school of the high school. And Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: we performed. we changed the whole view of that school by doing that. And that was my first foray into marketing, I think. Eve: Yeah right. Diane Tompson: this view of judging people without ever stepping foot in somewhere, Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: that gets to me. It's my whole integrity and values thing, that's why I'm passionate about things. If somebody says it can't be done, say just wait. Eve: Hmm, yeah. Diane Tompson: This is what worries me about about people who get on a soapbox about rules and regulations. We should never look at other solutions. We have to go by the rules. And Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: maybe if it's in human resources and bullying and that's yes. Go for it, but not when it comes down to people's lives. I think in the reason I'm successful in business is because I refuse to look at things in a very black and white way. I believe there's always a solution. Eve: Yeah, absolutely. I love that you're a bit of a rebel too. Diane Tompson: Yes, in my seventies I'm still a rebel. It's lovely. Thank you. Eve: well you get stuff done and points of view and rules changed which is what we need more of. So that leads me into the next lot of questions for you, Di. Something we're exploring a lot here at the Project Emerald Collective is what happens when we stop living on autopilot and start making conscious choices about how we actually want to live and not how we're conditioned. So when you look back, how has living with intention shaped the decisions you've made throughout your life? Diane Tompson: I talk a lot about intuition and the importance of a female intuition cannot be put up high enough. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: So yes, consider things and And any risks that you need to take, make sure that they're backed up with fairly good data or, opinions. that might be, we've got to borrow five million dollars for a new factory. It's like gulp on seventy. Why am I doing this? And then hang on. Isn't that what business is all about? So living with intention really means trusting in your observations and your instinct. If it isn't if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. I Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: think it's an important thing. And I often tell women that piece of advice. that you need diversity in your life. So I've intentionally put all my teams in every country as yin and yang. That's diversity. Not having people with the same thought and mind and everything. I've got a male production manager and a female administrative woman, accounting woman, who's brilliant. She actually runs him, I think. Singapore I've got a very smart engineer, female who's got a master's degree in engineering and a male running that. Hobart, we've got Philip and I and we've also got my daughter and her husband. we've got all of this happening in every country. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: So I think that really helps in putting a fairly good basis of which to grow. Yeah. And you do have a lot of robust discussions, can I call them? where people disagree violently with each other. That's okay as long as you manage to not get too violent and resolve the problem. one big decision for me was when I was eighteen and I'd I'd been fortunate enough and I don't think I'm brilliant but I did get three scholarships. One of them was to the Conservatorium of Music, another was for librarianship at ANU and the other one was teaching children, infants. And my mother desperately wanted me to become a librarian. Can you see me as a librarian? I mean, that would have been an oxymoron if ever there was one. Someone who likes to talk and loves people, working on books. I loved books and I still love reading, but it wasn't gonna be me. A week before the conservatorium went back, having said no, I wouldn't take up that offer, they rang my mother and they said, We want to speak to you and your daughter. and the director sat my mother down and said, I think you're making a big mistake making her do librarianship. he looked at me and he said, And what would you want to do? And I said, Well, I want to do music. And that's how it happened. Eve: I'm glad that changed the course of your life Diane Tompson: I never regretted it. It Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: was the best decision of my life. And then meeting Philip and thinking, ooh, I've been offered this sort of scholarship to the Karl Orff Institute in Germany. Or at twenty I'd met this guy madly in love and I could have gone, well it was a sliding doors moment, I'm so glad fifty two years later we're still married. Eve: Yeah right, so you said no to Germany. Diane Tompson: I said no to Germany. Mm-hmm. I didn't speak to Eve: Yeah, and did you know instantly that that was the right decision? Diane Tompson: Yeah. I sat down to myself and reasoned it out. I may never meet someone ever again who is a soulmate like this. He was five years older, so he became my rock. And Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: anyone who's ever taught in the arts will know how important that is. Yeah. Eve: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Diane Tompson: We all tend to be a bit crazy. Yeah. Eve: have there been moments where you've had to change direction, let something go or realise that something no longer belonged in your life? Diane Tompson: Hmm, probably too many to to even mention. Yes. I was on the board for a year with a new chair, and I was virtually the only person that had any background in education. and I thought to myself, I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. So I said to Paula, I'm really tired of the educational side of business. I want to change. And she said, Have I got the job for you? So she got me involved in Enterprise Connect as the Tasmanian representative. I was one of the only women on that board and we wrote the policy. I've been told since that it was the most successful programme they'd ever had. And it was Kim Carr, brilliant man. who had this view of if you can help people who are only turning over two million to then turn over ten, the whole economy will change and it had to be manufacturers. He Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: made a big difference. And I suspect that manufacturing would be far worse off if he hadn't done that back in 2012. Eve: Yeah, right. Diane Tompson: And then from there, because I'd work so hard, and this is comes back to the point, We work twice as hard often as our male colleagues just to prove that we are worthy of being appointed. I had a lot of flack in the background. So I worked pretty hard. And Kim Carr had noticed. So he put me on the Council for Advanced Manufacturing and the flagship of manufacturing for the CSIRO. So I had all of these acknowledgments of the work that I was doing. that I had put in the hard yards, I was so shocked when I discovered all the people on that board, male They were all being paid business class to come to the council meetings I was coming economy. And they were all going off to the chairman's lounge and I went, Well, where's everyone going? And they said, come with us. So I went with them And I said, Well, how did we all get in here? And they said, they've made it happen from Canberra virtually. Yeah. And because I was a woman I didn't Eve: So what did you have to say about that? Diane Tompson: well, from then on I went business class but I didn't think to question. I didn't even know. that this was happening. And because I hadn't complained, thought, well she's happy to to go economy Eve: Who's happy to go economy when business is an option? this behavior in society, where does it stem from? Diane Tompson: Privilege and a self worth that women don't have, I suppose. I think there are a lot of people that feel a lot more entitled than you and I in this world, and the reason we're good at what we do is because we never feel like we're good enough. And they already think they're good enough. often w I'll say to women, look You go away and because she was doing the job of a CEO and tell them you deserve to be acknowledged as a CEO. And she did, and she was made CEO. It's it's really interesting, isn't it? I think there's a lot of people with very large views on their own self worth. And women Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: and the like that. I don't think. There's a few I've met and they're not very pleasant people, I have to say, because you can feel the knife in your back where the knife was often. But a businesswoman, different kettle of fish, we all have had skin in the game, we all know exactly what it takes to run a business and do it successfully. So I've never found a a fellow businesswoman who I haven't liked. So that's a big, big statement. And that's worldwide. You Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: know? We're very similar. We all have the same system. Eve: Yeah, I guess it's who you surround yourself with as well and who you're attracting into your life. Diane Tompson: Positive paper. Eve: yeah, absolutely. So, Di, has your definition of success changed as you've gotten older? Diane Tompson: I don't even think I looked at my life as as being successful until more recently and I thought, perhaps I have been successful at what I do and it's more my work with the Department of Women that has made me realise that. Donna Meredith, who's the president of the International Alliance for Women, which is an international organisation that empowers women. She said, Am I the only person that has ever seen your C V and realise what you've done? I said, Probably. it's never been my intention to make people think I'm incredible, but a friend of mine, said to me once, you know, Di, the reason that you inspire others is because you're so ordinary, people can think that they can be as good as you. So is that being successful? Probably is. I don't know. my idea of success is that I've helped someone and I I like to see that that has eventually had an effect. I l I would like to see that change, the positive change that we've made. And Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: I'll one day love a conversation with some of those women say, You do know what went behind all of that help you got. I would love to see you then mentoring others. And it is happening, I think, in Mauritius. I think those Eve: Mm, great. Diane Tompson: people that were mentees are now mentoring. And isn't that a measure of success? Some of the kids that I taught in in the early seventies at Julson Bay High School, they've gone off and played in concert bands and orchestras. Ross and I did a really good job, I think, of exciting them. about being a musician. So in terms of music teaching, that's what you're looking for and it's not gonna happen all of the time. It might be one in a million. I think I can help more business women than I can musicians because everyone sees it as a really hard career. I mean Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: even now I would think, gee, was I that silly to not do I would have loved to do marketing and, you know, that at university and and but then I wouldn't have had the life experience to do a good job, I don't think. We're all Eve: Mm, that's true. Diane Tompson: layers, don't you think Eve? we're layers of experience. women are like a very rich ghetto. We're layers and it's our life layers that create the successful person. Eve: That's true. I've never thought about it like that. I'm curious though. What have you learned about leadership that you couldn't have understood when you were younger? Diane Tompson: I always thought everyone had the same potential and would have the same values as and as me and I've got disappointed over time when I've realised that isn't the case. So now I'm more accepting of people and the time that they live in I don't lose my call like I would occasionally lose my call. you know, if somebody didn't live up to my expectations and I'm really talking about work, not my kids, but you know, and I was probably quite hard on them because I was the only one at home a lot of the time I was left with the three children and so I had to be quite hard on them 'cause teenage boys, if you're not, they'll just walk all over you, I had a great ally and my daughter is one of my best friends, I think. She's a just a gem. And she's working with us, which is lovely 'cause I at least see her every other day. But I think with w with life as it's gone on, you adapt continuously and I think that you've got to have that willingness to adapt. Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: A lot of people are very rigid in their thinking and I find that a little bit sad for them because Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: so much joy can come out of the change that's happening. And yes, we're getting older and the body's cracking up, but the mind is still willing and while ever that's the case I'm gonna continue working to help others, you know, and I guess the change for me has been seeing the evolution of my children and now being a grandparent I think we wouldn't be starting the manufacturing in India or opening a sales office which we're doing in October if we weren't prepared to adapt. Eve: what are you most proud of personally? Diane Tompson: Gosh. I don't think I can put it down to one thing. I I'm proud of my children. I'm proud that they became decent human beings, first and foremost. And I'm proud of what Philip and I have have been able to produce and the legacy we might leave. Hopefully Claire and Ron will continue on with that. that you know, that we've created something worthwhile for the country, not just Tasmania. And Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: it's a really important contribution from the two of us, I think. And then I've got the legacy of of those women in the Indian Ocean Islands. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: may never know where it comes from, but that we have produced something that will now continue. the older you get, the more you create and the more you do. That's that's my policy. I d I just couldn't ever sit around waiting for things to happen. That Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: would be the worst scenario for me. You know. Eve: Yeah. What do you wish that you understood about yourself earlier? Diane Tompson: My father gave me the best advice he could ever give me personally, because I didn't ever do this when I was eighteen. He said he said, darling, he said What you've got to do is listen to people. He said it costs nothing. You don't have to do what they say, but just listen. And by gee, that was good advice. So now I do listen. If someone says to me, We need a meaner region and this is why I go, You're right, I'm gonna make it happen. and and it just I think we don't as human beings often listen enough. I mean, would there be wor world wars in Russia and Ukraine or you know, the Middle East if someone damn well listened, you know, to the people who were suffering? Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: You know? It's just so fundamental. But I think Eve: Ready? Diane Tompson: the other thing that I would say to myself is don't expect things to happen instantly. Like when we start a business, I'll be able to meet new people and I'll be able to fly around the world and I'll be able to no. Try 35 years later. So I've learned that a long-term vision is going to get you a lot further than thinking of the immediate success. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: I never expected it to happen overnight, but I did expect it to happen eight years or so later. And it it was Eve: Yeah, it's reasonable. Diane Tompson: just so much hard work. life is not a dress rehearsal that you've got to enjoy every moment of your existence every second that I'm alive I have to appreciate. Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: And I appreciate the people in that life. Even with family and I have a beautiful brother who, we're getting closer and closer. And I think because we are aware of the fact I mean we've always been really good friends, but, you know, absent in each other's lives to a certain extent. And that happens, I think, because we lost a a sister recently, and it just brings home the fact that life isn't forever. But Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: having said that I would love to be you, Eve, at the beginning of your journey, making a difference already and you hardly even stepped into the room. I think it's profound. I think you're going to be doing wonderful things. And for me, I've never thought about it until recently that the one of the most important things that I can do for other women is make them realise that they will be as successful as my company being successful. It takes time. And Eve: Hmm. Diane Tompson: I think it I owe it to society to be a leader in making changes for the better for the women following. Eve: Thank you for all that you do. Di in closing, what does taking your power back mean to you? Diane Tompson: Taking my power back means probably that I need to be a voice. And there a few things I realized twenty odd years ago was I need to have the seat at the table where decisions are made. whether it's for manufacturing, whether it's for women, whether it's for something I feel very strongly about, even education, I need to be one of those people making decisions about it. That's Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: the only way women are going to ever be heard. And I think that if you've got something useful to say, you have to say it. And not be a quiet violence. So many of my friends go, no, you couldn't say that. And I said, Well, yes, you can. on Enterprise Connect, they were saying, you have to turn over two million dollars before we consider you. It was an an a a tool of analysis. So they come into your company, they would tell you where your failures are, and mostly it was in finance for everybody, and family plan and family succession planning. but they said no, you can't do it unless you're turning over more than two. million dollars. I said, hang on. in Tasmania most people would hardly even turn over one and a half million, let alone two. so they changed it for regional areas to one and a half million. So if I hadn't have spoken up, Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: that wouldn't have changed. So the important thing is if you think you've got something worthwhile to say, say it. So getting my power back is recognizing that I have a voice. Eve: Yeah. Diane Tompson: also putting yourself into the position where you are able to use that voice effectively. Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: I run effectively the boards in in my business. That's where you know all the experience I had in those others have they haven't gone to waste. They're still there. But Eve: Mm-hmm. Diane Tompson: I think you have to recognise that power is being acknowledged and for women in equality of pay, they need to be acknowledged. That's taking their power back. Eve: Mmm. Diane Tompson: rolling your sleeve up and doing it. It's the best way you can prove your worth. and just keep in the back of your mind, never say never because you never know what will happen. Eve: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's right. Keep showing up. Diane Tompson: remember that the fish rots from the head down in leadership. So if you lead by example and people follow you and you do a good job then your your job is done. If you walk out of the office and no one knows you you've left that means you've done a good job because Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: you know people will automatically take over and continue your good work and that happens in Malaysia we see it all over many times a week. And I I think it's really important for a good business leader to recognise they can't do can't do everything and that they have good people working for them and trust them. I think that's probably the most effective leadership you could want. Eve: Yeah, absolutely and empowering your people to do their best Diane Tompson: Mm, yeah. Eve: at work. Diane Tompson: And education is the key. if your people need training in a particular aspect of their work, give it to them. It's only Eve: Mm. Diane Tompson: going to give confidence. Eve: Before we finish I'd love to leave you with one question. When did you last feel like most like yourself? Not the version shaped by expectations, deadlines, or everyone else's opinions, but the real you. Maybe that's something worth sitting with this week. If today's conversation has resonated with you, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing the episode with someone who may need to hear it. Every share helps us reach more people and grow a community that's choosing to live with greater intention. Until next time, remember, take your power back, one conscious choice at a time. I'll see you in the next episode.