Colleen Callander is an award-winning CEO and an inspiration to women of all generations. She encourages women globally to have the confidence to believe in themselves, their ability, share their voice and break through glass ceilings.
As the former CEO for 13 years of two of Australia’s iconic fashion brands Sportsgirl and Sussan, Colleen led with purpose, stayed true to her values, and created a culture that allowed people to thrive and shine.
Most recently, Colleen has been listed as one of the top 10 Influential Business Leaders Making a Difference by World’s Leaders Magazine and also Influential Business Leader of the year 2021 by Business Talk Magazine. In 2014 Colleen was also awarded the highly commended CEO of the Year Award – CEO Magazine and is an opinion columnist for the CEO WORLD Magazine.
In May 2021, Colleen launched her book ‘LEADER BY DESIGN’ – Be Empowered To Lead With Confidence In Business And In Life which has been met with rave reviews and immense success, including being nominated as a finalist in the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards.
Beyond her amazing career, the most important thing to Colleen is family. Colleen sees her most important and influential role in life as wife to Nick and mother of three beautiful humans: Jake, Trent, and Macey.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Colleen. Enjoy!
You are a former Sportsgirl CEO with over 30 years’ experience, what was the turning point that led you to start your business?
After 30 years in fashion retail, and 13 years at the helm of two iconic fashion brands, it was time for me to write the next chapter of my life – which included the introduction of my business Callander & Co.
Callander & Co has had success beyond what I thought possible. It has grown significantly over the past 2 years, and so has its offering.
My purpose has always been to impact, influence and inspire the people around me so they can grow and thrive in all areas of their lives including their careers and show up as the best version of themselves each day. This is truly how I believe organisations grow and prosper.
Now in this next chapter of my life my purpose is the same. The most exciting thing is that I am doing it broader, deeper and on a much larger scale than ever before. Whether that’s through my Mentor Me Programs, through my book, masterclasses, podcasts, coaching, or keynote speaking, my purpose is to inspire and empower others to lead with confidence in business and in life.
Mentor Me Women is the platform through which I mentor groups of women of all generations and from different walks of life. Executives, mums, start-up executives, students, young women starting out in their careers, senior leaders, CEO’s and teachers… I have worked with all these women and more!
Mentor Me Women inspires and empowers women to lead with confidence in their own lives – whether that be in boardrooms, organisations, communities or even the home.
As a mentor, I guide, support, and challenge women to step outside their comfort zone, build on their leadership abilities, and set boundaries and goals, creating simple tools and actionable plans that allow women to navigate through life and leadership challenges.
As a Business and Leadership Coach I am extremely passionate about inspiring not only this generation of leaders but also future generations. Through my business and leadership coaching I support leaders and organisations to recognise growth opportunities through the way they lead, cultural transformation, clarity on their vision and strategic direction, and achieve business success through brand differentiation.
In my Keynote Speaking I inspire the audience to embrace leadership as a lifestyle choice, to believe in the power of self, and to become a leader people choose to follow.
Leadership starts with self. 70% of leadership is the way you lead yourself. How well you know yourself, your values, and your purpose. How well you build structure and disciplines into your life, how well you set goals and boundaries, and how you maintain positivity in the face of negativity.
Great leadership is one of the most competitive advantages an organisation can have, and great leadership starts with self. We need to be leading in our own lives before we can lead anyone else.
Your message is that anything is possible if you are passionate, work hard and believe in yourself, is this message underpinned from personal experience?
It was 1987 and I had just finished my year 11 school year and I was so excited because I had lined up a summer job. Although I had always worked in the family businesses growing up, this was my first real job – a casual sales assistant at my local Just Jeans store in Geelong. I loved it from the minute I walked onto the shop floor, I was in absolute heaven. Unbeknown to me at the time, this would be the start of my 30-year retail career.
I worked every shift I could get over the summer break and at the end of the holiday period, I got offered a fulltime job. I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my parents. As I ran through the door, I said to my parents that I wasn’t going back to school to finish my final year and complete Year 12; instead I had decided I was leaving school and taking a full-time job in retail as a sales assistant.
The disappointment was transparent on both of their faces. I can still see the sadness in their eyes, but even in that moment of disappointment, my parents found a way to encourage me. ‘Be passionate, love what you do, work hard and never give up,’ my dad said. These are the words that have stuck with me my entire life and I have tried to live by these words every day in everything I do.
You recently launched your book “Leader By Design” in May 2021, can you tell us more about it?
My book Leader By Design: Be Empowered To Lead With Confidence In Business And In Life was published in May 2021 and has had incredible success.
I don’t believe we are born leaders: we all have the ability to become Leaders By Design. You can become the leader you want to be, the leader you wanted to have, and a leader people choose to follow.
In my book Leader By Design I share my story of finishing school at 16 to building my career from the ground up to becoming one of Australia’s inspiring female CEO’s. My story underpins my message that anything is possible if you are passionate, work hard and believe in yourself.
Leader By Design is part autobiography where I share my life journey including how my upbringing shaped the women and leader I am today and how I almost threw it all away when I hit burnout.
I encourage women and leaders to live with purpose, change the rules, invest in self, build confidence, lead with kindness, and become the leader in your life.
Leader By Design also challenge and inspires all leaders and organisations to embrace a ‘new era’ of leadership. One where we lead with self-awareness, kindness, collaboration, trust, and authenticity, and one that puts people at the heart of everything we do.
It is packed with tips, advice, insights, and guidance relevant to all generation and all ages – whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, an entrepreneur, a volunteer, a teacher, a coach, a student, or working part-time. Regardless of where you are on your leadership or life journey Leader By Design will inspire and empower you to believe in the power within, reach your full potential and create the life you deserve.
You have a proven track record in building brands, what’s your number one tip for female founders trying to build their brand?
The number one tip I have for female founders is that success starts with self-belief. Self-belief is the beginning of your journey and will open endless possibilities – but it starts with you.
There are many factors in life that will contribute to your success, but the biggest will be your self-belief. Believing in yourself means having faith in your own abilities, trusting that you can do anything you put your mind to. It means that when you face challenges, hit road bumps, or fall over and have self-doubt, you will have the confidence to get back up and try again.
It is not opportunities, intelligence or resources that allow you to chase your goals and dreams, it’s your belief in yourself that will give you the power to take that first step. There will be people in your life that will tell you your dreams are too crazy, your goals are too big, it’s been done before, you’re too young, too old, or you’re not ready. Don’t listen to them. Tell yourself everyday how amazing you are and that you can do and be anything you put your mind to if you’re willing to put in the work and believe in yourself.
Colleen, you have recently been listed as one of the ‘World’s 10 Most Influential Business Leaders Making a Difference, 2021’, as published by the World’s Leaders Magazine, why do you think it’s important for women to lead with purpose?
Now more than ever, it’s crucial for women to lead with purpose and support each other. Together we can create change, bring about equality and help women flourish in all aspects of their lives – not just in their careers.
As human beings, we’re inspired by other people’s stories of adversity, accomplishment, fear, and failure. It is through these stories that we connect, learn, and grow, which is why I am now sharing my story in the hope that I inspire others. Lifting women up, giving them a voice, building confidence, and encouraging each other to live with purpose and reach our full potential is the way we will drive meaningful and lasting change. I am always inspired by women supporting women, and it is what I have always tried to do – not only as a CEO, but also in my everyday life.
What are the biggest opportunities you see as a female founder?
I was very lucky growing up that I had incredible role models in both of my parents. All my life, they have both been a constant source of inspiration, advice, and guidance. They showed me that hard work and believing in myself is the key to success, that it is important to live according to your values and that anything is possible.
I also had great role models throughout my career. Women I admired and wanted to emulate and women who I believed were making a difference – whether that was in the little things they did in their everyday lives or on a larger public scale. Having great role models throughout my life and career shaped the woman and leader I am today and helped me understand who I wanted to become in the future.
I strongly believe the next generation of young women must have strong role models to look up to: women who are changemakers, breaking through glass ceilings in their careers and everyday lives. Having positive, fierce, intelligent, kind women making change in the world sends a message of empowerment, paving the way for the next generation to believe their opportunities are limitless in both our careers and life.
How do you personally measure success?
Success means different things to different people. For some people success is money, for some it’s freedom, for some it’s winning a gold medal or climbing Mt Everest, and for others it’s power.
For me success is about leaving this planet better than I found it. For me success is about changing the rules, closing the gender pay gap, increasing the number of women in leadership and CEO positions and embracing inclusivity and diversity in all areas of our lives. Success is creating a platform for women to share their voice; it’s about being a circuit breaker for change, being the change I want to see and paving the way for the next generation of female leaders.
Success for me also starts in the home. Bringing 3 beautiful humans into this world means I get to help them shape their values, find their purpose, and grow and evolve into wonderful caring and compassionate human beings so that they too can make a positive impact on those around them through their passions.
How do you handle self-doubt?
We all suffer from self-doubt and confidence issues, a lack of self-belief and ‘imposter syndrome’ at different points in our lives either in our personal lives, career, appearance, or the way we see ourselves compared to others. Some of us suffer a lot and some suffer a little, but lack of confidence shows up in even the most seemingly confident people.
I have suffered from confidence issues and self-doubt. Whether that’s been walking into a boardroom of strangers and asking myself, ‘Should I be here? Am I good enough?’, doing a presentation and wondering if my audience was engaged or meeting new people and wondering if they liked me. Overcoming self-doubt and building confidence takes practice. Confidence is a skill not a trait. It is like a muscle and the more you use it the stronger it gets.
One of the biggest things we can do to build confidence is to change the stories we tell ourselves. We all have an inner critic that is highly judgmental and can leave us feeling miserable and stuck. It can even sabotage our success. Our inner critic can say things like: You’re going to fail, you’re under prepared, you don’t fit in, you need more skills or you’re not good enough. We need to interrupt this story from taking control and create a more empowering story that allows us to feel confident to take action.
When we change our story – we change our life!
What do you want to achieve next?
I want to create a world where we live and lead with kindness. I want to live the change I want to see. Kindness isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think about great leadership, right? Well, I challenge that thought. I strongly believe that leading with kindness is what will separate good leaders from great leaders of the future.
I believe that kindness is a superpower and one of the reasons we need more female leaders. Kindness is also a new and powerful currency that can be traded for high performance, loyalty, and commitment.
You may have heard of, or worse, experienced first-hand situations of bullying, intimidation or dealing with difficult people in the workplace. This behaviour can be very destructive to both people and organisations. Unfortunately, these are issues that have been around for a long time and will continue until leaders step up and start leading with kindness and compassion.
The ‘old era’ of leadership was about status, title, power, dictatorship and having people do what you say. The ‘new era’ of leadership and one that I have been living in for a very long time, is one of kindness, compassion, authenticity, collaboration, and trust – and being a leader people choose to follow.
Kindness is one of my values when it comes to the way I lead and live my life. As a leader I have always tried to create a place where people feel safe. When people feel safe, they also feel confident to speak up, challenge the status quo and bring new thinking and ideas to the table. Leading with kindness means looking after the people to the left of you, and the people to the right. It also means having clear expectations, setting boundaries, and providing honest, open feedback. When leaders create this kind of environment, people feel supported, more connected, and more fulfilled at work.
I believe one of the greatest gifts we can give another human is kindness and it’s time for female leaders to step up, have a voice and be the game changers for our generation and future generations. It’s time to shine the spotlight on leading with kindness in all areas of our lives. We may not be able to change the past, but we can shape the future.
We Are Emersyn uses an inclusive definition “female” and “women” and we welcome trans people, women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female, women, or non-binary.