She returned to Australia, and worked for 14 years in law – seven as a partner at high-profile law firm, Allen Allen & Hemsley, now Allens Arthur Robinson.
Then Segal became a commissioner at the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
It was a brave move. Law was all Segal had known professionally; her father was a lawyer too. But it wasn’t a decision made in haste. Segal left Allens and spent some time as a consultant.
And she had begun taking on non-executive director roles, starting with the State Forests of NSW and the NSW State Rail Authority. “Those roles gave me insight into the way government policy affected community services. And I was also on CAMAC [Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee], where I saw that intersection of government, policy and regulation.” (CAMAC offers independent advice to the Australian government on corporations and financial markets law.)
After five years in ASIC, Segal faced a choice: “I had the option of going back into the law or choosing another career. I thought [board roles] would be an interesting next step. I was interested in the way in which regulation was increasingly impacting on business, and I had legal background to contribute to business, and was also interested in law reform and the not-for-profit sector.”
Why NAB?
Segal joined NAB shortly after the bank suffered a crisis of corporate governance in 2004 that lead to a complete renewal of the board under the leadership of chairman Michael Chaney. The years since have delivered mixed financial results, but the bank has been successful in changing its internal culture and improving its customer and staff satisfaction results.
It was, in part, the size of the task that attracted Segal. “I thought it was a very great Australian institution, and it clearly needed to revamp its approach to risk reporting and management and its whole relationship with regulators and the way the regulatory settings were observed.
“Many companies have faced the need, not only to improve their processes, commercial competition and development, but also to drive cultural change. Many have faced it, all the other banks have, as well as other major companies, service companies, law and accounting. And that has been one of the most interesting and satisfying parts [of the NAB role]: to see cultural change. You do see the evidence.”
Achieving change is slow, and challenging. The important thing is to lead by example, says Segal. “I think it is very undermining for leaders to say one thing and do another because it doesn’t give authenticity to their leadership.
“And then the leader has to have a sufficient vision to inspire people, which ends up being a mixture of helping the organisation to achieve tangible outcomes, and having a vision of what they want to deliver. That has to be something to do with the community rather than just the shareholders.”
Leadership perspectives
Segal sees “short-termism” as a key weakness of leaders in business and politics. “Unfortunately we are seeing leaders in all fields in Australia and overseas being judged on short-term decisions. Short-termism is a great risk. One sees it all the time in business and politics. It is understandable but it is great to focus on the long-term implications.”
