“Inexperienced” Catherine Livingstone is not done learning

‘Inexperienced’ is not the first word that comes to mind when you think of Catherine Livingstone.

With decades of executive experience, Livingstone is one of Australia’s most accomplished businesswomen. 

She’s the chancellor of University of Technology Sydney and former President of the Business Council of Australia. She’s also been the CEO of Cochlear Limited and the chairman of Commonwealth Bank, CSIRO and Telstra.

But, despite her extraordinarily impressive CV, there have been pivotal moments in Livingstone’s career when being labelled “too inexperienced” helped propel her forward. 

“Being told I was too inexperienced actually was helpful, in a way, because I had to stand back and think, ‘Well, what am I trying to do?’,” she tells Helen McCabe as part of FW’s Too Much podcast.

Image Credit: Commonwealth Bank Australia Catherine Livingstone was Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank Board

 One such moment stands out for Livingstone. 

Not long after starting her career at accountancy firm  Price Waterhouse, Livingstone felt she was ready to be promoted to the role of manager. 

“I was told, ‘Yes, I know, but not this time’,” she recalls.“And I thought, ‘Why not this time?’.“[I was told] I was too inexperienced … [even though] I was doing the job of a manager.”

“[Women were] saying basically I was letting women down by not staying in the role.”

This moment pushed Livingstone to reassess the firm she worked at. 

“And that’s when I made the decision [to leave],” she says. “[I knew I needed] to get practical experience inside a company, inside industry. 

“So being told I was too inexperienced actually was helpful, in a way, because I had to stand back and think, ‘Well, what am I trying to do’?” 

She recalls looking around the company and realising there were very few women at her level. 

“[Not] that you want to be promoted on the basis of the fact that you’re a woman, but it said to me something more about the mindset of the firm at that time,” she explains.

Livingstone only stopped being labelled “too inexperienced” when she became CEO of Cochlear Limited, a company providing hearing implant solutions, in the 1990s. 

She was criticised for altogether different reasons when she decided to stand down from that role. 

“When I stood down … I’d been CEO for six years, and I’d been in medical devices for 20 years, and I hadn’t decided what I was going to do next,” she says. 

“It was women who were the most critical of my decision to step down, saying basically I was letting women down by not staying in the role.”

One journalist took it further than the rest. 

“One journalist, one woman, actually phoned my father to see whether he approved of my decision,” she recalls.“You have to laugh.” 

Today, despite everything she has achieved, Livingstone – with a touch of hyperbole – still describes herself as inexperienced at “everything”. 

“There’s always more to learn,” she quips.