Meet the leaders: Sian Lewis

Sian Lewis is Group Executive Human Resources at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. She is also one of the most respected leaders in her profession. In this profile she questions whether she was ‘ambitious enough’?

What is the best piece of feedback you’ve received?

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve had was to ‘avoid the collision – that going straight through the middle is not always the best or most sustainable route’.

What advice would you give to anyone juggling work and other life commitments?
Be really honest with yourself about what you want and have ongoing conversations with your family about how you can best achieve that … If you have a ‘north star’ it’s easier to make sure an off-balance period doesn’t become the default position. 

Who is the best leader you have ever worked for and why?

I’ve had some truly great leaders over the years. For me, the key differentiator of great leadership is that I felt that they were supporting me and I trusted them to give me feedback and guidance that would make me better. 

Matt Comyn is one of those leaders. I admire his commitment to serving others. 

Was there ever a time when you felt stuck in your career and if so how did you work through it?
In those situations where I do feel stuck, I share my aspirations and concerns with leaders and I give them time to find solutions … [I also] set myself a deadline so I don’t keep waiting and become frustrated, and underperform as a result. 

Also, from the very start of my career, I put money aside so I could manage a gap in employment. It’s a safety net I haven’t had to use but it makes me feel more confident.

Who do you most admire?
My partner, who is organised, non-judgemental, very empathetic and helps me to move out of rational problem-solving mode and sit with discomfort rather than try and ‘solve’ my way out.

What if anything would you like to see change for women in the workplace?
[For workplaces] to support a more equal distribution of caring responsibilities by giving men access to equal parental and carers leave and normalising its use.

How are you using AI in your life?
I’m currently experimenting with Copilot to capture meeting minutes and summarise documents. 

I’m also leading work to use AI to deliver an ‘HR Advisor’ in your pocket. This will see us make enhancements to our chatbot so it can deal with more personal and specific inquiries.

If you were elected Prime Minister what is the one thing you would change?
Look at the balance between the taxing of income and the taxing of capital.

What if any are your professional regrets?

I will always wonder if I could have pushed harder and achieved more at every stage of my journey – I really believe in the power of big goals to unlock new solutions so my reflection is always ‘Was I ambitious enough?’.

I think I have been reasonably bold personally… ‘ambitious’ is more about being ambitious for the organisation, it’s not about personal or professional regrets. I’ve been in some fantastic roles, done some fantastic things and I always want to know I’ve done the most I can for the company.

What are you most proud of in your career?
I have remained close to colleagues in every organisation I have worked in and continue to learn from them and enjoy their friendship and support. The individual triumphs fade, the people don’t.