Meet the leaders: Rebecca Haagsma

Rebecca ‘Bec’ Haagsma is the newly appointed executive general manager (commercial and customer) at the AFL. She’s also the outgoing chief product and technology officer at Nine. Here, she shares her frustrations at too often being “the only woman in the room”.

What is the best piece of feedback you’ve received?
[To have] a point of view, and make a recommendation. It’s a great clarifying point when you are making statements, or putting something forward to your boss, a CEO or a board — take it right through to a recommendation, beyond a series of options or comments.  

What advice would you give to anyone juggling work and other life commitments?
Ask for help when you need it, both ways — from your family and from your workplace. 

What keeps you awake at night?
Literally. Menopause. It has an unpleasant impact on my ability to sleep through the night. And once I’m awake, it could be anything from a conversation I had at work yesterday to what I’m planning for the weekend. 

A little less literally, it’s the rapid transformation we are in the middle of in terms of our consumption of content and therefore seeding out what’s important for humans and society and what isn’t — the noise is so great about so many things that don’t really matter.  

Who do you most admire?
It changes every day! Today, I’m in admiration of the commentary [Australian journalist] Brooke Boney is putting out there about Peter Dutton’s stance on the Aboriginal flag. She is considered and yet at the same time, very clear, about her thoughts about how he is driving the narrative on this topic.

How are you using AI in your life?
Travel planning, encouraging my son to bring it to his trade (electrician) for many tasks, analysing my spending across my bank accounts and helping plan my budget, writing Christmas card messages … everyday things. 

What if anything would you like to see change for women in the workplace?
Everything needs to keep changing. I need to stop being the only woman in the room. When I am the only woman in the room, I don’t need the men in the room to ignore me or assume my job title. Pay rates. Equity.  

What if any are your professional regrets?
None. I would love another go at life and next time I’d like to be a professional sportsperson though! 

If you were elected Prime Minister what is the one thing you would change?
Pay for teachers and nurses, even though this is a state-based decision today. My husband is a teacher in an all-girls high school and he is amazing and deserves to be rewarded financially for the work he does … so do his colleagues. They are critical to the development of our society through their teachings and also how they teach.  

Who are three women you’d like to be in the room with when making a big decision?
Katrina Gorry (Matilda’s player, and co-captain of the West Ham Women’s Football team) because she seems very family orientated as well as very focused on giving her all to help the team win. 

Vicki Brady, CEO of Telstra, super smart and very respectful and open in her communication style, and really ‘fit’ when it comes to making big decisions. 

Scarlett Blair, account executive at the Trade Desk (one of my daughters) — she’s pretty brutal and will call it as she sees it and will ask lots of questions if she doesn’t understand something, and then will always tell me what she thinks, not what she thinks I want to hear.