Ethel, an Associate Director at Macquarie, exemplifies modern leadership by managing 29 people across three business-facing teams while influencing strategic decisions at a global level. Her role combines team management with contributions to global initiatives aligned with the Chief Operating Group (COG) strategy, demonstrating how leadership effectiveness extends beyond traditional supervisory responsibilities.
According to Ethel, her position requires her to help influence and steer decisions while ensuring teams remain aligned with broader organizational objectives. The leadership role demands daily application of communication, resilience, and risk management skills to navigate complex business challenges and deliver measurable outcomes.
Core Responsibilities of Strategic Team Leadership
Ethel’s primary responsibility centers on maintaining alignment with global initiatives while fostering effective collaboration among her teams. She emphasizes that leadership effectiveness requires ensuring teams deliver business outcomes while staying connected to larger strategic goals. This approach reflects the evolving nature of management roles in large financial institutions.
The Associate Director position requires balancing operational oversight with strategic contribution. According to Ethel, this means not only managing day-to-day team activities but also participating in decision-making processes that shape organizational direction across multiple regions.
Essential Skills for Modern Business Leadership
Communication stands as the foremost skill Ethel identifies for her role, enabling her to coordinate across multiple teams and stakeholder groups. Additionally, resilience helps navigate the pressures of managing diverse responsibilities and competing priorities in a fast-paced business environment. Risk management rounds out her core competencies, allowing her to anticipate challenges and implement appropriate safeguards.
These leadership skills prove essential when coordinating three separate business-facing teams simultaneously. The ability to communicate clearly across different groups ensures consistent messaging and alignment with organizational objectives while maintaining team engagement and productivity.
Expanding Influence Through Additional Roles
Beyond her primary position, Ethel extends her leadership effectiveness through several coordination roles within the organization. She participates in the COG Community Crew, which promotes Macquarie’s artificial intelligence tools to employees. According to Ethel, this involvement helps expand her technical knowledge while contributing to digital transformation efforts.
Previously, she led the Manila Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, where she implemented a structured engagement plan. This additional responsibility allowed her to influence organizational culture beyond her immediate team and contribute to broader DEI objectives across the Manila office.
Strengthening Organizational Culture Across Regions
In her role as COG Champion, Ethel helped strengthen culture initiatives throughout Asia. Her efforts contributed to the region maintaining the highest global engagement scores within the organization, demonstrating the tangible impact of dedicated culture leadership. However, specific metrics regarding these engagement scores were not disclosed.
The combination of formal management responsibilities and voluntary coordination roles illustrates a comprehensive approach to leadership development. Meanwhile, her involvement in multiple initiatives provides broader organizational perspective while building cross-functional relationships that support her primary team management duties.
Organizations increasingly recognize that effective leadership requires both managing immediate team responsibilities and contributing to broader strategic initiatives. Ethel’s approach demonstrates how professionals can maximize their organizational impact through multi-faceted engagement while developing diverse skill sets that enhance their primary roles.
The continued evolution of leadership roles suggests that professionals in similar positions will need to balance operational management with strategic contribution and cultural leadership to remain effective in complex organizational environments.
