The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Communication isn’t anything, it is everything’ says Leora Givoni, a Melbourne based marketing, strategy and communications expert with over 25 years in the business. ‘The quality of your life is based on how you communicate,’ she continues. ‘Everything for me comes back to words.’

Leora was encouraged by her parents from a very early age to use her words and share her voice:

I had this beautiful head start of hard working parents who brought all walks of life into our house for dinner. There were always open, exciting, and nourishing conversations that happened around the table. It was a safe space…diversity of thought was encouraged inside our home. Nothing was off the agenda, but we had to know our facts. We were encouraged to stand for something.

Professionally, Leora runs her own marketing, coaching and communication business, working with people and organisations to help them solidify their brand so they creatively pop in front of their desired audiences. In so doing, she has learned a lot about the key qualities of good leaders. ‘Authenticity and a real commitment to a values system is vital, it’s one of the most important things you can carry through your everyday life’ she says. ‘You cannot manufacture it. Leaders who survive honour their values. When women seek leadership positions and growth they need to remain true to themselves and understand their own values.’

Leora’s favourite quote to illustrate this point comes from one of the greatest Jewish women leaders of the twentieth century, essentially advising women to just be themselves. ‘Trust yourself’, said Golda Meir. ‘Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.’

Leora brings the skills and insights she has developed in the business world to a variety of philanthropic and community organisations, and is convinced that the skills transfer is a two way street. As well as being a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, she is on the boards of a select number of arts and community health foundations, including the 16th Street Foundation and The Centre for Community Child Health. ‘Mixing your world up with both professional and voluntary commitments is something I recommend to anyone wanting to expand their thinking,’ she says.

Mingling with people outside of your world is what brings fresh thoughts and curiosity to your world. It helps unleash the many unconscious and conscious biases we all carry. I truly believe that the more people involve themselves in diverse causes, the more their world opens up.