ARTICLE

"LEARNING FROM ROLE MODELS"
By Sue Hoban
Manly Daily 1 June 2004

Carmel Teusner has always been interested in what makes people successful.

Through a career specialising in organisational behaviour and most recently as head of learning and organisation development for British Sky Broadcasting she has helped groom people for success.

But now she is stepping back from the corporate front line to study another group of successful people - female entrepreneurs and the experiences that influenced their career choices.

“The idea of this sort of research is that if you can find out the sort of experiences that have benefited people, the role models they have used and what they have learned from them, it might help to develop support mechanisms for other women going into business,” she said.

Teusner, from Bilgola, is conducting the research as the final stage of a master’s degree in organisation behaviour she began at the University of London before she returned to Australia.

She said she was particularly interested in studying the influence of role models and how much they might bolster women’s self-belief and confidence to take on the challenges of starting up their own businesses.

Manly business owner Karina Samperi, who is taking part in the study, had some good role models before she set up her Samperi Consulting Group six years ago, but clearly the most influential factor in her case was not other people’s success - it was her own determination to overcome adversity.

She said she was driven to success by a tough early life. “When you have to make your own way in life from a young age you learn from the school of hard knocks and you learn what it takes to succeed because you are driven to succeed,” she said.

Samperi, whose company provides business efficiency and business mentoring services, acknowledged not everyone could overcome similar disadvantages, but believed the difference lay in the strength of personality.

“People like myself see different choices in life and definitely have a belief in ourselves that you can succeed regardless,” she said. “In my business now I work with men and women to help them regain that belief in themselves that they had when they start out.”

Carmel Teusner same some of the research into entrepreneurship suggested entrepreneurial individuals were born not made, but an opposing school of thought was that the necessary attributes could be learned and developed.

“The reason I’m doing this study is that I believe that it’s much more than your make-up,” she said. “If you subscribe to the traits theory then it’s like you’ll never be Richard Branson if you never had those traits in the first place.

Carmel Teusner is keen to hear from women who have started their own businesses and would be prepared to take part in her study. It would involve a questionnaire and one-hour interview. Call her on 9973 3077.

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