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    • Accelerate women in your organisation
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MENU
  • About
  • The Gravitas Project
    • Accelerate women in your organisation
    • Take your career to the next level
  • Programs
    • The Gravitas Project
    • Short courses and workshops
    • In-house programs
    • Mentoring
    • Keynote speaking
  • Blog
  • Contact

About us

We help CEOs prepare high potential women for successful promotion.

We believe in every person’s ability to develop and lead. Specifically, we want to support women to be able to reach their highest potential and unearth their hidden ability to hold their own in any business situation including the board room and in difficult or unprecedented situations.

Why is it that somebody like Michelle Obama is seen the way she is seen?

How is she able to exude strength, grace and authenticity whether she is sitting on the floor reading to a group of pre-schoolers... or meeting the Queen of England?

We believe it is that secret thing called charisma and that mastering charisma and gravitas is a key success factor in a woman’s career.

You can be a woman of strength, influence and graciousness – to exude that something that people can’t put their finger on, yet it makes them say “I like being with that person and I trust them and I believe they know what they are talking about.”

It is about presence - we can say the days of finishing school are dead but there exists a gap between what is learnt at school and university, and perhaps even at home, as to what’s going to make you the business leader of the future - and that’s the real difference.

People skills are viewed as being very superficial. We believe they are a fundamental building block of confidence and character enabling you to lead, influence, connect and communicate effectively.

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Who is behind The Gravitas Project?

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Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn

Amanda MacLean

Founding partner

Amanda MacLean has spent the last 20 years in executive positions and on advisory boards. From heading up global programs and being the Chief Operating Officer of a $100m private company she knows how women can be heard at a senior level. She has held senior management positions in listed, partnership and not-for-profit entities both in Australia and overseas.

Amanda's time in various senior positions has provided insight as to the complex and opaque structures that limit people in their quest to advance in their careers, and for the past 20 years she has been assisting CEOs to apply these insights to grow their businesses.

During her various corporate positions and boards Amanda has assisted businesses to merge, ensured they have solid governance procedures and been able to expand to meet business growth objectives. It was landing in a smaller Not For Profit where she was able to expand on her desire to work with integrity and care beyond profit. Giving back along the way has underpinned Amanda's work since then.

Amanda believes that women can make a real difference in senior management, the boardroom and beyond. Through support and unlocking potential, women can make significant changes to both the work they do and how they do it which has led Amanda to be an active mentor for women in business.

Frequently as the only female ‘at the table’ Amanda is seen as a role model for how women can lead with impact and confidence in their own way. As the creative force behind The Gravitas Project, helping other women to follow in her footsteps - Amanda looks forward to sitting with them ‘at the table’.

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Rob MacLean

Partner

Rob MacLean had built a successful career working in senior management for major technology Fortune 500 companies, both in Australia and overseas.

Unable to find the right financial service provider to manage his family’s increasingly complex finances, Rob undertook postgraduate studies in financial planning. Having obtained this expertise, he saw the value and opportunity in providing independent, ethical advice to similar high net worth achievers, CEOs and company directors. People who needed bespoke advice to make the most of their work life and earning potential, whilst mitigating the risks.

In 2009, Rob established his own integrated financial advisory practice, Equitas Partners. After the successful sale of the business a decade later, Rob joined The Gravitas Project in 2019.

Drawing on his experience in assisting clients to make smart decisions to grow their career and income and protect their family and reputation, Rob provides high level input to program and content development.

Along the way he has become:

  • a recognised expert in advising senior figures in the public, private and government sectors having worked with senior managers, CEOs and directors of Top 50 ASX listed companies, and
  • a strong advocate for the business benefits of flexible workplace arrangements for families

Rob has shared the same experiences as you and understands what it is like to walk in your shoes.

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Connect with Rob on LinkedIn

Our clients

Amanda has had the pleasure of working with women from the following organisations:

AllianzAustralian Federal PoliceAMGEN
ASICAustralian Institute of Company Directors Australian National University
BT Financial GroupCBMDell
DFATDiabetes AustraliaDXC Technology
GoogleJohnson & Johnson LeepNGO
Liverpool HospitalMedical Technology Association of AustraliaSocial Ventures Australia
StateCover Mutual LimitedSydney Local Health DistrictTransport Women Australia Limited
The Leadership InstituteMeridien LawyersMulti Channel Network
News CorpOfficeMaxWestpac
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Our Core Beliefs

  • We believe that you can master grace and strength while remaining true to yourself - so that people remember you for all the right reasons, they are compelled to say ‘yes’ to you, they remember YOU not what you did (or didn’t do) in a business situation
  • We believe that you can learn to hold yourself with grace and strength in any situation, so you become the obvious choice for the promotion/grant/equity injection/overseas secondment/board appointment
  • We believe that mastery of interpersonal, relationship and social skills will be your ticket to success in business in the next decade
  • We believe that the world, and business in particular, would be a better place if led by those who have mastery in communication, relationship building, influence, charisma and courtesy
  • We believe, in the words of Maya Angelou, that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel
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Want to know more? Request a conversation with us by completing the form below.

  • Hidden
    The newsletter shares the best material from The Gravitas Project, interviews with women in the C-Suite and new original content.

CFO

Invaluable for me. Has helped reset what I need to do and given me the guidance needed.

K.S.

Look at your career through a different prism with other great and interesting women from diverse backgrounds, in a safe, supportive and encouraging environment. It’s a bit like being re-energised with purpose.

A.P.

I enjoyed the program because it was a small group which felt very comfortable. Amanda is very genuine about wanting to help other women succeed, and very open and sharing of her own experiences. 

CFO

I would recommend this program to anyone who is on the director journey but cannot work out how to differentiate themselves from the competition. It has also helped me determine what type of role would suit me.

S.K.

Women don’t do networking well and often feel it is a task that must be endured. This teaches how to make it natural and not pushy. 

S.O.

It actually changes the way you think about your approach. Yes, we’re at a point in our career where experience is a given but how do we apply it to other careers and how do we change the discussion about how it is applied.

A.G.

Opportunity to gain a new perspective, learn new skills, think differently and of course networking in practice. 

L.B.

Learning from an impressive woman … content was highly relevant and delivered in an engaging way.

Anon.

Small group learning … with high credibility.

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We help CEOs prepare women for successful promotion.
Request a conversation
  • Hidden
    The newsletter shares the best material from The Gravitas Project, interviews with women in the C-Suite and new original content.

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