Kirsti Grant’s Post

Have you heard of the ‘John Problem’? Coined in 2015, it spotlighted gender inequality in top corporate roles, where more men named John led major companies than women. While minor progress has been made – women CEOs now outnumber Johns – the playing field remains uneven. Startups have the chance to change this. In fact, many have a head start when it comes to creating more diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces. But why should they do it? Find out in Caitlin Sykes’ latest piece, featuring Auror’s Phil Thomson and BeHeard’s Siân Govind. https://lnkd.in/gb2d_6pt

Just three years ago on December 1, 2020 Aprill, Jodie and I launched Tractor Ventures but did you know … There were 3 other people with us on that day? 👇🏻 The co-founders get all the glory, but today I want to shout out to the other OG team members of TV. Darcy Naunton was my original muse. After we exited HSI Donesafe (he was our only VC investor) I had been pondering what was next. Darcy was driving his trusty Land Rover around South America but was always on hand to talk to about the thoughts I was having around different funding models. Suffice to say in the year leading up to actually going live with Tractor, he and I had spent probably a hundred hours on spreadsheets thinking this thing through. He’s our chairman, sits on our investment committee and we speak at least 3 times a week. Thank you, mate. I appreciate you! I had pitched Kirsti Grant to be one of early investors. We had hung out a few times over the years and always nerded out about the intersection of tech and people. Both having been in the recruiting game. She ended up reverse pitching me “how about, instead of investing I join Tractor and I reckon you should meet my partner, Lance” turns out, that was an extremely well played judo move! Kirst, you bring a level of people expertise to tractor that would could never have dreamed of. Thanks for holding the bar so high! That Lance Hodges? He joined too. The mysterious dude who was head of product at Vend has become one of my closest people at work. Although he technically reports to me, it’s the other way around. I bring dumbass product ideas to the room and he wheels out his consistent line “Matta, we can do anything but not everything.” Thank you for learning more about how lending works than anyone else I know. Thank you for saying no and thank you for teaching the team how to think like product people. So, 3 years in. 200+ loans, $60M out the door and a hell of a lot of fun has gone by. My OG team are my rock, thanks to you all!

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending time in Denver with the team. For me, this trip was all about connection, alignment, and learning. It was fantastic to spend some time with our North American the team in person, be a part of Auror's version of Thanksgiving, attend the 15Five thrive conference, hear from the epic Kirsti Grant as a panel speaker, celebrate my two years at Auror (time flies!), and dedicate two days to our PX team strategy session. There are many things that I took away from this, some of the main things were: 1. There is so much power in strategising as a team and doing those big pieces of work in person. 2. 98% of HR leaders feel burnt out - this was a stat from the conference and whilst this comes as a no surprise, it's still jarring. We do the work we do because we care so deeply about others, and at times this leaves us with very little in the tank. Acknowledging this gives me the awareness on how and where I use my energy, but it also serves as a reminder that if I don't have enough in my tank, people around me simply won't be getting the best version of me. 3. Kirsti Grant took us through an exercise that was centered around our relationship with time. "Time is a currency we all invest in everyday. I own this and only I can change my relationship with time". The question is, what changes do I need to make to maximize the value I bring to my work and priorities? 4. I'm so grateful for Katrina Hau, Kirsti Grant, Lauren Spagnuolo, SHRM-CP, Ash Jayasekara and Lucy Spiller! You all keep me grounded and the care for people and for high performance blows my mind every single day. #teamwork #teambuilding #conference #careerdevelopment #reflections

Calling all Cantabrians! After a couple of cancellations, we still have 2 spots left in our final Powrsession for 2023 - kicking off on 30 November. Past participants have called their cohorts "utterly transformative", and we even have a template to help securing professional development budget. Details below, and DM me if you have any questions: ✔️ 6-hour in-person kickoff workshop ✔️ 45 min one-on-one coaching session ✔️ 3 structured peer-group catchups ✔️ 1-hour graduation call ✔️ Weekly actions and reflections https://lnkd.in/gfR9aygP #training #traininganddevelopment #christchurch #christchurchnz #womenempowerment #leadershipdevelopment

Auror often comes up in conversation as an employer whose people practices are admired, so I was excited to start the week by discovering the magic with Auror's CPO Kirsti Grant at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Women in Export with Lisarna Wynyard and Arielle Hiscox. Here's what I learned: - Prospective employees view parental leave benefits as a bellwether for how family-friendly the workplace is (even if they don't plan to use it). Parental leave has been part of Auror's broader push to improve diversity, and today the team is 54% women and 2% gender-diverse, including 11 women who joined Auror instead of returning to their prior workplace after parental leave. - Align to your values. At Auror, there’s a guiding principle of “Magic Moments Matter”. Kirsti emphasized the importance of thoughtful benefits - beyond paid leave - to create a supportive environment. Auror's magic touch? 8 weeks of meal kits and 3 paid expert sessions for new parents. - Auror's approach to making parental leave benefits available from day one, without bonding or clawback, speaks volumes about trust and inclusivity. And guess what? They've welcomed three senior hires in difficult-to-fill roles in part because these new team members had babies on the way and were able to access paid partner leave from the start. - Expect a baby boom with a new policy rollout—Auror has seen more than 20 new additions to the family! Be conservative in your budgeting by assuming more people will utilise the benefits than you think. - Parental leave is a journey, and expect your policy to continue to evolve. Auror has refreshed its policy twice since 2016, and even during our conversation, Kirsti identified areas she'd like to improve in the future.