Do we have enough wine industry leaders?

Emily Hay responds to an article about leadership in the Australian wine industry published in WBM newsletter The Week That Was.

Leadership program stories, you ask.

Well, here’s a story, or is it a confession?

I’m a serial-pest.

I’ve done probably more than my fair share of leadership programs. But, I can’t map my wine career without them (and you saw that’s where I had to begin this story).

More than that, these programs kept me in wine when the grass was looking much greener elsewhere.

Of course, this isn’t to say that there haven’t been may other influences here; the incredible people who have shown support, the other education, self-directed development, reading, researching and more, but this is a story about leadership programs.

So, where to start? Let me map the influence of these programs on my career.

2015
WCA Awards finalist, New Wine Writer Category. No, not technically a leadership program – but a pivotal acknowledgement that, as someone who kind of fell into wine, I had something worth nurturing.

2017
The inaugural WCA Wine Media Cadetship. The real ‘heck yes, let me at it!’ moment. Which led to…

2018
The post-baby return to full-time employment with a regional marketing position.

2019
How the heck does a Visual Arts Degree + years in hospitality and tourism + an inordinate love of storytelling + connecting actually make a career? Enter the WCA Wine Industry Mentor Program and the puzzle pieces come together.

(Side note: For a fun full-circle moment – I accepted the WCA Wine Communicator of the Year award with BGWA this year – just four years after walking in as a newbie finalist, knowing no one, feeling completely awed (overwhelmed!) by the level of talent in that room. Yes, I cried the whole way home with that certificate sitting on the front seat of my car)

2021/22
The stirrings of advocacy – but the desire to do better, be better, dream bigger. Hello Wine Future Leaders.

Here things diverge a little, so let’s head down the advocacy branch for a moment.

2022
The bravery inspired by Future Leaders led to the publication of my thought leadership piece, Are You Safe At Work? (thanks Madge!). Which led to joining the Australian Grape & Wine Diversity, Equality & Inclusion in Wine (DEIW) Committee.

2024
Joined the Gender Scoping Study Advisory Committee.

2024
Appointed as chair, AGW DEIW Committee (and reappointed in 2026). So proud of the work this committee have achieved over the last few years. It’s been a long time coming, but to have industry-specific data and resources like the Gender Equality Toolkit out there now is pretty satisfying.

Back over to the career branch…

2023
Post Future Leaders, gained a National Corporate Leadership Role, learned a tonne, but ultimately led to…

2025
And the redundancy of my position.

Thank goodness for all those ‘resilience isn’t just white-knuckling it’ lessons.

And here come the Future Leaders and community networks…

Which led to a new contract signed on my last day in corporate – with Mastermind Consulting.

And then there’s the other side of participation in these programs: the privilege of acting as a mentor for WCA’s Mentor program and coach for Future Leaders. Four incredible leaders in their own right – Bodhi Edwards, Matilda Innes, Hilary Nobbs and Callie Jemmeson – each drawing their own maps of influence. An influence that undoubtedly includes me, I am sure I learned more from them than they did from me.

So, do I feel really bloody privileged?

Absolutely! I am so grateful for every program, all the people who believed in me, gave me their time, put money behind me.

Through all this reflection I have been struck with many of those deep, tear-inducing swells of gratitude for everyone I’ve met along this pathway.

It would be impossible to capture the list here, but I hope they all know who they are.

Ultimately, it’s all led to opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise had as a young mother, working part-time with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, but no marketing degree to her name.

Selfish? Maybe.

(Heck, is that unconscious societal pressure and female guilt there?) I do hope that the work I have done, and will continue to do, has impact in many small, but meaningful ways. A great financial result for a family business client. A new perspective for a mentee. An action-focused direction for a committee. If nothing else, I know that I have tried, as I said in my Future Leaders application “…to be better. To do better.”

It’s interesting that you pose the question about “having too many leaders” or niggle at the idea that leadership is a qualification like a Bachelor of Oenology.

Tick. Done. Moving right along. I mean, yes, it’s definitely a learned skill. Frankly, the ‘born-leader’ trope is utter rubbish.

But, there is no leadership finishing line.

It’s not a C-Suite or Board Room Table destination. Your question does make me wonder, though, if there is a golden metric of leadership accomplishment that these programs are measured to. Apologies to the programs if I’ve missed that.

If my travels through the world of leadership development have taught me anything, leadership is in the way that we first know ourselves and how we keep seeking improvement.

I found so much relief and freedom in realising leadership isn’t replicating those who have gone before.

Their shoes won’t always fit and sometimes they’re just damn ugly.

Equally importantly, leadership is in how we show up for each other.

We’re all leaders in some ways, whether we recognise it or not.

How do you stand up to disrespect?

How to you bring ideas to the table?

How do you nurture innovation?

How do you listen to those with differing perspectives?

How do you respond under pressure?

How do you seek answers when posed with unfamiliar questions?

How we do (or not do) these things is leadership, is it not?

We’ve all experienced shit leadership at some point or another.