Aviva's CEO Has No Problem with Criticism...Until It Becomes Sexist

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0:00Criticize me if I'm doing a really bad job. I have no problem with that. But

0:04not for being a woman. I mean, that's just crazy.

0:07The AGM of 2022, investors got up and made a host of sexist comments at the AGM.

0:13So, you walk onto the stage, I deliver my first five minute, you know, this is what we've done.

0:19I'm actually quite proud at that point. We had done a lot of really good stuff.

0:22Yeah. We're two years down the road now from when you joined the company.

0:24We're two years down the road. We'd made a lot of progress. Most of the businesses had been

0:27sold. We'd de-levered. I think we'd literally just announced the share consolidation and the big, big

0:33return of capital. So, I think shareholders should be happy, right? This is good.

0:37And then I sit back on the stage, and the very, very first question was from a shareholder that

0:43basically said, well, it's good to see that there are some women on the board, Mr. Chair,

0:49because you know that we know that they're very good at the administrative tasks.

0:53You get somebody say that I wasn't the right man for the job and about wearing a skirt,

1:00and you sort of think, "Oh, hang on a second, like this is this is

1:05completely wrong." But you're in the middle of the AGM.

1:08But we walked off the stage, and I walk into the room and my whole team are there,

1:13and they just went that is not on. What just happened to you is not on.

1:18Anyway, I was going to Canada that night. So,

1:20I go straight to the airport and as I'm on the plane, I'm thinking, "No, that's not acceptable.

1:26That's actually not acceptable. Maybe other people are experiencing the same thing."

1:30So, I get LinkedIn out and I start to write a LinkedIn article.

1:35And as I landed, I sort of had this moment, should I press

1:38post or not? And I thought, I'm going to press post. So, I did press post.

1:43I mean literally private comments, public comments, men, women, particularly other women who

1:51had actually experienced exactly the same thing in the AGMs, from exactly the same shareholders.

1:56As CEO, you have that responsibility.

1:59You do, because I mean what do you do just say quietly,

2:02oh, you know, let's just forget about that.

2:04By all means, criticize me if I'm doing a really bad job. I have no problem with that. You know,

2:09tell me that you don't agree with something that I've done, a business that I've sold,

2:12a decision that I've taken, but not for being a woman. I mean that's just crazy.