#WomensMonth: 'Great leadership is conscious leadership', says Danone SA's legal head, Ardilah Mohamed-Mushabe

Ardilah Mohamed, head of legal and compliance at Danone Southern Africa. Image supplied

Ardilah Mohamed-Mushabe is a dynamic legal counsel and the head of legal compliance at Danone Southern Africa, with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, commercial, transactions, compliance and risk management, legal advisory, privacy, contract management, corporate governance and negotiation.

Mohamed-Mushabe holds a Master’s degree in Commercial Extractive Industry Law from the University of Pretoria, a Master's in Commercial Law from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Her legal intelligence is complemented by her commitment to community involvement, including her work with the Yakha Isizwe Business Law Clinic in alliance with UJ, she was actively involved in assisting entrepreneurs with drafting, reviewing and negotiating corporate documents such as their shareholders agreements, memorandum of incorporations, confidentiality agreements and service level agreements.

This Women's Month, we find out more from the skilled negotiator with proven ability to advise on a broad spectrum of commercial agreements and documents.

What inspired you to pursue a career in your field?

I spent the bulk of my childhood at my mom’s shop, located in a little town called Kliptown (in Johannesburg) - a traditionally underrepresented and under-resourced community where access to legal resources remained far-fetched and, by implication, largely disregarded.

During this time it became abundantly clear that there was a significant correlation between poverty, access to justice and economic participation. It was at this stage that I realised that the rule of law and rights to access formed the bedrock of just economic and social standing.

The concept of law was no longer just an abstract, ethereal thing — I learnt that it touches real lives by working in tangible – and sometimes flawed – ways.

A legal framework in any context repudiates forms of oppression, hardship, division and discrimination that have been known to hold back many people in communities similar to Kliptown and its inhabitants and which, as a direct consequence, hinders the development of societies.

The front-row seat to this grave disproportionality engrained in me the belief that the lifeblood of proportional law comes not from logic but from experience and that its overall coherence and sustainability come from the manner in which logic and experience are fused, which is the essence of legal interpretation and with that, law and I found each other, and I never looked back.

As a woman, what are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?

The first challenge has been the double standards. The market perpetuates stereotypical images of how leaders should look and sound.

Few women are depicted at the helm of a ship or state, commanding presence, which in my experience has lent itself to the idea that men are believed to have more credibility to start with but women have to earn it.

I have found that building credibility requires women to flaunt their expertise, which for me, having been raised on a modesty ethos, I have traditionally avoided raising achievements in a way that might come across as self-congratulating.

It was much later that I learned that in today’s competitive world, it is better to think of this bragging as branding, and I have learnt to leave the meeting making it clear why I am at the meeting, speaking on a particular topic.

The second challenge that I have encountered remains the relentless pushback that naturally comes with leaders who have strong opinions. I have come to know that women leaders who have strong opinions must prepare for pushback and in these circumstances, my guiding mantra has been “say what you mean and mean what you say for one thing is guaranteed, there is no taking it back”.

As a woman, how do you approach leadership? What do you believe are the key qualities of an effective leader and how is being a woman an advantage and a disadvantage?

Great leadership is conscious leadership - the ability to listen is as important as the ability to speak, leadership premised on the tenet of prioritising people and leadership centred on foundational values.

In my view we have already moved beyond the phase where empowering women can even be suggested to be a disadvantage - the data speaks for itself where almost 70% of university graduates are women with those entering professions like law and medicine demonstrating equal numbers to men.

The strongest contribution that women make is their leadership in constantly seeking excellence and progress, armed with strong will and determination.

What advice would you give to other women?

For the first time in history, girls are being raised to believe they can and that they should and it is therefore the role of relatively prosperous women to empower other women.

It is incumbent upon women that as they rise with greater access to avenues of power, they remain mindful that the gaps in equity persist. In response in the words of Nancy o ‘Reilly “we reach down, reach out, and embrace other women, pull them in and give them a hand up.”