Amy Bach on LinkedIn: I graduated from my MBA this weekend, coinciding with International…
Amy Bach
I graduated from my MBA this weekend, coinciding with International Women&#39;s Day 2021. 

Since I embarked on this goal four years ago, I have given birth to a… | 101 comments on LinkedIn
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💜 International Women's Day 2024 💚 Here’s to all the incredible women in my life, making a difference in their own pocket of the world. My mum, the kindest soul I know, who has dedicated her life to educating young minds, and making sure people know that there is always room for one more. My sister, a brilliant creative with gift and talents that are truly inspiring. My late grandmother, one of the first female journalists at the ABC and a trailblazer for feminism. The amazing women I’ve worked with, studied with, parented with, partied with, been mentored by, and travelled with. And my two daughters - with future women like you, the world looks bright! Let’s celebrate what makes us unique, and what unites us – to make things happen as we each try to have a positive impact in the world. Let’s move beyond just keeping all the plates spinning to feeling empowered to speak our stories, share ideas, and to be brave in our own career and life. To live a meaningful – yet real and imperfect - life at our full potential, whatever that may look like for each one of us. #IWD2024 #inspireinclusion

I attended an Australian Institute of Company Directors breakfast event just now (well, it was 9pm here in the UK...so more like supper!) on AI transformation, with guest Judson Althoff (Microsoft's Chief Commercial Officer). Here are my key takeaways from the event and the Q&A: 🚀 AI capabilities are here to stay - boards and executives must embrace AI and rapidly upskill employees in how to use these tools in safe and effective ways, or risk being left behind by your competitors 🙈 A head-in-the-sand strategy won't work. Many employees in organisations that don't have an enterprise AI tool are using public tools (e.g. Chat GPT) instead to improve their productivity, but these tools are not protected, and risk a data breach. ✉ Board directors should be focusing on making sure there is a whole-of-company strategy for the adoption of AI tools - this isn't just an IT strategy. Data protection and cyber security should be of upmost importance in this next phase of AI adoption. 🔠 There are 4 key areas that AI can transform business: 1. To enrich employee experiences 2. To reinvent customer engagement 3. To reshape business processes (or productivity) 4. To bend the curve on innovation What are your thoughts on where the biggest opportunity lies, as the adoption of AI tools accelerates?

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week in the UK and I was delighted to be invited to run a session on exercise and mood for children at a local primary school in East Sussex. These incredible Year 6 children learnt through experience, as we all acted out the roles of the brain (The Boss), nerves (The Messengers) and the muscles (Movement Makers) during exercise; and felt the immediate calming effect of short bursts of exercise followed by a breathing exercise. They learned about the role of the neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine and endorphins, in boosting our mood and sense of wellbeing, and how we can trigger the release of these ‘happy chemicals’ with exercise and breathing. By slowing down our breathing and adding an extra second to the exhalation, the theory is that the vagus nerve is activated, which plays a key role in switching on the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for ‘rest and digest’ functions) and switching off the sympathetic nervous system (that activates the ‘fight or flight’ response). As a physiotherapist and mum of young kids, it’s really heartening to see an increased focus on educating primary school children about how to stay mentally healthy, arming them with a toolkit of strategies to take into their secondary school years and adulthood. I often observe in my own children the benefit of a dance party or some star jumps in the living room at the end of a busy day! Movement can help to complete the stress response cycle and return our bodies to a state of equilibrium, by burning off cortisol and adrenaline that has built up during the day. The best bit is that all of this is not just for the kids! Star jumps, living room dancing or a few slow relaxed breaths are tools we can use as adults too, and it sets a great example for any little ones in our life on how to stay both physically and mentally healthy. #childrensmentalhealth #exerciseismedicine

Today is my last day living in Melbourne before I embark on an overseas adventure to the UK! 13 years ago, Matt and I came back from a whirlwind few years travelling, living and working abroad and this time we will be making new memories with our two little girls in tow, and reconnecting with old friends in England. Leaving always brings mixed emotions and we will miss our friends, family and work colleagues, but we are looking forward to hearing updates from everyone in 2024, and sharing ours too. (Thankfully, it's a lot simpler to keep in contact these days - in 2010 we had to use expensive pre paid calling cards with a 20-digit number that you scratched off with a coin!) Today is my last official day with Bupa Australia who have been a wonderful employer (credit to Adam Simson and his leadership team who foster a really positive, engaged culture in the CHC/Connected Care team). I've had the privilege of some great experiences before this too, leading healthcare teams and connecting with some healthcare superstars at Remedy Healthcare, Ramsay Health Care, Epworth and others! Thanks to my fellow directors at EACH - I've loved working with you all on the board and it has been an absolute privilege to 'give back' through my role as Non-Executive Director, and support people in our community that need it most. I'm super excited to explore my next career opportunity in a new country, whatever that may look like! I feel so lucky to have worked with some remarkable people in Melbourne where we have together had a positive impact on people's health, and lives. There are too many to mention, but you know who you are! Until next time, Australia. 😎 ✈

It was brilliant to put my physio “hat” back on this week and run the Connected Care physio exercise station at our Customer Experience Expo, “Bupaland”. Thanks to the hundreds of Bupa staff, including members of our Chief Executive Committee, for jumping in to have a go at some exercises that our rehab customers may do as part of a typical rehab program after surgery or injury. (Pictured below is our Group CEO Iñaki Ereño being an absolute sport as I put him through his paces!) This event gave our staff the chance to immerse themselves in experiences from the customer perspective, as we strive to deliver a world-class customer experience for Bupa members.

Thanks to Jannine Fraser and Directioneering, I was lucky enough to be part of today’s Chief Executive Women (CEW) Summit, and be part of the conversation about accelerating the pace towards gender equity by 2033! Currently Australia ranks 4th in the world for education standards for women, but 38th for women’s economic participation. At the current pace, it would take another 50 years to reach gender parity at the executive level. 😱 Today’s summit is certainly a call to action for anyone who has the power to influence change. So what can we do? 1. Consider incentives for diversity - e.g. gender targets for senior management roles 2. Use gender-equal hiring practices to remove subconscious bias wherever possible 3. Reimagine flexibility beyond working from home (and involve women in the design of what this looks like in each workplace) 4. Have senior leaders sponsor mid-career women to help them break through the glass ceiling 5. Set a target for the uptake of company policies that increase women’s work participation, such as parental leave for dads. Make progress towards those goals visible. I’m looking forward to being part of the change that we need to see to shift the dial on gender equity, and continuing the conversation! #agenda2033 #womeninleadership #genderequity