Leading Women: Leading with Integrity

As part of our Leading Women series, we want to highlight the professional challenges and career aspirations of the women we work with here in Asia. In this story, Polly C Heiss, Global Commercial Director - Integrated Logistics at Kerry Logistics talks about the struggles to balance work and her personal life, being successful in a male-dominated industry and some of the best advice she’s received. 

Q: In reaching the level of success you have, if anything – what have you sacrificed along the way? Have you experienced any barriers in the journey to becoming a leader? 

Work life balance doesn’t exist for me. No matter how hard I try, there are times when work consumes my personal and family time. I try to avoid a conflict when setting up a meeting or work trip by scheduling my important family events ahead of time but even then, I have ended up missing many of my children’s development milestones due to work commitments. When Ryan (my eldest son) lost his first tooth, I was in Macau attending a work conference. After I had my second child, Markus I was back at work 10 weeks after his birth. Thankfully, my husband is very supportive of my career, and has my back. 

In the past, I have been on the receiving end of biases against female leadership. Back then, when I graduated from college, logistics was a male-dominated industry. However, the logistics workforce today is supported by many women, including those in senior leadership roles. There is a growing awareness of the importance of gender equality in recent times. Large corporations now see that diverse teams produce better results. While it is progressing, there is still a lot to do to close the gap. 

This is an abridged version of the full interview with Polly C Heiss. For the full version of the interview, click here.