A tech leader and DEI advocate, Melanie Silva drives growth and transformation at Google Australia and New Zealand. As Managing Director and Vice President, she leads Google’s operations in the region, with a focus on helping businesses navigate and thrive in the technical world. With over 11 years at Google, Melanie has held senior roles across the Asia-Pacific region, including overseeing Go-to-Market Strategy and Operations. Prior to Google, she worked at Fairfax Digital, Citibank, AMP, and ING Direct. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Melanie chairs Google’s Diversity Council for Australia and New Zealand, helping to foster a more inclusive tech industry.

During this episode of "Experts Unleashed," Atlassian's Dom Price chats with Mel about how to not confuse your inner critic for your instincts, the impact of taking back your calendar, and why being busy isn’t the same as being productive. Mel shares her hack of introducing a “Thinking Day” every six weeks to help her tackle important issues and “reclaim the membrane” as she puts it, as well as introduces Dom to how she likes to network with her Aussie Legends Curiosity Tour. Mel’s practical tips will leave you Googling for more!

They also discuss the "My User Manual" Play from Atlassian's Team Playbook. It's an exercise designed to help leaders share with their teams and teammates HOW they work. Think of it like this: when you buy a TV, it comes with a User Manual. But when you hire a human, there's no such helpful guidance. Mel takes us through her User Manual and shares her big unfiltered truth…you don’t die wondering with Mel!

More about Experts Unleashed:
The world feels full of thought leadership and frameworks, when we’re actually hungry for lived experience, science, and pragmatic insights. Experts Unleashed seeks out amazing minds from their specialty fields and brings them to you, to unleash their wisdom in a way that will help you put it in action. Each episode aims to educate, provoke, inspire, and then activate… to give you the confidence to try someone new.

In this episode:
My User Manual Play: https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/my-user-manual
More about Melanie Silva: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melspiteri/
Support Act: https://supportact.org.au/

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction

01:37 – Welcome the incredible Melanie Silva from Google

02:58 – Mel’s unfiltered truth in her user manual

08:23 – Instinct over inner critic

11:01 – Acknowledge the inner critic and harness it

17:50 – Taking the not-so-obvious path and landing at Google

21:00 – Understanding your contribution

23:12 – Instinct vs inner critic outside of work

28:06 – Reclaim the membrane

30:34 – Take back your calendar with a Thinking Day

35:31 – Why are people so busy?

39:03 – Measuring your impact

45:27 – Mel’s Aussie Legends Curiosity Tour

54:24 – Giving back to the music community with Support Act

55:15 – Mel’s go-to karaoke song