Leadership without the title — until the title found her
From washing cars in Sydney to managing virtually every aspect of Barclays Marine Tackle World, Mary New’s career was never mapped out in advance. It grew through experience, trust, hard work and a willingness to learn — one role at a time.
Ask Mary New of Barclays Marine Tackle World whether she considers herself a leader and you get an interesting answer.
Not really.
At least, that's not how Mary sees herself.
Despite managing staffing, resourcing and much of the day-to-day operation of the business, Mary doesn't describe leadership in terms of hierarchy or authority.
“I don’t feel like I’m being a leader. I feel like I’m working with the guys.”
Perhaps that tells you more about Mary's leadership style than any formal definition could.
Her story isn't one of setting out to become a manager.
It is a story of learning the business from the inside, working across almost every department, accepting greater responsibility when it came her way and eventually discovering that leadership doesn't always announce itself.
Sometimes you simply grow into it.
Starting out in Sydney
Mary was born and raised in Sydney.
Her first working experience came in an unlikely place — the motor industry.
She started at Jack Brabham Ford washing cars before an opportunity emerged to move into office work.
Mary went to TAFE, developed her office skills and moved into accounts.
It would prove valuable experience.
Those accounting foundations eventually followed her into the marine industry and became one of the building blocks of a career that would expand far beyond finance.
One role simply led to another
When Mary joined what would become her long-term working home, her responsibilities initially included water skis.
As the business expanded its chandlery offering, so did Mary's role.
She took responsibility for chandlery while also drawing on her accounts background.
Before long, accounts became a major part of her work.
Then came other departments.
And other responsibilities.
“From that point on, I’ve just pretty much worked in most of the departments within the business. If I didn’t set up the role, I managed it.”
There was no carefully constructed career plan.
Mary simply kept learning the business.
That breadth of experience would eventually become one of her greatest assets.
Today, she has responsibility for much of the operation of Barclays Marine, supported by owner Graham Barclay and other senior people within the wider business.
Mary still runs major decisions past Graham — something she sees not as diminishing her authority, but as part of working collaboratively within the business.
The manager who doesn't think like a manager
Mary has spent most of her working life in male-dominated environments.
From cars to marine and fishing, working alongside men has simply been normal.
That perhaps explains why she doesn't see herself standing apart from her team.
“I am leading, but I don’t feel that I am. I feel that I’m working with the other staff.”
It is leadership from within the team rather than above it.
But ask whether she needs to inspire and motivate people and the answer changes immediately.
All the time.
When somebody isn't themselves or their performance drops, Mary's first instinct isn't disciplinary.
It is conversational.
She asks what is happening.
Is everything okay?
How are they feeling about their job?
Is there something the business can do?
“Not everyone has great days… I like to talk it through and see what’s going on.”
It is a practical, instinctive form of people leadership built less from textbooks and more from years of working alongside people.
Honesty above everything
Ask Mary which value matters most in her team and there is no hesitation.
Honesty.
Ask again and you receive the same answer.
Honesty.
For Mary, mistakes and problems can usually be dealt with.
Dishonesty is much harder.
Her message to employees from day one is straightforward: tell her what actually happened and she can help.
“Always give me honesty, so at least I can support you honestly.”
Mary can rebuild trust when somebody hasn't been truthful, but admits she becomes considerably more cautious.
She would much rather confront an uncomfortable truth immediately than discover later that she has been given only part of the story.
It feeds directly into what Mary believes makes a good leader:
Honesty. Integrity. Consistency. Fairness.
Consistency, particularly, matters.
People should know what they can expect from their leader. Standards shouldn't change depending upon the person or the day, and favouritism has no place in the workplace.
When leadership arrived unexpectedly
Mary's biggest professional turning point came when she was asked to become the manager.
She hadn't been working towards the title.
She hadn't completed management courses.
And she certainly hadn't expected it.
“I didn’t know whether to run or what to do.”
Instead, she accepted the challenge.
And then she did something that characterises much of Mary's career.
She worked it out.
One day at a time.
Years later, she is still doing it — and still learning.
Learning leadership through experience
Mary readily acknowledges that she wasn't formally trained to manage people.
Her education in leadership came from experience and instinct.
“It’s just self-learned and a gut instinct.”
That doesn't mean every instinct was right.
Mary describes herself as naturally reactive.
One of her biggest leadership lessons has therefore been learning not to respond immediately.
Pause.
Understand the circumstances.
Look at what actually happened.
Then respond.
“I’m learning now — because I still think it’s a process to keep learning — not to be so reactive, to try and be calmer, and to try and see everything for as it is before I actually react.”
That acknowledgement is significant.
Experience hasn't convinced Mary that she has mastered leadership.
It has convinced her that leadership is something she is still learning.
Strength when people are looking to you
Mary is also candid about difficult moments.
When something goes badly, her initial reaction isn't always calm and calculated.
Sometimes, as she puts it:
“I fall to pieces.”
Then comes the reset.
She starts looking at the problem rationally, considers it from different perspectives and determines what needs to happen next.
Sometimes that means stepping up.
Sometimes it means stepping away.
But management adds another dimension.
There are days when a leader might be dealing with significant challenges personally but still has a team relying on them professionally.
Mary believes that sometimes you simply have to put the manager's face on.
“You can’t let your team down… You’ve got to keep going forward.”
A woman in a male-dominated industry
Mary makes no attempt to pretend her introduction to the fishing side of the industry was comfortable.
It wasn't.
“I felt like a fish out of water.”
She understood marine.
Motors and engines were familiar territory.
Fishing tackle wasn't.
Attending industry events surrounded largely by men while not having deep technical fishing knowledge was daunting.
But Mary has seen that environment change.
She believes women are considerably more accepted within fishing today and has been pleasantly surprised by the willingness of men within the industry to teach and support women wanting to learn.
She also sees considerably more women participating.
There are more female anglers.
More women involved in fishing-related projects.
And more women walking into the store.
For Mary, that increasing visibility is creating further opportunities for women throughout the industry.
Seeing things from another perspective
What do women bring to the industry?
Mary believes one contribution is understanding.
Her view is that women can sometimes bring another perspective to a situation rather than approaching it through a single lens.
She connects some of that ability to motherhood and the experience of constantly trying to understand situations from the perspective of children and other family members.
Mary is careful not to suggest this is exclusively a female quality.
But in her own experience, she believes that different perspectives around a table make businesses stronger.
Technology: opportunity and risk
Mary sees technology creating enormous opportunities for fishing.
Anglers can now see destinations and fishing experiences that previous generations could only read about.
Phones, social media, drones and other technologies can transport someone virtually to extraordinary fishing locations and inspire them to experience those places themselves.
“You’re actually seeing someone there, and you’re wanting to do it.”
But interestingly, what excites Mary about fishing's future also concerns her.
Technology can enhance fishing.
But can it go too far?
Mary wonders whether the continual march towards digital experiences could eventually detract from something fundamentally simple about fishing:
being outside, on the water, having a fish.
Her question for the industry is therefore an important one.
How do we embrace technology without allowing technology to replace the experience itself?
Why independents matter
Mary is equally clear about the importance of independent fishing retailers.
Their strength, paradoxically, comes from being both independent and connected.
Individual businesses can retain their identity and make decisions suited to their own customers and communities.
But when independents work together, they can share ideas and experience while creating collective strength.
“Whilst they’re independent, they can work as a team. They can still do their own thing.”
That combination — local autonomy and collective knowledge — is something Mary believes has real value.
The importance of community
Mary also believes independent retailers need to remain closely connected to their communities.
And she is candid enough to acknowledge that this is an area where her own business can do more.
Community engagement shouldn't be something retailers simply talk about.
Businesses need to participate.
They need to understand what is happening around them.
Because regardless of whether you operate a marine business, fishing store or café, Mary believes local relevance begins with actually being part of the local community.
The woman who inspires Mary
Ask Mary who inspires her and the answer isn't a famous business leader.
It's her daughter.
Mary describes her as independent, hardworking, confident and a wonderful mother.
And there is something particularly touching about the direction of that inspiration.
Parents naturally hope to inspire their children.
In Mary's case, she finds herself looking at what her daughter is doing and thinking about what she might have done differently at the same age.
“I wish I did half the things that she’s doing at her age when I was her age.”
Her daughter inspires Mary to keep going.
And Mary's hope now is that those same qualities of confidence and independence will be passed to another generation through her grandchildren.
Finding her place in Tackle World
Barclays joined Tackle World around 15 years ago.
Mary recalls the decision as a natural one.
The group was growing, the opportunity was evident and joining simply made business sense.
The relationship evolved over subsequent years as people and responsibilities changed within Barclays, and Mary readily acknowledges there were periods where the business could have made more of its Tackle World involvement.
More recently, the focus has been on rebuilding that connection.
Today, Mary sees Tackle World as highly complementary to the broader Barclays Marine business.
Marine retail inevitably experiences peaks and troughs.
Fishing provides another dimension.
“I don’t think our business would be the same without it.”
For Mary, that is part of the value of belonging to the Tackle World family.
Living the Tackle World life
Mary's interpretation of “Live the Tackle World Life” might be the simplest of all.
Get out there and do it.
Don't just talk about fishing.
Don't simply promote the lifestyle.
Participate in it.
“Live it. Live it. Get out there and live it… Don’t just sit there and talk about it. Actually get out there and do it.”
It is also a fitting description of Mary's own career.
She didn't study leadership from the sidelines.
She stepped into it.
She didn't know everything about fishing before becoming part of the industry.
She was willing to learn.
She didn't expect to become the manager.
When the opportunity came, she accepted the challenge.
And she kept going.
Mary’s Quick Five
Boat or shore? Boat.
Freshwater or saltwater? Saltwater.
Favourite fish to eat? Trag.
Favourite place to fish? Wallis Lake.
Early mornings or late afternoons? Early mornings.
And a few extras…
Coffee order? Half-strength skinny latte, extra hot.
Never leave home without? Her phone.
Biggest fish? A flathead.
Favourite fishing gear? She doesn't have one.
Bucket-list destination? Somewhere within Australia — Mary has plenty of Australia still to explore and no great desire to head overseas.
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Women Who Lead
Women Who Lead celebrates the women helping shape Tackle World and Australia's recreational fishing industry.
From store owners and managers to directors and industry leaders, the series explores the experiences, lessons and different leadership styles of the women contributing to the future of independent fishing retail.
Mary New's story shows that leadership doesn't always begin with ambition for a title. Sometimes it is built quietly over decades — by learning every part of a business, earning people's trust, being honest when things go wrong, stepping up when you're needed and never assuming you've finished learning.
