With a record number of women elected to the US Congress and glass ceilings shattering all over the corporate world it would be reasonable to think that women are now out and proud about their ambition. But a surprising new study has found that both sexes still have some way to go in both following and owning their aspirations.

The CGU Ambition Index found that 68 per cent of respondents believe Australians have a culture of negativity around ambition and 44 per cent worry too much about failure to act on their ambition. A startling seven in ten won’t even talk about their success for fear of being labelled a “bragger”. It seems the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well.