Weekend Oz: "The life of Alan: loved, loathed, late and lost"

[RooFlyer]

A reasonably well balanced article on Alan Joyce in todays Weekend Oz (on line and maybe hardcopy). Takes perspectives of passengers, unions, shareholders and fund managers. It'll be paywalled, but can probably google the headline: The life of Alan: loved, loathed, late and lost

There is one bad customer story that I haven't heard before - about a doctor in flight who had a rough professional and passenger experience mid-air and then subsequently on the ground. But then shareholders are mostly happy and fund managers sympathetic to the situation Joyce has been in.

Lastly, in a wider context:

Qantas Loyalty chief executive Olivia Wirth is seen as one of the two internal front runners to take the reins from Joyce when he departs, with the other being chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson.

Others point to the departure of Jetstar boss Gareth Evans as a blow to succession plans – though most people believe the board wants a woman and Evans may have come to the same conclusion.

The fact only two candidates remain angers one former major shareholder, who declined to be named. They said that neither has experience running an airline.

It’s worth noting that neither did Geoff Dixon, who came from running the commercial side of Qantas, and was highly regarded in the chief executive role.

 

[Ade]

 

[jb747]

I don't know anything about Hudson, but I wouldn't feed Wirth, unless it was to the tigers.

 

[kpc]

View attachment 290118

Can you post a photo of page 8?

 

[Ade]

Can you post a photo of page 8?

Ha ha. I’d love to. But I no longer have the paper with me. I had it in the store, so I snapped the pic.

 

[jb747]

This all reminds me of an RAN Captain that I worked for a couple of times in my career. A navy Capain is the same rank as RAAF Group Captain or army Colonel. The first time I worked for him, he was in charge of a directorate in Canberra, and the second he was CO of one of the DDGs (guided missile destroyer) and simultaneously in charge of the entire group of three such ships. On first meeting, he was quite a terrifying officer. Very direct. Never missed a trick. Did his homework on everything. He gave me a task one day (relating to the way junior sailors were being trained) which required quite a lot of research over a few weeks. I eventually wrote up my report, and my conclusion was about 180º out from what I knew he wanted. And then I waited for the call to his office...which did not take long to turn up. So, he sat me down and asked me to justify my position. He listened to that, then in detail told me where I was wrong, and to go away and do it again. Which I did. And it was with quite some trepidation that I eventually came up with a second report that basically said the same as the first, but with more proofs. This time when I was called back, I wasn't sat down, but was told to explain myself, and my report. He listened. Had a think about it, and then signed it as accepted. Turns out he hated 'yes' men. He wanted people to think for themselves, and where young officers were concerned, they had to learn that sometimes 'sir' could well be wrong, and they should say so.

Why does any story about AJ remind my of this Captain. Simply because they were exact opposites. One surrounded himself with people who would do their homework and were prepared to stand up for their answers. The other gets rid of those who aren't clones.

 

[Franky]

This all reminds me of an RAN Captain that I worked for a couple of times in my career. A navy Capain is the same rank as RAAF Group Captain or army Colonel. The first time I worked for him, he was in charge of a directorate in Canberra, and the second he was CO of one of the DDGs (guided missile destroyer) and simultaneously in charge of the entire group of three such ships. On first meeting, he was quite a terrifying officer. Very direct. Never missed a trick. Did his homework on everything. He gave me a task one day (relating to the way junior sailors were being trained) which required quite a lot of research over a few weeks. I eventually wrote up my report, and my conclusion was about 180º out from what I knew he wanted. And then I waited for the call to his office...which did not take long to turn up. So, he sat me down and asked me to justify my position. He listened to that, then in detail told me where I was wrong, and to go away and do it again. Which I did. And it was with quite some trepidation that I eventually came up with a second report that basically said the same as the first, but with more proofs. This time when I was called back, I wasn't sat down, but was told to explain myself, and my report. He listened. Had a think about it, and then signed it as accepted. Turns out he hated 'yes' men. He wanted people to think for themselves, and where young officers were concerned, they had to learn that sometimes 'sir' could well be wrong, and they should say so.

Why does any story about AJ remind my of this Captain. Simply because they were exact opposites. One surrounded himself with people who would do their homework and were prepared to stand up for their answers. The other gets rid of those who aren't clones.

Let me guess - his initials were ARC?

 

[jb747]

Let me guess - his initials were ARC?

I didn't expect someone would know him here, but yes.

 

[Franky]

I didn't expect someone would know him here, but yes.

I was his CapSec on Swan 73-74. You have described him to a T, particularly doing his homework on everything. He was someone you could not do a snow job on.

 

[Franky]

I didn't expect someone would know him here, but yes.

We had a discussion about him several years ago, and you then sent me a pic of the Swan in full Dress Ship for Admirals Inspection down in JB.

 

[jb747]

Another thing about this RAN officer that CEOs could learn. Loyalty ran in both directions. He may have been a hard task master, but he also looked out for his people.

 

[Franky]

Another thing about this RAN officer that CEOs could learn. Loyalty ran in both directions. He may have been a hard task master, but he also looked out for his people.

Last comment - you mentioned in your initial post that the article he wanted from you was about the training of sailors. When he left the Swan in mid 1974, he was posted to FHQ as Head of the Fleet Training Group.