The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
00:00:00 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[00:00:00] S0: Hi, I'm Vidit, the founder and answer this podcast, The High Flyers. [00:00:03] S1: Hey, Vidit. This is Alan Joyce. I'm the former CEO of Qantas. I'm currently an author and a speaker and in the process of setting up my own little business. [00:00:14] S0: Alan, I reached out to a lot of people for research on this and spoke to a lot of people. I got two opinions. One, people said Alan has been very unfairly treated. The other were like, people were like, you better ask him the hard questions. So I'm coming into this just with curiosity. I'm just curious about you because there's so many opinions that people seem to have about you. [00:00:33] S1: Yeah, I think because I've done, I've been in public life, I ran Qantas, probably the airline people have more opinions on. I ran Jetstar for a while. I think I've definitely been a polarizing figure. There are people that are big supporters. There are people that have the opposite opinion on it. It's just something that I've seemed to have generated in my career. What's the great Oscar Wilde quote? The only thing being worse is being talked about is not talked about. So I certainly don't have that problem.
00:00:33 · Alan Joyce, Vidit Agarwal, Vidit Agarwal
[00:00:33] S1: Yeah, I think because I've done, I've been in public life, I ran Qantas, probably the airline people have more opinions on. I ran Jetstar for a while. I think I've definitely been a polarizing figure. There are people that are big supporters. There are people that have the opposite opinion on it. It's just something that I've seemed to have generated in my career. What's the great Oscar Wilde quote? The only thing being worse is being talked about is not talked about. So I certainly don't have that problem. [00:01:03] S0: That's good. That's good. I like I like the optimistic view on that. What if we could reimagine the traditional notion of a High flyer. Hey, friends. Welcome back or welcome to The High Flyers Podcast where we do reimagine a high flyer, showcase the brightest and most relatable role models and companies and their journey from sun rise to today. As one of the premier products in our Curiosity Centre lineup providing on demand intelligence to help you be 1% better every single day. I'm your host, Vidit Agarwal, and let's have some fun. [00:01:44] S2: Our listeners have called this podcast the meticulously researched biography unveiling the extraordinary lives and decisions of the most remarkable individuals and companies from around the world. We hope you're enjoying our catalog of 200 plus episodes since we launched in 2020 with many of our guests appearing in rare public interviews. It's now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.
00:01:44 · Vidit Agarwal, Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[00:01:44] S2: Our listeners have called this podcast the meticulously researched biography unveiling the extraordinary lives and decisions of the most remarkable individuals and companies from around the world. We hope you're enjoying our catalog of 200 plus episodes since we launched in 2020 with many of our guests appearing in rare public interviews. It's now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy. [00:02:07] S0: Let's set the scene with some fun facts to get us going. Where were you born and where do you live now? [00:02:13] S1: I was born in Dublin in Ireland, grew up in a place called Tallaght, working class suburb. I live now in Sydney, in the rocks in Sydney. So I've gone up, I'm up at a high rise apartment. So my mother would say I've gone up in the world, maybe still can't make a good cup of tea as far as she's concerned. [00:02:31] S0: We will unpack that life journey in a second. And work, what was your first job and what do you do now? [00:02:38] S1: I was, first job was an operations research analyst, which is using mathematical models, a branch of mathematics, to solve business problems. And then I'm currently an author, speaker, and retired businessman, but hopefully getting back in to our own little business. [00:02:57] S0: And Alan, as you know, the purpose of this show is to reimagine the concept of a high flyer, to go beyond their job title and celebrate their human identity. Is there a high flyer who you feel hasn't got the recognition they deserve?
00:02:57 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[00:02:57] S0: And Alan, as you know, the purpose of this show is to reimagine the concept of a high flyer, to go beyond their job title and celebrate their human identity. Is there a high flyer who you feel hasn't got the recognition they deserve? [00:03:09] S1: I think for a lot of people that have done jobs like mine, it's your parents and your partner. So I think my High Flyers, my inspiration, and I mentioned it in my book, are my two parents. My mother is not well at the moment back in hospital. She's always been my inspiration. Then my husband, Shane, he's always been my foundation. So I think they're the people that usually get no credit or are a big part of any business leader's success.
00:03:09 · Alan Joyce, Vidit Agarwal
[00:03:09] S1: I think for a lot of people that have done jobs like mine, it's your parents and your partner. So I think my High Flyers, my inspiration, and I mentioned it in my book, are my two parents. My mother is not well at the moment back in hospital. She's always been my inspiration. Then my husband, Shane, he's always been my foundation. So I think they're the people that usually get no credit or are a big part of any business leader's success. [00:03:37] S0: Back to the episode in a moment. Something I ve heard a lot from business owners and leaders is that speed only matters if you still feel confident in the output. And it s particularly an important point in this world of AI. Xero answer to that is Accountable Intelligence. AI that shows you what it's doing and works from your own real data and is designed to keep you in control before anything happens. As Xero puts it, most AI asks you to trust it. Accountable intelligence shows you why you can. And that's how it works with JAX, Xero's in platform AI finance partner. So whether you're running the business, advising the client, or working with your board, JAX ensures that you get the upside of automation without giving up any of the control. If you want to see this practice, head over to xero.comhighflyers for 90% off your plan for the first six months. Terms apply and go to the website. That's xeroxero.com/highflyers. Now back to the episode. Yeah, I think you start the book with your parents, Colette and Maurice?
00:04:51 · Alan Joyce, Vidit Agarwal
[00:04:51] S1: And Maurice, that's Maurice. Yeah, they were being unbelievable because, you know, their background, they came from extremely poor backgrounds. Both of them lived in tenement housing, which is housing that were slums in Dublin, the worst slums in Europe, both grew up in that level of poverty, both really worked multiple jobs. My dad had three jobs. My mother worked as a cleaner to get her kids through university. A lot of people say that they're the first to get to university. I was the first in my family to finish secondary education, then the first to get university education, the first to get a master's degree, and then my brothers who were younger all followed. [00:05:32] S0: Yeah, I actually heard a story in my research that apparently, is it true that your, one of your high school teachers thought you were behind in your studies, but you were actually just bored, and when they did some tests on you, you were actually ahead of where you were meant to be? [00:05:48] S1: Yeah, it was interesting, because they were talking about putting us into remedial class in high school, and then the teachers did a few tests, and then I found out that I was just switching off in class because I was digesting it so fast. Was I lucky that was caught at an early stage before it became a problem. But you know, that can happen to kids, when you have big class sizes, which we did at the time.