The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
01:16:55 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:16:55] S0: And what about the board? If someone comes to you as chair of the board, would you take that? [01:17:00] S1: Same thing again. I've had people approach me on that. Again, airlines around the globe. What I'm keen on is this new business. That's what we're focus is. I'm also doing a bit of speaking engagements. I'm doing a lot of travel from a personal point of view, which I like doing, and anything that get gets impacted on that, is not something I I want to do. And I think you you... It was an interesting perspective having left. I think I got to focus on what I think are my good priorities now and understanding what drives me. And I know people like going from CEO to CEO, and some people are driven by that. But when you've done it, I think the average, we talked about the average life of the CEO is five years. I've done it for twenty years, so that's equivalent to having done it four times in the country. Do I need to do it again? No, I don't feel that's something that interests me or drives me. That's not something that I'm keen on.
01:18:00 · Vidit Agarwal
[01:18:00] S0: Doctor I'm curious about identity. So I've been running my own business now for seven years, and I met my wife just as I was starting my business. And one of the things she always says to me, when I met her I always said to her that work is not my life, work is one of the things I do. Now she says, she's like work is your life, like the business is you and you are the business. And it is very much candidly a part of my identity. When I meet someone I want them to approve me. Absolutely, I have that desire. How does it feel for you? Because previously you were quanta CEO, you'd go to a party or you'd speak to someone and they'd go, here's Alan, quanta CEO. Now you don't have that title, which is we've talked about for the reasons why, but how does that change your own identity? Do you walk around now going, you kind of miss a piece of yourself?
01:18:48 · Alan Joyce
[01:18:48] S1: I think it... I would say to you that's not healthy if that's how you define yourself, because I think of myself as as broader than that, and I always have. I'm a husband, I'm a brother, I'm a friend. I'm somebody that likes those personal connections. I'm somebody that has other interests outside of the of work. You know, Rod Eddington, who was the CEO of Ansett, had a great expression. We work to live. We don't live for work. And I've always thought that was the right balance, and work at times can become all encompassing. And absolutely no doubt, when I was setting up Jetstar, when I was running Qantas, at times it became all encompassing, and it became you it became you because you had to focus in on it. But I'm not sure that's healthy. I don't think that's the way you should view your life. I think hopefully everybody's broader than that and bigger than that, and I certainly think that's the case. And it's freed me up, you know. It's like having a big, huge planet in your solar system, which was your job as CEO, and that's moved out. And then it's got the solar system of the other things that are you to be more balanced. And I think that's healthy. And I think that's why everybody should aim for, because that's what life is all about.
01:20:10 · Vidit Agarwal
[01:20:10] S0: I agree and it's something that's one of my development areas, so absolutely. Two questions and then we can move to rapid fire sprint to wrap this up. One, you've met some fascinating people through your time, right? People you've learned from, people you've admired. I love asking people if you could visualise a metaphorical learning room and you have five seats. So you have one seat and you can invite four people, and ideally people you know so it can't be random celebrities and people that you've admired. Would be the four people you'd love to spend a couple of hours with and just ask questions? People you know.
01:20:43 · Alan Joyce
[01:20:43] S1: The people I know that I think would have in that room, the other people I trust. I'll do it maybe two different ways. There would be people that I think would add value to me, which would still be my mother. I still enjoy talking to her, having involvement with her. I think Jeff Dixon, I've always had huge amounts of respect for him. He was my boss, either him or Lee Clearford in in that role. I think there's a friend of mine that has helped me all the way through my career to help set up Jetstar, help worked on the transformation of Qantas. He's a guy named Connor McCarthy. He's one of the brightest people I know. And I think I would then have an ex colleague, either a John Kissing or a Bruce Buchanan, somebody that I think I really respect that just has a great brain and somebody, or Jane Herdlicher, somebody that I just think is brilliant at what they do. And we're good in terms of the input they gave and the advice that they gave. I think I probably... I think if I was approaching it a different way, people you wouldn't know, I'd have a lot of other friends that I do trust. I've always given good advice over the years, I probably could have a room of them equally as valuable as that room. People that haven't had big names, people that just have done stellar careers in where they are and just have got a good sense of what's right and what's wrong. I would probably put them into a room as equally as those names.
01:22:08 · Vidit Agarwal
[01:22:08] S0: I love how you just answered that on the spot because none of these questions were given to you before, and particularly this question, which some people take minutes to think about. You just answered it on the spot so kudos to you for having that foresight of just the names just straddle them off. I said two questions, the last question in the rapid fire sprint is, I'm curious for my own benefit, how have you managed to travel so much? What is your secret? What are your habits and routines when you go on a long flight? I've just come off 14 flights in the last eleven days. I did US and Europe, which is a very dumb decision Alan, but I did that and my body has reminded me of that. I've had the worst cold and flu. If you had to do that, like if you were doing US and Europe from Australia, how would you do it? Like how would you get your body and mind ready for that tough travel schedule?