The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
01:28:28 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:28:28] S0: Were you very involved in the recruitment of direct execs that reported to you at Qantas? [01:28:32] S1: Yes, of course, you would always be very heavily involved in the people that were there. And we tried to, I would bring a combination of people in from outside when I thought there was a gap. And then that was either people you knew, so you were taking less of a risk, or if it was people you didn't know, you needed to make sure you go through a good selection process. And then internally, we tried to promote really good talent. So when I set up Jetstar, that team of 20 odd people, a lot of them I didn't know, and we had to bring in because there were experts we didn't have. So part of the selection was asking questions like that and getting to know them. And a lot of them, we made really good calls. They're still friends with them today, John Gissing and Bill Johnsey, people that just knew that side of the business. [01:29:20] S0: Is it true that you didn't do one on ones at Qantas? [01:29:25] S1: What's one on ones? [01:29:27] S0: Like one on one meetings with direct reports?
01:29:27 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:29:27] S0: Like one on one meetings with direct reports? [01:29:30] S1: No, did. So we did a few, but most of the meetings were in a group setting. So what I would find is that, you know, if the head of loyalty was presenting their strategy, it was really good having people from different sides of the business coming in and then putting their side. Because sometimes you'd have this jam coming from somebody that was from operations about loyalty. Or sometimes you'd have somebody from loyalty talking about the operations that was amazing, or somebody from corporate communications that would have a perspective or government affairs. So you try to, when you were making a call, have people from a whole series of different disciplines because they just improved the decision making. [01:30:13] S0: One pet peeve?
01:30:13 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:30:13] S0: One pet peeve? [01:30:15] S1: Oh, just a few at the moment. I was walking the dog earlier, and I don't know if you've seen those e bikes left lying and skewed around the city. I was in New York recently, and they have the city bikes which are all organized. They're all superb. I think they're terrible. They look terrible. Pedestrians people, elderly people, they are hazard. And I think the city needs to have a better solution, and I'm sure we can find a better solution. And in an airline piece, you know, traveling again recently, I look around watching people watch the safety video and the lack of people that watch the safety video. There are so many issues that occurred with people taking their luggage and jumping down the slide when something happens or not knowing how the oxygen masks work. And it was always a pave, how do you get people to pay attention to the safety video and understand the procedures rightly. [01:31:10] S0: Yeah, I'll be happy to admit I don't watch them, even though some of them are like incredible. Some of them I just took Emirates quite a bit on my travels recently, and some of the videos are incredible. The amount of production quality that's gone into it, even the Qantas ones are like very good, they're like a mini movie, but I think it's because they're repetitive, because we've seen them since we were kids. Yes. And it's like, oh, we got to watch this again.
01:31:10 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:31:10] S0: Yeah, I'll be happy to admit I don't watch them, even though some of them are like incredible. Some of them I just took Emirates quite a bit on my travels recently, and some of the videos are incredible. The amount of production quality that's gone into it, even the Qantas ones are like very good, they're like a mini movie, but I think it's because they're repetitive, because we've seen them since we were kids. Yes. And it's like, oh, we got to watch this again. [01:31:32] S1: I think it's the reason why the airlines spent a fortune on them now is to get people to say, oh, this is a bit different, and try and cycle them faster. And that has worked to some extent. Lot of people will at least pay attention. They used to be the same safety video was there for a decade and that just turned people off. Now it's renewed every eighteen months or two years. At least it grabs people's attention and that's good that that's working.
01:31:32 · Alan Joyce, Vidit Agarwal
[01:31:32] S1: I think it's the reason why the airlines spent a fortune on them now is to get people to say, oh, this is a bit different, and try and cycle them faster. And that has worked to some extent. Lot of people will at least pay attention. They used to be the same safety video was there for a decade and that just turned people off. Now it's renewed every eighteen months or two years. At least it grabs people's attention and that's good that that's working. [01:31:56] S0: Yeah, I think one of the airlines, might be Jetstar actually that I took recently, they have this thing at the end on domestic flights sometimes where a kid's voice comes on and they're like, hey there, just so you know, if you're getting off the plane, make sure you hold your parents hand or make sure you hold the railings. And I think that always gets people interested because why is that kid's voice coming up at the end when we're about to get off? And I think that creates this state of shock and it gets people interested. But I also think we live in this world that you know of everyone's got their headphones in. So people aren't listening to anything like that's, that's, know, no end. Happened the other day, [01:32:29] S1: like this [01:32:29] S0: car was honking, and this lady was crossing the road and she had no idea the car's honking because she had her headphones in.
01:32:29 · Vidit Agarwal, Alan Joyce
[01:32:29] S0: car was honking, and this lady was crossing the road and she had no idea the car's honking because she had her headphones in. [01:32:36] S1: That's so dangerous as well, isn't it? I have to say, when I walk in the dark, do that bit, I listen to a podcast, but I always put it on the, what you can do now, the transparency mode. If something happens, the sound goes down, you know, which you [01:32:50] S0: need Right, to right. Yeah, all the headphones are now noise cancelling, right? They're made in such a way that the outside world is completely blocked and I'm like there's going to be some serious accidents because of that because people just don't hear anything. But anyway we're turning into two aunties here talking about this. And last one, Alan, I ask every guest if you want to recommend a question, I should ask the next guest. Of course, you don't know the next guest. Any questions I should ask? [01:33:17] S1: Yeah, I think I would say something along the lines of who do you think was responsible for your success, and have you ever thanked them? [01:33:27] S0: Can I ask you that?