Sweet Revenge ?
I wonder what Qantas thought about John Borghetti succeeding Brett Godfrey at Virgin Blue?
Friday, 5 March 2010
Wouldn’t we all loved to have been a fly on the wall in both Alan Joyce’s office at Qantas’ HQ and when Geoff Dixon heard that his former first lieutenant John Borghetti had secured the top job at their nemesis, and thorn in the flesh, airline Virgin Blue.
I wonder if the words ”traitor”, “turncoat” or even “poacher turned gamekeeper”, passed anyone’s lips?
With Borghetti’s non-compete clause only expiring last November, and rumours that he was off to the Middle East, speculation about him being in the frame for the top DJ job was shrugged off as mere speculation by some. Especially within Qantas.
Others thought that John made the perfect candidate to take Virgin Blue into it next stage of “growing up”. Having said that I did doubt whether they would have the nerve to appoint him!
It is a great credit to Virgin Blue to see total transparency in a process like this, as it is rumoured that there was not a lot of love lost between Godfrey and Borghetti, but clearly the process has won, with best man getting the job.
Qantas has always been recognised as a leader in sales and marketing, with Borghetti having headed up that for a large part of his 36 year career with the flying kangaroo. Now those many years of skills and experience will be fully plugged into Qantas’ biggest competitor.
A great opportunity has presented itself to Borghetti. He will now able to apply some of the things he probably could not have done at Qantas, mainly because the culture was very different to Virgin Blue but also because he had a very dogmatic and strong CEO in Geoff Dixon.
I also think that Borghetti must be very excited at the prospect of running an organisation with an open, non-bureaucratic culture, a place where innovation and dynamism are the name of the game, potentially rather different to the apparent environment of his previous role. Another bonus must be moving to Queensland!
Brett Godfrey says that he looks forward to welcoming Borghetti and introducing him to the business adding, “John has a proven track record in the aviation sector... He comes with enormous knowledge and experience.”
“Importantly, I know he respects the Virgin Blue team and its culture... His understanding and participation in both the low cost and full service segments, has him uniquely placed to lead Virgin Blue in its next stage of development.”
This week must now be very a sweet one for Borghetti though, one might even call it “revenge”, with his taking over the helm of Virgin Blue also being announced just after the much smaller carrier reported a bigger profit than Qantas!
So Borghetti, sincerest congratulations to you and while Godfrey has left some very big shoes to fill, I have no doubt you are the man to fill them.
Industry Insider Commentary and Opinion by John Alwyn-Jones, e-Travel Blackboard correspondent
Source = e-Travel Blackboard: J.A.J