Worrals:
I guess the question arises then, where did Qantas get these guys? It's not just Qantas either. Many Australian businesses are still running 1990s rules when it comes to short term bonuses and maintenance being the Devil's work. Why Is It So?
The top 20 Australian companies basically do banking, mining, food and (one) airline. We are an educated, wealthy, resource rich country. Why can't we do anything else? Is it because our crappy boards and senior executives are largely incapable of long term vision when they can skive off with short term bonuses?
Maybe banking, mining and food make such obscene profits with relatively little strategic planning that they will generally do well whatever decisions are made at the top level. Businesses that require a little more group grey matter don't seem to be shining in Australia, and I wonder if that's because our senior exec class are for the most part lousy, at least those who remain on-shore.
1. How do they get there? Narcissists attract each other. Once one of them gets into senior management, if not found out and quickly removed, they will attract and hire others. No one but another narcissist will willingly work for one or sit on a company Board with one because normal people don't like the constant backside licking that is required to keep in their good books. Narcissists don't mind giving the daily kiss to the bosses backside.
Where do they find them? I've had Two Directors foisted on my previous organisation that were recruited by the big boss in the
Qantas Chairmans lounge. That is a major recruiting ground. The payback for big boss was a couple of new Board seats for themselves.
2. Can we do anything else but mining banking and farming? Yes we can and do, there are quite a few internationally competitive high technology manufacturing companies in Australia. I've worked with a few of them. You will rarely if ever hear about them because the first rule of businesss when you are making money is to shut up about it. Did you know that the world leader in tobacco handling equipment is Australian? Tool and cutter grinders and specialised machine tools used by Rolls Royce, GE, GM, Airbus and almost every other technology company in the world? There is one aerospace company I know where the owners buy new Ferrarris every year, they are so successful. There is a company only a few blocks from me that is the worlds leading producer of mega - super yacht hardware, yet nobody even knows of its existence. The only companies you hear about in the press are generally the unprofitable whiners.
3. The trouble is that once you get an infestation of narcissists in a business, I know of no way of purging them with the exception of almost killing the business. At that point they will leave in droves, like rats leaving a sinking ship, because they hate being associated with unattractive, unfashionable, non performing businesses, and they cannot and will not give of themselves to turn things around except by cost cutting. They
like firing people. It makes them feel powerful.