ANOTHER board member for Qantas
 

Whilst I like some of the stuff this guys says and does, the appointment of yet another board member who has nothing to do with aviation continues to bewilder me.

It seems QF have an allergy for anyone experienced in the field they are in IE aviation.:ugh:

Gruen Transfer's Todd Sampson joins Qantas board

Thoughts?

He is a salesman......nuff said?

On the board for fairfax media as well...says it all.
Dynabolt

Perfect.

Matches the exact profile of how Australia sells itself globally...we have good ideas and are good salesmen. The only thing missing is the build and operate part...but we can always rely on our global partners to do that for us can't we:ok: well at least until they don't want to do it anymore without also controlling the ideas and the sales as well:ugh: Certainly sells more toilet fresheners to preserve the image that our own.....doesn't cast an odour.

Elaine continues to make Warwick Fairfax look like a legend.

Asia...your chicken is ready:sad:

For a moment I thought you were going to say Geoffrey Thomas

Well, they desperately need SOMEONE to prop up the flagging image of the business since the grounding. They'll have someone to blame if his marketing strategy doesn't work, but perhaps Sampson can at least get them to finally understand how much damage they have done to the business. Perhaps, too, just how many opportunities to repair the relations with their staff have been missed.

One can only hope.

So what T shirt will he wear now????

I think I just figured it out.

Qantas now bats for interior decorating experience over aviation experience.

We are, but surely someone with genuine, successful airline experience at the board level of an airline would be a reasonable expectation and almost a necessity.

I guess what I was getting at was that QF has appointed board member after board member, each one further revealing the mindset of QF management.

Bank execs, finance specialists and now advertising guru's. it just appears that the areas that they are employing top level execs from have had nothing to do with aviation before, resulting in a good focus on finance and marketing but the core of this business (flying punters from A-B) is being neglected when Im sure most would agree is the part of the business that is in desperate need of good experience, expertise and management.

Like I said, This guy is good in his area but is another marketing genius what QF needs? I would've thought some people who bring fleet and route operations strategy etc would be much more useful at the moment.

Only when a product or business has something worth selling do I think the focus should be on the selling!

Get the house in order first THEN start worrying about ad execs I reckon.

Its the BRAND boys and girls, it's all about the brand.

The actual business of operating aircraft is a minor triviality in the Boards view.

Smash Bugger, not having any idea what makes your chosen industry tick is a big no no, that's why QANTAS is in such deep poo. I doubt he would appoint you to his board without any advertising experience siting "he has no advertising background", same should apply in our specialised industry. Bad, bad move, and one that reinforces Joyce's contempt for the business that made him rich.

22k, flying punters A to B unfortunately has got nothing to do with it.

It is not an Airline as such, in the traditional way. It is merely a bonus factory. It is business that has been set up in the last decade or so to provide huge bonuses to top 5%, medium size to the next 10% at any cost.

This is the system, metal tubing moving punters across the planet is purely the method that feeds the "factory".

Quite sad really!

There is at least some previous airline experience on the QF board.

The outfit Cosgrove used to be in charge of served as an airline for a few weeks in 1989 :E

Smash Bugger,
Not every board member needs airline experience, there needs to be a mix. We need advertising, finance experience as well as operational and engineering.
However some/most do need some airline experience, on QF board there is next to none!

bankrunner,
Cosgrove is GG now, no longer on board.

Cosgrove must have been laughing his head off.

After serving as Army chief, "Hey Cosgrove, how would you like to get paid 200K a year to turn up to a Board meeting once a fortnight and waffle on about stuff you know absolutely nothing about."

"$hit yeah"

I can just hear it now, a board member asks, "should we consider getting 777's just like pretty much every other Airline in the world, Google reckons they are very fuel efficient"

Cosgrove, "Whats's a triple seven?"

I have been thinking of putting my name down to join the Medical board. Why not? I don't have any Medical background but give me some good coin and I promise I will turn up on time and give it a good shot.

I'll give up on the vague dream I had of joining the board then...

I saw the headline of him joining a board and thought 'thats interesting, there is at least one other company that values marketing over what it actually does'.

Now you make me read the article and it isn't ANOTHER company at all, it is QF.

No one with any technical skill (or any airline skill or experience) on the board at all.

Either they really do have no idea whatsoever OR they are using the tried and failed technique of making themselves look good by choosing people who do not have the skill set to argue over the many (all?) inane decisions.

Clearly Qf cannot have enough yes men/women in its ranks.

Nothing against him personally, but wouldn't he be also suited to maybe designing and building Space Stations or perhaps Super Tankers? I'm guessing he may have drawn those as a child as well.

I have always thought that pilots have no idea outside of their little world. Comments on this thread just continue to re-enforce that view.

VC9

I agree with you entirely. When pilots go to work, their primary concern is:

A. The safety of the flight
B. The efficiency of the flight
C. The schedule integrity
D. The welfare & well being of the customers and crew
E. The brand management of the airline
F. The adherence of policy, procedures & regulations

If pilots continually focus on the above aspects, their end goal is to achieve airline expansion & growth which will lead to promotional opportunity.

Airlines executives however, aren't that concerned with the day to day operation of the airline. They leave the operational management aspects to the pilots. They are however concerned with cost minimisation & containment.

Excluding point B above, points A to F all costs the airline money. Therefore pilots & management focus can never be aligned. In my experiences, most of the management garble is lip service.