I admire greatly the historian, Geoffrey Blainey, who foresaw the rising power
in the 80s of Asia with his brilliant and courageous book “The Tyranny of
Distance”’.
Finally, I wanted to know what he thought were the bravest business decisions
taken in the last twenty to thirty years, both nationally and internationally? Who
does he feel are the Captains Courageous of commerce now?
‘Richard Branson; he’s very brave and unbelievably successful. And it’s not like
there’s a low barrier to entry – he is an example of going to a casino and putting
everything on the black. His capacity to take on “big” is quite extraordinary.
For a business - Apple; the iPhone was a society changer. Similarly, in terms of
a lack of courage, Kodak – for not seeing the potential of digital. Encyclopaedia
Britannica similarly.
There are certainly a lot of people I admire; at an international level, the head
of Netflix, Reed Hastings, put everything on the line, and I felt that was
extraordinary courage.
David Thodey, the ex-CEO of Telstra, steadily, assuredly changed the way
Australians see Telstra. He is very strategic and safe handed.
In terms of not showing a particular amount of courage, it would have to be Tim
Cook. Since Steve Jobs’ death, the Apple watch is of course the first new product.
It’s the logical next step, and one that Jobs would probably have made himself.
A courageous decision would be to take Apple in a completely different direction.
Extending the theme or the paradigm isn’t particularly brave. It’s understandable
and successful; but it’s not courageous in the sense that they need to take the
business in another dire ction altogether – AI for example, or driverless cars. He
has only looked at the current trajectory.’
If there is anyone who looks outside the current trajectory - and perhaps
outside the stratosphere - it’s Bernard. His scope of thought is astonishing, and
his understanding of what makes not just his own generation, but the crossgenerational workplace and Australian society generally tick is an absolute joy to
take in.
Brain still fizzing.
GLOSS JUNE 2015
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