We want you to do well… just not too well
I love Australia. I truly do. It’s a beautiful country. Having lived not just here but also abroad, I can categorically say it’s one of the best places on earth.
We are a proud nation. We love to boast to others about how it’s one of the best in world. We proudly talk of our great exports (or the ones we have claimed from NZ): Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Crowded House, Vance Joy, WiFi, the original Google Maps and more.
The Aussie spirit is second to none, which is why I’ve always found it so interesting how that can change when it comes to big business.
While we’re happy to celebrate the artistic talent we’re proud of, or the successful business person that started with nothing, it’s very different when you’re a girl or guy in corporate wear. Especially so if you’re working in our biggest industries: finance, mining, energy or telcos.
When it comes to the big companies, your everyday consumer is far more likely to sneer at how much profit they made, to remark that it’s unfair the big execs make such huge salaries when they’re doing it so tough.
Because big business is easy to pick on; easy to stand around the BBQ with a beer in hand and take an organization down piece by piece for what it’s not doing right.
But what is it really like?
As it is with sport, everyone has an opinion. More so, they categorically know what a big company should do if it wants to deliver better returns to shareholders. Or how they can make bigger profits. Or why their executive team isn’t worth what their pay check says they are.
Like many internet trolls or frustrated sports fans, it’s very easy to jeer from the sidelines; to single out the middle-aged suit sporting grey hair that’s earning big bucks for doing a shit job…
Except there’s a reason those people, the ones who claim to have all the answers, aren’t the CEO. Because in reality, they have little idea of what it takes to run a major company.
But, as has been and perhaps always will be the case, it’s easier to critique others than to roll up your sleeves and do the job yourself.
Seeing the bigger picture
It seems strange to be writing this. I left the corporate world myself to focus on building companies and to invest in others.
I was driven to make that change out of a desire to do something that mattered more to me. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that another contributing factor was all the bullshit bureaucracy and politics I had to deal with when I was working at a large institution.
But while there are many dickheads in corporates that play Game of Thrones while the real workers get no recognition, there are many amazing examples of execs who don’t just work hard, they sacrifice a hell of a lot to make sure they’re doing the best job they can. Is it so wrong to be rewarded for that?
And when the top management in the company sacrifice things like their family, their lifestyle and even their health, you can start to see why the money they’re paid evens the rest out.
Because when you’re at the top, you have to deal with a lot of stuff that the everyday person doesn’t. You have to know everything about your company, to be able to answer the tough questions, to be accountable for things that you haven’t directly done yourself but need to be responsible for, to be sitting on your laptop at 11pm, most nights of the week.
This side of working life, however, is rarely seen or reported on. Instead, the media love a good story that bashes the performance of big companies. After all, it plays right into the hands of the audience they are desperate to attract so the readership numbers look good at the end of the week.
Case in point
Take this, for example: a photo taken from a report on how much money the big retailers make in Australia. This story was from Oxfam about abuse of regional clothing makers and how the big retailers are making billions of dollars while they get nothing. Now, the fact that these smaller manufacturers are getting screwed is bad but (1) I don’t know enough about that particular issue and (2) I don’t want to weigh into the debate. Instead, let’s better understand the point they’re making about the retailers making ‘billions’. The obscene turnover of players like Kmart, David Jones and Myer.
The bigger point here, as aptly pointed out by my colleague, is the fact these numbers are not actually profit at all. In fact, if you look at the figures reported to the ASX, Myer’s net profit after tax (NPAT) was $67.9m for fiscal 2017, down 2%. Its statutory net profit actually fell 80.3 per cent to $11.9 million. Revenue was $3.201bn so even though the above number is closer to that, it’s still wrong. The above photo is sensationalist. If anything, it makes their viewers dumber and compounds the hate for big business. Although I suppose in an age of ‘fake news’ what do details matter anyway…
To put that into perspective, Seek’s (the online jobs ad portal) net profit was $340m in FY 2017. But they’re not really regarded the same as the other big corporates, so it’s likely your blood won’t boil as much as it does when you hear about one of the big banks, telcos or mining companies posting similar numbers.
A big company is easier to prey on. People treat them like they have their own personality. Screw the big businesses that make all this money! Crush them! Cut em’ down to size!
But it’s worth remembering that big corporates are made up of many different types of people. Including the Aussie battler that relies on the pay check they get from manning the till or managing a store. The salary to support themselves and their family (and if you’re lucky one day own a house in Sydney).
The dangers of using the same brush
When you tar a whole company with the same brush because they’ve made what seems to be an obscene profit, when you celebrate because company execs get raked over the coals by politicians trying to grab some headlines — you’re also criticizing the company where one of your mates probably works too.
And when so many big companies don’t just help employ thousands of people but also contribute to the everyday Australian’s superannuation, it just doesn’t make sense that the people who benefit from this would love to see these big companies punished for doing too well.
Because when that happens there are ramifications. We shouldn’t forget that organisations are more than just a brand name. People are what make that brand. And those people help that brand to make money which in turn delivers better returns for shareholders, which keeps the employment numbers down, which keeps food on the table, which allows people to live this crazy expensive life.
But fuck it. It’s much more fun to criticize instead.
