How Do People at The Top Change Jobs So Easily?

dimes on 13/02/2024 - 10:10

Often I see in the news something like, Minister for Transport is now Minister for Health, and Minister for Education is now Minister for Planning.

Similarly I sometimes see in the news directors or CEOs changing companies like (as a hypothetical example) CEO of Coca Cola is now CEO of Channel 10.

So my question is how do these people change industries so easily? Wouldn't you need to have quite an in-depth knowledge of a particular industry before you can even get a senior position, let alone leading it?

How on earth does someone who has been Minister for Transport for the last 5 years suddenly pick up all the necessary knowledge to lead the state in Health? What does someone with Coca Cola experience know about running a tv station?

Education & Work

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 13/02/2024 - 10:11
    +44

    literally

    its not what you know, its who you know lmao

    • pharkurnell on 13/02/2024 - 10:37
      +3

      Exactly - Connections + who you do favors for while your in power…

      • jv on 13/02/2024 - 11:00
        +5

        + who you do favors for while your in power…

        😲

    • Nugs on 13/02/2024 - 14:21
      +5

      its not what you know, its who you blow lmao
      .

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 13/02/2024 - 14:27

        it do be like that, just ask bill

        • bobbified on 13/02/2024 - 17:54

          Where's Monica Lewinsky now? 😂

    • AS2035 on 24/02/2024 - 22:42

      exactly..

      connections, networking

  • lewislardboy on 13/02/2024 - 10:14
    +35

    At that level, your skill is being a leader — not being a specialist in the portfolio you manage.

    • Ocker on 13/02/2024 - 10:25
      +2

      The old saying - "you don't keep a dog and bark yourself"

      • iridiumstem on 13/02/2024 - 12:07
        +4

        Wait, you are not meant to bark yourself?

  • joka on 13/02/2024 - 10:22
    +2

    All your direct reports are feeding you information and its the job of the big boss to act on that information. It's the job of the big boss to weigh up risk with reward and decide what is best for the company. If the big boss misjudges the situation then the sword falls on them. Well that is in theory how it should work.

  • Ocker on 13/02/2024 - 10:26
    +5

    " If the big boss misjudges the situation then the sword falls on them"
    Except in the Victorian Labor government, they simply get moved to another equally high paying job.

    • ThithLord on 13/02/2024 - 17:01
      -1

      Is Dan here the room with us now?

  • chickensalad12 on 13/02/2024 - 10:31
    +6

    They are being paid to be professional leaders and/or managers, they are not paid to be domain experts. They will have domain experts or advisors in their team that help them make the industry-specific decisions, but a lot of the day-to-day problem solving is people related.

    The difference between highly successful professional leaders vs. average ones is their ability to also have the domain expertise. They are able to foresee trends and they have a much deeper understanding of how to run their business or unit.

    They are able to change roles fairly easily as their history as a previous senior leader is effectively their public resume. At that level you have a great deal of people who will likely vouch for you for any new role.

  • sss333 on 13/02/2024 - 10:32
    +4

    Follow up to this thread I guess
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/767872

  • jugsy on 13/02/2024 - 10:42
    +2

    nepotism

    • Telios on 09/03/2024 - 11:23

      Honestly that's the most accurate answer.

      Lots of people saying "oh you are a manager not a specialist".

      I manage people, I don't manage anyone whose job I can't do or understand to a high level.

      How can you possibly manage people or projects or development or legal situations when you don't understand them.

      This is why Australia has been frozen socially and economically for decades, the people "managing" the country don't know what the (profanity) they are doing.

      We have one of the highest concentrations of lawyers in politics of any country.
      We have fewer scientists, engineers, math and healthcare degrees that China, Japan, the EU, and most parts of S America.

      It's a joke, it's mates passing jobs around and wasting billions of our tax dollars on submarines and garbage fake charities.

  • mskeggs on 13/02/2024 - 10:51
    +2

    For the commercial ceos, it is like the posts above say.
    For government ministers, they are appointed (picked) by the prime minister or premier, and need to come from the pool of elected representatives. So it is 100% about which of their mates they think will do a reasonable job, and who they owe favours to.

    • Almost Banned on 13/02/2024 - 12:20

      And their factional alignments, and how they are perceived by the public, and how they have performed as junior ministers.

    • b0rnwithabeard on 13/02/2024 - 13:41
      -1

      For government ministers, they are appointed (picked) by the prime minister or premier, and need to come from the pool of elected representatives. So it is 100% about which of their mates they think will do a reasonable job, and who they owe favours to.

      FTFY

      • larndis on 14/02/2024 - 08:01

        So they don't need to come from the pool of elected representatives?

        • b0rnwithabeard on 15/02/2024 - 17:22
          -1

          aww sweetie, were you under the assumption that your vote matters? My sweet summer child. Votes don't decide elections, money does, everyone knows that.

          • larndis on 15/02/2024 - 20:57
            +1

            @b0rnwithabeard: Congratulations on being super condescending, what an impressive skill. You must have a very successful and happy life.

            • b0rnwithabeard on 20/02/2024 - 09:11
              -1

              @larndis: I do actually! I made it to the top of my field, and then when the time was right, I reminded a friend of mine about all the favours i've done for him over the years and now i'm government minister

  • AustriaBargain on 13/02/2024 - 11:38

    CEO of Channel 10 is not a lateral move from CEO of Coca Cola. Channel 10 makes tens of millions in profit a year, Coca Cola makes tens of billions.

  • joka on 13/02/2024 - 11:48
    +1

    A good movie which explains this is Margin Call… " I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear-a-thing. Just… silence"

  • freefall101 on 13/02/2024 - 12:17
    +3

    Ministers tend not to really do all that much work, it's the department secretary that actually runs the show on a day to day basis. The minister will set the policies and programs they want to run but the department secretary is really the CEO of the ministry. They get paid more than a minister does too.

    Ministers are just hand picked by the prime minister, they don't necessarily need any skills (and plenty of them have none). The TV show "Yes, Minister" is probably more accurate than many ministers would like to admit.

    CEOs are about how to run a business and it's a skill in itself. Little to do with what the business does sometimes, more about the relationships they bring, their ability to build and execute a vision and be the face of the company.

  • iridiumstem on 13/02/2024 - 12:23

    Not sure about Australia, but back in my home country, most of the higher ups (executive board) tend to have an yearly contract. If you don't meet the expectations of the investers, bye bye basically.

    In terms of specialisation and skillset, I think military ranks show what they expect from higher ups. Generals are called generals because they are no longer specialists, but generalists who need to know bit of everything to manage people. That's why they have staff who act as advisors.

  • Sal in SA on 13/02/2024 - 13:09
    +1

    There job is to manage the company - regardless of what it is- CEO's don't come up with ad campaigns or new products etc - then ensure that the company has the right staff and other resources (or motivation) to come up with said plans while also making sure it fits within the directive the CEO is bound to from the board.

    In many ways the CEO is the boards fall guy.

    • kraigg on 14/02/2024 - 08:40

      It's this. The role of the CEO is not managing every minutiae of the business, that's left to the plebs below him. His main role is to manage all the directors, execs, and heads of department, who in turn manage all the lower staff. That's why he's able to go from CEO of one company to the CEO of another company in a different industry.

  • netjock on 13/02/2024 - 13:19
    +1

    You don't think they get to take home the big bucks? I would suggest a spend a fair bit of that on "greasing the wheels" to get their next job.

    ScoMo is going to the US to be a lobbyist. He can't even hold a hose.

    • cashless on 13/02/2024 - 14:22

      Greasy pollies like Scomo spend half of their time in the job making sure they have a high paying cushy job to go to when they have screwed up the country.
      Oh and thinking that he is so damned good that he gets himself sworn in to do the rest of the cabinet's jobs as well.

  • garetz on 13/02/2024 - 14:03

    The job is the same, minister, minister of whatever it makes no difference.

  • orangetrain on 13/02/2024 - 14:17
    -2

    It's due to private schools. If we got rid of them, nepotism would see a sharp decline.

  • Drakesy on 13/02/2024 - 14:59
    +1

    Ministers are already elected, the premier/prime minister just shuffles them around.

    And CEO's that have the credentials actually are pretty rare, once you have the title though a whole world opens up. (Not like the stress is generally worth it.)

  • original15 on 13/02/2024 - 23:18

    Most companies/boards will want some level of transferable knowledge/experience, I think you’re over generalising with the ch10 to Coca-Cola example.
    Big businesses are quite alike in the demands and pressures facing the top leader, but it is risky to bring in 0 industry experience and unlikely if you’re a serious business.
    At the same time, very few people have what it takes to be a CEO and reality is the majority of us won’t be, (small pool, highly sought after skillset) if you’ve proven yourself somewhere, you’ll be sought after elsewhere (which would contribute to your perception). There’ll be exceptions but for the most part there are experience cross overs

  • Bob Svargis on 14/02/2024 - 09:10
    +1

    Good strategists and leaders are good at strategy and leading no matter what the industry is. Industry knowledge helps, but at that level you already have a company/organisation full of experts in that field and you rely on them for industry-specific information. The leader's job is to lead and strategise. Anyone good at that should be able to do it no matter what.

    As you move up the corporate ladder, it's less about in-depth technical knowledge and more about soft skills.

  • Jaxy on 14/02/2024 - 13:45

    Nepotism. Next.

  • coffeeinmyveins on 14/02/2024 - 22:05

    How on earth does someone who has been Minister for Transport for the last 5 years suddenly pick up all the necessary knowledge to lead the state in Health

    What makes you think they are?

    Tony Abbott made himself Minister for women back in the day. That tells you all you need to know

  • portard on 27/02/2024 - 13:05

    Ah yes how did Gladys Berejiklian the career politician, with no other real experience, once ousted from the government due to corruption, get a director role at Optus? Beats me

  • pharkurnell on 27/02/2024 - 14:28

    How on earth does someone who has been Minister for Transport for the last 5 years suddenly pick up all the necessary knowledge to lead the state in Health?

    There is your mistake… you think they have the knowledge to lead a horse to water….
    Why do you think everything is such a shambles

  • AS2035 on 06/03/2024 - 21:21

    it's who you know, not what you know. not what you can do..

    it's all about connections and networking

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