Telecom company, Spark NZ, is in trouble. It started this year with a share price of over $NZ 5. Its now around $NZ 2.80 - a decline of nearly 50%. Shareholders who've seen their wealth wiped are furious. A Main Stream Media journalist said its bosses had to field "hostile" & "misogynistic" questions at its General Meeting. Blaming gender is reprehensible. Let's instead take a look at the diversity of Spark's senior leadership. Many folks have tried linking less diversity on Boards to worse performance. A former NZ Treasury Secretary said "Having greater diversity broadens the experiences & perspectives within organizations .. [it] enables better ideas, solutions & services” I've never understood this line - isn't it important to hire the best, regardless of background, gender & ethnicity? Shouldn't merit be the deciding factor? Anyway, let's just go with the Treasury Secretary & compare the background of Spark Chairperson, Justine Smyth, to its CEO, Jolie Hodson. They're on LinkedIn (see below).
CEO Hodson is an Aucklander, having done a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Auckland. Chairperson Smyth is an Aucklander, having done a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Auckland.
CEO Hodson's BCom was in Accounting. She graduated in 1991. Board Chair Smyth's BCom was also in Accounting. She graduated in 1990. The two of them overlapped, in terms of doing the same degree, at the same University, in the same subject.
The CEO and Chair of Spark are almost the same age - in their early 50s - they finished their undergraduate degrees at similar times.
CEO Hodson worked at accounting firm, Deloitte's from 1992 to 2000. Chairperson Smyth, worked at Deloitte's from 1997 to 2000. They again appear to have overlapped.
CEO Hodson then worked at Lion, the brewery, in Sydney, Australia, from 2000 to 2003. Chairperson Smyth also worked at Lion - it also appears in Sydney - from 2000 to 2012. They again appear to have overlapped.
CEO Hodson became Spark's Chief Financial Officer around 2013. Chairperson Smyth became Spark's Chair in 2017. In 2019, Hodson was appointed the new CEO.
To work at the cutting edge of telecoms technology, may it not be a tad important to have (at least some) of the top bosses having top class engineering backgrounds? Or at least a bit of diversity in their backgrounds? Look at former French state-owned telecoms provider, Orange (Spark is former state-owned provider, Telecom NZ). Its CEO is Christel Heydemann, an engineer from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. She worked at Schneider Electric. Board Chair, Jacques Aschenbroich, is also an engineer from a top French School.
But good luck to Spark - its like most other Kiwi public companies run by folks with BCom-LLB degrees - without backgrounds in the technology behind their industries. Go ask Kiwi Rail. Go ask Fletchers. Who needs an engineer in those outfits? After all, you can just put the ferry on autopilot. Maybe the NZ private sector should blame itself for NZ's low productivity. Maybe my mates - many of whom are mathematicians, engineers & computer scientists, left NZ since Corporate NZ put them down and threw them in the data & engine rooms, telling them they don't have leadership and comms skills. Funny how many of them now own their own companies or are CEOs of foreign corporations.