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Why the UK government needs to encourage more business investments | Boardroom Uncovered
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Mar 27, 2025
The CEO of FTSE 100 Auto Trader UK has revealed that he is "not the most sophisticated of car buyers". However, he admitted that he uses Auto Trader "loads". Nathan Coe, speaking to Jon Robinson on the latest episode of City AM's Boardroom Uncovered podcast, said the government needs to encourage more investment into companies listed on the London Stock Exchange to revive the fortunes of the City. Coe added that the UK doesn’t have the same level of “encouragement or incentivisation” around building tech businesses. He also said that it “feels a bit lonely” as one of the largest technology companies in the UK and that’s a stark difference between this country and the US. Read more of the story here 👇 https://www.cityam.com/why-boss-of-ftse-100-giant-auto-trader-might-ditch-his-tesla/ Get more of City AM 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam Produced by: Jon Robinson, Emmanuel Nwosu, Joseph Curay Teneda, Joe Lee
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0:00
and that is a big difference between the
0:01
US and and the UK when I joined 60% of
0:05
the the revenue was all driven by
0:07
magazines there was probably around
0:09
4,000 people in the organization if you
0:11
kind of fast forward to today the
0:13
digital business there's 1,200 people so
0:16
that kind of gives you a feeling for the
0:18
level of disruption change closing
0:20
offices closing Publications incredibly
0:23
difficult to do we're one of the largest
0:25
tech businesses in the UK it feels a bit
0:28
lonely I can tell you the name
0:30
names and phone numbers of the people
0:32
that run the other Tech businesses in
0:33
the UK and that is a big difference
0:35
between the US and and the UK a lot of
0:38
our stock market uh older Industries we
0:41
haven't really seen the same level of
0:43
encouragement or incentivization around
0:45
building tech building AI all the things
0:47
I would argue this country should be
0:49
really good at what was your first job
0:51
newspaper run where used to take me
0:54
about four or five hours and I got $12 a
0:56
stray and so how that's actually legal
0:59
I'm not sure hello and welcome to
1:00
bordman coverage from City am with me
1:02
John Robinson my guest for this episode
1:05
is Nathan Co the CEO of 4100 giant autot
1:08
Trader the Australian joined AutoTrader
1:11
in 2007 and has worked its way up before
1:14
taking the top job in
1:15
2020 with the London Stock Exchange
1:17
coming under sustained pressure in
1:19
recent years how would he transform the
1:22
capitals fortunes as a global business
1:24
Hub without any further delay let's dive
1:26
in Nathan thank you very much for coming
1:28
on board and recovered it's great to
1:30
have you thank you for having me I've
1:31
got to start with the fact that you've
1:33
been at auto trader for almost 17 years
1:35
what's kept you there for so long yeah
1:37
you could say perhaps a lack of
1:39
creativity but it's not really that I
1:41
think the the truth is and no doubt
1:43
we'll get into it later that over that
1:45
period of time I mean initially I joined
1:47
as part of a private Equity um private
1:48
Equity bought half of the business from
1:50
gardening Media Group the idea was to
1:52
take a magazine business turn it into a
1:54
digital business being from Australia
1:56
originally I kind of thought that we'd
1:57
come over we'll do that in three or four
1:59
years head home and it will all be you
2:01
know it'll all be a great experience but
2:03
I'll be back to normal and obviously 17
2:05
years later I'm still here I think the
2:07
truth is is that um number one that
2:10
transition took a lot longer than um
2:12
three to four years and most people in
2:14
Publications know these things very
2:15
often don't happen at all and when they
2:17
do happen they take in that case
2:19
probably 10 years for the for the
2:21
transition from a magazine business to a
2:23
true digital business to take place but
2:25
then after that and once that was done
2:27
we've then kind of continued to
2:28
transform so became really a mobile ad
2:31
business and now we're really a
2:32
technology business we run a platform
2:34
that the rest of the the industry is
2:36
running off as well as AutoTrader
2:37
running off it so the truth is in 17
2:40
years it feels like I've probably worked
2:41
at five or six completely different
2:43
organizations in terms of what what
2:46
drives their revenue the nature of the
2:48
culture where the officers are the work
2:50
that they're doing the way that it talks
2:51
about ourselves and there's obviously an
2:53
IPO in the middle of all that as well so
2:56
um it is a business that's super
2:57
comfortable with like really aggressive
2:59
mve levels of of of change and
3:01
disrupting itself to kind of always
3:03
pursue better so I guess I've never
3:06
really had a I've never really got bored
3:08
so here I still am plugging away there
3:11
is an alternative Universe where Auto
3:13
Trader doesn't exist it's just stuck to
3:15
the magazine model and it's no longer
3:18
around but you've been brave enough to
3:21
change your business model yeah over
3:23
this time that must have been difficult
3:24
I it was incredibly difficult and a
3:26
massive credit to all the people that
3:27
have worked in the organization so when
3:29
I joined um 60% of the the revenue was
3:33
all driven by magazines there was
3:35
probably around 4,000 people in the
3:37
organization if you kind of fast forward
3:39
to today the digital business there's
3:41
obviously no magazines It's All Digital
3:43
Revenue but there's 1,00 people so that
3:46
kind of gives you a feeling for the
3:47
level of disruption change closing
3:50
offices closing Publications trying to
3:52
look after people as best you can as as
3:54
the organization's moving from one media
3:56
to another I mean it is incredibly
3:59
difficult to do and um having been
4:01
through it I can see why that most
4:02
organizations don't because it is it's
4:06
it's not only is it very difficult in
4:07
terms of the level of restructuring and
4:09
change that you've got to do but it's um
4:12
your your the level of change in
4:14
capability that the organization has it
4:16
is just a completely different set of
4:18
capabilities running printing plants
4:20
looking after publishing deadlines that
4:23
versus running Google Cloud instances
4:26
having software Engineers you know
4:27
delivering a thousand software releases
4:29
p a week they're just totally different
4:32
organizations even though at the top
4:34
level people say well it's it's just
4:35
AutoTrader isn't it you're still doing
4:37
the same thing you always were um that's
4:39
kind of true and nice that people say
4:41
that on the surface but everything
4:43
underneath um changed so it is it is no
4:47
small feat actually and I think it's a
4:48
huge credit to you know the people that
4:50
work at AutoTrader really really care
4:52
about the business and even though the
4:54
number of people have reduced quite a
4:56
lot all those people were very very
4:58
loyal and to the very end just want
4:59
their magazines to last as POS as as
5:01
long as they possibly can and give the
5:03
business it the its best chance of
5:05
surviving into the future which they
5:07
knew was being a digital business
5:09
because they saw what was happening to
5:10
their competitors along the way so that
5:13
contrast does give you a we don't want
5:15
we don't want to go out of business do
5:17
we seems like only other thing we can do
5:19
is Embrace this internet thing you
5:20
mentioned about the IPO yeah obviously
5:22
Auto Trader is now a strong part of the
5:25
footsie 100 but London the stock
5:27
exchange the city of London has had its
5:30
challenges in recent years yes tell me
5:33
as a CEO of a 400 business your
5:36
perception of that yeah I mean I'm not
5:37
an expert on what makes stock markets um
5:40
tick I know um there there's a lot of
5:43
talk around we need stronger UK um
5:45
investors and I will come back to that I
5:47
mean our own business has as many
5:49
investors from the US and as it does in
5:51
the UK so it is a liquid stock market
5:53
and if people are interested in buying
5:55
decent companies um and there are decent
5:57
companies over here then they they will
5:59
invest I think um the two things I would
6:02
two observations I would say is we're
6:04
one of the largest tech businesses in
6:06
the UK it feels a bit lonely like I can
6:09
tell you the names names and phone
6:12
numbers of the people that run the other
6:13
Tech businesses in the UK and that is a
6:16
big difference between the US and and
6:18
the UK a lot of our stock market uh
6:20
older Industries we haven't really seen
6:23
the same level of encouragement or
6:25
incentivization around building tech
6:27
building AI all the things I would argue
6:29
that country should be really good at
6:31
you know we have a history of
6:32
inventiveness engineering you know all
6:34
these things couldn't be more important
6:36
than they are um could have ever been
6:38
more important than they are today yet
6:40
we don't see that showing up um in the
6:43
companies so I think one of them is
6:44
about you could say industrial policy or
6:46
you know the government really needs to
6:48
spur on some of these areas where we can
6:49
be the best in the world and it will
6:51
attract a lot of the investment so
6:53
that's one side of it um but it doesn't
6:55
stop us investors from buying shares in
6:58
autot Trader for example
7:00
I think the other side of it is the you
7:03
know the incentives that this country's
7:05
Pension funds have to invest in equities
7:08
you know the percentage that they put
7:09
into UK equities is just very very small
7:12
if you take a market like you know back
7:14
Australia where I was 17 years ago the
7:17
amount of pension money that goes into
7:19
Australian businesses and supports those
7:21
businesses also supports liquidity
7:23
supports valuation and that makes it a
7:25
more attractive place for for other
7:27
people to invest and we don't really
7:29
have that domestic or the same level of
7:32
domestic strength investing in equities
7:35
uh that other markets have and
7:36
unfortunately you know these things can
7:38
become virtuous circles if local
7:40
investors aren't investing in you know
7:42
supporting valuations and supporting
7:44
those businesses and it is a bit harder
7:45
for overseas investors so I think
7:48
looking at well how do we encourage UK
7:51
pension um institutional investors to
7:53
put a good chunk of their money towards
7:56
UK companies that would do a a world of
7:59
good would help liquidity it would help
8:00
support valuation um and it would give a
8:03
bit more you know that on top of
8:05
political stability does make it a bit
8:07
more investable whereas we do have a lot
8:09
of we do have some investors that will
8:11
say love the business but it's all just
8:14
um you know it's all just a bit
8:16
uncertain I mean at least we've got a
8:17
stable government I guess at the moment
8:19
I mean we went through a period where it
8:20
was a new prime minister every year for
8:22
them that is a risk that might well
8:25
impact AutoTrader and they don't need to
8:26
take that that risk somewhere else so I
8:29
think um yeah that's what I'd probably
8:31
say doesn't stop investors investing in
8:33
a in a in a good company but more good
8:35
companies and a bit more UK investment
8:38
going towards UK companies would go a
8:40
long long way and you mentioned the
8:42
government what do you think of the
8:43
current government's growth agenda I
8:45
think as a business in the I think it's
8:46
the right agenda we should we should
8:48
start with that like it does feel like
8:50
the UK for a whole bunch of different
8:52
reasons whether it's um brexit austerity
8:55
the GFC for a long time it feels like
8:58
the the the country has been
9:00
underinvested in and has a lot of latent
9:02
growth potential that no one's really
9:05
kind of aat out so I think that agenda
9:07
feels right I think it it is difficult
9:10
as someone operating a business we're
9:12
coming out of a covid period where a lot
9:14
of businesses right in the depths of Co
9:16
weren't doing particularly well but
9:18
right on the back of Co lots and lots of
9:19
businesses did did very very well that's
9:22
kind of we've been gradually heading
9:24
back towards normal um the economy is
9:27
feeling a little bit tougher interest
9:28
rates are a little bit higher cost cost
9:30
for our consumers cost for businesses
9:32
are a little bit higher to then have the
9:35
National Insurance and you know more
9:37
cost put into businesses that as much as
9:40
a growth agenda is really really
9:42
important you you've kind of got to have
9:44
everything working together and putting
9:46
more costs into a business into into all
9:48
businesses at a time isn't going to
9:51
encourage them to pursue growth it's
9:53
going to naturally make them think well
9:55
first of all I need to work out how we
9:57
how we mitigate um these extra costs
10:00
that are coming into the business in an
10:01
environment where it's not like growth
10:03
is flying you know everything's flying
10:06
off the shelves a bit like it was over
10:08
the past few years so um I think the
10:10
agenda is right whether it feels like
10:12
there's the right weight behind the
10:14
right things and the right capital
10:15
investment particularly I know it
10:17
doesn't feel like these things are going
10:18
to play out in the next two or three
10:21
years it feels like we end we're ending
10:22
up all banking on interest rates coming
10:25
down and that might be the thing that
10:26
stimulates probably the the biggest
10:28
thing that could stimulate growth in the
10:30
near
10:35
term I've got uh six quickfire questions
10:39
for you now very Nathan starting off
10:41
with what was your first job uh
10:43
newspaper run where used to take me
10:45
about four or five hours and I got $12 a
10:47
stray and so how that's actually legal
10:50
I'm not sure it was a lot of hard work
10:52
for not very much money but taught me
10:55
hard work there you go it kept me fit
10:57
yeah who inspires you lot of people do I
11:00
get inspired by um all sorts of ordinary
11:02
folk that just do kind of small and
11:04
large um yet extraordinary things if I
11:07
had to pick one person I'd say my
11:09
grandmother actually she was um very
11:11
very tough real fighter lots of grit and
11:14
as a woman in business you know all
11:17
those those years ago it was not the
11:19
done thing and she would just um you
11:21
know fight her way through it to to and
11:24
she turned out being hugely successful
11:26
so that's definitely should be right up
11:28
there if you had to appoint a celebrity
11:31
to your board who would it be and
11:34
why I'd say appointing a celebrity to my
11:37
board would be a terrible idea if I'm
11:39
honest um so what I'll do is I'll go
11:41
with the one celebrity I've got Jenny
11:43
Mundy is uh she currently works at Visa
11:45
but she was on the first female team to
11:47
sail around the world and they've got a
11:49
Netflix documentary called Maiden so I'd
11:51
have her again there we go there that's
11:53
a bit of get out of job that is a bit
11:55
yeah what's the best thing about your
11:57
job I think you know if I rewind back to
12:00
when I was just a little aspiring um kid
12:04
at school or even at universi think I
12:06
might be running one of the um one of
12:09
the biggest tech companies in the UK and
12:12
in my opinion one of the best performing
12:14
even if you look at the stock market
12:15
performance and all that you know lots
12:16
of metrics we are really really high
12:18
performing um I won't say well I've done
12:21
all that aren't I great I I think it's a
12:23
huge privilege to be able to work um at
12:26
a business at a business like that um in
12:29
terms of the specific aspects of the job
12:31
I think you know we work with um with
12:34
really smart technologist really smart
12:36
people within the business that is just
12:38
uh absolutely brilliant you're always
12:40
being led on you're always learning
12:42
something new we've got this big wave of
12:45
AI coming in we've got a huge team of
12:47
data scientists like there is just
12:48
always something new to learn when
12:50
you're right at the Forefront of
12:51
technology and then I'd say culture
12:53
actually that's the one thing you can do
12:54
as a CEO that pretty much no one else in
12:57
the organization can do is you
12:59
kind of Define what you want how you
13:01
want people to work work together what
13:03
sort of values you want the organization
13:05
have and then it falls to you to be a
13:06
role model of those things and I I
13:08
really like that I'd say that aspect of
13:10
the job is probably the bit that I get
13:12
the most personal satisfaction from and
13:14
if you weren't doing this job what would
13:15
you be doing aging
13:18
slower um I think um look I really do
13:22
like technology I really like change and
13:24
I I do really like um For Better or
13:27
Worse challenging situations so I
13:30
actually took on the CEO role unbeknown
13:32
to me at the beginning of March 2020 and
13:34
we all know what happened on the 23rd of
13:36
March ironically for me those situations
13:38
are where I'm at my very very best where
13:41
I'm not overly thinking about what the
13:43
challenge is I like having the big thing
13:45
just dropped on you and I perform really
13:48
really well in those situations so
13:49
imagine if I wasn't doing this I would
13:51
go and look for those three things
13:52
technology you know challenge um
13:55
somewhere else and yeah doing something
13:58
similar but probably not quite as good a
13:59
business because there's just not that
14:01
many businesses like Auto Trader around
14:03
and if you were prime minister for the
14:04
day what would you do well I think my
14:07
team would be disappointed if I didn't
14:08
say I would immediately reduce VAT on
14:11
all electric vehicles so that we can
14:13
have like so normal people can buy them
14:16
and so we can have a car industry that
14:17
isn't under an enormous amount of
14:19
financial pressure at the moment so um
14:22
that would help my customers it would
14:23
help my team and and would help the
14:25
business as well do you have an EV yes
14:28
what uh what EV do you have no I've got
14:29
a Tesla Model y why did you choose that
14:32
at the time I mean I'm not the most
14:34
sophisticated of of car buys I obviously
14:36
use autot Trad of loads went with the
14:38
the Tesla because at the time we were
14:41
just doing a very simple maths of well
14:43
how much range do you get for how much
14:45
um money for the car basically and the
14:47
Tesla kind of at the this isn't as true
14:50
now necessarily but at the time the
14:52
Tesla was just the best value for money
14:54
on that kind of simple equation of how
14:57
much range does a car have does it kind
14:59
of work and you know does it link to
15:01
Spotify and all those other very
15:03
important things that you want in a car
15:04
but it was mostly just down to range and
15:06
the cost of the car um because you know
15:08
they were they have been lower cost
15:10
that's why they've gained quite a lot of
15:12
quite a lot of share they're not a lowc
15:13
cost car but relative to other EVS they
15:16
were at the time now that's all starting
15:18
to even up actually we're seeing range
15:19
volumes coming up we're seeing a lot of
15:21
Chinese manufacturers we're seeing low
15:23
price point so imagine the next decision
15:25
might actually end up being different
15:27
you've obviously been a leader as senior
15:29
leader for a long time how would you
15:32
describe your leadership style um I
15:34
think I always find this quite a strange
15:36
question in some ways it feels very
15:38
difficult to put down into a few words
15:40
but if I was to try and say what I
15:42
aspire to be um which means I don't
15:43
always do it uh perfectly I think um
15:47
making sure that you're setting a very
15:48
very clear direction is super important
15:52
the second point I would make is making
15:54
sure that you're not giving too much
15:56
detail around exactly what's under the
15:58
direction I think it's all Al important
15:59
and that's because the third thing I
16:01
really look to do is find very very good
16:03
people and let them work out uh work out
16:06
what that detail is and give them the
16:07
space to go and get on and do that I
16:10
think I'm also very people orientated I
16:13
do really mean a lot of people say
16:16
culture eats strategy for breakfast but
16:18
I really do believe that actually if you
16:20
look at um there are all sorts of
16:22
organizations around the world some of
16:24
them are in good Industries some of them
16:25
are in absolutely shocking Industries
16:27
but actually you'll see good
16:29
good businesses in bad Industries and
16:31
terrible terrible businesses in really
16:33
good Industries so I think the
16:35
difference between you know those two
16:37
businesses in that case it's not about
16:38
the industry is actually how the
16:40
organization Works what sort of people
16:42
you can attract how you let them work
16:43
whether they feel empowered um whether
16:46
they can do their best work so I'm very
16:48
very focused on you know let's make sure
16:50
that we've got a broad Direction that's
16:52
right and feels meaningful and stacks up
16:54
and should lead to good economic returns
16:55
for shareholders but then let's really
16:58
focus on cting a stage where really
17:00
really good people can do their very
17:03
very finest work um to to help make that
17:06
happen in the way that they believe is
17:07
right really owning it there as opposed
17:10
to you know I'm definitely not a
17:12
micromanager which would be at the other
17:13
end of the other end of the spectrum how
17:16
does leadership sit with you did you
17:18
always want to be in that position or
17:20
have you sort of dis accidentally got
17:22
into the position yeah no it's a super
17:24
interesting question so I'd say um you I
17:27
Come From A A working class family
17:29
originally so my goals were you know I
17:32
wanted to be the first person in in our
17:34
family to go to university that was kind
17:36
of goal number one goal number two very
17:39
crusty was I want to be the first person
17:41
in my family to earn $100,000 Australian
17:44
dollars which felt like a ridiculous um
17:47
a ridiculous goal to have because no one
17:49
in my family would have ever earned
17:51
anywhere near that and I think at the
17:53
time I thought well that means you've
17:55
got to be a CEO or an investment banker
17:56
doesn't it so I might as well pursue
17:58
that that career I'll choose fin nights
18:00
at University and um then we'll go on of
18:03
course that's very um a pretty naive um
18:07
naive way to go about it as it turns out
18:09
I really like business I really and
18:11
became fascinated with business
18:13
fascinated with with people and what
18:15
makes people tick and what makes good
18:17
businesses and what makes bad businesses
18:19
so over time I'd say those goals kind of
18:21
did drift away and I'd say where I am
18:24
now is no what I really want to do is I
18:27
want to do something that makes a
18:29
difference you know in this case I
18:31
believe the way people go about buying
18:33
cars the way you know car retailers and
18:35
private individuals go about selling
18:37
cars it is still pretty arcane um you
18:41
know it's it's not really enabled by
18:43
technology it's not really enabled by
18:44
data it's not really online like some of
18:46
it's online but some of it's not and
18:49
there are 33 million of these things on
18:52
the road in the UK so actually if we
18:54
could make that better then a lot of
18:56
people in some small part of their life
18:59
that really does make an impact on the
19:01
world and Leadership happen happens to
19:03
be the thing I have to do if I want to
19:05
achieve that thing so I'd say now it's
19:07
um it's you know leadership used to be I
19:10
need to do that to get the things that I
19:11
want now it's actually in order to do
19:14
the thing that will really make me feel
19:15
like actually we've done some good
19:17
meaningful work there together as a
19:19
group of people um leadership's the
19:21
thing that I need to to do to kind of
19:23
lead the organization give it all the
19:25
space to be able to go after those
19:27
things and a clear kind of Direction
19:28
this this is the thing I think we can do
19:29
and I'm willing to you know put my
19:32
reputation on the line to say I think we
19:33
can can go after it so where did that
19:36
early dve come from that if you excuse
19:38
the pun please um did you have that from
19:41
an early age yeah I'd say I was um I'd
19:44
say I was pretty driven and if if I'm
19:47
honest I think as much of it and some
19:50
people might rush to say yeah lots of
19:51
Australians have that but I do think it
19:53
was driven more by as much by a chip on
19:55
my shoulder as I was growing up you know
19:58
I could I could tell you the school
19:59
teachers that were like oh you'll never
20:01
amount to anything or no you can't be in
20:03
the top Mass class or you know and and
20:06
there is a deep sense that I've always
20:08
had and my grandmother was very much
20:10
like this as well is we're going to
20:12
prove him wrong we're just going to
20:13
prove him wrong so I think a lot of my
20:16
it sounds like it's a bit negative but
20:17
it does it's turned into a very positive
20:19
force in my life whether it's working
20:22
with people that other people have
20:23
ignored or you know perhaps
20:26
controversially at the moment you know
20:27
creating a really inclusive culture that
20:29
does make the most out gives everyone a
20:31
good shot of having a go even though
20:32
other organizations might not have let
20:34
those people have a go and seeing them
20:36
get over those get over those hurdles
20:38
and do really really well do much better
20:40
than they ever expected like that whole
20:42
proving them wrong like is runs really
20:45
really um deep in my core and I think
20:47
that that has been my my my parents will
20:50
say they don't know where the drive came
20:52
from they have absolutely no idea and
20:54
take no responsibility um For Better or
20:57
Worse for for for it being there but
21:00
yeah there is a bit of a sense of
21:01
actually I just want to show that we can
21:03
do it show that we can do things that
21:05
people say aren't possible prove them
21:07
wrong all that kind of bucket of bucket
21:10
of things interesting well talk to me
21:12
about growing up in Australia then
21:14
because you you've been here for 17 odd
21:16
years
21:17
almost just in memory now yeah you must
21:19
be tempted to pop back though when it's
21:20
a bit rainy and cold here yeah you only
21:22
need to do that flight once and you
21:23
start to think well maybe I won't do
21:25
that again for a while it's a I mean
21:27
it's a long it is a long way away but
21:29
growing up in Australia was uh wonderful
21:31
I mean I grew up in the Blue Mountains
21:33
which is outside of Sydney um you know
21:36
bit of an not sure rural is the right um
21:38
word because it's very mountainous and
21:40
all those sorts of things but you know
21:42
we would go down um through our backyard
21:44
and and I could go rock climbing in
21:46
Cliffs um you know be we'd be climbing
21:49
constantly canyoning lots of Outdoors
21:51
stuff um it was an absolutely great
21:53
lifestyle and then as I grew up went to
21:55
University beaches surfing all the
21:58
standard and stuff yeah no terrible
22:01
terrible why did you choose the UK yeah
22:03
I left and it was the seventh year of a
22:05
drought so just literally no no rign
22:08
whatsoever so it was absolutely um it is
22:11
brilliant it is an absolutely brilliant
22:13
country in those respects but um it is a
22:16
small country and is a long way from
22:17
everywhere else so when the opportunity
22:19
was bought up to come you know across to
22:22
the UK and look at a business like
22:24
AutoTrader the immediate thing that
22:26
really appealed to me was actually like
22:28
connecting into a bigger environment but
22:31
a bigger environment that's then
22:32
connected to the rest of the world and
22:34
whether that's um from a business
22:36
perspective or actually whether it's
22:37
just actually you could go on a skiing
22:40
holiday to France um and the flight's
22:42
like 50 Quid whereas you know those
22:45
sorts of things you just can't do in
22:47
Australia so being a bit more connected
22:49
up and experiencing broader cultures and
22:51
some of the history of the world there
22:53
um those things were all hugely
22:55
appealing I'd say I'd still find those
22:57
things you know very hard to leave now
23:00
actually that have become a big part of
23:02
um my life and what you want your kids
23:03
and and partner to experience as well so
23:07
gr up Australia absolutely absolutely
23:09
brilliant but um here is absolutely
23:12
brilliant in just different ways is
23:13
there something that Australia does
23:15
better than the UK in terms of business
23:17
it has been quite a while since um that
23:21
I've been there so I'm restent kind of
23:23
comment too much on um Australian
23:26
business the the one the one thing that
23:29
would stand out to me having done
23:30
business in Australia was in mergers and
23:32
Acquisitions there so it was kind of
23:34
pretty cut and dry meeting lots of
23:35
people meeting lots of
23:37
businesses um Australians do have a way
23:40
of cutting through and getting to the
23:42
point very efficiently yes yes believe
23:45
it or not believe it or not I've become
23:48
all diplomatic in my um since being in
23:51
the UK but there is um I do and still to
23:55
this day Australians have got quite a
23:57
good business mind on them and they do
23:58
cut through to the the the real issues
24:00
quickly um I think it might be
24:03
stereotyping a bit but they can also you
24:04
know negotiate a pretty tough old deal
24:07
that was certainly my my experience when
24:09
I was in Australia I think in the UK um
24:12
you know it is a bit more diplomatic and
24:15
you know people might not you know don't
24:17
necessarily want to cause offence and I
24:19
think actually I've taken a bit of both
24:21
those things I actually think there's a
24:23
lot to be said for bringing people on a
24:25
journey and you don't need to shove
24:27
things right in people's face you can be
24:28
a little more subtle about things and
24:30
let people work things out for
24:31
themselves and that's probably going to
24:33
end up um better if you think about my
24:35
whole leadership style it's about
24:37
empowering people that is not telling
24:39
them what to do um and you know I'm sure
24:43
not every Australian business person is
24:44
like this is like this but actually the
24:46
whole direct you know do it like this do
24:48
it like that you know I would never
24:50
never be like that but being direct with
24:52
people and cutting through and being
24:54
straight I think is something that um
24:56
you know is a real strength of
24:58
Australian business and per a thing that
25:00
they do do well that's really
25:02
interesting um finally Nathan what do
25:04
you think makes a good CEO well well it
25:08
won't surprise you that I think about
25:10
this question quite a lot because it's
25:11
reasonably important that I'm one of
25:13
those um I think it is very very
25:17
difficult to I think
25:19
um actually if I was to say what does it
25:21
really take it takes the ability to work
25:24
out what you can't do it all brilliantly
25:27
that like if you look at the list you've
25:29
got to have an Engaged board and you've
25:31
got to engage with them regularly you've
25:33
got to make sure that you're covering
25:34
off shareholders setting expectations
25:36
well communicating honestly but not you
25:39
know not leading them down the Garden
25:40
Path or giving them too high in
25:42
expectations you've got to maintain a
25:44
really good culture with your
25:45
organization you've got to have clear
25:47
goals strategy plan financial plans
25:50
monitor perform all these things you
25:53
just if you look at the list you ain't
25:55
doing it in even in a year um so I think
25:58
the real art form um and this is
26:00
certainly where I've got to is working
26:03
out which of those things at this point
26:05
in time are really important and which
26:07
of those things you need other people
26:10
doing and making sure that you've got
26:12
that structure around so I think trying
26:14
to do it all yourself is just a recipe
26:16
for disaster so I think the real sign of
26:19
a great chief executive is knowing
26:21
what's really really important now and
26:23
what is the thing that only you can do
26:25
and making sure you've got a really good
26:26
team around you sorting the rest of it
26:29
out but the reality is you know your
26:31
your urgent thing that's on fire
26:33
whatever might be this today it could
26:35
very quickly kind of swing around to
26:36
hear the week after and that does very
26:39
much feel like the um that's the nature
26:42
of the role of a chief executive and you
26:44
tend to the other thing I would say
26:46
probably is right up there which is
26:48
linked to what you do in those
26:49
situations is being decisive because you
26:52
tend to find the decisions that come to
26:55
you are all the hope the terrible
26:56
decisions because otherwise everyone
26:58
would have delighted in making them um
27:01
but they they also tend to be the
27:02
decisions that if not made the
27:04
organization can just spin underneath
27:06
you and it's not great for the culture
27:08
it's not great for the organization so I
27:10
think you know be being willing to make
27:12
the decisions that have no clear right
27:13
and wrong answer which are the only ones
27:15
that you get as a chief executive is
27:18
really really important brilliant Nathan
27:20
thank you very much for coming on board
27:21
and recovers thanks for having me Cheers
27:23
Cheers
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