Vance on Luxon

Andrea Vance has written an interesting profile of Christoper Luxon, Also an article on her impressions. From the latter:

He’s clever, warm, amiable – and if he really wants to win, the public needs to see more of this side of him. It’s a shame that his true nature is dulled by the corporate buzzwords and slogans he uses like a crutch.

I believe people will see more of that side of him during the campaign.

From the profile:

Before long, he began collecting awards (2013 Business Leader of the Year, 2015 CEO of the year, and the Peter Blake Leader award) – and speculation about his future.

He wasn’t just a CEO. He is and was one of the best in New Zealand, and being a great CEO is about leadership.

More recently, he described his parenting style: “Amanda and I have always had a model. From 0-5 (years) we’re caretakers, 5-12 we’re cops, 12-18 we’re coaches and 18 plus we’re consultants.”

I quite like that as a framework. I’m looking forward to getting to the coach phase one day!

Pressed for more, he offers a deeper, longish explanation of his study of more successful small economies (Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Singapore and Switzerland), and his admiration for the thinking of Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl.

“He wrote a book called Man’s Search for Meaning. I used to make it compulsory reading for anyone joining Air New Zealand. It was basically a commentary on Western Civilization.”

The psychiatrist’s central themes are around purposeful work.

“I could have made another $100 million a year out of Air New Zealand,” Luxon says. “But that [drive for profit] would sacrifice a whole bunch of [other] things. And I thought I could do things as a CEO, that would actually make life better for my 12, 500 people and their families.

This won’t stop Labour as trying to portray him as a heartless right winger.