April 5, 2026 • 28 mins
Alexandra Vranyac-Wheeler is the CEO of Master Electricians, a 100-year-old professional trade organisation made up of more than 10,000 members across the coutnry.
In the episode Toni and Alexandra chat about the new perspective she's bringing to the organisation as it's first ever female CEO, the work she's doing to incentivise more young people to get into the trades, and the ever-impossible juggle of work-life balance, especially as a mum of two.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We Need to Talk, Tony Street's lifestyle and wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We Need to Talk. It's great to
have you with us. Women in leadership have made huge
strides in New Zealand over the past decade. Just over
forty six percent of New Zealand mp for now women.
Women make up fifty percent of senior managers in the
New Zealand public service, and in a recent study, fifty
percent of New Zealanders believed that things would work better
if more women held leadership positions. One of those female
(00:31):
leaders breaking the mold is Alexandra Rannick Wheeler, the first
ever CEO of Master Electricians, which is the body for
electrical contracting businesses across New Zealand. She represents over twelve
hundred and seventy member companies nationwide. She's also a mum
to two children so has a busy working and home life.
So we thought we would have a chat today to
(00:51):
work out of balance as possible and to just get
some thoughts on how to make all of this work.
It is so lovely to meet you and we were
just having a chat off here about your two kids.
We're going to start there because you hold this big position.
And look, you've come up from Wellington today and it's
Monday morning. Yeah, and you got the two kids. So
how does that balance work for you in having the
(01:14):
kids doing what they should be doing and making sure
that you do your job well too.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah. So I mean it's a really good question. I
was reflecting on that coming up. So, you know, really
early start and I just like to be really organized.
So last night it was make all the lunches, make
sure that all the breakfasts are semi sorted.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
You know, homeworks are in the bags.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And for me, that gives me confidence that I can
go off and do my day and do the best
that I can without having to worry. And my husband's
perfectly capable of doing all of that stuff. But there's
something about wanting to make sure that mum's done the
final touch, and that's sometimes that's.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
The challenge, Tony.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I think is like we want to make sure that
everything's perfect, and so we'll do our best to do
that and then you know, life gets in the way.
So I think for me it's about making sure or
that I've done everything I can to make sure they
have a good start, and then you know, we leave
the rest of fate.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So how does it work for you in a week
with your work and with picking the kids up? Because
your kids are what six and ten?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So how does that work with your day?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So I tend to sort of start earlier ish, so
you know, husband will do probably drop off and I'll
start early and I'll just work right through and try
and smash through as much as I can. And I
do really like to try and do pick up at
least three times a week. For my kids, it's just
a chance to hear what's happening in their lives, rush
them from one place to another, but make sure that
they see that we're there to support them. And they
(02:38):
do lots of activities after school, so there's always something on.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Plus I rely on my mum a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think we all do if they're available to help.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So work wise, what does a work week look like
for you? What do you do as the CEO of
Master Electricians?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Such a good question.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I kind of do quite a range of things really,
So I do a lot of member engagement, So try
and engage with my members all the time, understand what's
going on in their lives so that I know that
whatever we're doing at head office. It's reflective of what
they need and that involves a lot of travel. So
you know, last week I was sort of traveling too
out of the five days, so it's.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Quite a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But I also love that aspect of my role. And
then there's a lot of government sort of lobbying and
advocacy work that we do, so I spend a bit
of time in Parliament and prepping for minister's meetings and
that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
So it is quite a varied role.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I have a great team around me, so there's an
element of making sure that they feel supported and nurtured
and you know, have what they need to be able
to do their best role. So the thing I love
about it is really varied. But with that comes no
normal week.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Really is it weird being the first female in this job?
And why has it taken so long? Do you think?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, that's a.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Really good question. I get that quite a lot. I
get asked that question quite a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Do I think it's odd?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Not really, I think where the organization was at. Certainly
last year we turned one hundred, so it was quite
a pivotal point. But prior to that, you know, associations
have lost a bit of relevancy. If you think about
member organizations, your squash club, your tennis club, you know,
your bowling club, like they're all struggling for members. You know,
(04:26):
they're struggling to prove relevancy. And over time we've become
less connected to that community that we would have had
fifteen twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And so.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I guess what I brought to the role when certainly
when I went through the interview process was probably quite
a bold, significant perception change in what I was bringing
to it.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And I'm not an electrician and I'm certainly not a male.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So I think they probably took a bit of a
punt and thought, what could this person bring that is
significantly different from what we've had, and would that be
sufficient to change organization? So, if I think about the
electrical industry, it is going through massive transformation, right. Electrification
is the new big thing. We want all our kids
(05:10):
to be electricians or plumbers, and with that comes huge
opportunity and change.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
But I think the way.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
That we think about it is probably what I bought
to the role was that whole idea that actually, this
is a huge transformational change that we're going through, and
let's embrace it and see what we can do as
probably distinct from I bring this technical expertise, which is
I'm an electrical engineer, so I'm going to debate everything,
or I'm an electrical contractor and therefore I know everything
(05:37):
about the industry.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's been an awesome opportunity to bring a different skill
set to the leadership role and probably engage with members differently, yes,
than what that maybe had traditionally done previously.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We've been having this debate around leadership and how women
and men do lead differently. Yeah, because they have different perspectives.
Do you think you have a unique point of difference
because you're female.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think the way that we tackle things is probably different.
So I don't like being the expert in a particular thing.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
I think I bring quite a.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Generic, broad set of skills, and with that comes opportunities
to think about things differently. I struggled with this a
couple of years ago before I took this role. I
really struggled with not being an expert in a particular area.
And my brother bought me a book called Range by
David Epston, and it was all about how over time
we've become so specialized and siloed that we sometimes misconnecting
(06:40):
the dots or we miss being able to apply something
that we've learned in one field to another. And for me,
I think that has been my superpower in this role,
is actually being able to think about things much more
holistically and strategically, and then with that comes the opportunity
to tackle things a bit differently. So I don't know
if that answers your question.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But that makes so much sense to me. I was
actually having this conversation around the medical field recently, and
anyone that's been through the medical system and has hit
a bit of a roadblock, you will understand this. And
I had this with an autoimmune condition I had before
I was diagnosed, and a lot of the specialists I
saw were very siloed, and you know, they could take
(07:18):
care of their little part, but when it looks to
the bigger picture, which is often what you need to
do to diagnose someone with an autoimmune condition, it was hard.
And it wasn't until I found the specialist who had
a holistic approach and like to kind of delve into
other people's areas just enough to recognize and put you
onto the next specialist was I actually diagnosed. So I
(07:39):
one hundred percent agree with that. I think you're much
better to have someone that is open to the other areas.
And that's not necessarily people's fault, because I think we
study in silos, right, A lot of people, you know,
you study one area and that's what you fixate on,
and you're kind of discouraged from going into other avenues.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean the specialization, you know, track is one
that we encourage from early on, right, And I think
talking about your autoimmune disease, I was about fifteen or
sixteen when my mum was diagnosed with one and exactly
the same thing, like, and boy did I troll the
internet on everything and anything I could find, And yeah,
that whole general medicine versus specialization absolutely critical.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, you need someone that's going to open their eyes.
So I understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Back to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So how do you get to a position like this?
What has been your path? Take me back to you
at high school and how did you end up where
you are now as the CEO of this organization.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
It's a really complicated path, Tony. So I guess the
thing for me was I went to an all girls
school in Wellington and did that right from the age
of five through to eighteen. Pretty conservative and had lots
of opportunities, took lots of risks, so, you know, did
an AFS exchange, did spread of adventure, did all these
(09:04):
things that probably didn't fit the mold of what was
probably a traditional, you know, conservative girls' school. But you know,
it was kind of inherent in the way that I
am really left school with this view that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I was going to go down to Dunedin.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
My parents both went to Dunedin, went to Dunedin to
do medicine, and you know, after a great first year
at health sciences, didn't get into medicine.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Isn't that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I hear that a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, that's the story, right, And so for the first
time in my life, it was like something that I
had sort of thought inherently would happen didn't happen.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And I went, oh, God, okay, what.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Do I do now?
Speaker 4 (09:43):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And most people would go, oh, well, I've failed, you know,
this is the end, Like what am I going to
you know, how else can I recreate it? And I
just went, well, it's an opportunity to rethink stuff, and
it was an opportunity to embrace every opportunity that came
my way. So I went in and did pharmacology m
hm and loved that and meant I could stay in
Dunedin and you know, and then basically they asked me
(10:08):
to stay on and do an honors and I said, okay,
then you know you do you want to stay on
and do your PhD? And I went, well, okay, I
hadn't really thought about it. You know, every opportunity that
presented I've sort of embraced and did that for the
best part of sort of seven years. I said to
them when I did my pH d, I'm not going
to be here as a sort of research person for
(10:28):
a long period of time. So I'm in two and
a half years and out.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
And they went, oh, yeah, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
But sure enough two and a half years, completed my
pH d and then went, oh god, now what. So
I applied for a whole lot of jobs in public service,
as you do because you don't want to be in research,
and got one interview out of the forty.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Eight jobs I applied for.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
My goodness, I know, I thought I've got PhD, like
you know, like, surely, what do you put that down to?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I think, you know, when you do a PhD, really
the journeys you go and do research, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You become almost any is that? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
I think overqualified?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And then they couldn't really see, well, how are you're
going to apply that to you know.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
A particular role.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah. So I was lucky to get into the Ministry
of Health where they were looking at all the therapeutic
products and medicine's bill, so they wanted someone who had
sort of some background. So did you get I got
that one job, got them one job, moved back home
from Dunedin back to Wellington and basically started this career
pathway through government. And that strategic way of thinking and
(11:30):
the holistic way of thinking was really awesome. But then
I was like how does it work in practice? Like
can you actually apply that? It's all good to have ideologies,
but can you actually make change? So I jumped into
operational policy roles and very soon ended up in the
Churtiary Education Commission working in vocational education and basically managed
to help sort of influence the way in which vocational
(11:51):
education was funded and thought about. And at that time
it was still very much a trade based. You know,
people who didn't go to university did trades and spent
probably the best part of fifteen years working in government
and then actually working for providers who were delivering training
in that vocational space in and out, in and out,
in and out. Most recently sort of led that last
(12:14):
vocational reform where we ended up with the big TEP Pokinger.
And then this role came up and I thought, I'm
going to give this a crack. I'm going to apply
for it because I think industry associations can play a
huge role in how they champion that future workforce requirement
and need, and they depend on it. So I had
(12:35):
a crack and was successful.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And if I had said to you when you first
went to Dunedin, this is the path you were going
to take, These are the roles you're going to have,
you probably wouldn't have been able to predict this at all,
absolutely not. So you've just essentially followed your nose, haven't you.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I have? Yeah, I've For me, I've taken every opportunity
that's presented itself. For me, it's feeling the fear and
doing it anyway and knowing that if you didn't take
that opportunity, you'd always be wondering what if. And I
would hate to always be wondering what if? Right, So
I forgore, give it a crack and see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Sitting here talking to you today, I can tell that
you're a good talker and you're you're easy to connect with.
How much of a role do you think that has
played in your success?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I think it's really hard to be someone you're not,
and I've learnt that over the years. And I remember
one of my first early leadership roles standing up and
speaking in front of a big group of people and
for the first time ever having this sense of fear
for public speaking. I did speak in dramma all through school, right, so,
like you you know, like no problem. And I got
(13:41):
up there and I thought, I just I was just
absolute stage fright and that feeling when you're not used
to that, shocked by that feeling, and then the fact
that that feeling wouldn't go away for ages, like and
it wasn't till after I'd had children, but I went, man,
I can do anything now, you know. But it took
me just to overcome that fear. So I think what
(14:04):
that taught me was you've got to get up and
you've got to be able to talk about things that
you're passionate about, that you experienced in and that you
have some sort of connection to. And if you can't
do that, don't do it because you will feel like
an imposter and afford So I think for me, there
is an element of being able to connect with people
and actually be really genuine about the interaction. So it
(14:26):
might sound a bit cliche, but I've learned the hard
way that you need to be able to do that
otherwise you end up on stage with your mouth open.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And was that at that time? Was it something that
you didn't feel comfortable talking about? Is that why? Or
did you find did you work out techniques to get
up and be able to speak after that?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, it was before AI, right, so you had to
come up with your own story. But I think more
than that, it was about, you know, a very young,
sort of thirty year old talking to quite a big
room of public servants about things that they probably knew
a lot more about than I did, and so I
genuinely felt I didn't have value to impart on them,
(15:02):
and I probably did, but in a different way. And
I felt I probably needed to be something for them
that maybe I wasn't, And that came through really, really
clearly when I sort of got up and went, oh
my god, what am I going to say here? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So, where did that change come where you feel now
that you've got something to share it and you're happy
to share it. Was there a moment where that clicked
over it? Or do you think that's just taking time?
Probably a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I mean, I think when you have.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Children, everything changes in your whole perspective changes, and so
things that you've probably experienced in your professional life you
start experiencing in your personal life, and I think that
builds wisdom, It builds different ways of thinking about things
where you may have probably been quite dogmatic about, you know,
your view here, and then children come along and you
can no longer hold that true and you've got to
(15:51):
explore different ways of thinking and explore different approaches to things.
So I think for me, it's probably a combination of
actually just experiencing lots of things in my professional life
and then having experiences in your personal life that come together.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, that molding of the two worlds is quite hard,
isn't it. Particularly I guess you're in a job where
you could always do more and it could be never
ending if you didn't put some boundaries in place. So
how do you put those boundaries in place to make
sure that you can give enough time to your family,
enough time to your work, and I guess yourself to
keep yourself sane as well.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, it's a really hard one, I think, and I
reflect on this. You know, on Friday, I got a
call to do a show before this one in the morning,
and so they said to me, can you fly up
Sunday night, And by which stage my whole big Greek
family was coming over for Sunday dinner, you know, and
Sunday night's are kind of family night. However they look
and so for that was a really easy one. I said, Look,
(16:48):
I can't do that. Do I feel bad about the
missed opportunity, I absolutely do, But I know that I
would have been there feeling really bad about not having,
you know, connected with my brother and.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
My sister in law and my parents.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
So I think intuitively, you make decisions on the fly,
and some things do move and other things, you know,
are non negotiable, and that will change from week to week.
It does there's not you know, there's no hard and
fast role. But you know, I try my best to
be at most school events when I can be, even
if it's for fifteen minutes in and out. But equally,
(17:22):
if it means working late, you know, in the evenings
or having to pick up something in the weekends, that's
the price you pay for wanting the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You're listening till we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Just coming back to you being the first female in
this role, do you find that there is any form
of judgment from others because it is a new member
at new sex taking over this role, or if you
found it pretty supportive. I've actually found it really supportive.
And I get that a lot, you know, I get
that question a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yes, most of the people I engage with are males,
but also a lot of them are hugely successful business people,
hugely you know, knowledgeable in their technical field, and I
don't bring that element. What I bring are other skills
that complement that. So it took a little bit of
time to sort of set that up. And basically what
(18:17):
you see is what you get with me all the time.
So I don't think they felt threatened, and I think
that over time, I've proved that tackling things slightly differently,
instead of potentially being hit on, doing things a little
bit more gracefully or more openly or honestly and certainly
more transparently has really helped build those relationships. And actually,
(18:38):
most of our members will have a wife working in
the background, you know, and those are the ones that
are normally invisible. And I've been there when my husband
had his own business, you know, I was the one
in the background helping out with the admin. But they
also play a hugely influential role in how these people
can do what they do. So I think they've been
really open. I think they see the skill set as
(18:59):
compli mentry and they want the best for their industry
and their association and their organization. So for me, it's
been Yeah, it's been a really nice industry to work in.
The Other thing I'd say is that one of my bosses,
very early on in my career, mail boss said to me,
don't let your ego get in the way of a
(19:20):
really good business relationship.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Just don't do it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And that's stuck with me. And yes, sometimes it's you know,
you might end up with a snarky comment or a
difficult conversation, And I just always think to myself, just
don't let your ego get in the way. Make sure
that you're progressing the conversation for the best interests of
that particular issue or industry or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So in the reality is, you're always going to have
you odd person, aren't you. Of course, you know that's
just life, that's life in any realm. Yeah, everyone can't
be agreeing all the time.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Yeah, But I think it's how you tackle that even
if you do get that sort of perceived bias or judgment.
It's about tackling gracefully. It's not to say you can't
tackle it, and believe me, I have challenged a few times.
But it's the way in which I think you do
it that people get the message without you having to
sort of necessarily be head on and fiery on it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Do you think it's a good time for school leaders
to be looking into the trades and potentially become an electrician?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Totally?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Tell us why I give us your sales pitch?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, I mean, because you know our children are going
through it right now, right, And so for me, I
think the whole electrical contracting industry.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Let's call it.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
The electrical industry is changing faster than any other industry
right now.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
We're powering everything.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Look at the crisis we've got right now exactly. I
wish I had an electric vehicle, you know, and now
I'm seriously thinking about investing in one. But the way
in which our young people are going to tackle the
electrical industry is going to look really different. You've got automation,
You've got you know, advanced manufacturing, You've got AI and
how that's influencing energy efficient seeing usage. So there is
(21:02):
a real opportunity to reshape a fast growing industry. It's
tech industry converging with hardwiring, converging with data. You know,
it's such a cool place to be.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It feels solid, doesn't it when you think of AI
and how that's all changing. And it's nerve wracking for
a lot of school leavers thinking is there going to
be a job for me in five years? Because I
don't know, you know, totally.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I mean, I think, let's be honest, you know, AI
isn't going to be able to replace the physical vocational
element of hands on.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
You know work in a way.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
But also you've got to think about the fact that
you're taking hardware or you know, systems and you're trying
to integrate it with software and then integrate it with AI.
So that whole opportunity to connect different parts is going
to rely on someone being able to be good with
their hands but also be able to problem solve when
AI can't actually see that physical fault, that physical problem.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So it's AI, often, as we worked out, can be
a compulsive liar if you're not getting exactly get at
the right commands.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Totally self fulfilling, you know. So I think we're playing
a lot in the AI space at the moment with
how we can support our members to interpret regulations and
standards because you know, the way you and I interpret
things could be quite different.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So we're playing in that space.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
It's not going to replace the opportunities that are ahead
for the industry. I think it's a growth industry and
it will continue to be so for at least ten
to fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Do you find that your work stresses you out? Do
you have stressful times where you need to manage it?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yes, and it's always around people, you know, And that's
the same I think in every industry, whether it's needing
to support a staff member who might be going through
a difficult process or something difficult at home, or whether
it's keeping your board happy or you know, talking to
a grumpy member. You know, I think the people element
(22:53):
is the one that always stresses me, because you want
to make sure that you can do the best buy them.
And sometimes that does mean having the caught conversation, and
other times it means just sort of giving them a
really good listening to and thanking them for their feedback.
And I mean, I'll share a story with you if
you'd like. Tony So sure, I was on I was
driving to pick up the kids from school, and that
(23:15):
serene heater issue had kicked off.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
As if you're not aware of this, a whole lot
of serene heaters were recalled because of fire risk.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, and it was quite early on, and we'd taken
a position of public safety comes first, and so we
went out to the media and and my phone rang
and it was an unknown number, and I picked it up.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And never pick up an unknown I know. I know,
you think it's either someone trying to sell something to
you or someone with a complaint.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, And sure enough, it was the you know, the complaint,
and so I had this person, you know, do you
know what you've done?
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Do you know what if you've done?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Then I said regarding what because I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I'm just on the way to school.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I remember thinking to myself, actually, yeah, I do
know what I've done. And so I said, yes, yes
I do, and they said, we'll explain it. So I
went through methodically and explained it, and they said, okay, well,
you know, we don't agree or something, and they were yelling.
You know, it wasn't just a little conversation that were young.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Was their stance that they shouldn't have been recalled.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Their stance was that we shouldn't have gone out with
such a big public media fear, you know. Sort of
the only thing that I could come to mind after heat,
you know, sort of vented, was I said, look, I
really appreciate you calling me. Thank you so much for
your feedback. I really appreciate the phone call. And it
just took the heat out of it, you know, and
there wasn't anything that what could they say, well, you know,
(24:34):
so it was that took me a lot because it
was like a lot of the time people just need
sometimes be word to be heard, and all you can
do is thank them for their feedback. You might not
have a solution, you might have an answer, but and
I think that if we can solve more problems by
taking the heat out and then giving people a chance
to to engage constructively, it helps, whether it's staff or
(24:55):
kids at home, or husbands or whatever. I think that
that's that was a lesson for me very early on.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
In this role, to not meet fire with fire, yes.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And just and actually be graceful and thank them for
their phone call and thank them for their feedback. It
was genuine feedback, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah. I may not liked, probably a strong of herson
than me to react like that. Yeah, well it was
because I was just enough.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah in that moment, what comes to mind out of them?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Thanks for the phone, Yeah, thank you so much for
their abuse.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah next, Yeah I'm going to go pick up my
kids now, so you know, yeah, oh, well done, because
that's yeah, well handled.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So what is the future. What is the future for
your industry? The future is bright, Tony.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
I know, cliche.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Look, I mean I think the term master over time
has you know, consumers don't really understand it anymore, Like,
what's the importance of getting a master electrician over someone
who's not a master electrician. And sometimes that's you know,
people will say, well, you know you're not exclusive, but
we've got some work to do improving What does master
look like? You know, what what is the workmanship? What
(25:59):
are they guarantees that a consumer can feel confident that
when they've got a master electrician in their home or
you know, in their workplace, that they can absolutely attest
to the quality of workmanship. But also the customer service,
the pre sale, the after sale, or the servicing that
goes along with it. So we're on a bit of
a journey to really explore what that means. But also
(26:21):
the new pathway, the new generation of talent coming through,
how do we instill in them that actually their pathway
to mastery sits with really good training, really good employers
who are supporting them, really good science and maths because
they're going to need it as our industry becomes more complicated.
So it's really about pulling that together and going how
(26:42):
do we create the next generation of talent and how
do we make sure that the workforce we've got currently
can adopt to this new electrification because a lot of
them will be sitting there and going, I'm going to
continue to do what I've always done, and I might
diversify a little bit, but actually it's quite a revolutionary
change in our industry. Need it, We need them ready
to embrace it. So, any young budding electricians, science maths
(27:05):
is where it's at. Yeah, yeah, it really is. And
it's only going to get more complicated as you start
to have that electrical industry merging or morphing into data
and AI and systems and so. Yeah, it's a multifaceted
path where you can choose whichever one you want to
sort of take, but ultimately science and maths are really
(27:26):
strong foundations that you need.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Okay. And what would be your advice for any young
particularly women that would love to be in a position
like you, you know, in charge of an organization like
you are, and having been through what you went through,
with the path that you took, not going exactly where
you wanted it to go, but ultimately still ending up
in a pretty damn good place, what would your advice
(27:49):
be to those women?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I think, take every opportunity that presents itself. You know, like,
if you're thinking about motherhood, don't think that that's the
only option you know that you can own. Do that
for a period of time. Like our lives are about juggling,
and so work out what are the opportunities you want
to harvest, and then just take them. Don't pre plan
your path for the next five to ten years. Opportunities
(28:13):
will present themselves every day and you've got to be
ready to sort of.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Lean in and take it.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
And yeah, you might not be great at that, know
that and move on to the next thing. Don't think
of failure as finite. It's something that you've tried and
it didn't work out, So have a crack at something else.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I think it's a lovely place to end. Alexandra, thank
you so much for your time. Congratulations on your position,
and I look forward to seeing where the electrical industry
goes with you at the HELM too.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Thanks Tony, thank.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
You, thanks for listening to We need to talk contact
us on Instagram and we need to talk with Tony
Street or email. We need to talk at cost online,
dot co, dot in z
We Need to Talk, Tony Street's lifestyle and wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We Need to Talk. It's great to
have you with us. Women in leadership have made huge
strides in New Zealand over the past decade. Just over
forty six percent of New Zealand mp for now women.
Women make up fifty percent of senior managers in the
New Zealand public service, and in a recent study, fifty
percent of New Zealanders believed that things would work better
if more women held leadership positions. One of those female
(00:31):
leaders breaking the mold is Alexandra Rannick Wheeler, the first
ever CEO of Master Electricians, which is the body for
electrical contracting businesses across New Zealand. She represents over twelve
hundred and seventy member companies nationwide. She's also a mum
to two children so has a busy working and home life.
So we thought we would have a chat today to
(00:51):
work out of balance as possible and to just get
some thoughts on how to make all of this work.
It is so lovely to meet you and we were
just having a chat off here about your two kids.
We're going to start there because you hold this big position.
And look, you've come up from Wellington today and it's
Monday morning. Yeah, and you got the two kids. So
how does that balance work for you in having the
(01:14):
kids doing what they should be doing and making sure
that you do your job well too.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah. So I mean it's a really good question. I
was reflecting on that coming up. So, you know, really
early start and I just like to be really organized.
So last night it was make all the lunches, make
sure that all the breakfasts are semi sorted.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
You know, homeworks are in the bags.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And for me, that gives me confidence that I can
go off and do my day and do the best
that I can without having to worry. And my husband's
perfectly capable of doing all of that stuff. But there's
something about wanting to make sure that mum's done the
final touch, and that's sometimes that's.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
The challenge, Tony.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I think is like we want to make sure that
everything's perfect, and so we'll do our best to do
that and then you know, life gets in the way.
So I think for me it's about making sure or
that I've done everything I can to make sure they
have a good start, and then you know, we leave
the rest of fate.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So how does it work for you in a week
with your work and with picking the kids up? Because
your kids are what six and ten?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So how does that work with your day?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So I tend to sort of start earlier ish, so
you know, husband will do probably drop off and I'll
start early and I'll just work right through and try
and smash through as much as I can. And I
do really like to try and do pick up at
least three times a week. For my kids, it's just
a chance to hear what's happening in their lives, rush
them from one place to another, but make sure that
they see that we're there to support them. And they
(02:38):
do lots of activities after school, so there's always something on.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Plus I rely on my mum a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think we all do if they're available to help.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So work wise, what does a work week look like
for you? What do you do as the CEO of
Master Electricians?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Such a good question.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I kind of do quite a range of things really,
So I do a lot of member engagement, So try
and engage with my members all the time, understand what's
going on in their lives so that I know that
whatever we're doing at head office. It's reflective of what
they need and that involves a lot of travel. So
you know, last week I was sort of traveling too
out of the five days, so it's.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Quite a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But I also love that aspect of my role. And
then there's a lot of government sort of lobbying and
advocacy work that we do, so I spend a bit
of time in Parliament and prepping for minister's meetings and
that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
So it is quite a varied role.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I have a great team around me, so there's an
element of making sure that they feel supported and nurtured
and you know, have what they need to be able
to do their best role. So the thing I love
about it is really varied. But with that comes no
normal week.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Really is it weird being the first female in this job?
And why has it taken so long? Do you think?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, that's a.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Really good question. I get that quite a lot. I
get asked that question quite a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Do I think it's odd?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Not really, I think where the organization was at. Certainly
last year we turned one hundred, so it was quite
a pivotal point. But prior to that, you know, associations
have lost a bit of relevancy. If you think about
member organizations, your squash club, your tennis club, you know,
your bowling club, like they're all struggling for members. You know,
(04:26):
they're struggling to prove relevancy. And over time we've become
less connected to that community that we would have had
fifteen twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And so.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I guess what I brought to the role when certainly
when I went through the interview process was probably quite
a bold, significant perception change in what I was bringing
to it.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And I'm not an electrician and I'm certainly not a male.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So I think they probably took a bit of a
punt and thought, what could this person bring that is
significantly different from what we've had, and would that be
sufficient to change organization? So, if I think about the
electrical industry, it is going through massive transformation, right. Electrification
is the new big thing. We want all our kids
(05:10):
to be electricians or plumbers, and with that comes huge
opportunity and change.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
But I think the way.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
That we think about it is probably what I bought
to the role was that whole idea that actually, this
is a huge transformational change that we're going through, and
let's embrace it and see what we can do as
probably distinct from I bring this technical expertise, which is
I'm an electrical engineer, so I'm going to debate everything,
or I'm an electrical contractor and therefore I know everything
(05:37):
about the industry.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's been an awesome opportunity to bring a different skill
set to the leadership role and probably engage with members differently, yes,
than what that maybe had traditionally done previously.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We've been having this debate around leadership and how women
and men do lead differently. Yeah, because they have different perspectives.
Do you think you have a unique point of difference
because you're female.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think the way that we tackle things is probably different.
So I don't like being the expert in a particular thing.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
I think I bring quite a.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Generic, broad set of skills, and with that comes opportunities
to think about things differently. I struggled with this a
couple of years ago before I took this role. I
really struggled with not being an expert in a particular area.
And my brother bought me a book called Range by
David Epston, and it was all about how over time
we've become so specialized and siloed that we sometimes misconnecting
(06:40):
the dots or we miss being able to apply something
that we've learned in one field to another. And for me,
I think that has been my superpower in this role,
is actually being able to think about things much more
holistically and strategically, and then with that comes the opportunity
to tackle things a bit differently. So I don't know
if that answers your question.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But that makes so much sense to me. I was
actually having this conversation around the medical field recently, and
anyone that's been through the medical system and has hit
a bit of a roadblock, you will understand this. And
I had this with an autoimmune condition I had before
I was diagnosed, and a lot of the specialists I
saw were very siloed, and you know, they could take
(07:18):
care of their little part, but when it looks to
the bigger picture, which is often what you need to
do to diagnose someone with an autoimmune condition, it was hard.
And it wasn't until I found the specialist who had
a holistic approach and like to kind of delve into
other people's areas just enough to recognize and put you
onto the next specialist was I actually diagnosed. So I
(07:39):
one hundred percent agree with that. I think you're much
better to have someone that is open to the other areas.
And that's not necessarily people's fault, because I think we
study in silos, right, A lot of people, you know,
you study one area and that's what you fixate on,
and you're kind of discouraged from going into other avenues.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean the specialization, you know, track is one
that we encourage from early on, right, And I think
talking about your autoimmune disease, I was about fifteen or
sixteen when my mum was diagnosed with one and exactly
the same thing, like, and boy did I troll the
internet on everything and anything I could find, And yeah,
that whole general medicine versus specialization absolutely critical.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, you need someone that's going to open their eyes.
So I understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Back to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So how do you get to a position like this?
What has been your path? Take me back to you
at high school and how did you end up where
you are now as the CEO of this organization.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
It's a really complicated path, Tony. So I guess the
thing for me was I went to an all girls
school in Wellington and did that right from the age
of five through to eighteen. Pretty conservative and had lots
of opportunities, took lots of risks, so, you know, did
an AFS exchange, did spread of adventure, did all these
(09:04):
things that probably didn't fit the mold of what was
probably a traditional, you know, conservative girls' school. But you know,
it was kind of inherent in the way that I
am really left school with this view that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I was going to go down to Dunedin.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
My parents both went to Dunedin, went to Dunedin to
do medicine, and you know, after a great first year
at health sciences, didn't get into medicine.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Isn't that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I hear that a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, that's the story, right, And so for the first
time in my life, it was like something that I
had sort of thought inherently would happen didn't happen.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And I went, oh, God, okay, what.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Do I do now?
Speaker 4 (09:43):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And most people would go, oh, well, I've failed, you know,
this is the end, Like what am I going to
you know, how else can I recreate it? And I
just went, well, it's an opportunity to rethink stuff, and
it was an opportunity to embrace every opportunity that came
my way. So I went in and did pharmacology m
hm and loved that and meant I could stay in
Dunedin and you know, and then basically they asked me
(10:08):
to stay on and do an honors and I said, okay,
then you know you do you want to stay on
and do your PhD? And I went, well, okay, I
hadn't really thought about it. You know, every opportunity that
presented I've sort of embraced and did that for the
best part of sort of seven years. I said to
them when I did my pH d, I'm not going
to be here as a sort of research person for
(10:28):
a long period of time. So I'm in two and
a half years and out.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
And they went, oh, yeah, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
But sure enough two and a half years, completed my
pH d and then went, oh god, now what. So
I applied for a whole lot of jobs in public service,
as you do because you don't want to be in research,
and got one interview out of the forty.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Eight jobs I applied for.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
My goodness, I know, I thought I've got PhD, like
you know, like, surely, what do you put that down to?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I think, you know, when you do a PhD, really
the journeys you go and do research, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You become almost any is that? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
I think overqualified?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And then they couldn't really see, well, how are you're
going to apply that to you know.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
A particular role.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah. So I was lucky to get into the Ministry
of Health where they were looking at all the therapeutic
products and medicine's bill, so they wanted someone who had
sort of some background. So did you get I got
that one job, got them one job, moved back home
from Dunedin back to Wellington and basically started this career
pathway through government. And that strategic way of thinking and
(11:30):
the holistic way of thinking was really awesome. But then
I was like how does it work in practice? Like
can you actually apply that? It's all good to have ideologies,
but can you actually make change? So I jumped into
operational policy roles and very soon ended up in the
Churtiary Education Commission working in vocational education and basically managed
to help sort of influence the way in which vocational
(11:51):
education was funded and thought about. And at that time
it was still very much a trade based. You know,
people who didn't go to university did trades and spent
probably the best part of fifteen years working in government
and then actually working for providers who were delivering training
in that vocational space in and out, in and out,
in and out. Most recently sort of led that last
(12:14):
vocational reform where we ended up with the big TEP Pokinger.
And then this role came up and I thought, I'm
going to give this a crack. I'm going to apply
for it because I think industry associations can play a
huge role in how they champion that future workforce requirement
and need, and they depend on it. So I had
(12:35):
a crack and was successful.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And if I had said to you when you first
went to Dunedin, this is the path you were going
to take, These are the roles you're going to have,
you probably wouldn't have been able to predict this at all,
absolutely not. So you've just essentially followed your nose, haven't you.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I have? Yeah, I've For me, I've taken every opportunity
that's presented itself. For me, it's feeling the fear and
doing it anyway and knowing that if you didn't take
that opportunity, you'd always be wondering what if. And I
would hate to always be wondering what if? Right, So
I forgore, give it a crack and see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Sitting here talking to you today, I can tell that
you're a good talker and you're you're easy to connect with.
How much of a role do you think that has
played in your success?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I think it's really hard to be someone you're not,
and I've learnt that over the years. And I remember
one of my first early leadership roles standing up and
speaking in front of a big group of people and
for the first time ever having this sense of fear
for public speaking. I did speak in dramma all through school, right, so,
like you you know, like no problem. And I got
(13:41):
up there and I thought, I just I was just
absolute stage fright and that feeling when you're not used
to that, shocked by that feeling, and then the fact
that that feeling wouldn't go away for ages, like and
it wasn't till after I'd had children, but I went, man,
I can do anything now, you know. But it took
me just to overcome that fear. So I think what
(14:04):
that taught me was you've got to get up and
you've got to be able to talk about things that
you're passionate about, that you experienced in and that you
have some sort of connection to. And if you can't
do that, don't do it because you will feel like
an imposter and afford So I think for me, there
is an element of being able to connect with people
and actually be really genuine about the interaction. So it
(14:26):
might sound a bit cliche, but I've learned the hard
way that you need to be able to do that
otherwise you end up on stage with your mouth open.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And was that at that time? Was it something that
you didn't feel comfortable talking about? Is that why? Or
did you find did you work out techniques to get
up and be able to speak after that?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, it was before AI, right, so you had to
come up with your own story. But I think more
than that, it was about, you know, a very young,
sort of thirty year old talking to quite a big
room of public servants about things that they probably knew
a lot more about than I did, and so I
genuinely felt I didn't have value to impart on them,
(15:02):
and I probably did, but in a different way. And
I felt I probably needed to be something for them
that maybe I wasn't, And that came through really, really
clearly when I sort of got up and went, oh
my god, what am I going to say here? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So, where did that change come where you feel now
that you've got something to share it and you're happy
to share it. Was there a moment where that clicked
over it? Or do you think that's just taking time?
Probably a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I mean, I think when you have.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Children, everything changes in your whole perspective changes, and so
things that you've probably experienced in your professional life you
start experiencing in your personal life, and I think that
builds wisdom, It builds different ways of thinking about things
where you may have probably been quite dogmatic about, you know,
your view here, and then children come along and you
can no longer hold that true and you've got to
(15:51):
explore different ways of thinking and explore different approaches to things.
So I think for me, it's probably a combination of
actually just experiencing lots of things in my professional life
and then having experiences in your personal life that come together.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, that molding of the two worlds is quite hard,
isn't it. Particularly I guess you're in a job where
you could always do more and it could be never
ending if you didn't put some boundaries in place. So
how do you put those boundaries in place to make
sure that you can give enough time to your family,
enough time to your work, and I guess yourself to
keep yourself sane as well.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, it's a really hard one, I think, and I
reflect on this. You know, on Friday, I got a
call to do a show before this one in the morning,
and so they said to me, can you fly up
Sunday night, And by which stage my whole big Greek
family was coming over for Sunday dinner, you know, and
Sunday night's are kind of family night. However they look
and so for that was a really easy one. I said, Look,
(16:48):
I can't do that. Do I feel bad about the
missed opportunity, I absolutely do, But I know that I
would have been there feeling really bad about not having,
you know, connected with my brother and.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
My sister in law and my parents.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
So I think intuitively, you make decisions on the fly,
and some things do move and other things, you know,
are non negotiable, and that will change from week to week.
It does there's not you know, there's no hard and
fast role. But you know, I try my best to
be at most school events when I can be, even
if it's for fifteen minutes in and out. But equally,
(17:22):
if it means working late, you know, in the evenings
or having to pick up something in the weekends, that's
the price you pay for wanting the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You're listening till we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Just coming back to you being the first female in
this role, do you find that there is any form
of judgment from others because it is a new member
at new sex taking over this role, or if you
found it pretty supportive. I've actually found it really supportive.
And I get that a lot, you know, I get
that question a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yes, most of the people I engage with are males,
but also a lot of them are hugely successful business people,
hugely you know, knowledgeable in their technical field, and I
don't bring that element. What I bring are other skills
that complement that. So it took a little bit of
time to sort of set that up. And basically what
(18:17):
you see is what you get with me all the time.
So I don't think they felt threatened, and I think
that over time, I've proved that tackling things slightly differently,
instead of potentially being hit on, doing things a little
bit more gracefully or more openly or honestly and certainly
more transparently has really helped build those relationships. And actually,
(18:38):
most of our members will have a wife working in
the background, you know, and those are the ones that
are normally invisible. And I've been there when my husband
had his own business, you know, I was the one
in the background helping out with the admin. But they
also play a hugely influential role in how these people
can do what they do. So I think they've been
really open. I think they see the skill set as
(18:59):
compli mentry and they want the best for their industry
and their association and their organization. So for me, it's
been Yeah, it's been a really nice industry to work in.
The Other thing I'd say is that one of my bosses,
very early on in my career, mail boss said to me,
don't let your ego get in the way of a
(19:20):
really good business relationship.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Just don't do it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And that's stuck with me. And yes, sometimes it's you know,
you might end up with a snarky comment or a
difficult conversation, And I just always think to myself, just
don't let your ego get in the way. Make sure
that you're progressing the conversation for the best interests of
that particular issue or industry or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So in the reality is, you're always going to have
you odd person, aren't you. Of course, you know that's
just life, that's life in any realm. Yeah, everyone can't
be agreeing all the time.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Yeah, But I think it's how you tackle that even
if you do get that sort of perceived bias or judgment.
It's about tackling gracefully. It's not to say you can't
tackle it, and believe me, I have challenged a few times.
But it's the way in which I think you do
it that people get the message without you having to
sort of necessarily be head on and fiery on it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Do you think it's a good time for school leaders
to be looking into the trades and potentially become an electrician?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Totally?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Tell us why I give us your sales pitch?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, I mean, because you know our children are going
through it right now, right, And so for me, I
think the whole electrical contracting industry.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Let's call it.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
The electrical industry is changing faster than any other industry
right now.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
We're powering everything.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Look at the crisis we've got right now exactly. I
wish I had an electric vehicle, you know, and now
I'm seriously thinking about investing in one. But the way
in which our young people are going to tackle the
electrical industry is going to look really different. You've got automation,
You've got you know, advanced manufacturing, You've got AI and
how that's influencing energy efficient seeing usage. So there is
(21:02):
a real opportunity to reshape a fast growing industry. It's
tech industry converging with hardwiring, converging with data. You know,
it's such a cool place to be.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It feels solid, doesn't it when you think of AI
and how that's all changing. And it's nerve wracking for
a lot of school leavers thinking is there going to
be a job for me in five years? Because I
don't know, you know, totally.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I mean, I think, let's be honest, you know, AI
isn't going to be able to replace the physical vocational
element of hands on.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
You know work in a way.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
But also you've got to think about the fact that
you're taking hardware or you know, systems and you're trying
to integrate it with software and then integrate it with AI.
So that whole opportunity to connect different parts is going
to rely on someone being able to be good with
their hands but also be able to problem solve when
AI can't actually see that physical fault, that physical problem.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So it's AI, often, as we worked out, can be
a compulsive liar if you're not getting exactly get at
the right commands.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Totally self fulfilling, you know. So I think we're playing
a lot in the AI space at the moment with
how we can support our members to interpret regulations and
standards because you know, the way you and I interpret
things could be quite different.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So we're playing in that space.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
It's not going to replace the opportunities that are ahead
for the industry. I think it's a growth industry and
it will continue to be so for at least ten
to fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Do you find that your work stresses you out? Do
you have stressful times where you need to manage it?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yes, and it's always around people, you know, And that's
the same I think in every industry, whether it's needing
to support a staff member who might be going through
a difficult process or something difficult at home, or whether
it's keeping your board happy or you know, talking to
a grumpy member. You know, I think the people element
(22:53):
is the one that always stresses me, because you want
to make sure that you can do the best buy them.
And sometimes that does mean having the caught conversation, and
other times it means just sort of giving them a
really good listening to and thanking them for their feedback.
And I mean, I'll share a story with you if
you'd like. Tony So sure, I was on I was
driving to pick up the kids from school, and that
(23:15):
serene heater issue had kicked off.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
As if you're not aware of this, a whole lot
of serene heaters were recalled because of fire risk.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, and it was quite early on, and we'd taken
a position of public safety comes first, and so we
went out to the media and and my phone rang
and it was an unknown number, and I picked it up.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And never pick up an unknown I know. I know,
you think it's either someone trying to sell something to
you or someone with a complaint.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, And sure enough, it was the you know, the complaint,
and so I had this person, you know, do you
know what you've done?
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Do you know what if you've done?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Then I said regarding what because I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I'm just on the way to school.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I remember thinking to myself, actually, yeah, I do
know what I've done. And so I said, yes, yes
I do, and they said, we'll explain it. So I
went through methodically and explained it, and they said, okay, well,
you know, we don't agree or something, and they were yelling.
You know, it wasn't just a little conversation that were young.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Was their stance that they shouldn't have been recalled.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Their stance was that we shouldn't have gone out with
such a big public media fear, you know. Sort of
the only thing that I could come to mind after heat,
you know, sort of vented, was I said, look, I
really appreciate you calling me. Thank you so much for
your feedback. I really appreciate the phone call. And it
just took the heat out of it, you know, and
there wasn't anything that what could they say, well, you know,
(24:34):
so it was that took me a lot because it
was like a lot of the time people just need
sometimes be word to be heard, and all you can
do is thank them for their feedback. You might not
have a solution, you might have an answer, but and
I think that if we can solve more problems by
taking the heat out and then giving people a chance
to to engage constructively, it helps, whether it's staff or
(24:55):
kids at home, or husbands or whatever. I think that
that's that was a lesson for me very early on.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
In this role, to not meet fire with fire, yes.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And just and actually be graceful and thank them for
their phone call and thank them for their feedback. It
was genuine feedback, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah. I may not liked, probably a strong of herson
than me to react like that. Yeah, well it was
because I was just enough.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah in that moment, what comes to mind out of them?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Thanks for the phone, Yeah, thank you so much for
their abuse.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah next, Yeah I'm going to go pick up my
kids now, so you know, yeah, oh, well done, because
that's yeah, well handled.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So what is the future. What is the future for
your industry? The future is bright, Tony.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
I know, cliche.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Look, I mean I think the term master over time
has you know, consumers don't really understand it anymore, Like,
what's the importance of getting a master electrician over someone
who's not a master electrician. And sometimes that's you know,
people will say, well, you know you're not exclusive, but
we've got some work to do improving What does master
look like? You know, what what is the workmanship? What
(25:59):
are they guarantees that a consumer can feel confident that
when they've got a master electrician in their home or
you know, in their workplace, that they can absolutely attest
to the quality of workmanship. But also the customer service,
the pre sale, the after sale, or the servicing that
goes along with it. So we're on a bit of
a journey to really explore what that means. But also
(26:21):
the new pathway, the new generation of talent coming through,
how do we instill in them that actually their pathway
to mastery sits with really good training, really good employers
who are supporting them, really good science and maths because
they're going to need it as our industry becomes more complicated.
So it's really about pulling that together and going how
(26:42):
do we create the next generation of talent and how
do we make sure that the workforce we've got currently
can adopt to this new electrification because a lot of
them will be sitting there and going, I'm going to
continue to do what I've always done, and I might
diversify a little bit, but actually it's quite a revolutionary
change in our industry. Need it, We need them ready
to embrace it. So, any young budding electricians, science maths
(27:05):
is where it's at. Yeah, yeah, it really is. And
it's only going to get more complicated as you start
to have that electrical industry merging or morphing into data
and AI and systems and so. Yeah, it's a multifaceted
path where you can choose whichever one you want to
sort of take, but ultimately science and maths are really
(27:26):
strong foundations that you need.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Okay. And what would be your advice for any young
particularly women that would love to be in a position
like you, you know, in charge of an organization like
you are, and having been through what you went through,
with the path that you took, not going exactly where
you wanted it to go, but ultimately still ending up
in a pretty damn good place, what would your advice
(27:49):
be to those women?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I think, take every opportunity that presents itself. You know, like,
if you're thinking about motherhood, don't think that that's the
only option you know that you can own. Do that
for a period of time. Like our lives are about juggling,
and so work out what are the opportunities you want
to harvest, and then just take them. Don't pre plan
your path for the next five to ten years. Opportunities
(28:13):
will present themselves every day and you've got to be
ready to sort of.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Lean in and take it.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
And yeah, you might not be great at that, know
that and move on to the next thing. Don't think
of failure as finite. It's something that you've tried and
it didn't work out, So have a crack at something else.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I think it's a lovely place to end. Alexandra, thank
you so much for your time. Congratulations on your position,
and I look forward to seeing where the electrical industry
goes with you at the HELM too.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Thanks Tony, thank.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
You, thanks for listening to We need to talk contact
us on Instagram and we need to talk with Tony
Street or email. We need to talk at cost online,
dot co, dot in z
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