June 9, 2025 • 29 mins
We've had such a great response to the episode with Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn that we decided to play the extended version. There were so many great takeaways in this chat that didn't make the cut, so we hope you enjoy this extended conversation. Matt talks about the importance of taking on the hard challenges, his approach to health and fitness and why he sends less than 5 emails a day.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Australian Financial Review.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to fifteen Minutes with the Boss. We've
had such a great response to the episodes with Matt
Common and Janine Allis that we've decided to play the
extended version of both these episodes. This week, we're going
to hear from Matt Common, the chief executive of Conwealth Bank.
There were so many great takeaways that just didn't make
the cut, so we hope you really like hearing a
(00:28):
lot more of what Matt Common had to say. Please enjoy.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Sometimes when you don't feel like it, it's also a
really good sort of challenge. Again, I find it quite
interesting when you're having a bad day, things have come
off track, you don't feel as well prepared and sort
of trying to embrace that to see, well, let's see
what I've got.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
But when I started absolutely not like everyone and I
was nervous, I was worried.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm Sally Patton, Editor of Boss from the Australian Financial Review,
and welcome to fifteen Minutes with the Boss, a podcast
about success and failure and everything in between. And along
the way we're aiming to get some great advice from
our leaders. My guest today happily is Matt Common, the
(01:27):
Chief Executive of the Comonwealth Bank of Australia. Hi, Matt,
how's your day been so far?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Very good? Great to be with you, excellent.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Thank you for coming in now. Matt, as I said,
you're the CEO of Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest bank, with
the global staff of around fifty thousand people, which has
quite a few to be in charge of. Last year
you recorded a nine point eight billion dollar cash profit,
of which you return some eight billion dollars to shareholders
through dividends. You bank more than one in three Australians
(01:57):
and my interesting slash fum fat is that you bank
forty six percent of younger adults. That is a lot
to be proud of. It Does it make you proud
to hear those numbers?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It does?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I mean, I'm very lucky. I've been at CBA for
more than two decades. It's been a wonderful life experience.
I've you know, there's always ups and downs in any career,
in job, but I've also worked with some amazing people
over that time. And I'm you know, I'm proud of
what the Commonwealth Bank does and the opportunity to lead
it fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, let's get into it. The clock starts now. My
first question is what does your morning routine look like?
What time do you get up? What happens?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So, no fixed routine, I don't have an alarm clock,
but I'll generally wake up somewhere between around six early
this morning, it was earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I basically will get up, exercise, go to work.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And what does the exercise comprise of varies.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
This morning gym sometimes run, not so much cycling anymore,
but probably exercise days. But if I don't have we've
got something on, I will skip it. But I generally
don't have a fixed schedule. I'm always in by a
certain time, but I sort of when I wake up,
I get up, and I don't seem to really ever
sleep in.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So what time do you get to the office by?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Somewhere around sort of seven thirty ish?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Okay, you're not particularly worried if you don't get your
exercise in, and you sort of go with the flow
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
I mostly get it in.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It'll only be if there's something I really feel like
I can't, or I'm particularly tired, or I've had a
late night. You know, sometimes it might be out two
or three nights a week at different events or traveling.
It's obviously harder when you're traveling, but I'm sort of
managed across my schedule. I try to be probably exercising
five days a week if I can.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Okay. And are you a breakfast person?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I am.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I have a fairly regular routine, but not nothing particularly sophisticated.
I have a protein shake and I have some fruit
and a green juice.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay. And are you a snacker? Does that last you
to lunchtime?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Most days occasion only, I'll have a snack, but not often.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Okay, all right, My next question is tell me about
a pivocial moment in your career that changed the trajectory
of what you were doing or somehow changed even the way,
somehow changed even what you wanted to be later on.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
One of them would definitely be POSTGFC. So we've been
two thousand and nine and CBA was involved in well,
a financial advice group in North Queensland had failed and
a number of customers who had products with the Komwalf
Bank and I was I volunteered to lead the remediation
of that. So it was three and a half thousand
(04:37):
people basically lost their life savings.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I learned a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I mean, I dealt for the first time with the
then CEO Ralph Board. I worked with a number of
legal firms because the bank was being sued. I appeared
in Parliament for the first time. I went and met
with customers directly. I think you learn the importance of
doing the difficul things yourself. You see the impact of
(05:03):
when things go bad and leverage, and those customers were
highly leaved and invested, obviously in a speculative at the
time strategy which had worked spectacularly badly in the GFC.
So I did that for most of two thousand and
nine and it was a really unique experience that I
(05:26):
learned a lot from, very very challenging, and you know,
a number of those lessons I think I've taken with
me throughout then.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So what are the core things that you've taken with
you from that time, Well.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I mean, I think it's important. There's no substitute for
firsthand experience. I remember after one of the customer events
and I'd finished and talking on obviously some of the
customers were very upset and angry, and my taxi had
long since left, and one of the people that were
there offered to give me a lift. I was staying
in Brisbane, CBD, just talking to them about their life story.
(06:01):
They'd lost everything and they'd retired. They having to go
back to work. Mom was working as a part time
in a subway store. I mean you see it up close,
working and understanding all of the implications and consequences of that,
trying to come up with the remediation. Like when something's
gone wrong, don't be pushed to a concession. Get to
(06:22):
the bottom of what actually happened. Say what happened. If
you've done something wrong, try and fix it as swiftly
and as fairly as possible. Really take a forensic approach
to things. Have a level of professional skepticism. Don't accept
what people say happened, not because anyone's trying to mislead you.
I think it's very hard when something's gone wrong to
(06:46):
necessarily sort of investigate and get to the bottom of
something yourself. I think it's just human nature. You try
to see things through a better lens than perhaps they are,
So there is importance around sort of you know, independence
of process, getting to the bottom of things. Dealing with
very difficult and emotional circumstances. You know, I dealt with
a major class action law firm at the time, which
(07:09):
you know, probably conventional wisdom might have been that's going
to be really challenging. But we tried to deal with
them very fairly, and I thought they dealt with us
very fairly. We got to an outcome I never felt.
I think there's a way to build a relationship that's
based on transparency and integrity, even with someone that might
(07:30):
otherwise be seen as you know, an adversary at that
at that point in time, and so I took I
think I probably took a lot of confidence from that,
from being exposed to something really really challenging.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So what were you doing immediately before that role and
did you put your hand up for the role or
did someone tap you on the shoulder.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I was running comseck and I put my hand up
for the role. A number of people asked, why would
you want to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I'm sure they did.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I certainly didn't have any of the foresight. I mean,
looking back, it's clear that was a really important period
and a great opportunity. But I guess at the time
of putting my hand up it was less obvious, but
obviously I'm really glad I did. And I think it's
really important about embracing opportunity and trying to do difficult things.
(08:17):
I think when lots of leaders differentiate themselves over time,
it's generally those who move towards the hard issues. They
don't leave it to others. And that's obviously easy to say,
but it's actually incredibly important.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And was there a point where you thought you had
bitten off maybe more than you could chew you? Because
I guess that's also part of the learning.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Right, absolutely so, yes, I mean at various all of
those things. I think when you do something for the
first time, it feels it can feel daunting. I think
with the right mindset, you can gain both a lot
of experience and confidence, and a lot of things become
easier in life, and also from a career perspective after
(08:59):
you've done them before, and really doing things that are
challenging is so rewarding because a lot of other things
that maybe seemed hard for you before then actually seem
pretty easy, And a lot of things just get easier
with time and experience.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, it's good to know. My next question is what
is the best piece of career advice you've ever been given.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I mean, really embrace the opportunities that you're given. And
that for me would have been a few years before
that as a particular point when I was being asked
to go and lead a piece of work which was
comm see big technology project at CBA, and I didn't
necessarily want to do it, but the person that I
(09:40):
was working for, so it gave me that piece of advice.
And ultimately part of that was, you know, he asked
me at the time, do you trust me? And I said,
I absolutely do and I did, and he was, you know,
this is going to be really you might not think
it is, it's going to be really good and important
for you to do it. And and it taught me
a lot because I think, you know a lot of
(10:03):
times you see people that can be a little bit tentative,
and you know, life comes with sort of unexpected opportunities
and challenges, and I think if you're the sort of
person that's really looking for a way to, you know,
embrace an opportunity, there's so many different ways that you
can learn. You know, you tend to be then I
think rewarded with other opportunities as well. And you know,
(10:26):
I've just found that there are so many ways to
learn in life and in business and from other people
as well. And so I think the sort of embracing
opportunities with curiosity and trying to just continue to improve
every day, it makes a huge difference that you know
both that's a mindset as well as you know a
determination to do both of those things.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So when you're looking at those new opportunities and you're thinking,
maybe I don't want to do that because it's a
bit scary, how do you stop second guessing yourself and
just forcing yourself to say, yes.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It's important to be able to do that, and I do.
I think it's important to have constructive self reflection and
looking for the things that you can improve every day.
But I don't ruminate, I don't second guess. And I
see this sometimes people will ask about public speaking. I'm
never the sort of person that's worried about what if
(11:19):
I forget this or what if I just never allow
my mind to go down those sort of paths. And
some of that just comes from repetition. And so I
think there's a point you've always just got to be
prepared to commit and not look back. Like looking backwards
is you know, regret thinking about all the things you
could have or would have should have.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Forget it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Just think about how you can take that forward. And
I think that's a really important life skill.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That is fantastic advice. No greats, don't look back, look forward. Yeah, Okay, Matt.
On that note, that is the end of our first section.
Don't go away. We're going to take a short break
and when we come back, we're going to open our
embarrassingly loath fire load tech chatterbox. Very good, welcome back
(12:12):
to fifteen Minutes with the Boss. I'm here with Matt Common,
the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank. Now, Matt, this
is our section called the Chatterbox. As threatened. In front
of you is a really lovely brown, shiny cardboard box
inside which are today, I think probably about ten fifteen questions.
(12:36):
I'm going to ask you to have a bit of
a shuffle around, pickut some and let's start. I get
to read it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Do you have a coping mechanism for high stress situations?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Well, I think a couple of things are really important. One,
I think being able to perform as well as possible,
which also includes dealing with high stress. There's a lot
of very conscious about sort of state. You know, good sleep, exercise,
I think, trying to always put yourself in the right position. Secondly,
I think look, dealing with stress gets easier with time. Thirdly,
(13:12):
as I've seen and learned, you know, often things are
not as bad as they first seen. Often the worry
can be debilitating. So I think it's a sense of
proportionality and being able to just work calmly through individual problems.
(13:32):
And obviously that's the most important thing about dealing with
difficult issues or stress. Just having a great team and something.
It's a big part of my job is getting the
right people in the right roles, working to their potential,
working well together. You know, once you've got that, things
are a lot less stressful. When you feel like you've
got a great team around you, you've got great support.
In my case from the board. You know, there's clarity,
(13:54):
there's alignment. I feel like, you know, you can work
calmly through any problem, like any any job and a
situation in life. It can be it can be stressful,
but I think with the right mindset and approach, there's
always a way forward.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Always so in terms of how much you sleep, and
how much you exercise in your recovery time, and even
what you put in your body. Do you measure those
things or do you have a device to measure those.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I have a couple of devices that measure those. Yes,
I do like metrics, but I also you know, I
if I've had a bad sleep, I won't necessarily watch
too closely. I don't, so I'm sort of like trying
to look at the averages and how I'm going over time.
I've sort of stepped back from looking at as closely
(14:42):
every single day as I would have a few years ago,
because I think it cann be a little bit self reinforcing,
or as I think most things in life, if you're
doing the right things consistently over a long period of time,
the benefits really really compound. So like I would never
worry about the one bad night or that I'll all
mean the few but you just know, you know, like
(15:04):
compound interest, if you just keep doing the right things
month in month out, it makes a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sleep is a really big thing at the moment. Do
you have a sleep goal? Do you know how many
hours you like to get I.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Do I try to get seven. Yeah, I measure that
in a couple of ways. I'll get less certain days
of the week versus I'll try to e which you
can't actually catch up on sleep, but you know, just
it's easier to sleep on a weekend night. I tend
to probably not sleep as well on a Sunday night.
And I'm just sort of used to the pattern. And
(15:36):
also I just try to manage my load physically mentally
so that I'm kind of if I've got something that's
really really hectic that's coming up, I'll try to ease
back a little bit to give myself a bit of
a rest beforehand. And likewise I try to Yeah, I
guess I plan pretty carefully.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And when it comes to exercising, are you real type A?
Do you push yourself a lot?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I like to push myself. I mean, as I've gotten older,
I don't exercise for I mean I'll train for maybe
an hour. I won't do four hours. You know, i'd
do a ten k run. I'd never do a marathon now,
you know. I just it's diminishing returns. It's I don't
think it's super healthy and it's too fatiguing. So I
(16:20):
just try to get there.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Do I have a day job I.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Do alongside my family.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's I'm optimizing for my work, and so I'm trying
to do everything I can to be healthy and in
the best condition possible so I can perform as best
I can.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, that's really good advice. Okay, have another fish in
the chatterbox. Let's see what turns up. Do you like
public speaking and have you always liked it?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I certainly haven't always liked it. I doubt many people have.
I do now.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Because I mean, realistically, I communicate for a living. Sometimes
I feel like I answer questions for a living, And
I mean a big part of when you're leading people
is being able to communicate clearly hopefully inspire, but also
you know, try and reach the audience, and you know,
(17:12):
often think that it's not always most people can't remember
what you say. Obviously that dissipates relatively quickly, but many
people can remember what it felt like when you were talking.
And I think, you know, I've just done a lot
of it, and so the repetitions make it easier, means
that you enjoy it more. I prefer I mean, I
(17:32):
don't like I wouldn't like to be an MC at
a wedding.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
But I like SPA.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
But I thought that's a lot easier than what you do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
No, I just sort of I like structure. I don't
mind doing a speech. I think, like anything, if you
don't have a mindset that you enjoy it and you
try to do a really good job and think about
like what do I really I think intent is so
important what I want to get out of this, you know,
I don't sort of stumble into things.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I'm sort of you've thought about it.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Part.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I want to think about Italy and then I just
try to push everything else out of my mind. Right
before I go on stage, I've got routine and then
I just start and I don't second guess. I don't
like over react if I don't know whatever an alarm
goes off or something, because I've done it so many times.
With that comes a degree of confidence that you know
(18:22):
you can you can do it well, and sometimes when
you don't feel like it. It's also a really good
sort of challenge again, because sometimes I think it's less
about how well you might do something when you're feeling
great and everything's going you know, it's actually I find
it quite interesting when you're you know, you're having a
bad day, things have gone off track, you don't feel
(18:42):
as well prepared, and sort of trying to again embrace that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
To see, well, let's see how much I can do.
Let's see what I've got.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, and I think that's that's fun. And so you
bet when I started, absolutely not. I mean, like everyone,
I was nervous. I was, you know, I was worried
about about that. But I don't know how many times
I've spoken in public, but a lot, so it's something
that I've certainly grown to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I have seen you a lot in the public on stages,
and I think you're terrific. What's your routine beforehand? Do
do you have a breathing exercise or do you stand
up with your shoulders back or some people have you know,
all sorts of different routines.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I just want a little bit of quiet before I
go on stage. So if I'm going to speak, you know,
I would like like a minute or two and I
will just consciously try to push everything. You know, I
won't be trying to remember, oh, here's the thirteen different
points I need to make in the next eight minutes.
I'll just try and you know, just breathe and relax
(19:41):
and then start. You know, I'm a big believer in routines.
I think, you know, in professional sport and things as well. Actually,
you know, if you talk to someone who, let's say,
is an opening bats person, like the one of the
ways that they teach people to not get nervous at
the opening ball of the first test is you know,
to have a routine. So I am and I have
(20:02):
different routines. If on different days that are important, I'll
do a certain set of things. And I think that
just gives you a sense of comfort and consistency.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Oh I love that. Okay, next question, should we have another? Go?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Do you have a favorite productivity hack to help you
get more out of your day?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Probably two related one. I generally think email is as
certainly as a sending device, a grotesque waste of time.
I'd hope I send probably the fewest number of emails
as any CEO. I mean, i'd do less than.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Five per day.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, I think emails are great in terms of like
communication to read and send, They're terrible for understanding context
for problem solving. So I spend, as I said, as
a little time.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So what happens to all the emails that you get
in that are sort of probably asking for response. Do
you ignore them? Can you pass them off to somebody else?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well, for a lot of people who work closely with me, know,
if you want to talk to me, talk to me,
come and talk to you. Yeah, I'm not going to
go back and forth on email. And then the second thing,
I'm a big believer in some of the work that
can Newport's done, which is it's all about sort of
deep work. So a lot of my job obviously I'm
in and out of different things meetings, but I also
(21:21):
if I really want to work on something that's important,
I'll have a big block of time, and I'll just
like to work in a certain way where I can
spend enough time to really get into it, because I mean, obviously,
sometimes I might have whatever ten or twelve different meetings
or topics that I'm context switching between, which is fine,
(21:42):
but if you actually really want to understand something and
take it forward, then you need to spend enough time
on you know, really understanding the material. And you know,
obviously I like just talking to the people who are
experts in that area. So I try to have blocks
of time where I can and work on something that
is important and it's sort of unstructured time, but I
(22:03):
use it in a certain way. Then obviously I've got
a lot of other meetings around that, and I like,
as I said, I try to avoid things that I
think are a waste of time, and i'd put email
substantially at the top of that list.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And how much time would you say, block out a
week for those deep thinking exercises.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Well, that's a great question, and my EA assists me
with that, but it really varies. I mean, when it's
coming up to something that I you know, obviously, if
it's results or you know, we've got a big strategy
session with the board and it's not just about reading
the papers, or if there's a particular topic, maybe in
a more complex topic I want to spend some time on,
then I'll try and block sort of two three hours
(22:43):
out on a certain day, but generally would have at
least an hour on a day. Sometimes I might get
lucky and have several hours, but I and I'll look
at that in terms of weeks in advance about what
it's the thing I really want to go and spend time.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
On that, So you can plan that ahead, well, exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, And sometimes that might be I might go to
the work go and see the team, meet with someone there.
I might ask for something that I can read in advance,
and then I want to ask a lot of questions
in and around it. And then obviously that compliments. As
I said, a lot of the time I'm in meetings
with my team or other members of the organization and
we're making decisions. So I mean, I guess you have
to be able to do both. But you know, there's
(23:27):
never enough time in any day, so trying to allocate
it as effectively and again with real intent is very important.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Okay, let's have one more question. Sure, ah, what's your
favorite podcast or streaming show? And why?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Podcasts?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I vary depending a little bit on the topic that
I'm interested in. I mean, I do like Adam Brandt,
as I said, I've listened to a lot of his
stuff sometimes, I've you know, from a health wellbeing It's
become very popular in Australia, Andrew Human and I quite
like Lex Friedman. He's got some interesting guests, some of
(24:05):
the tech ones. I listened to the New York Times.
I spent a lot of time on you know, on AI.
There's so much material. Obviously the AFR podcasts, thank you
nice to hear, yeah, And I mean they're very good,
sort of good summaries, you know. I've listened to a
bit of The Economist, so I don't other than the
thin I don't listen to that. It's the same thing
every week. I'm typically moving a little bit between domains streaming.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I don't watch a lot of TV.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I do what I look forward to in uh because
usually we'll do a offshore trip to see investors in
March or so I'll download the whole sort of Drive
to Survive series on Netflix. My son and I he
loves Formula one and it's a sport. I've basically zero
interesting before that series, you know, so something like that
(24:57):
I just find like really engaging and interesting to watch
on a long haul flight, because I wouldn't I wouldn't
do that if I was at home. I would feel
it was a bit of a waste of time. Whereas
there I find that sort of relaxing because you know,
it's a long flight and you can sort of binge watch.
But otherwise I don't probably watch that much TV. A
bit of sport because I find that easy to sort
(25:18):
of switch off. I've watched quite a bit of rugby league,
but not a lot of other sort of series during
the year.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Okay, on that note, you have passed. Thank you very
much the chedderbox section. We will move on to our
last question, which is if we were the holiday gods
and we granted you twelve months holiday, you could come
(25:44):
back to the same job, you were unencumbered, you could
do anything you liked. What would you do.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I would definitely travel. Look, i'd move between both, you know,
summer and winter. I enjoy both skiing and so i'd
probably you know, spend some time certainly off. Sure, I
suspect I will get bored well inside twelve months, so
I'd have to find something stimulating to do it at
the same time. And I guess, like everyone, i'd like
(26:10):
to spend some time with family. I try to do
the best I can with my kids, but I certainly
feel the sacrifices at time, which you know, I'm very
happy to make, so it would be nice. And I'd
probably like to substantively spend that time without a phone.
I think that would be quite a different feeling to
(26:30):
not be you know, just not be thinking about work
and not so I have to worry about that at all.
I think that would be quite for the former CEOs
that I've seen. I think that's the thing that they
enjoy most, is that the levity that comes from just
not having.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
To be on your phone all the time, be content.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Exactly and you just never know, and that's just part
of the It's also part of what I really enjoy
in the role.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
But you just never know.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I mean, something could happen very very quickly, and you
just need to always that's always in the back of
your mind. So at some point, not having to worry
about that, and whether that's sort of walking on a
beach or walking up a mountain, not having to worry
about what am I missing would be I think a
good feeling.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
So to prevent you from getting bored, would you learn
a new skill?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I'd like to I'd probably try and read a lot.
I'd love to be able to learn a language. I'm
terrible at art and music, so I think I could
rule a number of different things out. Yes, would be
the short answer, but we wouldn't necessarily be an unlimited
set of choices of new skills that I'd.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Like to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Italian or French or something like that.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Spanish I would like to be able to speak more
of My father was Spanish and he died when I
was six, and I have a half brother who lives
in Spain, and his Spanish obviously a hell of a
lot better than mine. So I feel like I could
have done a better job of learning that language.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
And that, Matt, means that our time is up. It's
been a real pleasure talking to you about the way
that you have gone and deliberately done the difficult things,
because that is what is going to develop you as
a leader. I really like the way that you don't
ruminate on past mistakes. You get up and get on
with things. And I think you're amazing the way you
only send five emails a day. I also think the
(28:16):
way that you optimize yourself, your family and your work
is a really good lesson. You know exactly what your
priorities are. And I will finish by saying best of
luck in your year off connecting with your Spanish heritage.
So Matt, thank you so much once again for coming
in and allowing us to spend fifteen minutes with the boss.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Likewise, thanks very much, and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Thank you to everyone for listening. If you like the
podcast and would like to hear more, please consider sharing
the podcast or writing a review, as it helps us
to reach more people and follow us wherever you get
your podcasts. At The Financial Review, we investigate the big
stories about markets, business and power. For more, go to
AFAR dot com and you can subscribe to The Financial
(29:03):
Review the Daily Habit of successful People at AFR dot
com slash subscribe. This podcast was hosted by me Sally Patton,
producing edited by Mandy Colin. Our theme is by Alex
garr And. Our executive producer is Fiona
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Bffini The Australian Financial Review
The Australian Financial Review.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to fifteen Minutes with the Boss. We've
had such a great response to the episodes with Matt
Common and Janine Allis that we've decided to play the
extended version of both these episodes. This week, we're going
to hear from Matt Common, the chief executive of Conwealth Bank.
There were so many great takeaways that just didn't make
the cut, so we hope you really like hearing a
(00:28):
lot more of what Matt Common had to say. Please enjoy.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Sometimes when you don't feel like it, it's also a
really good sort of challenge. Again, I find it quite
interesting when you're having a bad day, things have come
off track, you don't feel as well prepared and sort
of trying to embrace that to see, well, let's see
what I've got.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
But when I started absolutely not like everyone and I
was nervous, I was worried.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm Sally Patton, Editor of Boss from the Australian Financial Review,
and welcome to fifteen Minutes with the Boss, a podcast
about success and failure and everything in between. And along
the way we're aiming to get some great advice from
our leaders. My guest today happily is Matt Common, the
(01:27):
Chief Executive of the Comonwealth Bank of Australia. Hi, Matt,
how's your day been so far?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Very good? Great to be with you, excellent.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Thank you for coming in now. Matt, as I said,
you're the CEO of Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest bank, with
the global staff of around fifty thousand people, which has
quite a few to be in charge of. Last year
you recorded a nine point eight billion dollar cash profit,
of which you return some eight billion dollars to shareholders
through dividends. You bank more than one in three Australians
(01:57):
and my interesting slash fum fat is that you bank
forty six percent of younger adults. That is a lot
to be proud of. It Does it make you proud
to hear those numbers?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It does?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I mean, I'm very lucky. I've been at CBA for
more than two decades. It's been a wonderful life experience.
I've you know, there's always ups and downs in any career,
in job, but I've also worked with some amazing people
over that time. And I'm you know, I'm proud of
what the Commonwealth Bank does and the opportunity to lead
it fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, let's get into it. The clock starts now. My
first question is what does your morning routine look like?
What time do you get up? What happens?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So, no fixed routine, I don't have an alarm clock,
but I'll generally wake up somewhere between around six early
this morning, it was earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I basically will get up, exercise, go to work.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And what does the exercise comprise of varies.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
This morning gym sometimes run, not so much cycling anymore,
but probably exercise days. But if I don't have we've
got something on, I will skip it. But I generally
don't have a fixed schedule. I'm always in by a
certain time, but I sort of when I wake up,
I get up, and I don't seem to really ever
sleep in.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So what time do you get to the office by?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Somewhere around sort of seven thirty ish?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Okay, you're not particularly worried if you don't get your
exercise in, and you sort of go with the flow
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
I mostly get it in.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It'll only be if there's something I really feel like
I can't, or I'm particularly tired, or I've had a
late night. You know, sometimes it might be out two
or three nights a week at different events or traveling.
It's obviously harder when you're traveling, but I'm sort of
managed across my schedule. I try to be probably exercising
five days a week if I can.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Okay. And are you a breakfast person?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I am.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I have a fairly regular routine, but not nothing particularly sophisticated.
I have a protein shake and I have some fruit
and a green juice.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay. And are you a snacker? Does that last you
to lunchtime?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Most days occasion only, I'll have a snack, but not often.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Okay, all right, My next question is tell me about
a pivocial moment in your career that changed the trajectory
of what you were doing or somehow changed even the way,
somehow changed even what you wanted to be later on.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
One of them would definitely be POSTGFC. So we've been
two thousand and nine and CBA was involved in well,
a financial advice group in North Queensland had failed and
a number of customers who had products with the Komwalf
Bank and I was I volunteered to lead the remediation
of that. So it was three and a half thousand
(04:37):
people basically lost their life savings.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I learned a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I mean, I dealt for the first time with the
then CEO Ralph Board. I worked with a number of
legal firms because the bank was being sued. I appeared
in Parliament for the first time. I went and met
with customers directly. I think you learn the importance of
doing the difficul things yourself. You see the impact of
(05:03):
when things go bad and leverage, and those customers were
highly leaved and invested, obviously in a speculative at the
time strategy which had worked spectacularly badly in the GFC.
So I did that for most of two thousand and
nine and it was a really unique experience that I
(05:26):
learned a lot from, very very challenging, and you know,
a number of those lessons I think I've taken with
me throughout then.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So what are the core things that you've taken with
you from that time, Well.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I mean, I think it's important. There's no substitute for
firsthand experience. I remember after one of the customer events
and I'd finished and talking on obviously some of the
customers were very upset and angry, and my taxi had
long since left, and one of the people that were
there offered to give me a lift. I was staying
in Brisbane, CBD, just talking to them about their life story.
(06:01):
They'd lost everything and they'd retired. They having to go
back to work. Mom was working as a part time
in a subway store. I mean you see it up close,
working and understanding all of the implications and consequences of that,
trying to come up with the remediation. Like when something's
gone wrong, don't be pushed to a concession. Get to
(06:22):
the bottom of what actually happened. Say what happened. If
you've done something wrong, try and fix it as swiftly
and as fairly as possible. Really take a forensic approach
to things. Have a level of professional skepticism. Don't accept
what people say happened, not because anyone's trying to mislead you.
I think it's very hard when something's gone wrong to
(06:46):
necessarily sort of investigate and get to the bottom of
something yourself. I think it's just human nature. You try
to see things through a better lens than perhaps they are,
So there is importance around sort of you know, independence
of process, getting to the bottom of things. Dealing with
very difficult and emotional circumstances. You know, I dealt with
a major class action law firm at the time, which
(07:09):
you know, probably conventional wisdom might have been that's going
to be really challenging. But we tried to deal with
them very fairly, and I thought they dealt with us
very fairly. We got to an outcome I never felt.
I think there's a way to build a relationship that's
based on transparency and integrity, even with someone that might
(07:30):
otherwise be seen as you know, an adversary at that
at that point in time, and so I took I
think I probably took a lot of confidence from that,
from being exposed to something really really challenging.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So what were you doing immediately before that role and
did you put your hand up for the role or
did someone tap you on the shoulder.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I was running comseck and I put my hand up
for the role. A number of people asked, why would
you want to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I'm sure they did.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I certainly didn't have any of the foresight. I mean,
looking back, it's clear that was a really important period
and a great opportunity. But I guess at the time
of putting my hand up it was less obvious, but
obviously I'm really glad I did. And I think it's
really important about embracing opportunity and trying to do difficult things.
(08:17):
I think when lots of leaders differentiate themselves over time,
it's generally those who move towards the hard issues. They
don't leave it to others. And that's obviously easy to say,
but it's actually incredibly important.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And was there a point where you thought you had
bitten off maybe more than you could chew you? Because
I guess that's also part of the learning.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Right, absolutely so, yes, I mean at various all of
those things. I think when you do something for the
first time, it feels it can feel daunting. I think
with the right mindset, you can gain both a lot
of experience and confidence, and a lot of things become
easier in life, and also from a career perspective after
(08:59):
you've done them before, and really doing things that are
challenging is so rewarding because a lot of other things
that maybe seemed hard for you before then actually seem
pretty easy, And a lot of things just get easier
with time and experience.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, it's good to know. My next question is what
is the best piece of career advice you've ever been given.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I mean, really embrace the opportunities that you're given. And
that for me would have been a few years before
that as a particular point when I was being asked
to go and lead a piece of work which was
comm see big technology project at CBA, and I didn't
necessarily want to do it, but the person that I
(09:40):
was working for, so it gave me that piece of advice.
And ultimately part of that was, you know, he asked
me at the time, do you trust me? And I said,
I absolutely do and I did, and he was, you know,
this is going to be really you might not think
it is, it's going to be really good and important
for you to do it. And and it taught me
a lot because I think, you know a lot of
(10:03):
times you see people that can be a little bit tentative,
and you know, life comes with sort of unexpected opportunities
and challenges, and I think if you're the sort of
person that's really looking for a way to, you know,
embrace an opportunity, there's so many different ways that you
can learn. You know, you tend to be then I
think rewarded with other opportunities as well. And you know,
(10:26):
I've just found that there are so many ways to
learn in life and in business and from other people
as well. And so I think the sort of embracing
opportunities with curiosity and trying to just continue to improve
every day, it makes a huge difference that you know
both that's a mindset as well as you know a
determination to do both of those things.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So when you're looking at those new opportunities and you're thinking,
maybe I don't want to do that because it's a
bit scary, how do you stop second guessing yourself and
just forcing yourself to say, yes.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It's important to be able to do that, and I do.
I think it's important to have constructive self reflection and
looking for the things that you can improve every day.
But I don't ruminate, I don't second guess. And I
see this sometimes people will ask about public speaking. I'm
never the sort of person that's worried about what if
(11:19):
I forget this or what if I just never allow
my mind to go down those sort of paths. And
some of that just comes from repetition. And so I
think there's a point you've always just got to be
prepared to commit and not look back. Like looking backwards
is you know, regret thinking about all the things you
could have or would have should have.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Forget it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Just think about how you can take that forward. And
I think that's a really important life skill.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That is fantastic advice. No greats, don't look back, look forward. Yeah, Okay, Matt.
On that note, that is the end of our first section.
Don't go away. We're going to take a short break
and when we come back, we're going to open our
embarrassingly loath fire load tech chatterbox. Very good, welcome back
(12:12):
to fifteen Minutes with the Boss. I'm here with Matt Common,
the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank. Now, Matt, this
is our section called the Chatterbox. As threatened. In front
of you is a really lovely brown, shiny cardboard box
inside which are today, I think probably about ten fifteen questions.
(12:36):
I'm going to ask you to have a bit of
a shuffle around, pickut some and let's start. I get
to read it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Do you have a coping mechanism for high stress situations?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Well, I think a couple of things are really important. One,
I think being able to perform as well as possible,
which also includes dealing with high stress. There's a lot
of very conscious about sort of state. You know, good sleep, exercise,
I think, trying to always put yourself in the right position. Secondly,
I think look, dealing with stress gets easier with time. Thirdly,
(13:12):
as I've seen and learned, you know, often things are
not as bad as they first seen. Often the worry
can be debilitating. So I think it's a sense of
proportionality and being able to just work calmly through individual problems.
(13:32):
And obviously that's the most important thing about dealing with
difficult issues or stress. Just having a great team and something.
It's a big part of my job is getting the
right people in the right roles, working to their potential,
working well together. You know, once you've got that, things
are a lot less stressful. When you feel like you've
got a great team around you, you've got great support.
In my case from the board. You know, there's clarity,
(13:54):
there's alignment. I feel like, you know, you can work
calmly through any problem, like any any job and a
situation in life. It can be it can be stressful,
but I think with the right mindset and approach, there's
always a way forward.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Always so in terms of how much you sleep, and
how much you exercise in your recovery time, and even
what you put in your body. Do you measure those
things or do you have a device to measure those.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I have a couple of devices that measure those. Yes,
I do like metrics, but I also you know, I
if I've had a bad sleep, I won't necessarily watch
too closely. I don't, so I'm sort of like trying
to look at the averages and how I'm going over time.
I've sort of stepped back from looking at as closely
(14:42):
every single day as I would have a few years ago,
because I think it cann be a little bit self reinforcing,
or as I think most things in life, if you're
doing the right things consistently over a long period of time,
the benefits really really compound. So like I would never
worry about the one bad night or that I'll all
mean the few but you just know, you know, like
(15:04):
compound interest, if you just keep doing the right things
month in month out, it makes a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sleep is a really big thing at the moment. Do
you have a sleep goal? Do you know how many
hours you like to get I.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Do I try to get seven. Yeah, I measure that
in a couple of ways. I'll get less certain days
of the week versus I'll try to e which you
can't actually catch up on sleep, but you know, just
it's easier to sleep on a weekend night. I tend
to probably not sleep as well on a Sunday night.
And I'm just sort of used to the pattern. And
(15:36):
also I just try to manage my load physically mentally
so that I'm kind of if I've got something that's
really really hectic that's coming up, I'll try to ease
back a little bit to give myself a bit of
a rest beforehand. And likewise I try to Yeah, I
guess I plan pretty carefully.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And when it comes to exercising, are you real type A?
Do you push yourself a lot?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I like to push myself. I mean, as I've gotten older,
I don't exercise for I mean I'll train for maybe
an hour. I won't do four hours. You know, i'd
do a ten k run. I'd never do a marathon now,
you know. I just it's diminishing returns. It's I don't
think it's super healthy and it's too fatiguing. So I
(16:20):
just try to get there.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Do I have a day job I.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Do alongside my family.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's I'm optimizing for my work, and so I'm trying
to do everything I can to be healthy and in
the best condition possible so I can perform as best
I can.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, that's really good advice. Okay, have another fish in
the chatterbox. Let's see what turns up. Do you like
public speaking and have you always liked it?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I certainly haven't always liked it. I doubt many people have.
I do now.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Because I mean, realistically, I communicate for a living. Sometimes
I feel like I answer questions for a living, And
I mean a big part of when you're leading people
is being able to communicate clearly hopefully inspire, but also
you know, try and reach the audience, and you know,
(17:12):
often think that it's not always most people can't remember
what you say. Obviously that dissipates relatively quickly, but many
people can remember what it felt like when you were talking.
And I think, you know, I've just done a lot
of it, and so the repetitions make it easier, means
that you enjoy it more. I prefer I mean, I
(17:32):
don't like I wouldn't like to be an MC at
a wedding.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
But I like SPA.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
But I thought that's a lot easier than what you do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
No, I just sort of I like structure. I don't
mind doing a speech. I think, like anything, if you
don't have a mindset that you enjoy it and you
try to do a really good job and think about
like what do I really I think intent is so
important what I want to get out of this, you know,
I don't sort of stumble into things.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I'm sort of you've thought about it.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Part.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I want to think about Italy and then I just
try to push everything else out of my mind. Right
before I go on stage, I've got routine and then
I just start and I don't second guess. I don't
like over react if I don't know whatever an alarm
goes off or something, because I've done it so many times.
With that comes a degree of confidence that you know
(18:22):
you can you can do it well, and sometimes when
you don't feel like it. It's also a really good
sort of challenge again, because sometimes I think it's less
about how well you might do something when you're feeling
great and everything's going you know, it's actually I find
it quite interesting when you're you know, you're having a
bad day, things have gone off track, you don't feel
(18:42):
as well prepared, and sort of trying to again embrace that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
To see, well, let's see how much I can do.
Let's see what I've got.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, and I think that's that's fun. And so you
bet when I started, absolutely not. I mean, like everyone,
I was nervous. I was, you know, I was worried
about about that. But I don't know how many times
I've spoken in public, but a lot, so it's something
that I've certainly grown to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I have seen you a lot in the public on stages,
and I think you're terrific. What's your routine beforehand? Do
do you have a breathing exercise or do you stand
up with your shoulders back or some people have you know,
all sorts of different routines.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I just want a little bit of quiet before I
go on stage. So if I'm going to speak, you know,
I would like like a minute or two and I
will just consciously try to push everything. You know, I
won't be trying to remember, oh, here's the thirteen different
points I need to make in the next eight minutes.
I'll just try and you know, just breathe and relax
(19:41):
and then start. You know, I'm a big believer in routines.
I think, you know, in professional sport and things as well. Actually,
you know, if you talk to someone who, let's say,
is an opening bats person, like the one of the
ways that they teach people to not get nervous at
the opening ball of the first test is you know,
to have a routine. So I am and I have
(20:02):
different routines. If on different days that are important, I'll
do a certain set of things. And I think that
just gives you a sense of comfort and consistency.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Oh I love that. Okay, next question, should we have another? Go?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Do you have a favorite productivity hack to help you
get more out of your day?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Probably two related one. I generally think email is as
certainly as a sending device, a grotesque waste of time.
I'd hope I send probably the fewest number of emails
as any CEO. I mean, i'd do less than.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Five per day.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, I think emails are great in terms of like
communication to read and send, They're terrible for understanding context
for problem solving. So I spend, as I said, as
a little time.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So what happens to all the emails that you get
in that are sort of probably asking for response. Do
you ignore them? Can you pass them off to somebody else?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well, for a lot of people who work closely with me, know,
if you want to talk to me, talk to me,
come and talk to you. Yeah, I'm not going to
go back and forth on email. And then the second thing,
I'm a big believer in some of the work that
can Newport's done, which is it's all about sort of
deep work. So a lot of my job obviously I'm
in and out of different things meetings, but I also
(21:21):
if I really want to work on something that's important,
I'll have a big block of time, and I'll just
like to work in a certain way where I can
spend enough time to really get into it, because I mean, obviously,
sometimes I might have whatever ten or twelve different meetings
or topics that I'm context switching between, which is fine,
(21:42):
but if you actually really want to understand something and
take it forward, then you need to spend enough time
on you know, really understanding the material. And you know,
obviously I like just talking to the people who are
experts in that area. So I try to have blocks
of time where I can and work on something that
is important and it's sort of unstructured time, but I
(22:03):
use it in a certain way. Then obviously I've got
a lot of other meetings around that, and I like,
as I said, I try to avoid things that I
think are a waste of time, and i'd put email
substantially at the top of that list.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And how much time would you say, block out a
week for those deep thinking exercises.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Well, that's a great question, and my EA assists me
with that, but it really varies. I mean, when it's
coming up to something that I you know, obviously, if
it's results or you know, we've got a big strategy
session with the board and it's not just about reading
the papers, or if there's a particular topic, maybe in
a more complex topic I want to spend some time on,
then I'll try and block sort of two three hours
(22:43):
out on a certain day, but generally would have at
least an hour on a day. Sometimes I might get
lucky and have several hours, but I and I'll look
at that in terms of weeks in advance about what
it's the thing I really want to go and spend time.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
On that, So you can plan that ahead, well, exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, And sometimes that might be I might go to
the work go and see the team, meet with someone there.
I might ask for something that I can read in advance,
and then I want to ask a lot of questions
in and around it. And then obviously that compliments. As
I said, a lot of the time I'm in meetings
with my team or other members of the organization and
we're making decisions. So I mean, I guess you have
to be able to do both. But you know, there's
(23:27):
never enough time in any day, so trying to allocate
it as effectively and again with real intent is very important.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Okay, let's have one more question. Sure, ah, what's your
favorite podcast or streaming show? And why?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Podcasts?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I vary depending a little bit on the topic that
I'm interested in. I mean, I do like Adam Brandt,
as I said, I've listened to a lot of his
stuff sometimes, I've you know, from a health wellbeing It's
become very popular in Australia, Andrew Human and I quite
like Lex Friedman. He's got some interesting guests, some of
(24:05):
the tech ones. I listened to the New York Times.
I spent a lot of time on you know, on AI.
There's so much material. Obviously the AFR podcasts, thank you
nice to hear, yeah, And I mean they're very good,
sort of good summaries, you know. I've listened to a
bit of The Economist, so I don't other than the
thin I don't listen to that. It's the same thing
every week. I'm typically moving a little bit between domains streaming.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I don't watch a lot of TV.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I do what I look forward to in uh because
usually we'll do a offshore trip to see investors in
March or so I'll download the whole sort of Drive
to Survive series on Netflix. My son and I he
loves Formula one and it's a sport. I've basically zero
interesting before that series, you know, so something like that
(24:57):
I just find like really engaging and interesting to watch
on a long haul flight, because I wouldn't I wouldn't
do that if I was at home. I would feel
it was a bit of a waste of time. Whereas
there I find that sort of relaxing because you know,
it's a long flight and you can sort of binge watch.
But otherwise I don't probably watch that much TV. A
bit of sport because I find that easy to sort
(25:18):
of switch off. I've watched quite a bit of rugby league,
but not a lot of other sort of series during
the year.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Okay, on that note, you have passed. Thank you very
much the chedderbox section. We will move on to our
last question, which is if we were the holiday gods
and we granted you twelve months holiday, you could come
(25:44):
back to the same job, you were unencumbered, you could
do anything you liked. What would you do.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I would definitely travel. Look, i'd move between both, you know,
summer and winter. I enjoy both skiing and so i'd
probably you know, spend some time certainly off. Sure, I
suspect I will get bored well inside twelve months, so
I'd have to find something stimulating to do it at
the same time. And I guess, like everyone, i'd like
(26:10):
to spend some time with family. I try to do
the best I can with my kids, but I certainly
feel the sacrifices at time, which you know, I'm very
happy to make, so it would be nice. And I'd
probably like to substantively spend that time without a phone.
I think that would be quite a different feeling to
(26:30):
not be you know, just not be thinking about work
and not so I have to worry about that at all.
I think that would be quite for the former CEOs
that I've seen. I think that's the thing that they
enjoy most, is that the levity that comes from just
not having.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
To be on your phone all the time, be content.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Exactly and you just never know, and that's just part
of the It's also part of what I really enjoy
in the role.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
But you just never know.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I mean, something could happen very very quickly, and you
just need to always that's always in the back of
your mind. So at some point, not having to worry
about that, and whether that's sort of walking on a
beach or walking up a mountain, not having to worry
about what am I missing would be I think a
good feeling.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
So to prevent you from getting bored, would you learn
a new skill?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I'd like to I'd probably try and read a lot.
I'd love to be able to learn a language. I'm
terrible at art and music, so I think I could
rule a number of different things out. Yes, would be
the short answer, but we wouldn't necessarily be an unlimited
set of choices of new skills that I'd.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Like to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Italian or French or something like that.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Spanish I would like to be able to speak more
of My father was Spanish and he died when I
was six, and I have a half brother who lives
in Spain, and his Spanish obviously a hell of a
lot better than mine. So I feel like I could
have done a better job of learning that language.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
And that, Matt, means that our time is up. It's
been a real pleasure talking to you about the way
that you have gone and deliberately done the difficult things,
because that is what is going to develop you as
a leader. I really like the way that you don't
ruminate on past mistakes. You get up and get on
with things. And I think you're amazing the way you
only send five emails a day. I also think the
(28:16):
way that you optimize yourself, your family and your work
is a really good lesson. You know exactly what your
priorities are. And I will finish by saying best of
luck in your year off connecting with your Spanish heritage.
So Matt, thank you so much once again for coming
in and allowing us to spend fifteen minutes with the boss.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Likewise, thanks very much, and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Thank you to everyone for listening. If you like the
podcast and would like to hear more, please consider sharing
the podcast or writing a review, as it helps us
to reach more people and follow us wherever you get
your podcasts. At The Financial Review, we investigate the big
stories about markets, business and power. For more, go to
AFAR dot com and you can subscribe to The Financial
(29:03):
Review the Daily Habit of successful People at AFR dot
com slash subscribe. This podcast was hosted by me Sally Patton,
producing edited by Mandy Colin. Our theme is by Alex
garr And. Our executive producer is Fiona
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Bffini The Australian Financial Review
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