Reviewing the Qantas cyber attack response 

A report card for Qantas might say, like some of my school reports, “Fair, but could do better.”  

 I watch closely to be better at what I do. Yes, Qantas’ response was a vast improvement on some well-known past fails.  

 First: Oh, how I crave a wonderful spokesperson. I feel sorry that CEO, Vanessa Hudson is being thrust into the spotlight despite her obvious discomfort with being front person.  

 It doesn’t have to be the boss every time. Why not choose a person who is an excellent communicator, who loves doing it.  

 Remember Hank Jongen at what used to be Centrelink, now Services Australia? There was a time he was everywhere. He’s great talent and well down the organisation’s pecking order. When Centrelink was unpopular, his warmth and compassion humanised it with his authenticity. He improved its reputation. His title on the website? Well down the page he’s “Agency Spokesperson”. 

Turning a crisis into an opportunity 

When you have a company that is dependent on Mum & Dad customers, you have to be able to have a conversation with them. You may be broadcasting to a multitude, but to the person listening, it’s ‘you and me’ – an individual, listening to another individual, in writing, on the radio or on the tele.  

What would I like to have heard, as soon as the news broke? The Qantas spokesperson, on a Zoom or Teams video, saying something like:  

“I am completely devastated by what’s happened. Extremely upset. We have all been working so, so hard at being the company you want us to be, and now this awful setback. It is so upsetting to me and my teams that you have been let down by some cretin breaching our data. We have built the best damned security on earth, and almost always we beat the hackers, but unfortunately, this criminal or gang has broken through.  

“We don’t know a lot about who and what has been stolen at the moment, but I’m going to be updating you twice daily for the next few days, and then I’ll keep communicating until we’re on top of this. For the moment though, don’t be alarmed, but be alert.” 

Bit over-the-top? Maybe, but making a point.  

People connect with passion and authenticity, not corporate speak. Remember NSW’s COVID premier, Gladys Berejiklian? Fronting up daily early on, with limited information, and talking to each of us through the wall of journalists/inquisitors.   

Qantas is the fifth most distrusted organisation in Australia, after Woolworths, Coles, Optus and Facebook, according to Roy Morgan, last measured to the end of March. It’s a long road back, and every company needs to make the most of every opportunity, including crises.   

Peter Wilkinson

On spokespeople, this is what Paul Johnson (formerly Director of the cautious Institute of Fiscal Studies in London) said this week on ‘The Rest is Money’. When talking about economics, it’s ‘different strokes for different folks’, but the point is, communicating is taken seriously.    

“Do you train your colleagues to be measured in how they express stuff?  

Absolutely. I mean that’s one, again, one of the fantastic things about the IFS, I mean, we, we hire people straight out of university at 21 or 22. We train them in economics, probably the best place in the country where you can be trained as a really good economist. But also, you know, they get a lot of practice in speaking and speaking to the media and, and, and presenting and so on. So that by the time they’re in their mid late twenties, they are polished performers. And some of my colleagues are fantastic at that.  

“Do you have to say to them, like, okay, right, that you delivered that beautifully but you were a bit too excited or it sounded a bit dramatic, like when you say, you know, to get the measure right? 

“… We do it explicitly. So whenever, you know, you see the presentations that my colleagues give after a budget, even by 10 o’clock the next morning, they will have practiced that a couple of times with someone else so that we’ve kind of fed back to them…” 

I train a lot of people, preparing them for a crisis. Being a confident spokesperson is part of that.

Some people are natural communicators, and the best are people brave enough to say, “I love being a presenter”. Like, when I was at 60 Minutes in its heyday, reaching about half of Australia, and working with some truly great communicators.

It’s a rewarding pleasure: Making good talent better at their craft.   

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