On Treasury’s other challenge, oversupply forcing down prices, Flaherty expects to see improvement.
“We’re seeing balance come back into the category, and with it an opportunity for a bit more profitability for the retailers, the brands, the growers and the producers.
“We’re standing on the precipice of a nice situation, and hopefully that’ll continue for the next four or five years.”
A toast to leaders: How Chris Flaherty does it
Q: What should a leader never say or do?
Flaherty says the worst thing a leader can do is be inauthentic.
“We work in a service industry,” he says. “People are smart at all levels across the business and the industry. They work things out. So you’ve got to be true to yourself and the people around you, and to work through the solutions.
“Sometimes you won’t have the answers. I think the worst thing you can do is say ‘this is the answer’ when you haven’t got it yet. It’s much better to say, ‘this is the issue and I’m not sure what to do about it but we’ll figure it out’. Generally, thanks to our people, we do figure it out eventually.”
Q: What makes a workforce more productive?
“People should know exactly what their role is, and how it impacts on outcomes. They should be accountable for that delivery.
“That’s the downside to a lot of big business. People get lost, and they aren’t exactly sure how they actually influence an outcome. Most people come to work wanting to have a positive impact, so that’s really unfortunate.”
Q: What qualities do you look for in your direct reports?
Flaherty says he sees leadership roles as being half about functional expertise, and half about leadership. He expects his direct reports to be proficient in both.
“[With leadership], I ask how they’re going to influence those around them, how they’re going to communicate the messages of the company, and how they’ll live the behaviours that we want to operate with.”
“It’s a few different things but they’re all important.”
Q: How do you get inspired?
Flaherty says he’s always talked through his problems, both with business associates outside the company and his colleagues.
Q: What’s been the biggest challenge of your career?
Flaherty says business challenges come and go, and he’s always expected to have to deal with them.
What he hasn’t always expected have been the personal challenges at work.
“The most challenging things in my career have been the people, and the things that hurt them. You want your people to be OK – you want them to prosper and develop.
“I remember one situation where a colleague committed suicide many years ago. That crushed me personally. Within the organisation it was a testing time – we had lots of questions. It was upsetting.
“I wasn’t prepared for it. And you don’t associate that with work – you associate such challenges with your family and friends. Fortunately, I haven’t been involved in many suicides, but that one was terrible.
“I’ve faced sales crises, financial crisis – but all these things create the challenges to reinvent how you do things, and how you approach things to extract value. I wouldn’t single any of them out.
“Oh, apart from the 2000 Y2K bug. That was the biggest flop ever. A lot of IT people got very rich. In my case, it consumed a lot of my life for 12, 18 months. And then, nothing.”
Myriam Robin is a reporter for SmartCompany and its sister site LeadingCompany. She has degrees in economics, international studies and journalism. She likes writing about businesses taking risks and doing new things.
