#114 Brenton Cox, Managing Director of Adelaide Airport: Leadership while Navigating Lockdowns and Lift-offs

Join us on the Creating Synergy Podcast for an engaging episode featuring Brenton Cox, Managing Director of Adelaide Airport, as we delve into his journey from a childhood enriched with cricket, reading, and community service to leading one of South Australia's most pivotal aviation hubs. 

Discover Brenton's unique leadership style, marked by calmness, humility, and a welcoming nature, which has guided him through various challenging roles in the aviation industry. 

This episode offers an in-depth look at his transition from law to aviation, his strategic navigation through the COVID-19 pandemic at Adelaide Airport, and the leadership philosophies that have shaped his successful career. 

Tune in for an inspiring conversation that highlights the essence of effective leadership and the impact of personal growth on professional success.

Key Highlights:

1. From Law to the Runway: Trace Brenton's unique career trajectory, starting from his days in law to his eventual plunge into the aviation sector, and how his diverse experiences shaped his approach to leadership.
2. Leadership During Crisis: Gain insights into how Brenton navigated Adelaide Airport through the COVID-19 pandemic, facing challenges head-on and leading with resilience during one of the industry's most difficult periods.
3. Personal Philosophy & Community Ties: Explore Brenton's personal philosophies and his early life influences, including his passion for cricket and community, which have significantly contributed to his leadership style.
4. Strategic Vision for Adelaide Airport: Uncover the strategic decisions and future plans Brenton has for Adelaide Airport, focusing on growth, innovation, and adaptation in a rapidly changing industry.
5. Leadership Insights: Delve into Brenton’s thoughts on effective leadership, his calm and humble approach, and how these qualities have become his superpower in managing complex situations and driving positive change.

Tune in to this captivating episode for a deep dive into the world of aviation leadership and the inspiring journey of Brenton Cox.

TIMESTAMPS:
[07:10] - Introduction of Brenton Cox and His Role at Adelaide Airport
[08:24] - Brenton's Entry into the Aviation Industry and Interest in Aviation
[17:50] - Impact of Brenton's Upbringing and Parental Influence
[31:37] - Transition from Legal and Finance to Aviation Industry
[46:12] - Brenton's Journey into the Aviation World and Finding Passion
[53:24] - Brenton as Managing Director: Challenges and Experiences During COVID-19
[1:07:26] - Managing Director Role: Focus on People and Airport Projects
[1:09:18] - Importance of Airport Security and Cybersecurity
[1:14:09] - Future of Airports: Technological Advancements and Sustainability
[1:21:57] - Brenton's Leadership Style and Philosophy: Servant Leadership and Accountability

Where to find Brenton Cox

• LinkedIn

Books Mentioned:

• The hard thing about hard things By: Ben Horowitz
• Leaders eat last By: Simon Sinek 

Join the conversation on Synergy IQ on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram (@synergyiq).

Access Syn

Transcript

00:00:10:00 - 00:00:39:12
Daniel Franco
Everyone. And welcome back to the Creating Synergy Podcast. Today I had the absolutely pleasure of sitting down with the great Brenton Cox, the managing director of Adelaide Airport, the main airport here in South Australia that serves around 8.5 million people annually. Now before I kick off, I was warned by a few people who work at the airport with Brenton and some others who knowing quite well that there's a certain sense of aura about him too, which he didn't let me down at all.

00:00:39:13 - 00:00:59:07
Daniel Franco
He's come, he's humble and he's inviting. Nature is somewhat of a superpower. We start off the conversation where we take a look back into Brendon's childhood, where he shares his love for cricket, reading and giving back to the local community. It's through these stories that it's no wonder why he has risen to the great leader that he is today.

00:00:59:10 - 00:01:31:16
Daniel Franco
Brendon's journey in the aviation industry is a fascinating one. Starting his career in law before transitioning into Macquarie in London, where he then started to consult in the aviation industry, gaining valuable skills in financial modeling and asset management. Brenton Then decided to return to Australia, where he worked for the Hobart Airport Sydney Airport, before moving back to Adelaide Airport where he took up various roles before becoming the managing director in 2021, which as you know, is probably one of the most difficult times in the aviation industry.

00:01:31:17 - 00:01:54:25
Daniel Franco
History being the heart of the worldwide and state lockdowns brought on by COVID. We discussed the challenges that face the Adelaide Airport during the pandemic, and Brenton also shares with us some of his leadership philosophies that have served him well over the years. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Brenton and learned so much from his story, his insights and his experiences.

00:01:54:25 - 00:02:14:14
Daniel Franco
And I'm certain that you will love this chat as much as I did. So without further ado, here is my chat with Brenton Cobb, The Welcome back to the Creating Synergy Podcast. Today we have Mr. Brenton Cox and the show managing director of the Adelaide Airport, which welcomes about eight and a half million people a year to the airport.

00:02:14:14 - 00:02:15:01
Daniel Franco
Is that correct?

00:02:15:03 - 00:02:16:00
Brenton Cox
Back again now.

00:02:16:00 - 00:02:17:05
Daniel Franco
That's right. Back again.

00:02:17:05 - 00:02:19:27
Brenton Cox
Well, you didn't do that for a little while, but now we're back.

00:02:19:29 - 00:02:30:09
Daniel Franco
To pre-COVID levels and nothing. We're back there so regularly seeing over 30,000 people pass through the gate and approximately employ about 10,000 people. Is that correct?

00:02:30:09 - 00:02:35:24
Brenton Cox
Jim? Well, we've actually only got 200 that are ours. But this on people that work.

00:02:35:26 - 00:02:38:18
Daniel Franco
From all the all the airlines and everything else like that.

00:02:38:18 - 00:02:39:15
Brenton Cox
All walks of life.

00:02:39:15 - 00:02:41:15
Daniel Franco
Beautiful. Welcome to the show.

00:02:41:17 - 00:02:42:04
Brenton Cox
Thanks for having.

00:02:42:04 - 00:02:43:07
Daniel Franco
Me.

00:02:43:09 - 00:02:44:05
Brenton Cox
It's a pretty potent.

00:02:44:05 - 00:02:53:06
Daniel Franco
Row, the Adelaide airport and and and what that means for you. Do you have a pinch yourself and go at it? I end up in this row.

00:02:53:09 - 00:03:08:01
Brenton Cox
It it's funny because you you and back in life and there's some things that you think you want but I sort of fell upon aviation and, but for a good 20 years ago thought this would be my dream job.

00:03:08:03 - 00:03:08:06
Brenton Cox
For.

00:03:08:10 - 00:03:27:15
Brenton Cox
Quite specific. Yeah. Being in London at the time. And so absolutely this is fantastic. And what we get to do, our purpose is proudly connecting and shaping South Australia and that that is a real fabulous, tangible purpose for people being able to be part of that every day.

00:03:27:16 - 00:03:28:09
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:03:28:12 - 00:03:30:17
Brenton Cox
Yeah. Really, really lucky.

00:03:30:19 - 00:03:36:19
Daniel Franco
Why your dream job? Was it? What? What did you fall in love with the aviation world?

00:03:36:21 - 00:04:02:18
Brenton Cox
I got into it in a way, by accident, sort of through. At the time I was working in Macquarie, The first job we did was privatized Brussels Airport. And then there were 20,000 people that work there and it was the gateway in a way to the to the EU. It had just gone through some hard times and airline collapse and the government also needed to, I guess, pay back some debt.

00:04:02:18 - 00:04:31:25
Brenton Cox
So it sold the airport for that purpose and it was controversial. And what I saw on the ground, you know, went into it thinking of numbers and returns terribly sanitized. Yeah, that was just young and and got in there. I just saw people people who loved it. People who had stickers. I loved my airport job. But at the same time, there were people protesting against the privatization, protesting against aircraft noise.

00:04:31:27 - 00:04:53:20
Brenton Cox
I saw how significant it was as a gateway for that community. And I thought, well, what if I keep. Well, yeah. And and just also missed home a little bit and thought, geez, wouldn't it be good to do this? But back in my home town and it just tweaked something at that time it was probably a niche that I couldn't help but scratch.

00:04:53:22 - 00:05:13:14
Daniel Franco
Right. Good. You set your path and you got there. Let's go back to your early years before we kick into your career and we'll go through that shortly. But you know, what do we need to understand about Brenton and you know, your earliest context to understand who the person is sitting in front of us today.

00:05:13:16 - 00:05:36:08
Brenton Cox
It's it's not an easy thing to talk about yourself, but this is this is what we're about. I grew up in Adelaide, so blessed from the beginning. Yeah, right. The 1% of the 1%, we're just so lucky to have the life that we had. So that that was a pretty good, pretty good start. And, and then just had a Brady Bunch family life was again, really, really fortunate.

00:05:36:08 - 00:06:01:11
Brenton Cox
My, my mother is a teacher librarian. My father was an engineer at what's now Telstra for three decades. I think he was there and really involved grandparents as well where my, my mum grew up, you know, in a farm area. Yeah. And, and my father, his family in a place that's been in the family for, for a very long time and not far from where I live now.

00:06:01:11 - 00:06:25:02
Brenton Cox
And so we lived in the foothills of Adelaide, a place called Skye and a lot of people now don't, don't know it, but it's sort of behind where Penfolds is. And at the time it was all vineyards down there and we were olive groves and gum trees and I just got a, you know, it was that classic thing of see after breakfast and welcome back at dinner.

00:06:25:03 - 00:06:25:12
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:06:25:15 - 00:06:28:08
Daniel Franco
And those were the days we really.

00:06:28:10 - 00:06:29:08
Brenton Cox
Really blessed.

00:06:29:15 - 00:06:30:11
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:06:30:13 - 00:06:38:00
Daniel Franco
So your parents dad was an engineer, Mum, so I missed. Your mum was a teacher. Librarian, librarian. So she's.

00:06:38:00 - 00:06:39:00
Brenton Cox
Fairly neat.

00:06:39:02 - 00:06:42:14
Daniel Franco
So did you get stuck into the books a lot? Oh.

00:06:42:17 - 00:07:17:02
Brenton Cox
Absolutely. Yeah. And, and always found incredible freedom in books and in my mum. To this day, she's the fastest reader you've ever come across. Really inspired. She absorbs it all and, and so sort of learned fairly early on just to love books in all its different forms. And I think there's a lot from from books that it's not just that you learn what you read, you learn often the art of empathy because you're forced to imagine yourself in other people's shoes.

00:07:17:03 - 00:07:26:16
Brenton Cox
Yeah, that's a good point. And only only later on have probably appreciated it. But even at different times because the Premier's reading challenge has been around.

00:07:26:18 - 00:07:27:07
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:07:27:09 - 00:07:46:23
Brenton Cox
And I remember in school holidays going to the actually to, to what is inside library and just spending two weeks trying to read as many books as I could just competing with myself to try to get, you know, back in, back in the day. So that was fabulous. And it was really because of my mother any.

00:07:46:25 - 00:07:48:29
Daniel Franco
Anyone with an orange. Did you have a particular.

00:07:48:29 - 00:07:51:26
Brenton Cox
Genre that you wanted or was.

00:07:51:29 - 00:08:14:06
Brenton Cox
It was everything as a as a kid, I loved adventure stuff, you know, I didn't quite appreciate the reality of the world. I thought I sort of felt like there was a lot of unexplored corners to a globe and and would do that almost every day and would almost leave out that exploration out in the Adelaide Hills and would love reading about it and imagining it.

00:08:14:06 - 00:08:22:11
Brenton Cox
And I actually had a lot of awesome friends that lived in the neighborhood and we'd read this stuff together and we'd imagine playing this stuff out.

00:08:22:14 - 00:08:42:07
Daniel Franco
As we roam the hills. I have such a similar story. I think I grew up Indiana Jones. I was obsessed within the exploration sort of stuff and I remember going out with it. I lived down Grange anyway, and there was a creek that runs through the and we would do everything in our power to go out and get lost.

00:08:42:09 - 00:08:50:21
Daniel Franco
Like that was the job. Like figure just try to figure out where you are and how to get home. And just thinking about trying to do that today, you know, it's.

00:08:50:24 - 00:09:14:20
Brenton Cox
Not it's not as easy. It's still possible. And no, but yeah, so Willard Price was was actually I remember reading every single one of those books there. Actually, when you look back, they're probably they don't date well, there's racism and stuff in them and but that wasn't what I was sort of aware of. It was all these towns and one of my best mates was grew up in.

00:09:14:25 - 00:09:25:03
Brenton Cox
His family's from South Africa, and so he would also verbally bring that stuff to life and, well, sort of tales of wildlife. And so, yeah, you just get lost in.

00:09:25:03 - 00:09:25:29
Brenton Cox
It and it.

00:09:26:02 - 00:09:34:16
Brenton Cox
Confusingly it related to just everyday life too. So the boundaries between reality and fantasy were blurred at times.

00:09:34:16 - 00:09:38:29
Daniel Franco
I think that's the way they should be. AS Yeah, I still love those. Choose your own adventure.

00:09:39:01 - 00:09:41:14
Brenton Cox
Yeah, the.

00:09:41:16 - 00:09:43:09
Brenton Cox
But then you go back and.

00:09:43:11 - 00:09:44:11
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:09:44:13 - 00:09:53:01
Daniel Franco
You'd like been the page. I was one of those people that bend the page and go, This is where I was that anyway, that was cool chatting with.

00:09:53:03 - 00:09:55:28
Brenton Cox
I think so.

00:09:56:01 - 00:10:10:04
Daniel Franco
What is speaking about your childhood? What is one story looking back now and friendships and all the above that you look back and it just makes you smile on.

00:10:10:06 - 00:10:11:00
Brenton Cox
I mean.

00:10:11:03 - 00:10:29:10
Brenton Cox
There was a lot of it just in the family, but we also had what we called the Triple C gang, which is quite funny. And it Crawfords, Costello's and Cox's and all happened to have a last name. So see, and to this day we're, you know, we're still best mates and.

00:10:29:12 - 00:10:30:18
Brenton Cox
All of us school.

00:10:30:18 - 00:10:31:16
Daniel Franco
Mates or do we all.

00:10:31:16 - 00:10:49:16
Brenton Cox
We all went to the same primary school, but we also effectively lived right there, the same street and all similar ages and actually mostly boys. My poor little sister was the token female amongst it and we were like plagues of locusts.

00:10:49:19 - 00:10:50:25
Brenton Cox
You know, you'd off.

00:10:50:28 - 00:11:18:17
Brenton Cox
You'd swarm back to some one person's house at lunchtime and just eat them out of house. Yeah. And then you were often lost again and that just felt you had such a feeling of belonging and. Yeah. And while my mother was awesome with reading and Father great with sort of problem solving and quite studious and disciplined. Yeah. And they ultimately saw that it was raging full of testosterone and needed just to be run.

00:11:18:20 - 00:11:20:07
Daniel Franco
And that energy.

00:11:20:12 - 00:11:23:18
Brenton Cox
Just, we just ran and rhymes and it was fabulous.

00:11:23:21 - 00:11:46:12
Daniel Franco
Brilliant, brilliant. I've got the I've got the same issue right now. It's actually really, really fun. Friends of ours across the road, they've got two daughters, the same age as my two daughters. And those kids are over every not every day, you name it. Perfect. But I got my food lifted. Like they literally I got fingerprints all up and down the walls.

00:11:46:15 - 00:11:55:18
Daniel Franco
So as much as I love it, I just think about what we what our parents were going through. We were having the time of our lives. And there.

00:11:55:20 - 00:11:56:15
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:11:56:18 - 00:12:11:27
Brenton Cox
I got a phone call from a neighbor yesterday or text messages. Sorry. And and it was, I owe you $10. What's going on? And my daughter and her friends down the road had made cupcakes and was selling them a, you know, doorbell ring and selling.

00:12:12:04 - 00:12:16:01
Brenton Cox
Yeah. Cupcakes to these people.

00:12:16:04 - 00:12:17:24
Brenton Cox
Does anyone know you're doing this?

00:12:17:27 - 00:12:20:18
Brenton Cox
It's fun. It really is.

00:12:20:23 - 00:12:21:18
Brenton Cox
Can still happen.

00:12:21:18 - 00:12:28:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah. 100% well within your neighborhood. Yeah. We've got an entrepreneur in the in the mix. How many kids you got.

00:12:28:13 - 00:12:29:02
Brenton Cox
You two just.

00:12:29:02 - 00:12:30:05
Daniel Franco
Soup kitchen.

00:12:30:05 - 00:12:35:18
Brenton Cox
Pair so daughters 11 and son tens of close together. Yeah Very beautiful.

00:12:35:21 - 00:12:36:11
Brenton Cox
Beautiful.

00:12:36:13 - 00:12:37:11
Daniel Franco
Two kids. Yeah.

00:12:37:15 - 00:12:39:29
Brenton Cox
Yeah. Very lucky.

00:12:40:01 - 00:12:41:21
Brenton Cox
Um, was there.

00:12:41:21 - 00:12:55:29
Daniel Franco
Anything, you know, outside of the reading and was there anything that your parents set you on? Like you just distinctly remember and you actually that's held me in good stead for my life.

00:12:56:02 - 00:13:07:22
Brenton Cox
Is it? There's a couple of things. One, my father lost his wedding ring digging at the beach, and we just, like, dig these massive holes down. You know.

00:13:07:24 - 00:13:13:12
Daniel Franco
It's like a massive one. Whenever I go to the beach, I take my wedding ring off. Like the first thing I think of before we go.

00:13:13:15 - 00:13:15:21
Brenton Cox
That's a smart move. Yes, he lost it.

00:13:15:24 - 00:13:22:21
Brenton Cox
And but actually, funny enough, you think you just then go and replace it. And actually it was insured, so it was insurance. Yeah, but.

00:13:22:21 - 00:13:26:12
Daniel Franco
It's the sentimental value of the the ring itself.

00:13:26:12 - 00:13:44:24
Brenton Cox
Well, he didn't replace it and I don't know with him. My mother was sort of fully bought into that. But it's insurance money and this is in the early eighties and bought a Commodore one time. So it was like a camel was 64 on steroids. So it was a working computers. I also learned very early on how to play computer games pretty well.

00:13:44:24 - 00:14:10:00
Brenton Cox
But yeah, well, it did because he as a as an engineer, he also had an interest in computers and coding and we learned how to code in MS-DOS, you know, back in the eighties and, and what I loved about that is I realized you could start with this incredibly complex thing, you know, like a computer game. And ultimately it came back down to two very simple rules, very simple.

00:14:10:03 - 00:14:29:06
Brenton Cox
You know, if or rules into binary formulas, it's you could learn early on to see how something very complex could be made. Pretty simple. And only in hindsight do you get the benefit of some of that. But we were just really lucky that.

00:14:29:08 - 00:14:37:18
Brenton Cox
My dad was. What do you mean? In for a computer? I'm not sure if Mum's. Oh, that's brilliant.

00:14:37:18 - 00:14:52:06
Daniel Franco
I think what you're doing is actually I mean, we do a lot of this without breaking down our change programs. It's a systems thinking model, It's understanding what's the great like, where are we at from the and how does the actual system work for It's actually all come together.

00:14:52:13 - 00:15:01:25
Brenton Cox
It gives you great confidence that if you sort of apply a degree of discipline and persistence, that you feel you can solve almost any problem.

00:15:01:27 - 00:15:23:22
Daniel Franco
Absolutely. Great. Often talk about formulas. It's something I hand on heart believe is so many versions of success and this, this and each has its own formula, right? You just need to decide does decide and design which it is that you want and just apply yourself accordingly.

00:15:23:24 - 00:15:24:07
Brenton Cox
It's got to.

00:15:24:07 - 00:15:26:14
Daniel Franco
Fit. Yeah.

00:15:26:17 - 00:15:43:03
Brenton Cox
But a lot, as I said, sort of two. So the other one, it's actually about cricket and you're a much better cricketer than I ever, ever was. But when I was ten years old, I thought I was going to play for Australia, I was going to be an Australian fast bowler. That that was just that was.

00:15:43:03 - 00:15:44:03
Daniel Franco
Heavy handed button.

00:15:44:03 - 00:15:49:21
Brenton Cox
And Dennis really didn't have the hair and the gold just because.

00:15:49:28 - 00:15:51:00
Daniel Franco
Brendon walks in with these.

00:15:51:00 - 00:15:52:29
Brenton Cox
Top button, those.

00:15:53:02 - 00:15:54:00
Daniel Franco
At the gold chains.

00:15:54:00 - 00:15:56:25
Brenton Cox
Hanging out casual Friday.

00:15:56:28 - 00:16:23:15
Brenton Cox
Know. So it was, you know loved cricket. Yeah. And played it with my friends all the time. And in year five it's where you meant to start playing competitively. But we didn't have we weren't able to have a cricket team, we didn't have a coach, we didn't have the organization. So it just was so desperate to play at that point in hindsight to, you know, took the initiative and said, Oh, we'll organize our team.

00:16:23:15 - 00:16:51:11
Brenton Cox
We are going to have a cricket team and we're going to run practice. And that was a moment where without realizing, having taken the initiatives, it was the first step to being able to have that responsibility and learn, I guess, true leadership at the time. Then while I still was playing for Australia, I was not the best cricketer in the team but was given the sort of the honor, I guess, of being captain.

00:16:51:13 - 00:17:06:00
Brenton Cox
And then after that, you know, you've got to be voted in, so you have to have the support of your peers and they need to trust you to look after them. They need to trust you to make good decisions. They need to trust you to put the effort in beforehand and to keep positive, you know, the positivity, running, leading.

00:17:06:00 - 00:17:06:04
Daniel Franco
By.

00:17:06:04 - 00:17:06:24
Brenton Cox
Example and.

00:17:06:25 - 00:17:19:05
Brenton Cox
All of that stuff. And that was as a ten year old, that sort of triggered a bit of a pathway from there that I never really would have realized at the time. You know, how helpful that could have been.

00:17:19:07 - 00:17:29:09
Daniel Franco
That's an amazing story. Did you notice that throughout your career then, that these sort of leadership attributes kept sort of showing themselves?

00:17:29:12 - 00:17:59:21
Brenton Cox
Not not at the time. Not at the time? I've always just enjoyed people's company and a joy seeing people get the best out of each other have liked people being together and knowing that that doesn't happen naturally either, ever. And so different and differences have a habit of dividing sometimes more than the things that can bring us together and always wanted to bring people together and and we've watch my family do it in this nurturing way, bringing all these different eclectic personalities.

00:17:59:21 - 00:18:21:28
Brenton Cox
And but but it's stronger together. And we're always just had a sort of a yearning for it and including in the workplace subsequently, you know, you just like harmony. You do? Yeah. Yes. You want people to disagree. You want people to have differences of opinions, but you want it all to be heading in the same direction and pulling together.

00:18:22:00 - 00:18:27:22
Brenton Cox
And and that's, you know, inside is what you're trying to do when you're when you're playing sport.

00:18:27:25 - 00:18:51:09
Daniel Franco
Or leading and doing. All right. I did you I really liked it had and you I mean, you put it eloquently. I don't like the fact that it does divide people. But the point that you made in differences and diversity can cause that sort of split. How do you focus on I mean, you said that we tried to bring them all together.

00:18:51:09 - 00:18:59:24
Daniel Franco
What particularly do you think works in that space where you're trying to bring or is it just it's not one size fits all?

00:18:59:26 - 00:19:34:02
Brenton Cox
Fundamentally. People are good. You know, they're born good, people are trustworthy, and they just want to feel like they belong. And and that can take all sorts of forms. And I think if you take that mindset to relationships and people feeling comfortable no matter what, what you want, who you are, what you want to be, that I think that that starting point of safety then brings all the diversity together and helps people just bring the best of themselves and bring their true selves out.

00:19:34:02 - 00:20:05:08
Brenton Cox
And I think if you don't feel judged, if you feel by definition almost accepted just for being a person, then you see the best come out of people all the time. But that doesn't often happen automatically. Everyone has their own little biases that bring to get better and you can alienate people accidentally. And so just try really hard to have people just feel safe that they can be themselves and we've got that now.

00:20:05:08 - 00:20:39:24
Brenton Cox
And in my in our workplace, you've you've got 200 people all unique, all doing often quite very different things, very different professional backgrounds. The beauty of aviation is it's global. Are people from all over the world and and fundamentally everyone's pulling together for the same purpose and believe in connecting their community and believe in contributing. And you just say the best of people and everyone is better when you've got all the different ideas coming, coming together.

00:20:39:27 - 00:20:44:11
Brenton Cox
But you've got to start with feeling safe and belonging in the first place.

00:20:44:16 - 00:21:21:19
Daniel Franco
What's Maslow's hierarchy? Isn't it really? I think I love that you've alluded to that because, I mean, with safety gives the opportunity to create a community, right? I think that's what you kind of alluding to here. And when you're building a cricket team, you are essentially building not only a team but a community of supporters and around people who are contributing their time and effort to help your cause, which is, I think, what quite a big and a big, big tick, I guess, as as a young child, young teenager coming through their ranks.

00:21:21:21 - 00:21:29:24
Brenton Cox
And not not really knowing it other than just sort of a yearning for people to sort of feel good together and perform. Don't get me.

00:21:29:24 - 00:21:32:08
Daniel Franco
Wrong. Yeah. Wanting to wear the green and go, yeah.

00:21:32:10 - 00:21:32:21
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:21:32:21 - 00:21:53:15
Brenton Cox
And us wanting to win, I don't know. There's something, you know, in a human being that you're born and you do just want to win and you want your team to win. Yeah. And so inherently knowing that you've got to work together in that, in that game, you sort of start to learn what people need to be at their best.

00:21:53:17 - 00:21:55:27
Daniel Franco
We are any good with your team and good?

00:21:56:00 - 00:21:59:23
Brenton Cox
We were. We were better than we were.

00:21:59:23 - 00:22:27:00
Brenton Cox
Okay, We're okay. We we would win most games. We'd lose a couple. We had some near-misses. I remember then when then when you you'd beat your nemesis. It was always a pretty good feeling, particularly when some of those people that perhaps weren't consistently the best performers would shine out. Remember the day we did finally beat a team that we had struggled to always win?

00:22:27:00 - 00:22:41:27
Brenton Cox
It was actually those unexpected performers that really just had had breakout performances. Yeah, you don't. You need everyone pulling in the right direction. And if you can, you can. You can tend to sort of achieve anything.

00:22:42:00 - 00:22:43:14
Brenton Cox
Yeah, great.

00:22:43:16 - 00:22:47:03
Daniel Franco
When did you realize that the the baggy green.

00:22:47:03 - 00:22:49:15
Brenton Cox
Was in my heart?

00:22:49:15 - 00:23:05:26
Brenton Cox
I probably always knew. But actually it was. It was when when I realized it was almost impossible that it was my body broke down. So I had a terrible bowling action. It was a mix of saw it on front on and.

00:23:06:00 - 00:23:07:05
Daniel Franco
45 and it was sling.

00:23:07:05 - 00:23:15:13
Brenton Cox
Action that night, no good. So I split the disc in my spine. Ouch. 16. You know, and to be honest, it hasn't even healed today.

00:23:15:14 - 00:23:16:02
Daniel Franco
I don't really.

00:23:16:02 - 00:23:23:24
Brenton Cox
Say it That that then brought me a lot of weekends back. That's for sure. A lot of standing out.

00:23:23:24 - 00:23:25:06
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:23:25:08 - 00:23:33:03
Brenton Cox
And in a way, probably let me spend more time sort of studying rather than playing sports. Yeah, it probably wasn't a bad thing.

00:23:33:05 - 00:23:58:03
Daniel Franco
It's a brutal sport. I've still got back issues and I had, you know, it, said Dennis Lillee. Dennis Lilley was my coach and I had him like almost perfect my bowling action and I still got back issues even though like I was perfect sort of on everything was in its right spot, you know, or according to what was back then, which was 20 odd years ago.

00:23:58:03 - 00:24:01:24
Daniel Franco
They're probably got better technology now. But yeah, my back still to this day.

00:24:01:24 - 00:24:03:16
Brenton Cox
Gives me it's a brutal sport.

00:24:03:22 - 00:24:20:27
Brenton Cox
It's it's the impact. And actually in a way it's sort of a bit like life where back then you're told, just work through the pain. Keep going. Yeah. Going. And the reality is all humans have limits and, and that's the same, you know, in a working world you, you need to know I think what you limits are. Yeah.

00:24:20:29 - 00:24:37:02
Brenton Cox
And know how you can push up to it to really get the most out of yourself but everyone's got limits. Yeah. And these days I think rotating, resting, realizing that human being does have limits probably means that you might have had a a longer career today than 20 years ago.

00:24:37:03 - 00:25:02:17
Daniel Franco
Yeah, correct. Actually, it's a really good point that you make and this is, I think, probably very relevant in today's society from a both a leadership point of view and a self-awareness point of view is, you know, there's only so much that you can keep on pushing. And, you know, I'll be openly admit that, you know, the past month or two of I've felt like I hit a wall in the sense of where I was at.

00:25:02:17 - 00:25:41:09
Daniel Franco
And I was like, you know, I need to actually take hold of this and have some downtime, take a couple of days off, just rest up, you know, whatever it might be. And someone who I hold very dear to me, actually, he mentioned to me he's like my you played sport growing up. Could you do could you train 8 hours a day every single day by Saturdays, all day Saturday, prioritize Sunday and then still continue with your body still being tip top shape And it's like, okay, He's like, what makes you think you can do the same with your brain?

00:25:41:09 - 00:25:53:09
Daniel Franco
Like you're it's the same thing, right? You've got to give it a break. You got to give it downtime. It's only when someone actually put it into a sporting context that it actually, you know, lightbulb moment for me, which is a bit silly. But anyway.

00:25:53:16 - 00:25:54:00
Brenton Cox
You said it.

00:25:54:01 - 00:25:54:12
Brenton Cox
Well.

00:25:54:15 - 00:25:58:24
Brenton Cox
That's correct. That's a modern lesson, 100%. Yeah.

00:25:58:29 - 00:26:00:21
Brenton Cox
You're making sure you're getting.

00:26:00:24 - 00:26:18:21
Daniel Franco
Yeah. No I'm, I'm, yeah absolutely. I'm, I'm fine now and I'm bringing in certain things in aspects to, to. But you just, you just push and you push and you're pushing. You forget. You know, sometimes it is good to actually rest and recharge. So we'll talking about sleep before we'll go into that in this.

00:26:18:24 - 00:26:19:01
Brenton Cox
Was.

00:26:19:01 - 00:26:42:12
Daniel Franco
There anything pivotal in your life where you know, because you as you grew through your career, you've started this cricket team, great community, great upbringing, parents who have taught you some amazing lessons. At what point did you go, you know, what legal world is something that interests me in the finance world is something that interests me. What how did that sort of transition?

00:26:42:15 - 00:27:12:18
Brenton Cox
I had a lot of odd jobs, you know, did the paper and worked at Maccas, worked at Myer and worked at a pub which didn't cash and carry and then did all sorts of random odd jobs that probably shouldn't even talk about them. And at no time did I ever really know what career I wanted to do. And if I'd look back and be honest myself, why did I do commerce, law, finance?

00:27:12:20 - 00:27:41:12
Brenton Cox
And probably at the time it was hard to get into. And I just wanted to prove to myself that I could and a lot of a lot of people were in the same boat. I think the other thing is by that stage, I knew that I still excited in the world. I loved exploring and I just wanted to see and understand the world and an economics just intrigued me, you know, watching the news and trying to understand what all these things, what's going on.

00:27:41:14 - 00:28:11:00
Brenton Cox
But also I loved my community, I loved my neighborhood. I love the people that are there. I was with my school mates, all of those all of those things. And so that felt like this funny tension of wanting to be launching in the world, but also just loving and holding dear what was close. And and by then as well, knowing that learning was fun, you know, hard but, but fun and worth it and that you only really, truly learn when you can give back as well.

00:28:11:00 - 00:29:01:04
Brenton Cox
And had had already been able to to sort of coach certain things or teach certain things. And and that's all I really knew that I kind of wanted to do was mix those. What seemed like impossible tensions where you want to see the world, but you want to serve your local community, you want to learn, but you want to teach and and doing law and finance, commerce, you know, it it taught a language and taught an understanding of how, I guess, governance and how money and resources were utilized in a way that I didn't know that going into it and coming out of it was was incredibly grateful for having having learned that and accidentally

00:29:01:04 - 00:29:16:06
Brenton Cox
kept doing law just because I enjoyed the challenge, enjoyed the analytical rigor, enjoyed the problem solving, enjoyed the camaraderie. Yeah. And the sort of the intellectual challenge of a really smart people. And in some had had problems and.

00:29:16:14 - 00:29:17:15
Daniel Franco
Lots of reading.

00:29:17:17 - 00:29:17:29
Brenton Cox
And.

00:29:18:01 - 00:29:59:12
Brenton Cox
Lots of reading. But you learn how to read pretty quickly. Yeah. And then how to, I guess, take the eyes out of things because if you spend your whole time reading every single case, you either do nothing else in your life. We never really finish. So and knowing sort of what to read well not tolerate but it but also the law is quite structured so you find yourself on this pathway and all of a sudden I was working as a graduate lawyer kind of by accident with amazing people and smart, caring, good, good, fun, and but knew in my heart that that was a sort of was there by accident rather than by that by

00:29:59:12 - 00:29:59:26
Brenton Cox
design.

00:29:59:29 - 00:30:08:01
Daniel Franco
So when you say by accident, I mean, did you accidentally stumble into a Cambridge master's degree? Like how does that what do you mean by accident?

00:30:08:04 - 00:30:09:12
Brenton Cox
I remember subsequently.

00:30:09:12 - 00:30:30:11
Brenton Cox
Being, you know, having job interviews and thing, you know. All right, So why did you say, Yeah, because I finished that. I'd worked for a bit and then went back and did a master's in the UK, and I was being asked in interviews when I ended up at at Macquarie and in London and did that partly because it was Australian and I felt that attachment to home.

00:30:30:11 - 00:30:51:00
Brenton Cox
But I had all of these reasons and I remember the guy had said you just wanted to get to Cambridge. And as it happens, one of my probably most formative teachers is my English teacher and my housemaster at school, and he had gone to Cambridge and he told me all these crazy stories and how much he got out of it.

00:30:51:00 - 00:31:13:09
Brenton Cox
So I was just drawn, drawn to that for that reason. And I think similar to having wanting to do law, wanting to prove to myself that I could get into something that was hard to get into if I'd been perfectly honest with myself in hindsight, possibly to add a degree of self-confidence, perhaps at the time that I needed.

00:31:13:12 - 00:31:33:00
Daniel Franco
So so far I'm picking up a couple of things, right? One, that you got this insight, this innate thing growing in you, which is I need to give back to my community right? So that's one. But on the other aspect, it's like I need to make things as hard as.

00:31:33:00 - 00:31:34:16
Brenton Cox
Possible.

00:31:34:18 - 00:31:56:21
Daniel Franco
For there to be a challenge in my life. What there's almost seems like so much so, so much poles, well, so much distance between those two poles, if that makes sense. As in give, give, give community, community, community. But yeah, I this, this desire to consistently prove was it and was it to only yourself or did you want the glory?

00:31:56:21 - 00:32:00:18
Daniel Franco
Was there a bit of ego in there attached to it or had it Look.

00:32:00:20 - 00:32:19:08
Brenton Cox
Probably. I don't think you can ever. I used to kid myself that you don't have an ego. I think there's there's got to be some of that. And look even with the giving to the community there's but you'd like to say it's altruistic. There's a lot of selfishness in that, you know, it feels, it just feels it. It does, you know, And, and.

00:32:19:14 - 00:32:21:16
Daniel Franco
Especially when you care about them.

00:32:21:18 - 00:32:23:02
Brenton Cox
So I don't that.

00:32:23:06 - 00:32:44:22
Brenton Cox
That's ambiguous of being able to have that in a career is a bit of a Nova nirvana. And so I don't know I think it was this about trying to do hard things in the challenge, but more about learning and knowing that if you really put a lot of effort in, you get you got to get a lot of effort out.

00:32:44:26 - 00:32:48:02
Brenton Cox
Yeah. And and being surrounded by interesting people.

00:32:48:05 - 00:33:09:27
Daniel Franco
Was that something you taught or is that something that was just ingrained in you? I think about my children, yeah, right. And I love what he goes there and the great basketball is played district basketball, quite a hard drive yet getting him to go for a run or something like that is absolutely painful. Getting to, you know, two extra training sessions or whatever.

00:33:09:27 - 00:33:18:00
Daniel Franco
It's like they're always looking for the easy option. But yeah, it seemed quite opposite with you. You were looking for.

00:33:18:02 - 00:33:18:29
Brenton Cox
I think it.

00:33:18:29 - 00:33:42:09
Brenton Cox
Is in everyone to go both ways and, and there's a bit of nature nurture in it. And don't worry, I love to chill out a lot like the best of us. And I did. I asked my parents this the other day and I said, you know, what did you do to sort of force me to crack the whip from myself?

00:33:42:14 - 00:34:01:15
Brenton Cox
And and they said, honestly, we didn't do anything. We didn't want you to. But I think I missed something. And that was actually my grandparents who were postwar. And, you know, they had I had nothing and worked for everything. Yeah. And and I spent a lot of time they would pick me up from school and I'd spend a lot of time with them.

00:34:01:15 - 00:34:27:05
Brenton Cox
And in hindsight, they brought that out. And I think everyone has it in them. And you probably do need someone to bring that out. But there's there's not a sort of good as well. There's a degree of self anxiety in wanting to achieve, perform, get better to learn, always strive. There's there's a lot of mental risk in all of that as well.

00:34:27:08 - 00:34:31:29
Brenton Cox
And at the time, in hindsight, it actually wasn't my parents. It was my grandparents.

00:34:31:29 - 00:34:57:18
Daniel Franco
And I, I mean, I think you and I walked the same path when we were younger. For me, it was it was always about how do I improving, what am I doing? So it wasn't so much about what was harder for me is I always had to do more than anyone else, right? Because there was this old saying it was like, hard work will always be talent.

00:34:57:20 - 00:35:17:13
Daniel Franco
And that was kind of how I just was. I didn't have all the talent in the world, but I work harder than anyone, so I can I can beat them at their talent game. And for me it worked. So it's just become almost the way I live my life and to the point it can be a negative. What's your greatest asset is also your biggest liability?

00:35:17:18 - 00:35:39:11
Brenton Cox
Yes. Yeah. It's not quite the same thing that I remember. One of my managers at Macquarie in London, he was French and he said, I won't do the accent, but but he said, Brenton, there are lots of smart people in this world. And he said there are also lots of hard peace, hardworking people in this world. But if you want to go anywhere, you have to be smart and you have to work hard.

00:35:39:13 - 00:35:40:25
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:35:40:27 - 00:35:42:20
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Thanks.

00:35:42:22 - 00:35:44:24
Brenton Cox
It was a good reminder. Yeah.

00:35:44:29 - 00:35:55:07
Daniel Franco
And so you've, you've, you've entered the legal world. Let's go through your career real quick. What does that look like?

00:35:55:09 - 00:36:14:02
Brenton Cox
Really good people. It was here in Adelaide, so. And I got to do lots of different stuff, commercial law litigation. So I was in court doing all sorts of different things and actually bumped into a a former boss the other day and she's a judge now and you just learn so much and you really out of a comfort zone.

00:36:14:02 - 00:36:24:12
Brenton Cox
I mean, standing up in court with all the formalities and all the scrutiny. Yeah. And I don't think anyone is perfectly equipped for all of that.

00:36:24:14 - 00:36:26:15
Daniel Franco
Well, what law did you.

00:36:26:22 - 00:36:59:05
Brenton Cox
It was mostly it was different versions of commercial law and sometimes defamation, insolvency. But it tended to be commercial in nature. But it was always people behind the scenes. Yeah, it was. It was often people that were unable to resolve disputes and it was quite sad that had got to that point. And a lot of stubbornness and a lot of lawyers have been paid a lot of money on points of principle where people just haven't been able to resolve differences.

00:36:59:05 - 00:37:41:27
Brenton Cox
And you learn a lot from all of that as well. You can see how ultimately without communication, things can become, you know, be destroyed very quickly, but learned so much and was really fortunate to have people that were just lifting me up through all of that and then, you know, then studied in in the UK and then started at Macquarie in London at the time when they were just blowing expand ing in the world where infrastructure, finance and they were, as it happened, you know, the global leaders in it and where it wasn't all good, I remember the thing called the vampire kangaroo at the time, you know, would come and buy these big community

00:37:41:27 - 00:38:05:05
Brenton Cox
assets and, and run them really well as businesses. But that that wasn't always necessarily viewed as offering the best customer experience through all of that. And I know Macquarie's institution has learned a lot through that whole journey but was able really went in there, started again. So I was it went through graduate trainings, a lawyer learned a lot, started again.

00:38:05:05 - 00:38:56:06
Brenton Cox
I was essentially I wouldn't use the term to describe myself but a really basic analyst and would build financial models would be working from, you know, 830 until 230 in the morning and and loving it and worried about how the longevity of that all all at the same time, but the whole time working with incredibly motivated people and really smart people, you know in a truly global environment with people at the best of their at the top of their game and and and learned a lot and realized despite having gone through and done all of this study that ultimately you're judged on outcomes and facing a few hard truths in those early days where you

00:38:56:06 - 00:39:06:22
Brenton Cox
want to build this perfect financial model. But you've got to deliver it, you've got to deliver quick and it's got to give results. And and that that that was a big, big lesson early on.

00:39:06:26 - 00:39:19:18
Daniel Franco
I still didn't just survive of those hours. That's what I like. I've always thought that about that that legal profession is and well, anyone works in that basic world that goes from 8 to 2.

00:39:19:20 - 00:39:45:04
Brenton Cox
I think young parents probably understand it a bit. I couldn't and wouldn't do it now and wouldn't recommend it to anyone at the time. I mean, you said it before, you feel like you could you could outwork people otherwise had immense confidence in my own physical resilience. And and it was almost a badge of pride that I just would never give up.

00:39:45:04 - 00:40:01:22
Brenton Cox
Would never give up. And I think I remember in the interview back at the time being asked, what's your greatest strength? And, you know, it was I feel like I can solve any problem and I can feel like I won't stop until it's done. And I think that's sort of a light bulb went off, right? We can get a pound of flesh.

00:40:01:25 - 00:40:08:03
Brenton Cox
Is it? Absolutely. And but then.

00:40:08:05 - 00:40:15:07
Brenton Cox
Equally. Yeah, that's, that's time spent learning and doing and what's.

00:40:15:07 - 00:40:28:12
Daniel Franco
Just I mean for everyone else is doing 8 hours in a day. You're doing 16. Right. And it's or thereabouts. And so you doubling the time learning in a quick issue like what would you renounce to you've done in 12 months. Right.

00:40:28:13 - 00:40:32:02
Brenton Cox
Like that's in hindsight your IQ drops significantly.

00:40:32:02 - 00:40:32:23
Brenton Cox
Well through.

00:40:32:23 - 00:40:33:23
Brenton Cox
The mental fog.

00:40:33:24 - 00:40:49:01
Daniel Franco
It would absolutely. And that's the that's the part that I've never understood is the from the legal profession read document after document after document and needs to know all the little but yet surviving of so much so little sleep it just the.

00:40:49:04 - 00:41:09:14
Brenton Cox
Once you get to a point, you just can't do it and I'll say you know that the the chemistry of a human brain needs a recovery. And so to be at your best, you cannot do that. But at the time, I thought that was what I had to do and, uh, wouldn't change it, wouldn't want to do it again.

00:41:09:17 - 00:41:19:04
Daniel Franco
And wouldn't recommend so you're you then now end up in the aviation world in Macau, and this is where you say, okay, this is the the.

00:41:19:05 - 00:41:20:21
Brenton Cox
Have guests gotten the vines.

00:41:20:21 - 00:41:22:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah. This is where.

00:41:22:20 - 00:41:55:09
Brenton Cox
And then even then there were fortuitous moments when the GFC was on and was was being asked to move into what was Macquarie Airports at the time into a row there but the world had fallen apart and and Macquarie, who did not have a record of having to make large scale redundancies, had to to survive. And the role that I was going to, they ended up having to sort of let go people from other roles.

00:41:55:12 - 00:42:24:11
Brenton Cox
Then after the restructuring, everything they realized they needed something more. So the role was completely different and that led me into away from more of the core finance of aviation into what in in those sort of finance terms is, you know, the asset management of of aviation where you really start to get under the hood and really start to get involved in every single business decision, every single operational decision of consequence.

00:42:24:11 - 00:43:00:14
Brenton Cox
And and that was where the eyes really lit up and the learning curve just sparks. And then I was given incredible support by the team that we're in, which is a wonderful team. And my boss at a really young age got me onto Sydney Airport board and the Hobart Airport board, but they were very different scales at a really young age and the trust that they put in me to play that role and, you know, was never looked back from.

00:43:00:14 - 00:43:02:20
Brenton Cox
It's one of those sort of sliding doors moments, I guess.

00:43:02:20 - 00:43:10:21
Daniel Franco
Why do you think they placed all their trust in you? What was the behaviors that were saying or the attributes they were saying?

00:43:10:24 - 00:43:36:19
Brenton Cox
You know, in a boardroom, there's a real difference between what management needs to do and and what what directors do. And there's a huge amount of respect that has to take place with amongst directors. And then between directors and management. And the strange dynamic that was at play was that I was someone who was in all practical reality.

00:43:36:23 - 00:44:19:23
Brenton Cox
Junior, every sense of the word to the extremely experienced management team. And I think they gave me that opportunity because they could see that I respected people and understood and valued people's roles and knew the differences between what my job was there to do and what would other people's jobs where we had to do. And in hindsight, I was probably painfully self-aware of the impact that it could have on other people, and my bosses at the time recognize that would mean I wouldn't overstep lines or have sort young ambition that that might create problems.

00:44:19:23 - 00:44:36:12
Brenton Cox
So the other trusted me to do that and that sort of analytical mindset in a boardroom is is is really important. And I could see that that was certainly applied in my sort of management roles. And yeah, and it translated very good.

00:44:36:15 - 00:44:40:11
Daniel Franco
So Sydney Airport, you went to Hobart and Sydney first.

00:44:40:14 - 00:44:41:29
Brenton Cox
It was about the same time.

00:44:41:29 - 00:44:42:16
Daniel Franco
Same time.

00:44:42:17 - 00:45:26:03
Brenton Cox
Yeah. And actually they were asset management roles. I mean the governance was that the shareholder of which I was representing was, was putting me on those boards. I had no right by any means as any sort of captain of industry to be there. It was essentially representing the shareholders interests on both of those organizations and and then also had other roles back within what was Macquarie Airports at the time and then became MAP airports reported out of Macquarie and then we simplified it up and sold all of the different other pieces and it really simplified back to Sydney Airport and what is now Sydney Airport today.

00:45:26:03 - 00:45:51:09
Brenton Cox
And, and even we learned a lot when we learned a lot about how to really drive a business in the short term versus how to get really long term outcomes and the significance and importance of of all of your different stakeholders. Of course customers and your people in your community along all of that. We're in the early days post privatization.

00:45:51:09 - 00:45:54:00
Brenton Cox
It didn't always go right.

00:45:54:02 - 00:46:08:16
Daniel Franco
So you're you're on the boards of I mean the Sydney airport is was it could triple the size I guess I thought it was like 30,000 a day here in Adelaide. It's like 3 million a day and yeah, Sydney it's.

00:46:08:18 - 00:46:09:12
Brenton Cox
Yeah, it's.

00:46:09:18 - 00:46:10:27
Daniel Franco
Ten times the size was.

00:46:10:27 - 00:46:12:01
Brenton Cox
Much bigger.

00:46:12:03 - 00:46:19:28
Daniel Franco
What was it like coming back when you got the tap on the shoulder to come back to Adelaide and, and work there. What did that transition look like?

00:46:20:01 - 00:47:09:26
Brenton Cox
There were a lot of things going on at the time. My daughter had been born in Sydney. Yeah, and in my life Sydney was fantastic, but I also was just looking, reflecting on my own childhood at the time and probably in some degree wanting to project that on my beautiful daughter and wondering how that might be possible. Um, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in this incredibly rich, wealthy and, but bubble I guess, and really wanting to make sure that my children valued the simple things in life and also had the freedom to to fail and fall over and get back up again and have that with the safety that a place like Adelaide affords.

00:47:09:26 - 00:47:33:22
Brenton Cox
So in the back of my mind, I really, really desperately wanted to have my my young family grow up here in Adelaide. And so the opportunity that came up fortuitously was someone I'd worked with who was then moved to Singapore Airlines and she was tapped up for the Adelaide job and she said, actually not me, but know someone from Adelaide that might be interested.

00:47:33:22 - 00:48:15:16
Brenton Cox
So it was just one of these fortuitous things. I wasn't actively looking and, and you know, and it was a role that I probably wasn't that well suited for, to be honest. I don't think I actually did the job that well. But it, but it was that chance to come back and look it ultimately is the same thing, just minus a few zeros and the same challenges, the same sort of connection to community in all of those different things that if anything, you could you could do more, you could get your hands around things a little bit more and have a bit more of an influence.

00:48:15:18 - 00:48:30:19
Brenton Cox
So now coming back, it was absolutely fantastic coming back and the role at the time was, was quite was quite diverse as well. So it meant that I could continue to learn a ton in that environment.

00:48:30:21 - 00:48:51:02
Daniel Franco
So in 2021 was when you became managing director. Why did they why did the board look at Brenton Cox and say, this is the this is the human that's going to lead this this position, this role, this business?

00:48:51:04 - 00:49:17:07
Brenton Cox
I mean, I think fundamentally leadership is is all about people. And so they must have trusted me to to be caring for our people. And and in saying saying that that was important to me. And there's also a lot of stakeholders involved, a lot of different stakeholder leaders and must have trusted me to be able to look after our stakeholders.

00:49:17:10 - 00:49:55:25
Brenton Cox
I've always had a customer centric mindset as well, starting flipping burgers at Maccas. Yeah. So again, must have trusted me to look after a customer's in that regard. And in hindsight that had afforded me opportunities that from a skill set perspective had set me up quite well. It was clearly a degree of thought that had gone into that that development, because the role that I started in 2013 and had there were people who had done such a good job for a long time and then retired and they gave me the opportunity.

00:49:55:25 - 00:50:23:10
Brenton Cox
My managing director gave me the opportunity to take on new responsibilities so the at least objectively could prove that my breadth of skill set was by that stage quite, quite broad. And and so they felt that that I was a credible enough candidate to to to look the part as well as trust me to to look after all the people that were involved.

00:50:23:12 - 00:50:32:16
Daniel Franco
But one thing I mean, talk about a baptism of fire. You were thrown into it in the middle of COVID. And what did that look like and what was the worst?

00:50:32:17 - 00:50:33:00
Brenton Cox
It was sort.

00:50:33:00 - 00:50:50:00
Brenton Cox
Of on towards the the back end. I was as an AGM role when COVID hit and we put our pandemic plan in place on the 20th of January 2020. So this was before most people really knew what COVID was wanted to.

00:50:50:03 - 00:50:52:14
Daniel Franco
How did you know about it? So evidently then.

00:50:52:16 - 00:50:57:09
Brenton Cox
It was pretty sad. We actually had a pandemic plan for stuff, right?

00:50:57:10 - 00:50:58:27
Daniel Franco
So one of the very few.

00:50:58:28 - 00:51:34:12
Brenton Cox
Aviation is is a very risk safety focus. You know, you cannot put the people people's lives are at risk every single moment. So you've got to be very structured and and and our risk management frameworks because we've got incredible people that have built this up. Yeah, we had a pandemic checklist and or Oracle, even in my finance times before all the operational pieces where you would run the scenario to go, can this business stand up under pressure?

00:51:34:12 - 00:52:10:07
Brenton Cox
You've run Hong Kong SaaS. So that was always the Armageddon scenario. You in hindsight would take that every second of the day. But you know, we'd sort of gameplan this stuff as an organization. We knew that it was a and you'd hope that it doesn't drop. Yeah, you could see the warning signs. I mean, you don't We were in utter fairyland in Australia in those moments, but in aviation where you're globally connected and your customers are all over the world and people are saying this is real, it's going to get real.

00:52:10:07 - 00:52:28:24
Brenton Cox
At the end of that, I will. People are real vulnerable. A virus in China or Iran or Italy at the time is the same as a virus. It's going to be in Australia. So it to us it was very obvious this was not going to go well. We had no idea how how bad. But at that point.

00:52:28:24 - 00:52:36:17
Daniel Franco
Your pandemic plan, looking back at it now, in hindsight, was it on the money where it needs to be or would there be lots of changes?

00:52:36:17 - 00:52:57:11
Brenton Cox
These they were to major things that we just didn't ever predict. And and one was the significance of the interdependencies between our organization and government and everyone else. So we had exercise plans for ourselves that became pretty much useless when you can't coordinate with everyone else.

00:52:57:11 - 00:52:58:04
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:52:58:06 - 00:53:20:13
Brenton Cox
And then one very simple thing is that we did not ever comprehend domestic borders closing. Just didn't even imagine it. You didn't imagine it that that it might be possible. And when you do look back on that COVID impact on Australia, we had we to this day the most impacted OECD nation because no one else closed domestic borders like we did.

00:53:20:21 - 00:53:31:08
Brenton Cox
New Zealand had a very hard federal border stance. Well, not federal, but the nation internally they don't have states.

00:53:31:10 - 00:53:35:17
Daniel Franco
Now. New Zealand is rural Australian and it still dumbfounded me that we did that.

00:53:35:20 - 00:54:02:23
Brenton Cox
Yeah, and I don't necessarily think we've learned and we haven't really looked back. I think after the Spanish flu they spend a lot of time and learned from from a lot of the good things and the bad things. We then lost those learnings, you know, 100 years later. But the one, the one thing to do what we do know is that it's going to happen again.

00:54:02:25 - 00:54:31:07
Brenton Cox
I hope it's not very soon, but I don't think we're particularly better equipped now then than we were in the start of 2020. But that was pretty bad because we're a $3 billion business and we had $1,000,000,000 of debt. We've got a lot of people that need to be cared for and paid and we had negative revenue because our, you know, our customers second biggest customer is not flying and that's right.

00:54:31:15 - 00:54:55:29
Brenton Cox
So that, again, was not the detail of how that played out. And you had to treat it as a whole series of difficult problems to be solved. And and that's what we went about doing at that time. And I remember just checking myself into the airport hotel in towards the end of February when that was where you knew it was going to be really, really bad by that stage.

00:54:56:02 - 00:55:00:16
Brenton Cox
And when we thought really, really bad, we thought it might last for six months.

00:55:00:18 - 00:55:00:29
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

00:55:01:03 - 00:55:26:03
Brenton Cox
And and that's what we're getting ourselves ready for again if, if only. Yeah. And in hindsight, what was the hardest, hardest part? You know, we said we went in there looking to protect every single person and we weren't able to do that on on the way out. And that was that was that was the hardest part of it.

00:55:26:03 - 00:55:32:05
Daniel Franco
When you say protect, what do you mean? Is doing something from catching over, you know.

00:55:32:07 - 00:55:53:16
Brenton Cox
Is the livelihoods, their jobs and careers. Yeah. Yeah. You know job keeper was sent tastic. Yeah it was wonderful and a lifesaver in a lot of ways. But you know the the power and the purpose and the meaning of work and being able to contribute and rock up every day and do that, you know, we turned, we turned that tap off.

00:55:53:16 - 00:56:30:06
Brenton Cox
It wasn't, it wasn't happening. And people who'd had the whole sense of self taken away and and and some people have never got that back. And then even in our organization, as crudely as, you know, they were they were roles that were made redundant. So it wasn't just stand down. People had to permanently leave. And we were eternally grateful for many of those people who put their hands up and said, Look, we'll tap out because we know there's others that really want this.

00:56:30:06 - 00:57:05:14
Brenton Cox
And they the small and for the large part, we were able to sort of rely on the goodwill of those people that did that, did that for us and for everyone else at that time. And that was really, really hard. And innovation has got a long way to go to recover from that. A lot of experience, skills were lost and then a lot of the junior talent excitement was not coming in and as a result there's a huge amount of pressure on on that middle cohort that that remains.

00:57:05:15 - 00:57:13:25
Brenton Cox
Yeah, and that's that's pressure that's trying to relieve. But it's still there and and you see it in the headlines every day. Hmm.

00:57:13:27 - 00:57:44:15
Daniel Franco
How did you manage and your team manage at that time, I guess when when the world is caving in around you, what does it look like at the leadership table when you're when you've just got absolutely no control? And obviously that and everything else that goes with it, people's livelihoods. What is it like for you both mentally and as a as a cohort.

00:57:44:18 - 00:58:30:22
Brenton Cox
Is mentally pretty volatile, but everyone pulled together so much and there was a real collective sense of just wanting to get through it together. And and then when there were really difficult decisions and change that was really volatile, that when those difficult decisions they were they were collective decisions. The people that are brought together. And so that everyone was on board and understood why and for a lot of our people, there was a lot of education around the financial aspects of our business that you probably could have gotten away with, not fully, fully comprehending.

00:58:30:22 - 00:58:49:22
Brenton Cox
Yeah, but a lot of the the fundamental basis of decisions was, was survival. And to understand that meant that the collective making and the depth of communication was, was so important. Yeah. And it, it made a made a big difference.

00:58:49:24 - 00:59:01:07
Daniel Franco
This might be some naivete coming through with this question, but the airport to me seems like it's something that the government will always just bail out will help through. Is that not the scenario?

00:59:01:09 - 00:59:02:25
Brenton Cox
So it.

00:59:02:28 - 00:59:11:01
Brenton Cox
It's interesting because the airports mostly in Australia were previously government owned the massive pieces of infrastructure cost billions of.

00:59:11:01 - 00:59:13:27
Daniel Franco
Dollars. It's not like someone can start tomorrow and take over.

00:59:13:27 - 00:59:45:20
Brenton Cox
It's very heavily regulated, you know, geographic location or monopolies with huge barriers to entry and very difficult for a private business given the scale of resources and the risk in the time taken to get up to to build it from scratch. But our airports in Australia are privatized and the very purpose of privatizing them is to take the drain, resource drain in whatever way.

00:59:45:22 - 01:00:08:29
Brenton Cox
As it happens, it could also be a contribution. But to take that away from the public purse and we very much see that as really important. You don't privatize something too. Then just go back to the government with your hand out. Yeah, and that was a critical ingredient that we had buy in from our shareholders on. Shareholders are absolutely fabulous.

01:00:08:29 - 01:00:33:03
Brenton Cox
They're long term super funds. So many people in this city all around us, you know, indirectly invested in in our airports through their super funds. And that took a long term view and agree with the principle that, you know, we're not here to take money off the taxpayer and it's a last resort. You can't rule it out. And look, we took a job keeper.

01:00:33:03 - 01:00:42:00
Brenton Cox
So that was, again, a life saver. But ultimately, we're not here to drag on the public purse.

01:00:42:02 - 01:00:47:20
Daniel Franco
So moving away from this move away from the cove can get post-traumatic.

01:00:47:22 - 01:00:48:01
Brenton Cox
Gets.

01:00:48:01 - 01:01:00:05
Daniel Franco
A bit dark. Right? But can we I mean, can we just understand what is a day in the life of a CEO look like at the airport? What is the what is your role entail?

01:01:00:08 - 01:01:01:18
Brenton Cox
It I mean.

01:01:01:21 - 01:01:42:22
Brenton Cox
Again, just so lucky to have the role and and the team that we have. And and I'm so fortunate at the end of the day, I've got great people doing great things and they make all of us look good. And it's very it's it's all about people. It's very people focus And whether that's our own people or it's our customers or our stakeholders, the more than probably what people realize, you're not sitting there in a room plotting out commercial strategic moves in a way that perhaps people might dream that that's what the role does.

01:01:42:22 - 01:02:13:17
Brenton Cox
You're you're there giving air cover to great people, to let them, you know, flourish and you fight fires. There's there's lots of unexpected things that come up and you need to provide that support and it ultimately it's it's working through you people to help them perform as best they can and helping through with our stakeholders so that you can help them achieve what they want to achieve and and also massage through the things that you don't.

01:02:13:17 - 01:02:32:07
Brenton Cox
I mean, in a lot of what we do, we've got a lot of projects. We've got to spend $1,000,000,000 in six years. And that's that's a big number. But practically there's you're building stuff. And right now we're putting a reshape over our runway. We do it every 12 years.

01:02:32:07 - 01:02:36:03
Daniel Franco
Yeah. No, I can hear I live in Henley, so I can hear the planes coming in and that's right.

01:02:36:03 - 01:02:38:13
Brenton Cox
And that's not good that wakes you up here. Needs sleep.

01:02:38:14 - 01:02:39:04
Daniel Franco
Absolutely.

01:02:39:04 - 01:03:13:02
Brenton Cox
And then that's hard for people on one On one level, they're doing this incredible technical exercise that, you know, I don't even know how they do it. It's amazing. You know, do And you've got these brilliant engineers and people who are performing this task all in the curfew hours under the clock. And on the other, you know, that with is permitted curfew movements around Fridays and medical flights that there are people that normally wouldn't get flights over their houses because these aircraft would typically come over the Gulf, over the ocean.

01:03:13:02 - 01:03:41:09
Brenton Cox
And most people most of the time are sheltered from that using the crossed runway suddenly exposed to it. So there's a there's a negative impact to people that, you know, it's going to have an and it almost is unavoidable. And all you can try to do is is minimize it as much as you possibly can with all of the stakeholders and plan really to do it and then just make people aware to minimize the anxiety as much as possible.

01:03:41:09 - 01:04:04:02
Brenton Cox
You know, it's temporary. There's no permanent changes here. This is a once in a decade thing that just has to happen. The alternative of closing the airport and disconnecting Adelaide from the world as a whole is dramatically worse. So yeah, there's there's those things when you're doing something really good, but then there's also some oh.

01:04:04:05 - 01:04:22:15
Daniel Franco
For me it was I heard the planes all of a sudden one night, so to be honest I didn't know about it. And then I saw some articles in the paper and resurfacing and I mean, yeah, well, I need a resurface from safety planes need to land properly. They need to land safely. Right. Like it's a no brainer.

01:04:22:15 - 01:04:23:28
Daniel Franco
I can put up with this for a couple of months.

01:04:24:05 - 01:04:31:28
Brenton Cox
Then we might make a deliberate decision to not sugarcoat things as well and list the suburbs think are going to be impacted. Yeah, there is a reality that it's going to happen.

01:04:32:01 - 01:04:35:06
Daniel Franco
I understand what the alternative is like. It's we need to do this.

01:04:35:06 - 01:04:38:07
Brenton Cox
So like if if there was an alternative.

01:04:38:10 - 01:04:40:02
Daniel Franco
Exactly.

01:04:40:05 - 01:05:04:28
Brenton Cox
But there's other things like that. You know, we have to remake a lot of that. A terminal environment are security are checking out baggage and we have to driven by regulation and capacity need to to do a lot of work in there over the next five years and that will be in a live operating environment that that again will have an impact on people who are trying to go about their lives.

01:05:05:01 - 01:05:12:18
Brenton Cox
And that's something as well. You have to it's a really interesting, important thing. But but it's not about.

01:05:12:20 - 01:05:34:25
Daniel Franco
The security thing. I mean, you know, 911 changed the security airports forever. One thing that's on the back of my mind more often than not, especially these days, is it's not so much now about the physical security and and the baggage checking. I think, like I potentially will take over that and the sense it will get smarter and be able to detect.

01:05:34:25 - 01:05:46:03
Daniel Franco
But the cyber security for me seems like almost one that would be the most important thing on your mind right now.

01:05:46:06 - 01:06:09:02
Brenton Cox
The good thing is it's been a long time coming and we've invested a lot over a long period of time. And there are some systematic ways that you can go about minimizing risk as much as you can on the cyber front. Yeah, but without wanting to go into too much detail, you could do a lot of damage.

01:06:09:04 - 01:06:10:29
Daniel Franco
And I agree that's a scary thing.

01:06:10:29 - 01:06:17:29
Brenton Cox
And every single day people are trying to get in every single day.

01:06:18:01 - 01:06:37:09
Daniel Franco
I remember we had Steven Marshall on the show, the former premier, and the one thing he said when I first came into office, the one thing that surprised me the most was the amount of cybersecurity attacks that we get on the government and all the key assets that of of South Australia. It's scary, really frightening.

01:06:37:11 - 01:06:56:09
Brenton Cox
It like it can be it can do your head in if you spend too much time worrying about it. But there are just a lot of things that you do and you have to keep doing it and keep doing it. And every you've got so many front doors and back doors now in a way that physical security, it's easier to shut down.

01:06:56:09 - 01:07:10:27
Brenton Cox
Yeah. And you have to trade all those virtual doors in the same way that you would in the center of the physical environment. And the alternative is is pretty dire. And as everyone says, it's not if it's when you're.

01:07:10:29 - 01:07:18:09
Daniel Franco
In the labyrinth. I mean, it's between those doors. It's we're creating something so complex.

01:07:18:11 - 01:07:39:10
Brenton Cox
We all want it from, you know, customers want same endless journeys and want things to be connected. Do you want your technology to preempt what you want, where you want it? But every one of those connections that allows it's also a vulnerability. Yeah. And and that's also part of the challenge. We now treat cyber not dissimilar. How you treat work health, safety.

01:07:39:10 - 01:07:42:18
Brenton Cox
It's it is everyone's job every day to be.

01:07:42:18 - 01:07:43:21
Daniel Franco
Vigilant it cultures.

01:07:43:21 - 01:08:12:13
Brenton Cox
And it has to be and because every single person is a vulnerability and you should see some of the emails and text messages that you get and every person is getting that every day and you click on the wrong thing. And there is there's the front door open. But the challenge with that too, is there's so much opportunity in technology to to free people up, but it's having to prioritize cyber security just slows everything down.

01:08:12:16 - 01:08:43:10
Brenton Cox
And that's really hard for people who have great ideas and want to do things. Yeah, but you can't do it until you've managed all the cyber risk, which can take a long time. So it does put a handbrake to happiness and it does slow down innovation. It frustrates people. But the more that you understand the risks that you're trying to protect, yeah, what could happen if it goes wrong and it can go wrong very quickly, very badly, and that that it's everyone's job to understand that.

01:08:43:15 - 01:09:04:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah, it's it's funny. And I refer to another podcast we did with Dr. Robert Lawrence, Robin Lawrence, who is she's a CEO of say Health. And I said, you know, health got these amazing eyes coming through this amazing technology innovation. It's like, then we're looking, we're treating people's lives. We can't just take it all on without actually knowing whether it's going to work and continue to serve and protect.

01:09:04:20 - 01:09:15:14
Daniel Franco
Like so it yeah, it is it is frustrating in that in saying that though is there anything exciting coming from from an Apple point of view is what does the future of airports look like in Europe?

01:09:15:15 - 01:09:35:15
Brenton Cox
Oh, there is so much I mean, it's funny, we've got we've got a vision and a vision in a general sense, and it's pretty bold. It's to be everyone's favorite airport and in that be seamless, connected and easy. And and part of that is provide seamless connected and easy journeys you know and that that of course needs to have technology support.

01:09:35:15 - 01:09:57:02
Brenton Cox
And the reality is today, you know, we've met and we've got some pictures of of what our vision would look like and we haven't put into those that vision what we know in the future. It could be or even will be. We've just put in what exists today. And what exists today is far and above and beyond what.

01:09:57:02 - 01:09:58:11
Daniel Franco
We use every.

01:09:58:11 - 01:10:27:00
Brenton Cox
Every single day in. It is spectacular. What exists. But what hasn't caught up is regulation. What hasn't caught up is, is our ability to probably consistently achieve a customer delivery with some of this new technology. And the reality is aviation's a system. So what you do in Adelaide is only perhaps as good as what happens in Sydney or in Port Lincoln.

01:10:27:02 - 01:10:47:08
Brenton Cox
And so there needs to be a collective industry acceptance and collective customer acceptance. But you can see it can turn pretty quickly. You just look at the smart phone, the tipping point that that has had, and we'll see that in terms of just, you know, biometric X and all the other pieces that will make journeys much more seamless.

01:10:47:08 - 01:11:04:00
Brenton Cox
But the regulatory and cyber piece means that all of that tech that even exists today that would make it like, what's that aunty movie where you go to Mars that's that's sort of the existence you could you could roll that out Total recall you could you could roll that out today.

01:11:04:00 - 01:11:05:04
Daniel Franco
Is only one st I remember.

01:11:05:07 - 01:11:12:00
Brenton Cox
And I've got that now I that that is, that could.

01:11:12:00 - 01:11:32:13
Brenton Cox
Happen today. But there are a whole bunch of risks not dissimilar I guess to health where you can't just launch on that the bit. The beauty of Adelaide though, and this is a real thing, you know, where we have the scale to be significant but, but we're small enough for it to be relatively simple and for failure to be contained.

01:11:32:16 - 01:12:01:04
Brenton Cox
Yeah. And so we tend to often be capable of being a test bed for some of these things that we, we can do. And, and I really look forward to seeing what how it rolls out. The priority for us, though, is actually less about rolling out some of those customer experience enhancements through technology and just getting the absolute backbone in place with the cyber protections that will enable us to be much more nimble and flexible in time.

01:12:01:06 - 01:12:27:07
Daniel Franco
Exciting stuff. This might be a question that you might not know how to answer or might not have. The knowledge or background knowledge to answer. But, you know, we talk about resurfacing the the runways of planes. When is when is aviation in its own right going to change? You know, we've seen the movies where planes just sort of go off and take off right.

01:12:27:07 - 01:12:34:29
Daniel Franco
They don't need a runway anymore. We've seen drones. They do the same thing. Do you think that's going to be anywhere near in?

01:12:34:29 - 01:12:53:06
Brenton Cox
And if it's fun, I mean, that's the true moment. Yeah. I mean, ultimately, all you need when you strip it back is aviation fuel on the runway right now. And the minute vertical takeoff becomes a thing, an airport still required for safety.

01:12:53:06 - 01:12:54:27
Daniel Franco
Yeah, no doubt where they landed.

01:12:54:27 - 01:13:24:21
Brenton Cox
But the scale of it, you know, that whole massive runway component suddenly falls away. And there is no known technology here or at all visible on the horizon. That unfortunately, will stop the need for long haul aircraft to require horizontal takeoff and in addition, require them to require hydrocarbons to be burnt in those engines. And that's that is the number one challenge.

01:13:24:21 - 01:13:31:05
Daniel Franco
So and by six to doing something in that in that world. Well rockets are.

01:13:31:07 - 01:13:36:21
Brenton Cox
Even even on landing some of those things they need to be able to.

01:13:36:24 - 01:13:38:09
Daniel Franco
Well they're still crashing on it since.

01:13:38:10 - 01:13:39:09
Brenton Cox
It's.

01:13:39:11 - 01:13:40:14
Daniel Franco
Well off.

01:13:40:16 - 01:14:05:07
Brenton Cox
There a little while. But if you're talking mass passenger transit, it's reliable and at scale. There isn't. There is nothing. And well, so our focus is possibly less on when might an airport in the future become a redundant piece of infrastructure and more on the transition and how because in time the smaller aircraft will move to electric and hydrogen and that that technology today.

01:14:05:07 - 01:14:30:07
Brenton Cox
You know, it could start to roll out pretty soon but the real long haul heavy aircraft stuff, what we have to do is sustainable aviation fuel and biofuel is exists and it can be done. But the real nirvana is is taking green hydrogen, carbon dioxide and creating synthetic hydrocarbons. And that's what's burnt in in the engine. It's a net neutral effect.

01:14:30:07 - 01:14:49:26
Brenton Cox
You know, you take carbon and you put carbon out, but at least it's net neutral because there is nothing in the coming decades that will will replace that sort of technology where you're needing big turbines burning hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere. So we've got to solve that. So that's the thing that I worry about before. Worried about not needing.

01:14:49:26 - 01:14:55:07
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you might not be in the role in that that many years. I don't think.

01:14:55:07 - 01:14:58:06
Brenton Cox
Part of their job to not be. Yeah that's right.

01:14:58:09 - 01:15:24:09
Daniel Franco
And so moving into a subject in which I know you're quite passionate about which is leadership culture or all things in regards to the humans that we serve. And you've been described to me a visionary and a leader that carries this sense of awe about about you. I'm not trying to be naive, but it's kind of what you've been described to me by people who work at the airport.

01:15:24:09 - 01:15:41:27
Daniel Franco
I know a few people over there. What what does your leadership style look like? I know you're you and I, I've spoken about servant leadership and your philosophy on that. Can you us a little bit of a breakdown on on your style of leadership?

01:15:42:00 - 01:16:05:09
Brenton Cox
You know, it wasn't initially deliberate, but subsequently it's what felt right and I've subsequently made it deliberate and you've said it there. It's that servant leadership piece. It's we every single person has the privilege to be our to serve and to you're a leader there and you're accountable to every single person that you've been put in charge of.

01:16:05:16 - 01:16:28:24
Brenton Cox
And you're also accountable to the people that put you there. And every single person is accountable to someone. And there has to be deep humility in all of that. And you see that and you see a lot of world leaders come off the rails with it. You know, hubris comes in, but I'm only in the role because the people feel that they can be better people with being being in that role.

01:16:28:26 - 01:17:05:00
Brenton Cox
And and I'm very conscious of that and very conscious of that every day. And that there's nothing that I should be expecting people to do that I wouldn't do myself. And and you can't always play that out because there's an opportunity cost of time. But fundamentally, that's sort of the the role that you can play. And it's interesting because we've got a lot of people from overseas that have come here and Australia is incredibly egalitarian and and nonhierarchical in a way that we all take for granted.

01:17:05:03 - 01:17:30:00
Brenton Cox
And it's initially unnerving for people when I might sit down next to them at a lunch and we will chat and we'll be talking about human things and, and they'll see, you know, just as silly as, you know, you putting some chairs away after an event and they look at you strange, strangely, and it's something that culturally Australia we sort of expect of of our people that is partly the tall poppy syndrome.

01:17:30:00 - 01:17:58:17
Brenton Cox
Yeah. So you know you're all in together, you chip in no one better than anyone else. But it's really interesting when you see people who've used to have a deeply hierarchical environment pan that out. So, look, it's just a deep sense of accountability and and you're there to serve. And if you're not there to serve, then you'd better get out of the way and someone and be there who can who can do it better than you.

01:17:58:22 - 01:18:18:21
Daniel Franco
Accountability is a word that I think gets thrown around in leadership a lot yet not done so well. And what's your version? And taken accountability. How do you hold your people, your team accountable to the division of what is the Adelaide airport?

01:18:18:23 - 01:18:20:07
Brenton Cox
It's it's.

01:18:20:10 - 01:18:46:10
Brenton Cox
Fraught. It's very hard because you need to support people and everyone's going to I don't like to think of making mistakes, but you never do things as well as you like. And and it's the impossible tension between trying to achieve the absolute best against just giving people a break and supporting and allowing time. That is the impossible tension that I find.

01:18:46:11 - 01:19:13:20
Brenton Cox
And we we're not we're not perfect. And if you find the perfect recipe, let me know. But, um, it starts with honest communication and feeling safe, right? Because Being held accountable for something often is people's initial reaction is I'm not good enough. I haven't done a good enough job. You really know that. And this is where, you know in sport, it's done really well.

01:19:13:23 - 01:19:37:23
Brenton Cox
It's a caring, thoughtful, supportive messaging around how can I help you keep growing and that's hard and it's hard to be on the receiving end of being held accountable. And it's hard to be good at holding someone to account in a way that's really supportive because sometimes, you know, human nature is that you get frustrated or your emotions get the better.

01:19:37:28 - 01:20:06:22
Brenton Cox
So that the self-control in in that and the timing in that is is really important. But we truly believe and try to embed this in our culture is every single person absolutely owns their role and and it can be hard in in something where there's rigid safety and security and rules where people often defer to a natural rule based hierarchy.

01:20:06:25 - 01:20:31:12
Brenton Cox
But when you need to inject, at the end of the day, you are the absolute best of what you do. You take the initiative, you take the ownership, you are the organization. Yeah. Historically in in organizations, you'd sometimes have a, a worker manager sort of dichotomy or there's a there's a person and then there's the company in a, you know, for our people, you are the company you are the airport.

01:20:31:13 - 01:20:58:16
Brenton Cox
Yeah. And there's great freedom in that. A lot of people don't necessarily want it. They come in and it can be can be scary. But I think most people in the end will see the benefit and start to feel freed up when when they have that. The flip side, of course is that accountability and doing it in a way that, you know, you're not showing the door if you haven't done something quite right.

01:20:58:16 - 01:21:12:20
Brenton Cox
Yeah, it's just an opportunity to learn. And when if you've got the right attitude, you apply the right values, you give it a red hot go. You're going to get you're going to get lots of chances to keep improving. Yeah.

01:21:12:22 - 01:21:24:00
Daniel Franco
Well, I'd take it back to your cricket story. Right. And when we talk, when I ask you the question, did you win? And you said, Yeah, when we did, and typically when we won and beat our nemesis, it was because it was those people that stood up.

01:21:24:06 - 01:21:25:23
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

01:21:25:25 - 01:21:47:24
Daniel Franco
Do you, um, how do you help those people stand up and flourish what it is? Because accountability when things like this is where we're going and we need everyone to play their role, everyone has to own their role, play their part. But yet it's our job as leaders to make sure that everything is in their place so that they can play their role.

01:21:47:26 - 01:22:04:19
Daniel Franco
What happens or how do you manage? When will lead, when everything is seemingly in the right place? They are seemingly being led the right way, but yet still not performing. How do you hold people in that space?

01:22:04:24 - 01:22:12:03
Brenton Cox
And this is terrible saying there's no such thing as a as a bad employee. There's only bad managers. Yeah.

01:22:12:05 - 01:22:16:03
Daniel Franco
And it's like a clarity like, Yeah, yeah.

01:22:16:06 - 01:22:55:03
Brenton Cox
That's right. And inevitably it's never perfect. It's never perfect. And, and look, if it is and things aren't quite working out, it's often because of what's happening in people's personal lives and in other ways. And so there tends to, to be an area for support and. If people feel safe to be themselves and and speak out around why things might not be quite working out, you can you can tend to sort out that isn't always the case and that the really tough bit and this is where it does get hard is when there's people that just won't help themselves and they become toxic to those around them.

01:22:55:06 - 01:23:19:21
Brenton Cox
And and you need to protect the rest of the team from from people like that. And ultimately, they're often very good people themselves. They're just not at their best. And it was their life that made lots of little bad decisions that have got them to a place that they find it hard to get out of. That's the hardest point because the other people that, you know, you can invest lots of energy in and eventually get them back to the need to be.

01:23:19:24 - 01:23:39:03
Brenton Cox
But sometimes the damage is so great in the meantime that you sort of have to protect everyone else. And there's the old analogy, the farming analogy, where you've you've got to look after the crops, but remove the weeds and then people need to see that it's not tolerated when people go toxic like that. Yeah.

01:23:39:05 - 01:24:05:12
Daniel Franco
It's hard. And the farming analogy I heard in the moment, which is the you know, if you say a plant, Farai and there's a there's an brown dying a branch or leaf that is on that plant, 80% of the water goes to that plant in to that leaf in regards to trying to revive it yet. And then all of a sudden the other leaves start filtering and turning brown because that's taking all the energy or taking all the resources.

01:24:05:12 - 01:24:11:05
Daniel Franco
Right? So it's a very good analogy for business in the sense is sometimes you've just got to cut that branch off, right?

01:24:11:12 - 01:24:42:27
Brenton Cox
But the it's a really, really awkward balance because it also is unsettling for people where you see people leaving an and maybe they sort of think, well, why weren't they supported? Yeah, but what not? Not everyone would fully grasp it. So that that is, that is that is the really that is the hardest part because unfortunately, you know, ultimately ultimate accountability is where you consistently don't perform and you need to be sought.

01:24:43:00 - 01:24:57:15
Brenton Cox
And that includes for anyone and particularly in in roles where you're in leadership roles, where the amplifying impact of your conduct is is greater. And and so you've got to hold yourself to account at a even higher level.

01:24:57:18 - 01:25:28:21
Daniel Franco
You said you said earlier and now and even just hold yourself account where the individual needs to own their own. And I know and having seen some of your stuff and your leadership work that you've done, you are also very big on owning your own role, but looking after self first. What's your version and what do you do from looking after self?

01:25:28:21 - 01:25:37:24
Daniel Franco
I mean, whether it's fitness, whether it's sleep, you know, you've used the words to me before, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Right? Like, what is what does that look like to you?

01:25:38:00 - 01:26:07:29
Brenton Cox
You know, I mean, I always talk to people that the number one thing is your team and leadership is all about people and just caring to people, getting the best out of it. You are not able to do that if you're not in decent shape, if you're not there, if you're mentally not there, if you're sick, if you're tired, if you don't have stamina and resilience, or or that you haven't learned some of the things you need to know about or you haven't read what's going on in the world.

01:26:07:29 - 01:26:36:23
Brenton Cox
So you've got to look after yourself first to be able to look after others and I probably learned that later, later in life to some degree. But and it's it's funny you I'm very disciplined around exercise. And I love I love I love running. I used to do a lot with friends and now often I just do it by myself because it's also a to think clearly about.

01:26:36:25 - 01:26:37:20
Daniel Franco
Meditating, I think.

01:26:37:23 - 01:26:45:04
Brenton Cox
Right, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And absolutely love it. And I think that that's really important. I think it's important for every single person.

01:26:45:07 - 01:26:46:12
Daniel Franco
Is it a daily thing for you?

01:26:46:12 - 01:26:52:28
Brenton Cox
And it's as much as possible. And if I can't do it properly, then it might just be walking the dog at night time.

01:26:52:28 - 01:26:55:17
Daniel Franco
And so you do that particular time, morning.

01:26:55:17 - 01:27:03:21
Brenton Cox
Not if I get my choice. It will actually be at lunch time the middle of the day. Oh, really? In the morning in order like to.

01:27:03:24 - 01:27:05:01
Daniel Franco
In the suit or in the.

01:27:05:06 - 01:27:06:14
Brenton Cox
Night.

01:27:06:17 - 01:27:28:20
Brenton Cox
You do you get quickly into the Batcave. Yeah. And change as you learn to, to get in and out of a suit. Pretty quickly. But I like to be there for my kids in the morning and and and, and, and in the evening as much as possible. So it's either quite late in the evening, very early in the morning, or in the middle of the middle of the day.

01:27:28:23 - 01:27:35:09
Brenton Cox
In the middle of the day is the ideal because it gives you that a break and it gives you a mental reset and.

01:27:35:09 - 01:27:37:24
Daniel Franco
Refresh to, you know, it brings the oxygen back into the.

01:27:37:24 - 01:27:48:23
Brenton Cox
Brain. So if possible. So but at the same time, you've got to have fun. Yeah, you've got to eat, drink and be merry. I mean, you you need a life. So yes, that's that.

01:27:48:27 - 01:27:49:23
Daniel Franco
Moderation is.

01:27:49:23 - 01:27:50:27
Brenton Cox
Key. And that's the.

01:27:50:27 - 01:28:11:26
Brenton Cox
Other point, right? Because you know, there's a lot of scrutiny and judgment that goes on. And whether you whether it's right or wrong, you know, if you if you if you smoke or you're an alcoholic, no matter how functioning you might be, there's a significant, significant amount of judgment that comes on that. Yeah. So you just can't go down that path.

01:28:11:28 - 01:28:14:08
Brenton Cox
You know, either to you.

01:28:14:11 - 01:28:32:04
Daniel Franco
Your leadership style seems, um, beyond its use in some aspect, right? And was there a mentor or was there a pivotal point in your career where you learned or you were knocked down as a leader and you went, Actually, I need a change.

01:28:32:04 - 01:29:00:19
Brenton Cox
You I mean, you're learning all the time, right? I, I even talk to the most experienced and wise people that, you know, wish they knew what they knew now 20 years ago. And you're always, always learning. So if you just got to start by accepting that you're and that you're just on your own journey as well. And that's that's I think that that's a starting point.

01:29:00:19 - 01:29:27:01
Brenton Cox
I've been gifted by having incredible what you might call ménages. But, you know, they've been my own leaders and not not mentors in a formal sense. But even now, my my chairman, my former managing director, my former CEO, the partners at the law firm that are at, they all took a care and interests in my own development in a way they didn't have to do.

01:29:27:03 - 01:29:32:29
Brenton Cox
But but they they did. And I've I've just eternally grateful for that.

01:29:32:29 - 01:29:40:18
Daniel Franco
But do you think that's more about you? I mean, you know better than anyone you take interest in those who are actually showing interest.

01:29:40:20 - 01:30:14:01
Brenton Cox
But I look, there has to be that, you know, you want to you put effort in and you want to see someone putting the effort in and getting it correct as well. So, I mean, I would have seen an energy and a life and a desire and a hunger and and wanted to assist that and guide that. And I think also it's important any leader is very much receptive to feedback and that the more receptive you are to feedback, the more like you're going to get it and the more likely you get it, the more like you can keep improving.

01:30:14:03 - 01:30:31:10
Brenton Cox
And I'd like to think that I'm an easy person to talk to and when inevitably drop the ball and stuff up. Yeah, people can, can have that chat and feel comfortable doing it. And if I can learn from the benefit of those insights.

01:30:31:13 - 01:31:02:24
Daniel Franco
You're yeah, when you were talking about running during the day and just some of the stuff you just said now one thing if I know to be true by speaking to many CEOs and leaders on this podcast, is that strategic thinking or that space to think is something that they hold the in of their heart and believe has been a big reason to their success as a leader outside of the running midday that you know, you might go for an hour.

01:31:02:24 - 01:31:17:05
Daniel Franco
So do you do is that something that you you bring into your into your work day is something you schedule into your diary that you know, the very simple I need time to sit, think and strategize.

01:31:17:07 - 01:31:32:06
Brenton Cox
I mean, the running piece is important. Actually. I run typically without music in just to take away noise and good old having a shower as. Well I'll.

01:31:32:06 - 01:31:33:09
Brenton Cox
Say yeah, yeah.

01:31:33:15 - 01:32:00:02
Brenton Cox
Just those quiet moments. Unless the dogs and kids are running around. Yeah. Not, not every week in terms of that sitting down to really think hard strategically, but I do it on a systematic basis. It's sometimes it's not even every month, but it's on a cycle throughout, throughout a year where I'm putting more time at different planning cycles in the year to really to really deep dive.

01:32:00:02 - 01:32:21:23
Brenton Cox
And then if good ideas come up, as they do in the quiet moments, just having the discipline of writing it down, sometimes it's not appropriate to try to execute it straight away or but just to kind of build up that list and then you bring it together when it's the right time to to try to steer the ship in a slightly different direction.

01:32:21:23 - 01:32:48:25
Brenton Cox
So I haven't found that, you know, the five AIM club mantra. Yeah, but you absolutely must do it historically. I'll do it on an ad hoc basis on the plane. Oh, really? Planes are fabulous times when you're locked in just to do it. I'm not traveling as much quite. They used to, so I'm missing that. So having unfortunately doing a little bit on, on, on weekends in the back garden or in the study.

01:32:48:27 - 01:33:10:19
Daniel Franco
You you just said something there which I think is crucial, which is you might write these things and you might get these great ideas, but don't go and force that onto anyone else. Let it go, let it grow, let it create, let it evolve. Is that I mean, what toxic changes? I like shiny new things, right? Like, I.

01:33:10:22 - 01:33:13:09
Brenton Cox
See these things and I'm like, Well, let's bring in.

01:33:13:09 - 01:33:29:22
Daniel Franco
Look what we can do. And how do you how do you stay calm and true to your strategy when there is potential for improvement? And in that knowing that things could be done. But you've got to slow down, too.

01:33:29:24 - 01:33:52:02
Brenton Cox
I mean, you can have a massive impact on on the people around you if you start sharing every single thought and desire, because you risk having everyone running after shiny new things and then you've got chaos. So just really respecting other time and their own thought processes, you know, think about what I do like, you know, you like to share.

01:33:52:02 - 01:33:59:06
Brenton Cox
Yeah, I think the best ideas are where humans are in a room and just collaborate writing and and bouncing something that comes together.

01:33:59:07 - 01:34:04:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah, it's a fine line between sharing and then people taking what you're saying, that they need to go and do it.

01:34:04:06 - 01:34:17:11
Brenton Cox
And that's, that's always the challenge for people to not to feel safe, to not go and run, run with it now. And know that when you do say this is just to chat about and not to do yeah I think pulling it is not to.

01:34:17:11 - 01:34:32:03
Daniel Franco
Do Yeah and because you know that's the old curse of the of the later is that you walk into a room and you go actually drinking drinking this table would look good over there and the next day you come back and the table has been moved. But it was just a suggestion.

01:34:32:03 - 01:34:54:23
Brenton Cox
The good thing is we've we've really sort of living the servant leadership so much that a lot of that doesn't doesn't have to have even so much in our neck of the woods. The other thing is, I mean, practically we've got a very clear strategy and we are just we just go to execute and we just don't have enough people in time in the days to execute.

01:34:54:23 - 01:35:15:26
Brenton Cox
So everything is about refining capacity to execute. And rather than trying to layer new things, it's, you know, the art of strategy is always what you not do. Yeah. And we just have to keep discipline on that when we've got a very clear bunch of work, bunch of stuff we've got to get done and just focusing on getting that done.

01:35:15:28 - 01:35:19:15
Brenton Cox
Otherwise, yeah, you start to land shiny things and you get nothing.

01:35:19:17 - 01:35:57:28
Daniel Franco
I love that. I love what you just said then. It's a big part of what you know from from our business perspective, we can help a lot of organizations through change. And one of the key elements to that is understanding What we're not doing is probably the most important question, I think, for me. And one last question before we start to think about rounding up, when it does come to change and transformation and taking people a journey, what do you think is a fundamental in regards for people being in adopting the change that you're trying to introduce?

01:35:58:00 - 01:36:25:15
Brenton Cox
I mean, if you situation's different and by no means I'm far from a genius on it, but it has its foundations in empathy and in communication and individuals, people's need to change and it comes from where they are and who they are and every person's different. Yeah, and so you can't expect a single means of communication is going to solve, going to going to get in someone's head and make them appreciate the need.

01:36:25:15 - 01:36:46:12
Brenton Cox
And what what's it for them and why this is better. The reality of change is that there's always pain before you get the benefit on the other side too. And being realistic about that pain because otherwise people start to feel the pain and then you get the resistance and you back it. You need to be completely open and honest about.

01:36:46:12 - 01:36:55:24
Brenton Cox
The reality that most changes is much harder before it gets better. Yeah, and but fundamentally it's empathy and communication in its different forms at all. Yeah.

01:36:55:26 - 01:37:15:12
Daniel Franco
Oh, add to the communication. It's the clarity of communication, right? Because when people are able to make sense of change, they're more likely to take it on communication might still be you might be communicated to, but it might not be that clear if that makes sense or might not be in a way or a form in which people can absorb.

01:37:15:15 - 01:37:18:12
Brenton Cox
And that that takes a ton of work.

01:37:18:18 - 01:37:18:28
Daniel Franco
Does.

01:37:19:04 - 01:37:28:01
Brenton Cox
To make the complex, simple correct through communication. And that's work that's worthwhile investing in a friend as well.

01:37:28:03 - 01:37:29:06
Brenton Cox
Yeah.

01:37:29:08 - 01:38:01:19
Daniel Franco
Same. You know, when you choose to become a CEO, you choose to apply a lot of time and take time away from family. How have you managed your family dynamic and you know, end of a score out of ten, what would you rate yourself in? And I mean because it's a tough one and I know you are a family man and obviously community men and see.

01:38:01:22 - 01:38:47:12
Brenton Cox
You've only got so much time in the day and you you can't compromise on on fam going back to, you know good as a leader if you're no good for yourself and you're not good for yourself if you're feeling constantly about not not being a good parent or, you know, a good a good husband, it cycles I'd I'd give myself a seven out of ten at the moment and that can fluctuate I'm really lucky just incredibly bright supportive wife and and my kids are full of life and and just things have worked out for them and I've just try to be there to be as present as possible, be really present and.

01:38:47:14 - 01:39:09:29
Brenton Cox
So have the the phone only. So emergency stuff comes in at those moments and does every day have just moments with the kids with it's dropping them off at school, putting them to bed and just being disciplined as possible to do that as consistently as possible, because it's just those little, little quiet where they share things that they wouldn't otherwise.

01:39:10:01 - 01:39:33:16
Brenton Cox
And then being deliberate about doing some some really kind of fun things and memorable moments and you you know, I just took my daughter snorkeling out in the Barrier Reef and she swam sharks and she will never forget that and took my son game fishing like crazy. And you'll never forget that. Yeah. And just to.

01:39:33:18 - 01:39:33:26
Brenton Cox
Get.

01:39:33:26 - 01:39:42:02
Brenton Cox
Into that all the time. But I still think it's good to invest in those big moments. So, look, if you fund a fund, the solution that.

01:39:42:04 - 01:39:59:11
Daniel Franco
On and then anyone's got the perfect I think I ask everyone on the show some people ask me what I do because I think I've got it more sorted than what they have. But I mean, the one thing that I struggle with is switching off at night. Is that something that you would fall into the same category?

01:39:59:12 - 01:40:23:24
Brenton Cox
Oh, definitely. And am I sort of it working late? Once I'd choose to go to sleep, I can go to sleep. I'm going to be pretty knackered by that point. Yeah. Just turns off and but yeah, do find it difficult in an evening. I either have to be engaged doing something or I'm thinking about work. Yeah. And it's quite hard if I'm engaged.

01:40:23:24 - 01:40:25:21
Daniel Franco
In a 24 hour business to. Right.

01:40:25:23 - 01:40:49:06
Brenton Cox
Well it doesn't, it doesn't stop and look normally. It's not about making something better in those hours. It's if something's going wrong. Yeah, but there's also I don't like to be a blockage and I don't like to slow things down. And so if people want to keep things moving, I sort of like to make sure I can engage in it and help them so it can that can become a professional have been like it's always, always been.

01:40:49:06 - 01:41:08:05
Brenton Cox
There hasn't been it's not just comes with the role. I think it's just different People work in that way. I'm fortunate. I'm one of those people that finds it hard. Yeah, to turn off. That said, you know, from walking the dog with my wife and you just choose to be in the moment and as long as you can do that, it's it's okay.

01:41:08:05 - 01:41:09:24
Brenton Cox
It's sustainable.

01:41:09:27 - 01:41:12:12
Daniel Franco
What excites you about the future?

01:41:12:14 - 01:41:17:09
Brenton Cox
Oh, there's if I talk about.

01:41:17:09 - 01:41:32:27
Brenton Cox
Our work and we've come from such a dark place that every day is bloody fantastic. You know, we had moments when, when Borders first and we would just go and stand out international arrivals and just look at the love actually moments and.

01:41:33:00 - 01:41:34:24
Daniel Franco
And yeah, that must have been amazing.

01:41:34:24 - 01:41:59:12
Brenton Cox
It just it was fabulous. And, and we do a we have something where anyone can go and volunteer. We call it sort of the pink team and you can just be on the front line and you can help people out every day. And, and just seeing that just today is is absolutely fantastic. And but then seeing what we'll be able to contribute.

01:41:59:14 - 01:42:18:09
Brenton Cox
You know, we've we've got a vision that sees Adelaide as this wonderfully connected city that sees the airport as this destination in our own right, you know, showcasing the best of South Australia. You know, we do our best to do it now and we're continuing on that on that journey. And then the seamless journeys that we know that we can, we can contribute.

01:42:18:09 - 01:42:51:25
Brenton Cox
I mean, there's a, there's a day where there's not a security key and, and and as well as this sense of a connected campus, we've got those 10,000 people every working there and to make them feel like their whole lives can be served in that time that they spend and it was stronger together. And then just that logistic sort of logistics, economic powerhouse, the freight often is the the poor cousin is there's a lot of important stuff that's happening in the belly of an aircraft that just drives and thrives.

01:42:51:25 - 01:43:16:13
Brenton Cox
The city thrives on so and we've got a lot of plans to just make all of that work. So I just can't wait to see as we execute the strategy that I spoke about that, you know, it's hard work. Yeah. Just seeing the results of that'll come out. And in the short term, you know, you just get energized every day because you just have those love actually moments and you see the team getting it and it's it's beautiful.

01:43:16:15 - 01:43:31:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah, it must be wonderful. Well, I, I'm just conscious of your time. We are going to wrap up with some quickfire questions. This bit of fun at the end will be great. As I know you're a big reader. What are you reading right now?

01:43:31:11 - 01:43:34:21
Brenton Cox
I'm reading my integrated report.

01:43:34:24 - 01:43:35:07
Brenton Cox
At.

01:43:35:07 - 01:43:53:12
Brenton Cox
Work, but now I'd like to read more attentive cycle reading over holiday periods and my brother is excellent at this stuff. He's always good with sort of self-help books and he is recommends that I read the hard thing about hard things.

01:43:53:12 - 01:43:54:26
Brenton Cox
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:43:54:26 - 01:43:57:02
Brenton Cox
So that's that's probably.

01:43:57:04 - 01:44:03:12
Daniel Franco
Very topical for today's recession. Is there any book that you've read in the past that you'd recommend More.

01:44:03:14 - 01:44:05:16
Brenton Cox
Than my.

01:44:05:16 - 01:44:24:21
Brenton Cox
Team? I love this because sometimes we have this book joint book thing. Yeah, we do. Ladies eight last. You know that real servant leadership piece that. Yeah, I think it just it just shows the merits of it all. It shows how it can be good for you and how it gets results. So I really, really love that.

01:44:24:24 - 01:44:47:19
Daniel Franco
That's amazing. I had coffee somewhat with someone yesterday who is coming on this podcast shortly. Um, and he was at the Singapore Grand Prix and met Simon Sinek and spoke to him like half an hour. And he goes, Mate, the guy is, as you would believe, he would be like, He is just absolutely giving of himself and of his time.

01:44:47:19 - 01:44:56:00
Daniel Franco
So it's good when you got someone who writes those books, who actually lives the creativity he preaches, right?

01:44:56:00 - 01:44:58:18
Brenton Cox
So you can you can find stuff.

01:44:58:21 - 01:44:59:02
Daniel Franco
No.

01:44:59:04 - 01:45:01:13
Brenton Cox
That much too short to do that.

01:45:01:15 - 01:45:07:27
Daniel Franco
What's one lesson that's taking the longest to learn?

01:45:08:00 - 01:45:08:14
Brenton Cox
Look.

01:45:08:16 - 01:45:25:10
Brenton Cox
Perfections in illusion, right? And and at the same, same time there's, you know, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone perspective is unique on that. Yeah. So, yeah, it helps you not be so hard on yourself. I think.

01:45:25:13 - 01:45:28:22
Brenton Cox
Yeah, that's tough. That's tough.

01:45:28:24 - 01:45:42:12
Daniel Franco
Especially especially when you're trying to break the ghosts of the past right in. That's how what's gotten you here is that extra effort and self-motivation.

01:45:42:15 - 01:45:47:09
Brenton Cox
Although it can drive you into a rabbit hole so it can have you can't get out of.

01:45:47:12 - 01:45:57:08
Daniel Franco
If you to have one coffee with any historical figure current any current or historical, who would it be?

01:45:57:10 - 01:45:58:16
Brenton Cox
Can you have a translator?

01:45:58:20 - 01:45:59:06
Brenton Cox
Kind of.

01:45:59:08 - 01:46:02:19
Daniel Franco
Yeah, absolutely it is. Let's pretend they.

01:46:02:21 - 01:46:02:24
Brenton Cox
Are.

01:46:02:26 - 01:46:26:20
Brenton Cox
Recording them. Yeah. China and its culture really intrigues me. It's so, so different. And people grow up thinking in a different way. And then also just the Confucius and those teachings and learnings and how that has influenced the whole world. It'd just be awesome to just sit down and just get in his head for a little while.

01:46:26:21 - 01:46:32:12
Daniel Franco
Yeah. So is it the ancient philosophers? And we've had conversations about the Stoics?

01:46:32:12 - 01:46:35:02
Brenton Cox
Yes. Marcus Aurelius. Yeah.

01:46:35:04 - 01:46:38:25
Daniel Franco
What's some of the best advice that you've ever received?

01:46:38:28 - 01:46:57:10
Brenton Cox
Make yourself redundant. Yeah. It sounds awfully stark, doesn't It. It's not in a technical, legal sense. It's just that. And grow your team so that they can do everything. And you are no longer needed in that role. You open to opportunities and you can be flexible and opportunistic so you make yourself redundant.

01:46:57:12 - 01:47:00:15
Daniel Franco
What's one habit that holds you back a bit?

01:47:00:19 - 01:47:10:04
Brenton Cox
I guess just staying too late. Yeah. Yeah. And reading. Working too, too late. I know, I know. It's almost self-destructive, but I always kind of help myself. Yeah, and I.

01:47:10:11 - 01:47:14:15
Daniel Franco
I know you've, I suppose, is an element of loving what you do too.

01:47:14:18 - 01:47:17:10
Brenton Cox
Not wanting to turn it off. Yeah, you can do more.

01:47:17:12 - 01:47:25:20
Daniel Franco
Yeah. And there's elements of that. I actually get energy from it too. Yeah. So it's a it's a Yeah.

01:47:25:21 - 01:47:26:08
Brenton Cox
Until the next.

01:47:26:08 - 01:47:32:09
Daniel Franco
Morning. Correct. Exactly. What's one of the, what's your biggest pet peeve over pisses you off the most.

01:47:32:12 - 01:47:50:11
Brenton Cox
And it when people don't take ownership if they go what does the company want or just just detach themselves from the team that they're in. Yeah yeah. Lack of ownership Grace Yeah absolutely.

01:47:50:13 - 01:47:53:26
Daniel Franco
If you could pay someone to do a chore that you didn't like to do, what would it be?

01:47:54:01 - 01:47:54:26
Brenton Cox
Hmm.

01:47:54:28 - 01:48:01:03
Brenton Cox
I really don't like shopping in all senses of the word. I don't know why It's horrible.

01:48:01:07 - 01:48:06:05
Daniel Franco
I'm the same clothes shopping. I only buy clothes online. I just refuse to go into.

01:48:06:08 - 01:48:16:04
Brenton Cox
All those little as possible. And practically I really hate on stacking a dishwasher and putting away the kids clothes. It just takes so long.

01:48:16:04 - 01:48:18:11
Brenton Cox
Oh, so you go through.

01:48:18:11 - 01:48:24:01
Daniel Franco
32 pairs of jocks and knickers? I don't know, like, it's horrible, it's annoying.

01:48:24:04 - 01:48:26:18
Brenton Cox
And I don't do a great job of doing themselves, so.

01:48:26:20 - 01:48:27:00
Daniel Franco
No.

01:48:27:00 - 01:48:27:25
Brenton Cox
Yeah, that'll be nice.

01:48:27:26 - 01:48:37:29
Daniel Franco
Yeah. No, I'm at the point of saying my kids are I just yours 12 and ten. Yeah. And I'm at the point of saying your job, Norman. Put it away.

01:48:38:01 - 01:48:42:00
Brenton Cox
Yeah, that's where it's not.

01:48:42:02 - 01:48:50:21
Daniel Franco
But I'm removing myself from the equation. What's one word you absolutely hate?

01:48:50:23 - 01:48:52:11
Brenton Cox
Um.

01:48:52:14 - 01:49:10:13
Brenton Cox
I think maybe if it's in the context of, you know, when people say, I'm sorry if I made you feel that way, and for some reason, I just think you're not taking responsibility for how you did make them feel. And just.

01:49:10:13 - 01:49:10:27
Brenton Cox
It's just.

01:49:10:27 - 01:49:19:20
Brenton Cox
That one word in that phrase. And and for me, that smacks of someone that isn't actually taking accountability for the impact that they've had.

01:49:19:23 - 01:49:21:21
Daniel Franco
Or I could challenge this one.

01:49:21:23 - 01:49:22:27
Brenton Cox
Oh, I'm just on the.

01:49:22:27 - 01:49:34:25
Daniel Franco
Basis that sometimes the emotional intelligence of the person who's receiving the feedback might not be where it needs to be, too. I like there is there's always two sides to the story.

01:49:34:26 - 01:49:57:02
Brenton Cox
I think whatever whatever the reason and it could entirely be in that the shoe on that foot, is that how they genuinely were made to feel or genuinely felt and feel? And yes, causation is complicated. I just find that hard when I hear that and I see that and you see companies do it, I just think you're really not taking responsibility here.

01:49:57:02 - 01:49:59:15
Daniel Franco
You haven't you haven't seen it from their perspective.

01:49:59:15 - 01:50:02:02
Brenton Cox
You're not looking at your own role in its current role.

01:50:02:09 - 01:50:10:08
Daniel Franco
And so what's a bit of a creepy question? What's the first thing that you would do if you became invisible?

01:50:10:11 - 01:50:13:03
Brenton Cox
Right over a lot of invisible?

01:50:13:06 - 01:50:21:09
Brenton Cox
Because when you're invisible, you're not. You can't share things. You aren't going to get on a plane.

01:50:21:11 - 01:50:26:15
Brenton Cox
Without a ticket that may be invisible. Do you know what would be.

01:50:26:18 - 01:50:36:29
Brenton Cox
Interesting to actually sit in Putin's war room right now and wondering what's really going on on the other side of the fence there? Yeah, it's a strange.

01:50:37:06 - 01:50:42:03
Daniel Franco
Thing. Yeah. No, there's an element of.

01:50:42:06 - 01:50:44:12
Brenton Cox
What they love. They doing that. Why they.

01:50:44:14 - 01:50:45:16
Daniel Franco
What's their play.

01:50:45:18 - 01:50:50:10
Brenton Cox
Again? You know, you can never really know until you get into site. And so they had.

01:50:50:12 - 01:50:53:21
Daniel Franco
What's the most useless talent the.

01:50:53:23 - 01:50:55:15
Brenton Cox
A excellent head.

01:50:55:15 - 01:51:00:08
Brenton Cox
Looks. Oh really. Yeah. You cannot get out of them. You can't get out of them unless you.

01:51:00:10 - 01:51:03:07
Brenton Cox
Do serious damage to the other parts of my body.

01:51:03:09 - 01:51:04:28
Brenton Cox
And yeah, it's completely.

01:51:04:28 - 01:51:07:04
Daniel Franco
Where did you learn you had that talent.

01:51:07:06 - 01:51:08:04
Brenton Cox
Quite, quite.

01:51:08:04 - 01:51:12:26
Brenton Cox
Young, You know, you get to lots of thoughts and things like that and.

01:51:13:03 - 01:51:14:05
Daniel Franco
You just learn this technique.

01:51:14:06 - 01:51:20:17
Brenton Cox
And it was also a way of defuzing a situation without doing great damage and just discovered that.

01:51:20:17 - 01:51:21:00
Daniel Franco
Once you get.

01:51:21:00 - 01:51:26:02
Brenton Cox
Into that, you know, one was perfected, this headlock.

01:51:26:04 - 01:51:27:10
Daniel Franco
You don't do.

01:51:27:12 - 01:51:28:23
Brenton Cox
Anything, you just say.

01:51:28:24 - 01:51:30:21
Brenton Cox
Something that did it properly. It would be hard to get out.

01:51:30:21 - 01:51:31:18
Brenton Cox
Of.

01:51:31:20 - 01:51:34:12
Brenton Cox
This day. No, Once we had to get out of one of my ridiculous headlights.

01:51:34:16 - 01:51:35:20
Daniel Franco
I won't take you up on.

01:51:35:22 - 01:51:37:09
Brenton Cox
That. I know.

01:51:37:11 - 01:51:42:16
Daniel Franco
And my favorite joke, my favorite question of this is what's your best dad joke?

01:51:42:18 - 01:52:00:24
Brenton Cox
Oh, you know, I've done the weekend, took them my kids like a tell me a joke, Dad I'm not good. They pretty good of these things. And there's often stuff you can't say. I loved a joke about aviation, but they always fly over people's heads.

01:52:00:27 - 01:52:01:13
Brenton Cox
Of course.

01:52:01:13 - 01:52:22:16
Daniel Franco
You in there? Well done. That's brilliant. Thank you so much for your time today, Brenton. Really appreciate the chat. Thank you for sharing going a little bit vulnerable and sharing who you are. No, this was actually quite difficult for you. You don't like to talk about self too much. You very much are about about the people and about others.

01:52:22:16 - 01:52:50:10
Daniel Franco
So thank you for becoming going a little bit vulnerable and stepping in a world that you're not too comfortable with on behalf of everyone, I guess. Thanks for everything that you and the team of the Atlanta airport are doing. You bringing people here, you're putting smiles on faces. Those love actually moments, the ability just to get away and having, you know, it might not always run as seamless as the world want it to, but you guys are doing a wonderful job.

01:52:50:10 - 01:53:01:27
Brenton Cox
So thank thanks very much. It's a great bunch, putting in incredible effort every day. And thank you for dragging this stuff out of people like me. And I hope someone somewhere can learn something.

01:53:01:28 - 01:53:06:16
Daniel Franco
I will. They will. If people want to get in contact with you.

01:53:06:16 - 01:53:07:08
Brenton Cox
Or.

01:53:07:10 - 01:53:11:06
Daniel Franco
Follow you, where can I find you?

01:53:11:09 - 01:53:18:03
Brenton Cox
I've keep a pretty low profile. Yeah, actually, the only Yeah, is probably LinkedIn, I think.

01:53:18:06 - 01:53:21:16
Daniel Franco
Yeah, But even then you're going to be active for the better folks.

01:53:21:17 - 01:53:24:09
Brenton Cox
Yeah. So you can search me on that, on that and.

01:53:24:11 - 01:53:30:13
Brenton Cox
And it wouldn't be following it. It took two years. Most of our relationships.

01:53:30:16 - 01:53:37:18
Daniel Franco
Are those external connect. Yeah. Now that's not a problem. Yeah. Thanks again for your time and we'll catch you next time, everyone.

01:53:37:25 - 01:53:45:17
Brenton Cox
Thanks to you kids and thank.