Friend,

I run a PR firm, so read this with that in mind. This week Anthony Attia, three weeks into running the ASX, announced a new CFO, COO and head of clearing and settlement. The next day Rear Window (Mark Di Stefano) reported the corporate affairs chief is leaving and outside advisers are in for his first 90 days, one of whom ran Qantas corporate affairs in the later Joyce years.

Ouch. Media target practice…

MDS's verdict on the PR advisers’ appointment today was: it "suggests he thinks the ASX's communications problems are on the same level as its actual ones. This is so rarely true."

I love Di Stefano's and Joe Aston's writing and accept the clickbait. Bait taken.

Who you hire becomes the message

A new CEO's first moves are read as a diagnosis of the shop. Change the CFO, the COO and the operating structure in month one and the market hears "the shop was the problem", not "the shop front (PR) was crap". ASIC found shareholder returns ahead of critical infrastructure, a culture "defensive and insular", and (thank you, Rampart) a team better suited to yesterday's market than tomorrow's. Others' views, not mine.

Attia is himself a possible circuit breaker (more on those here) and may actually need new people to effect that strategy. That's his message, and it's the right one. The exits and hires are the announcement.

Beware the resume that walks in ahead of you

So why did the PR advisers get the column? Because the December 2024 CHESS failure is still the market's favourite joke, every move is read through that lens, and the AFR goes after the most interesting resumes. The PR appointment got space because the key adviser's Qantas years travel with him.

We all (even self-employed me) have a resume, but the market keeps its own version. It gets re-read the day you start as CEO or make an unusual PR hire. Nothing in that resume is new. It's already written by others.

That's the watercooler in a market this size. Rear Window and Rampart tell us what a couple of hundred people already know, then let the rest of us in on it.

So what?

Your first act is your theory of the problem. Attia's says the organisation is the problem; the AFR chose the PR. Their sniping at an ex-Joyce-era Qantas hire was foreseeable.

If you're the PR, assume your last gigs walk in ahead of you, and say so first. If you're a board watching a new CEO hire outside help, read the resumes as Messrs Aston and Di Stefano would. Then make the story the problem, and your fix, not the PR.

Best,

Carden | she/her (here’s why that matters @work)

PS Yes, we advise incoming CEOs and their boards. Reply with a CEO you think made a good first impression and why. I'm endlessly curious about this

On our radar:

The other big stories this week

‘Risk to safety and security’: Australia joins push to regulate AI

Australia has joined 19 other nations and the European Commission in calling for sweeping regulations to ensure AI remains subject to human direction and oversight. The statement, released at the UN and signed by 20 world leaders, comes as tensions between China and the US grow amid the global race to develop AI, ahead of Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting on Thursday.

Investor fears private credit mass exodus as ASIC cracks whip on lending standards

ASIC commissioner Simone Constant will address a gathering hosted by the Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers Association (CAFBA) in Sydney, warning Australian's private credit sector that the clock is ticking on poor lending practices. This warning comes in the wake of the collapse of NSW property developer Bathla, which heightened scrutiny of private lenders and vulnerable exposures.

Super wars escalate as Coalition leans in to mortgage plan

The Coalition is considering a proposal to allow Australians to use their superannuation to help secure a home loan. Housing spokesperson Andrew Bragg is expected to outline a plan that would allow superannuation to be used as collateral for a mortgage or to increase borrowing capacity. This proposal comes as Pauline Hanson announced a policy that would allow Australians to take a quarter of their super as a wage top-up.

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