Theresa Gattung's resignation as Telecom CEO isn't much of a surprise. And it probably isn't good news for New Zealand business either. Let's face it, the woman had to go, she was too honest. In today's business world, that simply won't do.
There's a lot wrong with Telecom New Zealand, but Theresa Gattung isn't on the list.
She's a personable, intelligent, engaging boss. She's popular with shareholders and has their respect. As far as we know, the same applies to Telecom employees. She's been in the role, make that survived in the role, for nearly eight years.
It's a horrible job. Where she needs to triangulate between shareholders, customers and government.
Telecom's shareholders, naturally enough, want to maximise the returns on their investment. Whatever Telecom says, this does not align with delivering the products and services New Zealand's businesses and consumers want and need. In fact it doesn't come close to aligning.
When Telecom was privatised, unlike elsewhere in the world our government failed to legislate for market competition. So we simply went from a government-owned abusive monopoly to a privately-owned abusive monopoly. Since privatisation, communications has moved right to the centre of economic life. Consequently, Telecom has become the anchor dragging on the entire New Zealand economy.
Under Gattung's reign New Zealand's government finally decided to correct those earlier mistakes. Her employers would have expected her to block these attempts. It was never going to happen.
It will be interesting to see if Gattung's replacement is hired to continue fighting against the inevitable government regulation or someone reconciled to the new reality.
