CEO - Up Close & Personal

The Australian Experiential Learning Centre is providing an opportunity for you to be involved in a fantastic free program. This is a chance for you to meet Australian CEOs up close and personal and is ideal for MBAs.

The sessions are very informal with strategic conversations between the students and the featured CEO.

Richard Goyder

AELC recently had the privilege of Interviewing Richard Goyder, CEO of Wesfarmers. At the time, Richard was right in the middle of launching the Coles buy, a ‘big news’ major event in corporate Australia. We took a group of 20 students and young entrepreneurs who had an hour and a half to talk to Richard and ask questions, all of which we recorded on video for our members. He made comment that he had spent more time with us in the last week than he had had with his family which shows his dedication to Wesfarmers.

Richard Talking about the Coles bid

"One of the real downsides about being a CEO … particularly in this country I think and maybe more so in Perth as well is that it's really personalised.

So people talk about the 'Goyder Transaction' or the 'Goyder Bid'. It's just nonsense!

This is Wesfarmers. This is a Wesfarmers bid, Wesfarmers strategy to do these other things and Richard Goyder happens to be the CEO of the company - but he happens to have some wonderful people working for him who provide him with this wonderful information where we can all make decisions

There's been very, very few things I've had to do over the last two years where I've had to make a decision on it really. I mean it's been very evident what the decision should be.

So unfortunately it gets way too personalised but that just goes with the turf I think - that's the game."