The wake-up call may come too late for business leaders

I have long wondered why big corporations have fallen into the trap of political correctness and woke madness at the expense of their core business and hence their shareholders. Janet Albrechtsen has answered the question ­(“Corporate follies: the year business bosses lost the plot”, 4/1).

Modern company board members are hoodwinked by their HR and IR departments into prioritising, as Janet says, making themselves attractive to millennial recruits and political ­activists instead of working for their shareholders.

The tail is certainly wagging the dog. By backing and funding the Yes campaign for the Indigenous voice with little or no understanding how ultimately such a body, should the referendum be successful, would be detrimental to their business may be just the wake-up call they need. Too late, I fear, for many.

Victoria Webster, Norwood, SA

How capitalism works

Janet Albrechtsen, like many other conservative commentators, seems to fundamentally misunderstand chief executives and corporations, and why so many have signed up in support of the voice.

Corporate support of the voice, along with all the other corporate “woke” causes that so enrage ­Albrechtsen and others, is not prompted by some crusade but by the ­bottom line.

Hard-headed business leaders did not die out with the last generation. CEOs make hard (and sometimes objectionable) choices based on the bottom line and risk management. It is an affront to the intelligence and street smarts of today’s CEOs, like Alan Joyce, to accuse them of indulging in frolics or being beguiled by their personal indulgences.

No one gets to be appointed a CEO of a corporation by being a rube or a naif. Some are guilty of many sins – but never those! They have climbed a very slippery and considered ladder to achieve CEO status. That climb was ­powered by demonstrating that they can deliver more dollars than their competitors in that CEO role.

That is the capitalist system that Albrechtsen and others have encouraged in these pages for decades. So I am confused as to why we should now be revolting against CEOs and corporations and their business decisions. A decision taken by a corporation may very well be virtue signalling – but it is still a business decision.

Corporations have presumably decided “woke” is more profitable than not, and more in line with their customer base. And frankly conservative shareholders will come along for the ride as long as share prices and dividends increase. CEOs know that is the only metric that counts.

Those of us in the centre-left have long realised that self-interest has dominated CEO and corporate decision-making. It is why we need corporate regulation to temper the excesses.

Albrechtsen has never had a problem with corporations making decisions in their own self-interest and to maximise their profits until now.

Surely Albrechtsen wants a profitable corporate sector? Or is she suggesting Ron DeSantis-style tax penalties on “woke” corporations? The “dead hand” of increased regulation only seems to appeal to certain commentators when they can’t win an argument in the public square.

Marco Piazza, Potts Point, NSW

Empathy, not blame

Aeroplanes are not toys, they are dangerous tools of trade. But like all tools they are prone to breakdown and to accident caused by that malfunction or incorrect use (“Question over crash pilot’s view”, 4/1).

The law of averages says that no matter how hard you try you cannot have a risk mitigation program that will remove all risk; accidents will almost certainly happen.

The helicopter accident on the Gold Coast this week was unquestionably tragic but we must be careful not to want to hang people out to dry as quickly as possible. There is every chance pilot error may be the root cause but there is also every likelihood environmental circumstances may have played a part.

We should have sympathy and empathy here, not only for the deceased and their loved ones but also for those who were somehow involved in providing this much-loved service to so many over such a long period. They have made many people happy beyond belief but they must now suffer the pain of such a tragedy.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

Holidays of convenience

Years ago, some public holidays I am sure, such as Australia Day, were added to weekends rather than on the day.

In England, the king or queen’s birthdays are traditionally celebrated in June because of the better weather for the Trooping of the Colour, as ­explained in a book printed on the origins of holidays.

In South Australia, our Proclamation Day, December 28, was added to Boxing Day and a new Adelaide Cup Day was added to the second Monday in March by a previous state government. So nothing is impossible, it just needs some consideration to what is convenient to all involved.

Marjorie Brown, Glenunga, SA