The Cricket Australia governance plot thickens Lessons in corporate governance – An opinion by Aubrey Joachim
Last Saturday the whole world were given a front row view of how ‘not to cheat’ by apparently three musketeers of the Australian cricket team. This morning the whole world was given a lesson in how not to run a high profile organisation when the CEO of Cricket Australia gave a pathetic display in front of the world’s media. It made Mark Zuckerberg seem a star when quizzed about FB’s recent failures. And this is the problem with all sporting organisations which are today massive business organisations – lack of quality governance and managerial leadership. What the CEO did not realise is that his performance only ratifies what has been the root cause all along – governance failures from the very top. It is said that a fish rots from the head. In addition one would question if the public facing leaders of the organisation – the CEO and national captain have even been provided coaching in fronting the media. Footage of the captain’s press conference after the incident and this morning’s CEO press conference will be used by media coaches in how not to do it.
So, what now from here? With the millions of Australian cricket fans baying for blood the CEO has failed to quell the issue. In fact he has made the situation worse. Therefore is it now time for the Chairman of the board to step in? I once heard a well-respected Australian company director saying that the relationship between the Chairman of the board and the CEO is one where the Chairman hires a (good) CEO, supports him or her when they do a good job and FIRES him or her when they fail. This is the quandary facing the Chairman of Cricket Australia this morning.
The business consequence for Cricket Australia is now even more dire. Why would corporate sponsors have confidence in an organisation whose decision making and culture right from the top is now seriously suspect? The three musketeers made a flawed decision over a ‘working lunch’. The organisations senior management had 72 hours of consultation and an in-depth audit and yet seem to have come up with an even more flawed decision. Corporate marketing managers will be seriously concerned.
It is not surprising that Cricket Australia has leaders who are Boofs. There certainly seems to be more than one such!
