How attitudes can change when industries engage directly with customers with little first hand knowledge of their operations was highlighted in a powerful way when former Qantas pilot Captain Richard de Crespigny addressed last week’s Australian Lot Feeders Association BeefEx conference in Brisbane.
The former Qantas captain won global praise for his leadership and composure for his exceptional handling of a potentially catastrophic situation during Qantas Flight 32 on November 4, 2010.
While piloting an Airbus A380 from Singapore to Sydney, the aircraft experienced a serious engine failure shortly after take-off, resulting in significant damage to the plane.
Captain De Crespigny and his crew successfully averted disaster, managing to safely land the crippled aircraft back in Singapore despite multiple system failures.
His calm leadership and technical expertise during the hours-long crisis were widely praised, and the incident became a significant case study in aviation safety.
The actions of he and his crew, not only during the event but also in the days and weeks after it, through the lengths they took to ensure every single passenger felt safe and had their questions answered, were crucial to maintaining public trust through the crisis.
Market research later showed that Qantas came out of the QF32 crisis with a brand even stronger than it had leading into the 2010 event.
What does this have to do with agriculture?
In an address to last week’s BeefEx conference the former Qantas captain walked a crowd of 700 plus lot feeders through what the high pressure situation was like from his perspective in the cockpit as the crisis unfolded within minutes of departing Singapore with 469 people on board in November 2010.
The importance of working to build resilience and trust was central to his message, as was knowing “your why”.
“When you fly with me, I will get you home. I will drive you home if I have to. You are going to get home for dinner. That is my why. I will do whatever it takes to achieve that.
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. When you tell people what you believe in, you will attract people who believe in the things you believe in.
“Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Why do you go to work? Why do you do the things you do? If you haven’t worked that out, you have to work that out.”
Captain de Crespigny also revealed how his own attitudes to the feedlot sector had changed after being given an opportunity to tour two Darling Downs feedlots before the Australian Lot Feeders Association conference.
“I was probably one of those negative people talking about your industry, but it has changed me,” he told the audience.
In closing he told the conference delegates to “celebrate who you are, you have done an amazing job”.
“I have loved travelling through your farms, I tolerated the abattoir, I respect everything you do, you do a great service.
“You have changed my views on the grainfed beef industry. You are truly marvels at safety and quality assurance.”
He reminded the audience that crises can always be closer than you think, and to remember that “what got you here won’t get you there”.
“You need a chronic unease for the future,” he said. “There are more crises coming and you need to get resilient.
“The people who are resilient do not just survive, they actually come out stronger.
“Because when you understand the elements of resilience, then you have, in Paul Keating’s terms, the well-earned confidence to be courageous and face the risks.”
Speaking to Beef Central after his address, Captain de Crespigny said his earlier perspective on feedlots had been formed from flying high overhead.
“You would come over a green hill in the countryside you see this black smudge on the landscape, I am just being brutally honest, that is what I thought.”
However, he said seeing feedlots up close and on ground level had changed his perspective.
“I found out that if you opened the gate from a feedlot onto a beautiful green pasture and let the animals out – because I asked the question – they evidently would go out on the green pasture, have a look around, and then go back into the feedlot, and are quite happy there with their mates.
“Also the feedlot is a way of taking the industry from haphazard single small enterprises and coordinate them into a high-quality and reliable and safe industry that you need if you want to build an export market.
“You have got to build trust and a brand and that is a way to do it through a coordinated system.
“And also the system that I discovered has prime interest to look after the animals. Everyone loves the animals, that is why my perception has changed.”
STORY – JAMES NASON (BEEF CENTRAL)