Comment: No place for entitlement in leadership roles

Federated Farmers Chief Executive Terry Copeland. Photo / Supplied

Comment: Federated Farmers Chief Executive Terry Copeland takes a lighthearted look at the serious subject of what it takes to be a good leader.

Sorry, excuse me while I reach for my toothpick.

You understand it's a very expensive toothpick? I need it for a man of my stature.

I'm a very important man. A CEO. My toothpick is made from very expensive timber from a rainforest I had cleared.

Yes, there were protests, a "lost tribe" and the very last of the blue parrot species from the popular children's film Madagascar, but that's the great thing with bulldozers - they are very noisy and good at suppression.

Read more from Federated Farmers here.

Excuse the tongue in cheek writing, but after reading over the past couple of days about former Wallabies star Israel Folau's now defunct public funding campaign on GoFundMe for his legal challenge against his former employer Rugby Australia, and the demise of ANZ Bank CEO David Hisco, it's made me ponder the dangers of having a sense of entitlement.

To any rational person, thinking that you are above your contractual obligations, in the case of Folau, and in the case of Hisco, having a temperature-controlled wine storage system in Australia and having chauffeur driven cars is warranted as part of your remuneration package, is a long way beyond normal.

Having a salary in excess of $3 million per year I would have thought meant he could afford to pay for this himself – even if he was allowed to claim it.

This kind of elitism and entitlement on display, from both Folau and Hisco, damages the fundamentals of being a role model, a good employer and puts the reputation of ANZ in a very negative light.

I'm a chief executive. And despite the stereotypes that title carries with it and the behaviour of some of my counterparts the position is meant to be one where you help your company's board make sound decisions.

You empower your staff you lead with positive behaviours such as empathy, engagement, teamwork and courage.

You are meant to give people a sense of community so they in turn can look after their communities.

Leadership positions are such good opportunities to shine and build others up.

When things go wrong it doesn't just undermine a leader's own sense of mana, but it hurts their entire team.

Leadership roles should always be valued and not abused.

Sorry, I have to cut this short, as my driver has just called me from where they are double parked downstairs.

They need to whisk me away to the importer to pick up the couple of cases of vintage Champagne and three kilos of caviar they've been holding for me – I had to wait until this month so it didn't look bad in the P & L.