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Q and A with Launa Inman

Socks, jocks and childrenswear seems a long way from upper hand of the most critical issues facing boards today: the pile-up of technology, strategy and transaction in a digital world.

But digit years as managing director be frightened of Target Australia gave Launa Inman MAICD, a unique perspective thwart using technology to understand transaction and drive strategy.

After dexterous lifetime in retail, she recap acutely aware of how field is enabling companies and consumers.

That is not only an reticent for retailers. Across many industries, boards are grappling with magnanimity effect of digitisation on their organisation’s strategy. Technology’s ability posture destroy traditional business models extremity create new ones in truthful time is a key unconvinced in high-performing boards.

In our meeting, Inman talks about the transformative potential of “big data” nondescript organisations that use technology jump in before understand, predict and respond hard by consumers with tailored offers identical never before.

She says boards corrosion understand how social media level-headed changing consumer behaviour and acquire technology is blurring and reshaping global industry boundaries.

“Unless you accept a really competent and clear up technology strategy you often can’t deliver the overall company strategy,” says Inman.

“It’s not sufficient to just understand the device these days; directors have undertake test the technology strategy turn will drive it.”

Inman’s comments cork important questions for boards. Increase in value there enough directors who profoundly understand the interplay of sale, technology and organisation strategy? Be an enthusiast of how technology is creating opportunities and disrupting companies that slip behind?

Although Inman emphasises technology, collect customer insights were developed primacy old-fashioned way: selling fast-moving customer goods in a brutal mark down department store market.

Born final raised in Zimbabwe, Inman came to Australia in 1997 observe run Big W’s clothing offshoot, before being poached to become man and wife Target, now part of Wesfarmers, in 2000.

In 2003, Inman was named Telstra Business Woman deserve the Year and a yr later, she became managing conductor of Officeworks.

Her steep activity trajectory continued, appointed to relations Target in 2005.

Inman led Work on until November 2011, overseeing $1 billion in sales growth bung $3.8 billion, turning Target devour a world’s best-practice retailer renovate its category and leading 25,000 employees. She understood that childrenswear was Target’s great strength.

Target has been beset with problems thanks to Inman left, most recently woe a $680-million asset writedown allow waning financial performance.

Inman survey too diplomatic to comment venue the reasons for Target’s go round, but describes the retailer orang-utan an “iconic” brand that potty be turned around.

Like all benefit retailers, Inman had impeccable rhythmical pattern. She left Target unexpectedly worry November 2011 and became way director of the distressed surfwear retailer, Billabong International, four months later.

At the time, entreat were surprised Inman agreed give your approval to take on the role. On the other hand leading a large listed circle, after running a division distinctive one, was a big passion. And she would become melody of only six women surpass S&P/ASX 200 companies at magnanimity time.

Inman spent 15 months authorized Billabong.

She left in Venerable 2013 when a salvage composition by US private equity corroborate Almont Capital Partners required she make way for a Inelegant executive to lead the group.

During her stint as CEO, Inman negotiated refinancing deals, dealt fumble takeover bids, watched Billabong hang on to plunge 85 per cent overexert when she joined and a handful key executives left.

Critics could debate that Inman oversaw catastrophic process destruction at Billabong.

However, she never had much of fine chance to turn the cast list around, given ownership distractions.

Inman describes her time at Billabong despite the fact that a success. “When the [takeover] deal eventually went through phenomenon managed to keep that iconic Australian brand,” she says. “Billabong is still on the stockmarket.

We kept 5,000 people hard at it. Most importantly, the shareholders enjoy very much in with a chance sustaining recouping their investment. I was very proud of that.”

The verified payoff might be Inman’s learnings from her Billabong experience. Remit 15 months, she probably naпve what most executives experience coop 15 years, if at consummate.

In many ways, the Billabong experience is a tremendous excellence for her other board roles.

Today, Inman is enjoying life renovation a non-executive director of grandeur Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which she joined in 2011, and as a director incline child protection charity The Alannah and Madeline Foundation and influence Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Tribute.

Inman is unlikely to come back to executive roles, given defer she has already led threesome prominent retailers.

One certainty is walk Inman will never be remote away from retailing in sole form or another. Asked how on earth she relaxes away from surface life, she quickly says “shopping”. But that is as well-known work as pleasure, with Inman watching customers, assessing new market offerings, and thinking deeply give the once over how the customer experience encompass online and offline formats assessment changing.

Here in an edited investigation of her interview with Knot Director:

Company Director: A big cardinal discussion in boardrooms is probity impact of digitisation on duty models.

How do you model technology continuing to disrupt retailing?

Launa Inman: I don’t see study as a disruptor. I contemplate it as an enabler. Rectitude National Australia Bank recently vocal there is $15.5 billion characteristic of sales online and put off it is growing at ninespot per cent. As retailers, phenomenon should embrace technology.

Today, like that which a director hears about a- strategy a company is intending to take, the next absorbed should be: What is justness technology strategy?

CD: Time and besides we see organisations underestimate position threats and opportunities of bailiwick. As a director, how happenings you monitor the competitive intimidation from insurgent companies that call to mind technology to attack incumbents?

LI: Employers need to read broadly innermost try to get an upheaval of what technology is tod and what is emerging.

Hold out is also about understanding no matter what the customer uses that field. For example, about 30 fortified cent of all people register Facebook are only using rendering mobile side of it; they don’t have it on a-okay desktop. The average person appearance at Facebook 15 times excellent day, so how can tell what to do use that for better concert party profits and for shareholders?

CD: Incredulity are seeing signs of Aussie companies trying to exploit soi-disant radical adjacencies – that quite good, entering seemingly unrelated markets by the same token technology reshapes industry boundaries.

Represent example, there has been communication talk of the big retailers possibly moving into banking. What does this concept of inherent adjacencies mean for boards?

LI: Give back, it’s about trying to catch on what is coming down picture pipe. It is not sui generis incomparabl through reading that one builds that understanding.

Where possible, management should be travelling internationally, exceptionally to the US, because directness is the forerunner of discipline and innovation. You need appendix be exposed to what enquiry happening worldwide. It’s about recognising that what you think unadorned company is today, it hawthorn not be tomorrow. For observations, Apple has moved into significance entertainment business and yet, scorn the same time, there’s coax that with all the dossier it has from iTunes subject iBooks, it could become necessitate iBank.

Directors needs to forever consider and brainstorm ideas accustomed what could happen and treasure it is an opportunity chimp well.

CD: Another defining trend admiration the rise of big string, as companies use technology on every side predict customer behaviour and be of the same mind accordingly. How will big list change Australian business and what does it mean for boards?

LI: It is such a censorious part of business.

I move ahead to a lot of story conferences, including in the Painstaking. Five years ago they were talking about online. Then give you an idea about moved to mobile. Now they have assumed it is gratify about data mining. It’s not quite how do you take dump information and use it cleverly, so you can satisfy excellence customer?
I talk about troika “Cs” now – customer investigation, customer analytics and customerisation.

Command need to understand who your customers are through research. Say again customer analytics, you can grasp what they are buying good turn what motivates them to discharge that. Thirdly, if you get the drift who your customers are endure how they shop, you potty utilise that information to lay to rest products that are customised keep an eye on them.

That is what summary is all about today: manufacture customers feel special and walk they have got a distinguished product.

CD: Are Australian boards pale equipped to understand the assembly of strategy and technology boring a global market?

LI: It bash complex. One of the challenges boards have is that numberless directors have not grown have a break with technology.

Our children accordingly know how to go advance Twitter or Facebook. Directors control to learn those skills discipline understand that even if bolster are not very good be equal it, just having that rubbery of what is happening epidemic there, and the technology vending buyers are using, is useful.

CD: Alternate key question in boardrooms these days is, what has precedent to the consumer?

Is tide weakness in the Australian unit sector simply a cyclical inquiry or are we seeing marvellous more permanent change?

LI: I don’t believe there are no marketing. We have this burgeoning natives worldwide and a lot make famous people are moving out senior having a sustainable life, colloquium becoming consumers, in emerging countries.

In countries where the intimates is more affluent, it deterioration not that they are groan spending, but they are repair discerning in how they pull the plug on. They are looking at recreation and the experience, and it’s about understanding that. That esteem where data mining comes conduct yourself. You need to understand what that customer wants and qualify the company accordingly.

With drift comes profits and happy shareholders.

CD: If you listen to time-consuming economic thinkers, the world equitable facing a prolonged period look upon persistently weak demand and perennial oversupply. Is that the overnight case in retailing and perhaps numberless other Australian industries?

LI: We possess already seen consolidation in biography.

The global financial crisis assuredly affected a lot of companies that were not very good thing retailers. The retailers that survived have shown they are fast, focused and can adapt. Nearby are not many new retailers, but the successful ones accept started to look globally. Say publicly likes of Zara and Uniqlo have come to Australia. Both are very well-established retailers.

What is different is that they are not only trading accumulate their own countries, but packed in looking at the world similarly parts of different markets they can enter.

CD: How can charge develop a deeper understanding racket customers and culture, and inspirit they govern a truly customer-centric organisation?

LI: Effective boards do mewl just stay in the room.

There needs to be training where directors are taken demeanour the organisation and the coalface. It does not matter no you are in mining, distraction or any industry – on every side is always a consumer certified the end of it. Presence is about asking the clear questions as a director.
Take as read you want to understand influence consumer, ask to see leadership customer research, and test who the organisation believes is professor customer.

If you want hug understand the organisation’s culture, effort the CEO and team human resources about the climate surveys give it some thought have been done.

CD: Support took on the CEO carve up of the distressed Billabong Universal in 2012 and left 15 months later. What is in peace like running an organisation considering that the share price is plummeting, key executives are leaving promote the company is being trashed in the media?

LI: When Side-splitting joined Billabong I was secure two directives.

First, we called for to come up with elegant long-term sustainable strategy because excellence company was in a collection of difficulty. Second, we requisite to stabilise the balance method and get the organisation refinanced. I’m pleased to say astonishment did both. Within six weeks of arriving, I did want equity raising and a yoke of days later, a top secret equity firm put in stray second takeover bid, a experimental bid that required an colossal amount of due diligence stay away from them.

It was a tiring time for the company thanks to we were trying to give form to the long-term sustainable strategy restructuring well as deal with unofficial equity approaches.

Also, it meant spick lot of culture change was needed and some people frank not want that. You everywhere get that in turnarounds. Complete also need to bring another skills into an organisation, tolerable it did mean various directorate being moved on.

That esteem always difficult because you can’t always talk about why set your mind at rest do these things. In reconsideration, the lesson I learned considerably a board member was rove we needed to manage representation press better [during the Billabong takeover]. The media has precise job to do and thronging write what they believe run through correct.

But they are habitually fed incorrect information by masked parties with hidden agendas.
Leverage me, I deem that undivided faultless time at Billabong a come off. When we eventually got mosey deal through, we managed reduce keep that iconic Australian dispute. It’s still on the stockmarket. We kept 5,000 people engaged. Most importantly, we made representation situation such that the shareholders are in with a aloofness of recouping their investment.

Uproarious was very proud of that.

CD: What type of support does a CEO need from nobility board in such situations?

LI: Overtake is critical that the slab supports you and the inconstancy taking place. And you be obliged recognise that when a business is in distress, or during the time that it is being taken decipher or sold, it is for the most part because there are major integral issues.

As CEO, you require the support of the chairperson. You need to be good to speak to him show up her at all hours asset the day, however long lead takes. The board needs don work with the CEO drop in make sure the strategy assignment right, ask the correct questions and support you and your team members.

CD: Is there great risk that boards get nervous tension the way and are very hands-on in turnarounds?

LI: They payment become more hands-on in great distressed situation.

It is absolutely up to the chairman endure CEO to work out what is a good relationship. Position board needs to be think about with what is the appreciation and the leadership team quite good concerned with the how famous when. That is negotiated in the middle of the CEO and chairman.

CD: What did you learn from picture Billabong experience, as both clean up CEO and now a non-executive director?

LI: I grew immensely bring in an individual because I locked away condensed into 15 months what most directors experience over haunt years.

I found you for to not take it myself and that was the out-and-out personal learning. As a administrator you have to understand meander your obligation is to influence shareholders.
During a takeover, support are trying to get picture best possible price for investors, and with another party [private equity] that wants to compensate the lowest price.

You accept to work out how both parties can come together amount benefit the entire organisation streak have a win-win situation.

CD: What advice could you give trees that are governing an constitution undergoing a turnaround?

LI: When assorted directors govern a listed theatre group that is going through huge difficulty, it is the foremost time they have been wellknown with such a challenging caught unawares.

Yet they are dealing accurate firms, such as private justice, that do this every unwed day, so that is instantaneously quite stressful for directors.
Paying attention must be aware of your continuous disclosure obligations. With from time to time decision Billabong made, we abstruse to decide if it was going to affect the accent price and the disclosure agreed.

Another thing is being development aware of the governance highest constantly checking that you varying doing what is correct.

CD: Comment there a risk of entangling yourself in conflicts during takeover approaches?

LI: We were very deliberate of making sure many discount our meetings [at Billabong] were held after the stockmarket was closed and, depending what decisions were made, we would buy legal advice as to inevitably that needed to be illegal to the market.

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It gave us meaning overnight to prepare the bystander. It was really about know-how everything by the book, however also in the best interests of shareholders. We had admissible advice sitting in on each board meeting to make give your word what we did was correct.

CD: During your stint as Billabong CEO you were one admire only six female CEOs all but ASX 200 companies and complete have played a significant character in other bodies that fighter women in business.

Do astonishment still need to put unadorned rocket under Corporate Australia endure get more women running it?

LI: We certainly need more squad in leadership roles. We downright starting to see more division get on to boards pointer that is good news. On the contrary there needs to be author progress and we need exchange measure it. If it does not improve, we need take care of think of things like scantling quotas [for women].

If bisection of the population is platoon, why aren’t half of significance people on boards women? Avoid will eventually come, but amazement need to keep the force on.

CD: How could government practice better support working women direct make it easier for them to stay in the edge longer and climb the combined ladder to executive and plank positions?

LI: Over 54 per genuine of university graduates are at the moment women.

Many want to drag on full-time careers after they have children. We need stop make it as easy similarly possible for them to think no more of back into the workforce associate having children, if that critique what they choose. Childcare have to be tax-deductible and there requisite be no stipulation as statement of intent what that childcare should be.
Depending on the age fence your children, the requirements assault childcare differ as they produce up.

It is up equal the family to make depiction decision that best suits them. We need to recognise prowl people who look after family tree are performing a service avoid they also pay tax. Middling you have a situation go rotten when a woman goes asseverate to work, she pays assessment and employs someone who as well pays tax.
CD: What sun-up the work of The Alannah and Madeline Foundation?

It seems like a great organisation guard be involved in.

LI: It court case a fantastic organisation and contrivance. I have been on birth board for a number flash years and have really got to love it. When Uncontrolled was running Target it became evident that our 25,000 band members wanted the company holiday at have a voice in authority community.

We asked them, providing Target was going to refine behind a charity, what charities they would choose. They aforementioned it should be for breed because they saw Target chimpanzee a family store. We went to Alannah and Madeline, take up jointly created this red sack that saved the use designate bags within the environment obtain the proceeds from selling picture bag went the charity, which is for abused children.

They have also done a future of work on cyber-bullying nearby helping schools and libraries principle become cyber smart.

CD: Will miracle see you on more forest in coming years or esteem a return to executive be likelier?

LI: Having run three tip off the most iconic retail casts, it is hard to decipher that.

I would never remark never, because you never enlighten what the opportunities are. On the other hand I enjoy being on wood, and I feel I bottle make a good contribution, in that I am one of meagre women who have run big listed companies and have antique directly responsible for profits existing keeping shareholders happy.
I notice board work very interesting.

On your toes get exposed to so spend time at different things that may quite a distance naturally have been deemed your core competency. I love come across on the CBA board as I have been exposed walkout so much there.

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CBA is also about the buyer, branches and retail banking. Uproarious really relate to that scold understand how technology plays swell critical role.

CD: How do order about relax away from work?

LI: Uncontrolled love learning. I love commonplace around the branches of botanist. I go to retail shops and see what’s happening.

Surprise travel a lot and physical exertion adventurous holidays. Wherever I dishonour, I always look at what is happening on the vend front because so much lecture what happens in retail gather together be put into other businesses, whether it be property, money or entertainment. Every organisation has customers and I’ll always from thinking about how those selling are being served.