Fasten your seatbelts and stow those tray tables, as we interview Joe Aston about his latest book, The Chairman's Lounge – The inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out. Joe is a former Australian Financial Review columnist and he discusses his experience writing about Qantas, its CEO and the company’s public branding crisis. He also shares insights on journalism, research and balancing objective reporting with creating a compelling narrative.
00:00 Introduction 03:36 Nat Newman’s writing tip 08:50 WIN! Murdle Australia by G.T. Karber 11:16 Word of the week: ‘penetralia’ 12:32 Writer in residence: Joe Aston 21:10 Joe’s switch from corporate life to journalism 27:25 The evolution of journalism 28:04 The pressure of producing quality content 29:02 Balancing reporting and opinion 31:18 The role of CEOs in public perception 34:06 Joe’s experience writing his book 37:28 Research versus the writing process 42:34 Future plans and new ventures 49:02 Joe’s advice for aspiring authors 50:50 Final thoughts
Joe Aston is one of Australia’s most influential commentators on business, finance and politics.
For 12 years he struck fear into the hearts of the nation’s political and corporate leaders with his must-read column Rear Window in The Australian Financial Review.
He interrogated some of the country’s biggest business stories including Rio Tinto’s Juukan Gorge scandal; CPA Australia and its Naked CEO Alex Malley; the decline and fall of both Magellan Financial Group and Alan Joyce’s Qantas. In 2023, Joe and his AFR colleagues won a Walkley Award for their coverage of the PwC tax leaks scandal.
AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury says Aston “turned a gossip column into a form of journalism like never before seen in Australia, and arguably the world.”
In 2024 he became a best-selling author with the publication of his first book, The Chairman’s Lounge.
