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Speaker 1: And now it's being reported that former in New Zealand

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Speaker 1: boss Greg Woran is about to be appointed as the

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Speaker 1: new boss of US grocery giant Kroger. Kroger is the

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Speaker 1: second largest grocer in the world, with more than a

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Speaker 1: thousand stores nationwide, and Gregor's with us right now.

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Speaker 2: Greg, Hello, Hi there, how are you healler?

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, thank you. Is it confirmed yet?

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Speaker 2: It's getting very close. I'm at the airport about to

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Speaker 2: get on a plane to get to New York and

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Speaker 2: then go to Cincinnati. So I think you could assume

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Speaker 2: that there's some truth behind it.

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Speaker 1: Oh fantastic, Well, congratulations on this. This feels like I

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Speaker 1: feel like this is something that you would be well

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Speaker 1: into because you're into the retail, aren't you.

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Speaker 2: Well I am as well into the airlines too, and

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Speaker 2: enjoyed that. I loved being back in New Zealand, and

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Speaker 2: I think are New Zealand is a real big business

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Speaker 2: and so so I think as Kroger. So you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm really excited.

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Speaker 1: What's the challenge with Kroger? Is this a turnaround job

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Speaker 1: for you?

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Speaker 2: I think it's probably best to wait until I get

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Speaker 2: there and do the work on it. But you know,

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Speaker 2: it's a business does about one hundred and fifty billion

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Speaker 2: a year just sab of four hundred thousand associates work there.

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Speaker 2: It's got about three thousand stores, multiple brands, so it's

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Speaker 2: going to be complex. It's also got thirty five manufacturing facilities,

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Speaker 2: so I'll help my hands full. But I'm looking forward

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Speaker 2: to great.

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Speaker 1: Be honest with me about something like it struck me

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Speaker 1: that you were a retail guy who got into the

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Speaker 1: Air New Zealand job and may have come up against

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Speaker 1: the thing that most it would seem most Air New

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Speaker 1: Zealand CEOs realized, which is that as a particularly complex job.

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Speaker 1: That is that what you found.

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Speaker 2: I think probably running any airline that's complex. I think

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Speaker 2: my timing was impeccable together to begin sort of day

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Speaker 2: one with COVID, and then no sooner we got through COVID,

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Speaker 2: we had a pretty long lockdown, and no sooner we

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Speaker 2: got through that, we had a pretty quick startup, and

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Speaker 2: no sooner had we got with we've been dealing with

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Speaker 2: engine challenges. But you know, I think full credit to

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Speaker 2: the entire team, and I look at what they're doing

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Speaker 2: now and hats off to them. They're dealing with macro issues,

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Speaker 2: micro issues. They're managing that well. So I think my

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Speaker 2: timing was some technical But can I tell you I

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Speaker 2: am really pleased I came back and did the gig.

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Speaker 2: Why because it's made me a better leader. Yeah. I've

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Speaker 2: had to learn some new things. I've had to deal

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Speaker 2: with some issues that I would never eir have ever

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Speaker 2: have had to deal with when I was at Walmart

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Speaker 2: or Warworth, and that puts me in a much better position,

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Speaker 2: I think to do a better job at Kroger. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, what doesn't break you does make you stronger. Right now,

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Speaker 1: now that you're leaving, right, would you be prepared to

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Speaker 1: give me a little bit of an objective view of

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Speaker 1: what you think is going on with our supermarket situation here,

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Speaker 1: our retail situation, and what we need to actually do

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Speaker 1: and whether there is any hope of getting a third entrine.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's an interesting question. I had not spent

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Speaker 2: a lot of time studying it. I will tell you

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Speaker 2: that the country was five million people, which is really

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Speaker 2: smaller than with Sydney these days. It's pretty hard to

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Speaker 2: think that a large player is going to come in

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Speaker 2: and create a third supermarket that potentially in order to

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Speaker 2: work well, would need to get to about fifteen percent

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Speaker 2: market share. So it's really to do with scale more

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Speaker 2: than anything else. And that's just the reality of New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that I'm assuming that you're going to

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Speaker 1: be relocating obviously to the States to do this job

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Speaker 1: and take your family with you. Do you think that

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Speaker 1: there is something that we should be considering as a

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Speaker 1: nation to keep our brightest young people here and people

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Speaker 1: like yourselves wanting to come back and raise kids here.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think every country needs that. I think if

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Speaker 2: you're in charge of INDIEAU, you'll worry about it. If

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Speaker 2: you're in charge of the UK. I just spent some

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Speaker 2: time in Europe. I know that the country is over there,

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Speaker 2: worry about it. So you know something which makes the difference.

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Speaker 2: It's a quality of your people. And you want to

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Speaker 2: hold on to your best and brightest as long as

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Speaker 2: you possibly can, appreciating that sometimes there are going to

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Speaker 2: be the opportunity so to see that people are going

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Speaker 2: to want to pursue. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that part of the problem here at

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Speaker 1: the moment with the brain train And I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: the younger people rather than yourself. Because Jesus is a

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Speaker 1: job you definitely should go for. But do you think

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Speaker 1: that part of the problem is the loss of hope

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Speaker 1: by young people?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I'm not close enough to answer that. I've

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Speaker 2: got too much younger children and so they're well ensconced

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Speaker 2: in doing what they're doing, which is improving their education.

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Speaker 2: You know. I think any country is looking to create

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Speaker 2: a degree of swagger in what they do. And that

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Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be the biggest,

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Speaker 2: but you do want to be able to say that

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Speaker 2: you're the best at some things, and I think that's important.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a fair point. Now, do you want to

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Speaker 1: tell me who you're flying or is that just being

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Speaker 1: a tr No.

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Speaker 2: I'm absolutely I'm on in New Zealand heading to JFK

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Speaker 2: and one side land there. I'll be jumping on a

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Speaker 2: plane and flying down to Cincinnati where it is a

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Speaker 2: barney and I checked before minus twelve degree selfless, So

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Speaker 2: there you go.

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Speaker 1: Look after yourself.

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Speaker 2: Greg.

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Speaker 1: It's lovely to chat you and congratulations on the job.

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Speaker 2: A thank you very much. You have a great time here.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk so thank you, mate, look after yourself. That's

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Speaker 1: Greek four and former in New Zealand CEO For more

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Speaker 1: from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks

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Speaker 1: it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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