1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,520
Speaker 1: Greg Forwan back where I suspect he belongs, and he

2
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:04,760
Speaker 1: likes the former in New Zealand. Boss, if you've missed

3
00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:06,920
Speaker 1: the news this week is after Kroger's, which is America's

4
00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,840
Speaker 1: second biggest grosses behind Walmart. I have never met a

5
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: New Zealander who has worked in America that belongs in

6
00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,079
Speaker 1: America more. It was evident from the very first time

7
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,160
Speaker 1: I met him he was American. You can spot them

8
00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,799
Speaker 1: in their shirts and ties. They're conservative and yet impeccably pressed.

9
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,720
Speaker 1: He looked like he'd starched himself getting out of bed

10
00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:27,560
Speaker 1: every morning. The last time he was in here his

11
00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 1: farewell interview, we talked off here about where now now.

12
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,839
Speaker 1: He didn't say specifically, but I knew it was America.

13
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,880
Speaker 1: The bitter he never explained, probably because he either couldn't

14
00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,520
Speaker 1: for commercial reasons or couldn't because he hadn't quite worked

15
00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,000
Speaker 1: it out, was what the hell he was ever doing

16
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,640
Speaker 1: back in New Zealand. I asked him any number of

17
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,440
Speaker 1: times in a sort of nondirect way, what on earth

18
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,640
Speaker 1: was it about a small airline at the bottom of

19
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:51,559
Speaker 1: the world that would drag you out of Walmart to

20
00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,240
Speaker 1: come and run it? Possibly, given he wasn't running Walmart.

21
00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,280
Speaker 1: It was a job in which he was running something.

22
00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,720
Speaker 1: So as CV would eventually show a Kroger's in a

23
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,760
Speaker 1: year to come, he was ready to be the boss

24
00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: at Walmart. He lived in Arkansas and flew in private jets.

25
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: In New Zealand. He kept having to explain why the

26
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,480
Speaker 1: Wellington to Taupo never took off. The COVID thing must

27
00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,840
Speaker 1: have been the nightmare from hell, and it wasn't his fault, obviously,

28
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,480
Speaker 1: But even without it and the myriad of problems he faced,

29
00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,520
Speaker 1: including the inexplicable cluster around the engines that no airline

30
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: anywhere seems to have encountered the way here in New Zealand,

31
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,360
Speaker 1: has you always got the impression he was either here

32
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,720
Speaker 1: for a short time or it had been all a

33
00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,800
Speaker 1: sort of a patriotic mistake, driven by a laudable desire

34
00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,640
Speaker 1: to return home and make some sort of contribution. But

35
00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,560
Speaker 1: I can tell you this, of all the Air New

36
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,160
Speaker 1: Zealand CEOs I've known, Ralph Norris, business legend, Rob five

37
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,800
Speaker 1: for marketing genius, Christopher Luxen, a prime minister, and Greg Furan,

38
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,200
Speaker 1: no one looked less at home and more bewildered than

39
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,600
Speaker 1: Greg Some people loved him because he was often at

40
00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,480
Speaker 1: the airport checking in their bags. I mean, the work

41
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,280
Speaker 1: ethic was never an issue. The issue was Air New

42
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 1: Zealand wasn't American. And I bet you now he has

43
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,800
Speaker 1: never been happier or more relieved. For more from The

44
00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,240
Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to Newstalks at B from

45
00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,720
Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio