I got some wise advice early in my career: Time is the only thing you can’t have back, or replace.
But that doesn’t mean you have to fill every moment with things to do. In fact, using up time indiscriminately can be a great mistake. Many of the successful leaders I’ve dealt with always seem to have time to do anything that they feel is important.
Lachlan Murdoch, one of Rupert’s sons, once told me that “Pop”, as he called him, always has time available in his diary. And I must say that is my experience of Rupert. No meeting ever seemed to be hurried and there were no hovering secretaries or minders trying to wind him up.
One of Kerry Packer’s right-hand people once told me that all Kerry really had to do each day was to say yes or no as proposals came before him.
My experience, however, was that Kerry loved a chat. He had a very inquisitive mind and wanted to know everything.
Back in the Sixties I recall being asked to ring Jim Leslie, Chief Executive of Mobile, a major client at the time. I was terrified as I dialled the number with one of those old phones where you had to put your finger in one of the little numbered holes and run it around, then wait for it to go back again to “dial” the next number.
“I’ve always wondered where that term came from,” muses Louise.
My nervousness increased as the dialling went on. I was astonished that I didn't get the switchboard or a secretary. The chief executive answered all his phone calls himself.
I’ve never gone that far, but I’ve always had an “open door policy” and I have insisted on the same for our executives. On the rare occasion that I saw a closed door, I’d simply open it up and keep walking.
But it takes discipline and clarity of purpose to use time well.
Consider Warren Buffett, who once famously said “when there’s nothing to do, do nothing”.
Kerry Packer worked by the same adage. In fact, he took a year off after he sold Channel 9. But even at the height of his career he knew how to relax in the office. At most of our meetings I was looking at the soles of his shoes as he stretched back in his chair with his hands behind his head and feet on the desk. And there was always a couch nearby - a management technique I borrowed and still use.
Contrast all of this with the modern busy executive or particularly politicians who proudly proclaim that they’ve been “back to back all day”.
And that's not the worst of it. The meetings often go on forever.
It seems that success is being measured by the number of meetings and the hours spent in them rather than what is achieved for shareholders or the community.
I’ve often heard young executives bragging about “pulling an eighty-hour week”, when the truth is that their decision-making kept deteriorating the longer they worked.
The late Clifford Hocking, AM, always described himself as an impresario. Louise goes into a sort of swoon at the use of the term.
“So classically classy,” she murmurs.
This great man of show business, who negotiated with the hustling agents of international stars, would often slow down negotiations by saying “if you want a quick answer, it’s a no”.
He also had a unique method for planning his future concert and theatrical ventures. He would book himself a passage on a ship. He used to say that the Indian Ocean was the most beautiful place on earth.
We can’t all do that, but we can use our holidays and our weekends to create space for unhurried thinking.
A very good friend of mine was about to notch up his 50th birthday recently. Like many 50-year olds with a big job, he is always hard pressed by all the things that he thinks need to be done.
My advice to him was that he’ll probably live until he’s 90, perhaps even longer. So, with 40 years left, what’s the rush?
I remember ringing home years ago to check in while on a trip to London. I was devastated to be told that my son couldn't come to the phone because he was busy, he wanted to finish what he was doing, no distractions!
You see, he was putting together a very complicated train set, and after all he was only 5.
The lesson of all this seems to me to be that success in any area of life depends on our ability to consciously make time for what’s important.
From age 5 to 95 you should control your time, don’t let anyone else do it for you, unnecessarily.
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