Power of The Chairman’s Lounge

There are more reasons than you might think why The Chairman’s Lounge is such a powerful asset for Qantas - and why it’s a fitting title for Joe Aston's book.

It simultaneously reinforces two of the three licences that make up Societal Capital:

• By including among its members CEOs, board directors, parliamentarians, and senior civil servants, it captures a critical constituency within Qantas’ Social Licence - Australia’s ruling class of around 5,000 people (or 9,000 if you count spousal memberships and the Prime Minister’s son).

• By cultivating a close relationship with the nation’s lawmakers and regulators, it helps protect Qantas’ most vital source of Societal Capital: its Public Licence. As Aston puts it, these are the people who can “deny traffic rights to Qantas’ competitors, defund the ACCC’s airline monitoring powers on Qantas’ behalf, or shower Qantas with taxpayer subsidies.”

Actions or events that affect multiple Societal Capital licences at once are particularly potent. Don’t expect the Chairman’s Lounge doors to close any time soon.

Find out more about Societal Capital with our white paper that you can find here