Toby's prediction from 6 months ago comes true as he shares the news that Westpac will use divestitures to drive a massive 21% annual savings across the business. We discuss how this will be a repeat pattern as other businesses re-focus on their core strengths and aim to build protection from post COVID experiences and also deliver stronger returns to shareholders.
Robert introduces the principles of Murphy's Law and Sixth Sense in M&A using a very recent deal collapse where Murphy's law intervened at the final moment.
And his sixth Sense commentary is around that ability to spot what others can't see. Some of it is learned behaviour from years of experience and some of it is intuitive. You can't build it into a playbook, but it's that skill and intuition that can make the difference between M&A success or having to clean up a pile of smelly stuff that hit the fan.
And as always, we finish with three quotes from the Late, Les Hayman. This weeks quotes are all focused on personal development. Enjoy!