Rampart Talks: Brad Banducci

Today, I’m releasing the third episode of Rampart Talks and my guest is Brad Banducci, the former CEO of Woolworths and now the CEO of Ticketek.

This was Brad’s first major interview since his star turn – he disputes that it was a "walkout" – on Four Corners in January 2024 vaulted him to TikTok stardom.

When Banducci took the helm of Woolies in 2016, the company was a market pariah following its disastrous foray into hardware via Masters. On his watch, Woolworths regained, and for many years maintained, its ascendancy over arch-rival Coles. He was certainly in my view one of the outstanding major company CEOs of the last decade.

Yet his final year was marred by controversy, as Woolworths (and Coles) became a convenient villain for politicians over so-called “price-gouging” in an inflation outbreak and a legitimate target of the competition regulator over tricky advertising tactics; and as Woolworths was caught in the political crossfire over its advocacy for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and its refusal to sell Australian flag paraphernalia on Australia Day.

What’s more, by 2024, Woolworths’ sales momentum had stalled and Coles had stolen the ascendancy for the first time in nearly a decade. For that, Banducci admits to me, he must take "a material portion" of the responsibility. That was just one of many fascinating revelations and insights from Banducci. He even told me that the public opprobrium caused him to effectively discontinue his social life.

I didn't go out, Joe, for a year. I never went to a party because I felt if I went to one party, I would (then also) need to go to someone else’s. My poor wife had to represent me at all functions. I went walking with the dog. And the reason for that is I didn’t want to get into these emotional conversations. I just thought I’ve got to be calm and unemotional and not get drawn in, sucked in. Because you go to friends – they don’t mean to do it, but you get sucked into these conversations, often with great empathy, but you get sucked in and they become emotional. And so I just did a lot of good walking.

Only Rampart subscribers can watch the full 63-minute version. A 13-minute cut is viewable for Rampart free list members as well as on YouTube, Spotify and all the major podcast players.

I hope you enjoy it – and share it with others. Look out for the next episode, with Endeavour Group’s new CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, coming on January 18.

Previous episodes: James Packer, Gillon McLachlan