Why Theresa Gattung didn’t mind when her salary went public

When Theresa Gattung became the first female chief executive of a major public company at just 37, she also had to deal with the public scrutiny of her salary being published.

As head of Telecom — then the country’s largest company — she regularly featured at the top of the Herald’s executive pay surveys — something that business leaders aren’t always thrilled about.

But Gattung says it never bothered her.

“I didn’t mind about the CEO pay surveys . . . I can remember Ann Sherry [former Westpac CEO] and I when we were number 1 and 2, saying well this is actually really good role modelling for girls and women coming through.

“What I minded more is that once Ann Sherry and I were no longer in the corporate world there was a decade when there were no women on that list.

“So the fact that we’ve now got women running banks, we’ve got Jolie [Hodson] running Spark . . . we’ve got more women back through that list,

hallelujah . . . it’s been a long time between drinks.”

In fact Gattung would like to see more pay transparency in the corporate world in order to deal with the structural issues behind the gender pay gap.

“Nobody would think it was okay for Jacinda to be paid less than John Key,” she says.

“If we had pay transparency it would make it so much easier for women to see what they were worth and ask for it.”

Girls traditionally haven’t been brought up to think and talk about money enough, she says.

Gattung recalls being very good at maths through school until she went to the boys’ school next door.

“But then when I was 17, I went to do maths at the boys’ school next door and I had teachers that thought only boys can do maths.”

These days Gattung is a company director, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor.

“I’m a risk-taker, obviously,” she says. “I signed 100 personal guarantees to get My Food Bag going.

“If that hadn’t worked there were a lot of food suppliers who were going to get paid by me personally.”

It’s not just about being smart and in the right place at the right time, she says. “It’s about being prepared to take risks. If you don’t have that genie in you, if that’s not part of your DNA make-up, that’s fine, stay in the corporate world, don’t become an entrepreneur.

“I believe that money is an energy, if you both spend and give, you will get back,” Gattung says.

“This sounds a bit airy-fairy I know. But I thought that I’ve got to keep that energy flowing. I’ve never thought it was my own individual brilliance, I’ve always seen it as a cocreation.

“It’s sometimes just sheer good luck.”

Having money has enabled her to be more generous than she might have been, she says.

But she admits that when you’re earning big money you do start to enjoy the good life.

“Now I would never fly anywhere internationally economy. I just couldn’t . . . my body wouldn’t bend into the seat. So you do get used to a nice life once you’re on a good income.”

Ultimately though Gattung says money for her has been about freedom.

“I don’t equate it with being a better person . . . I don’t believe that whoever dies the richest has won. Money for me is totally about freedom.”

Nobody would think it was okay for Jacinda to be paid less than John Key.

Theresa Gattung