Dr Peter Cock | Hunter Leader

Dr Peter Cock

Dr Peter Cock | Hunter Leader

Dr Peter Cock

As CEO of Newcastle Airport, Dr. Peter Cock is responsible for all facets of the business. He works closely with the Board of Directors to set the business strategy and ensure the business is match-fit to deliver its potential.

Under Peter’s leadership, Newcastle Airport has achieved record passenger throughput and record profits, which have been delivered back to the community through dividends to Newcastle Airport’s Council owners, Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council.

With more than a decade of aviation experience, Peter previously worked with Perth Airport progressing from Environmental Manager to Chief Operating Officer.

  • Tell us a little about your career path.

Being kind of non-traditional, I left high school and started off doing a bit of science actually; that’s kind of not where I ended up obviously. I didn’t like what I was doing, so I ended up doing environmental science. From there I became an Environmental Consultant and worked for industry and professional services consulting.

I got a job at Perth Airport as their Environment Manager. And from that I kind of walked past the right door at the wrong time or the wrong door at the right time, and a few years later became the Chief Operating Officer. I did that job for about five years, and then left Perth Airport. Principally one of the main reasons was to give my career a change, but the other one was to look after my daughter who, at the time, was two-years-old. So that was a really great thing to do and I was really happy I did that.

Then I came to get the job at Newcastle Airport, which has just been fabulous; I’ve grown my career and enjoyed the challenge.

  • What are the key skills sets leaders need?

I think humility is a really important one, particularly in Australia. No one likes…I don’t know if I can say wanker on the tape…but no one likes a wanker. But also, ego gets in the way of alot of things. And it gets in the way of achieving outcomes. So humility is an important one.

Grit is another really important one – determination. I think it’s old-fashioned but it used to be called strength of character. It’s just that ability to keep going and to drive forward.

And probably the last one I think is some insight. It’s all very well being humble and being determined, but it’s just as important to work at doing the right thing.

If I had to narrow it down to three things, I think they’re the things that make a good leader.

  • What is one action or task you ensure you incorporate into your diary each week?

It’s actually one task I try and incorporate each day, and that’s to get in and walk around our business. Airports are very, very much a people business and people are such fascinating things. You build a terminal and you’ll think people queue one way or use the space in a particular way. And they just don’t.

They’re such interesting and confusing beasts, so you need to actually get down there and experience it and work out what people are doing and how the customers are experiencing your business.

And I think it also helps with the staff. Staff like to know that you’re engaged in the business; you’re not just sitting up in an ivory tower with the classic shiny bum kind of syndrome.

Airports are a combination of lots of different people; there’s security screeners and ground handlers and checking agents, all for different businesses. But everyone has to work together. As a CEO of an airport, you’ve got to build relationships. It’s about building group culture, which is even more difficult than organisational culture. You have people you don’t influence, but you have to try to influence by being out and about.

Getting out and about in my business is probably the one I always do. It’s generally during peak hour, so if you’re at our airport you’ll see me wandering around and hopefully say hello.

  • What’s unique about doing business in the Hunter?

Having been here for about two-and-a-half years now and coming in from Perth – Perth’s funny because Perth thinks it’s different from everywhere else – I found the difference in the Hunter to be the willingness of businesses to work together.

There’s a real sense of regional identity. And I didn’t find that so much in Perth; that’s a bigger place and a bigger city. It was very much independent and no one really minded where you’re from.

But I think from my time here, there’s a real willingness to cooperate. And we try to do that by using local suppliers and all that sort of stuff, because working together is such an important part of this region and the region’s identity, as well as the region’s future and how we are going to succeed. That’s what I found is probably the most different thing.

  • Which local businessperson do you find inspiring?

It’s a tricky one. There’s lots of people that I find inspiring. And stepping up into a CEO role, I’ve found lots of people both helpful and inspiring. But I’m probably going to not answer the question properly by saying it’s actually not business people, it’s actually those across the runway from us.

The inspiring leaders I think are in the RAAF and I get to engage with a number of individuals, from Craig Heap who is the Senior Defence Force Officer to Amanda Cornell who is the Air Base Executive Officer; they’re kind of pivotal people we deal with.

But I deal with a number of other leaders in those businesses and I think what’s inspiring about those guys is the enormity of the challenges and the things they do with the redevelopment of the RAAF and the scale of what they do.

They actually convince and lead people into harm’s way. They’ve got people there who are actively out doing things and putting themselves in danger to protect us and to lead people into that context; I just think that is an amazing skill. So that inspires me.

Newcastle Airport

Newcastle Airport is a significant gateway into NSW and the Hunter. As a major transport hub it is critical to economic and social infrastructure and its planned and managed growth has helped underpin the continued prosperity of the Hunter. 

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