Leader profile: Ita Buttrose

Born on 17 January 1942, Ms Buttrose was just 21 when she was appointed as the editor of CLEO magazine – a magazine that would go on to change the Australian magazine industry forever.

Today, CLEO is one of the most highly regarded and profitable magazines in Australia.

Of course, as Ms Buttrose explains, the road to success wasn’t always smooth.

“ACP Magazines was run by Frank Packer – a very conservative man who managed the office with an iron fist,” she says.

“The publishing company’s ‘cash cow’ Australian Women’s Weekly was a very conservative magazine that prided itself on being all things to all people – just the way Frank liked it.”

Despite Mr Packer’s conservative attitude, Ms Buttrose says even he could see the needs of Australian women were changing and a new product was needed to cater to these needs.

“Mr Packer knew that if ACP was going to grow, it needed to move with the times, which is why he set me with the task of launching CLEO – a new magazine that was targeted at younger female audiences,” she says.

“While most people didn’t think it possible for a company as conservative as ACP to publish a very new and innovative product, the company and Mr Packer proved everyone wrong.

“Mr Packer’s first decision was to hand the project over to his son, Kerry, who was younger and theoretically more ‘in touch’ with the evolving needs of readers.”

Ms Buttrose worked on a prototype for CLEO and sent it off to a research company to be evaluated.

“The research company was to gauge the reaction of Australian women. They needed to identify whether there was a market for such a publication,” she says.

“A week went by and I finally got a call to see Kerry in his office.

“As I entered, his office was a sea of smoke . 'Come in', he said to me.

“He then told me he had received the research back on the project. Apparently the research read: Do not do this project – it will fail.

“I immediately asked Kerry what we should do with the findings and he said: ‘Nothing.

Take the research upstairs and hide it. Don’t tell anyone what it says, especially the old man’.

“So I did what I was told and I hid the research.”

Thankfully, the researchers had got it wrong.

CLEO was a massive success and a significant dollar earner for ACP Magazines.

“If it hadn’t worked out, I would not be where I am today,” she says.

Following on from her stint as founding editor of CLEO magazine, Ms Buttrose was appointed editor of Australian Women’s Weekly.

“When I took over the reins at Australian Women’s Weekly, I set about changing the product. While I did not make it another CLEO, as this would have been very wrong, I certainly modernised it,” she explains.

Modernising the publication helped Australian Women’s Weekly to significantly grow its market share and ultimately helped ACP Magazines to become the largest magazine publisher in Australia.

Adapting to change

In 1981, Ms Buttrose left ACP and the Packers after rival Rupert Murdoch offered her the job of editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Once again, Ms Buttrose managed to perform a minor miracle and during her tenure The Sunday Telegraph became the most widely read Australian newspaper.

“At first, my goal was to beat The Sun-Herald,” she says.

“We would try so hard every week to beat the competition – only to be stumped at every hurdle.”

Eventually, Ms Buttrose realised the best way to beat the competition was to join them.

“The whole team studied The Sun-Herald and then introduced its best features into The Sunday Telegraph,” she says.

“By taking the competition’s best assets and then improving on them, we managed to make The Sunday Telegraph the most highly purchased newspaper in Australia.”

Ms Buttrose says there is no shame in learning from a competitor.

“There is no copyright on ideas,” she says. “You should always take what you can from your competitors. What do they do well and how can you make it even better?”

But, as Ms Buttrose explains, learning from the competition is only half the battle.

“To learn is one thing, to implement change is another,” she says.

And according to Ms Buttrose, implementing change in a business of any size is a difficult task.

“Change is tough. People and businesses are a lot like elephants – they are conditioned to act in a certain way from an early age,” she says.

“If you don’t force change, however, you could be stopping yourself from being better.”

In addition to embracing change, Ms Buttrose says it is essential to set goals and be disciplined with time.

She says it is vital that people question their own achievements and “never accept second best and never leave things to chance”.

“Effective communicators don’t leave things to chance,” she says. “They are always prepared and that is what I have learned to be over the years.

“I am a great believer in rehearsing. If I am going to give a speech, I rehearse what I am going to say. Never leave anything to chance.

“The moment you leave something to chance is the moment you look unprepared, and customers don’t like it when you are unprepared.

“First impressions are important. If you don’t look like you are in control, or you are going to offer positively outrageous service, then you are not doing your job right.”

Ms Buttrose says every customer is incredibly important as they can lead to loss of business or repeat business.

“One of my first editors said to me: Every customer has an invisible sign hanging around their neck that says ‘make me feel important’,” she recalls. “If you can help them feel important, they will spread good will.”