Sol Trujillo came in as CEO of Australia's main telecommunications company, Telstra, in the wake of an unpopular part-privatisation of this federal government business unit.He leaves after less than four years with (by Australian standards) an obscene amount of money in his pocket, after presiding over a prolonged share worth loss which saw many ordinary mums and dads lose money and customer complaints about the telco's service rise by 240% to record levels.
Yesterday ABC News ran an audio bite which had Sol hitting out at his lucrative milch cow in a very nasty fashion by accusing us of being racist towards him.
Now there is no mistaking the public perception that Sol was arrogant and inept as Telstra's chief executive officer, however I doubt that this view had a racist basis.
If anything the dislike was initially a cultural response to his particularly aggressive US-style of business management and communication, which was perceived through Aussie eyes as common hustling.
Over the couse of his time at Telstra initial attitudes became entrenched as downright animosity when he demanded and got those fat, fat, fat salary packages - around AU $13.4 million annually in 2008 and a generous tax break on leaving the company.
In fact the principal mention of Sol Trujillo's racial ancestry can be found in his own boasting bio blurb.
So, Sol; your ancestry was never an issue with the Australian public - it was your bl**dy grasping greed!
And that's the honest opinion of a fair dinkum Telstra customer.
Pic from Granny Herald "catch the vision or catch the bus" article in July 2005.
