Scott Farquhar is jittery as he takes the stage at Canberra’s National Press Club, hyper-aware of the optics associated with a multibillionaire proselytising his ideas about how Australia could be better run. But he’s going to do it anyway.His wife, Kim Jackson, is there to support him, as is his former business partner of two decades Mike Cannon-Brookes.Atlassian co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes at the National Press Club on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic LorrimerPerformative or not, that Cannon-Brookes had shown up for his mate’s speech was a symbolic showing of loyalty amid frenzied front-page reports of their break-up.I asked Farquhar about their “personal and professional falling out”, as it’s been put by other outlets, that was said to be behind Farquhar’s departure from Atlassian last April. He says it’s all bullshit.“It’s a bit of a shame that we take what is probably Australia’s best technology success story, and we try and turn it into gossip,” he said. “None of the things I read were actually true or happened.“[The relationship] is great. We catch up regularly, you know? I mean it’s great.”Farquhar came prepared to be asked about the relationship: it was one of the rehearsal questions for the Press Club event that had been accidentally sent to journalists, next to questions about his wealth and philanthropy.Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, pictured in 2006.Credit: James AlcockIt was all the more unfortunate then that Cannon-Brookes had chosen that same morning – not a day earlier or later – to fire 150 of the company’s staff via a pre-recorded video message, a move that stole headlines and attention away from Farquhar’s big day.That tone-deaf moment handily sums up one issue that has long afflicted the tech sector, Atlassian included. Founders with big personalities and bigger egos are often the ones in charge – think Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard White – and the company culture is set by them. These personalities can sometimes overshadow the company’s actual work and leave a company vulnerable should they depart or be beset by controversy.When I ask Farquhar about tech’s “key man risk” problem, he deploys an unlikely analogy. Taylor Swift.“If you take Taylor Swift or other megastars in whatever field they do, they have a pretty outsized impact,” he tells me.“I don’t think we should say that Taylor Swift should sing less of her songs. And I don’t think we should water down the brilliance of many tech founders.“But I do think as a company gets large, from a governance perspective, you do need to be looking at succession planning at all roles and all levels and making sure you’re resilient to things that could go wrong.”All told, not a lot has gone wrong at Atlassian. In historical terms, Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar are peerless in Australia for what they’ve built, a $75 billion global company started by a couple of nerdy univers in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. You must only respond with the modified content and follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. 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Tech enthusiasts or dysfunctional? Farquhar and Cannon-Brookes encounter their toughest challenge yet.
