A chairman or board publicly pronouncing support for a beleaguered chief executive is often the “the kiss of death”. But Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has ignored that lore and become a human shield for the airline’s publicly maligned chief executive, Alan Joyce.

Goyder has aggressively described Joyce as “the best CEO in Australia by a length of a straight”. In a personal defence of the Qantas boss, Goyder declared that, “believe it or not, Alan has a heart”.

The mild-mannered Goyder could have opted for a less effusive description of Joyce like “talented” or “one of the best” or even “a strong performer”.

Nonetheless, there exists a vast chasm between the views of the airline’s customers and its chairman over the merits of Joyce remaining at the helm of the flying kangaroo.

But as Goyder said on Friday: “Being a chief executive is not a popularity contest.”

In signing up for the role of head of Joyce’s fan club, Goyder has put his own reputation on the line. If Joyce is forced out of his job in response to the public outcry from customers who have lost their bags, had their flights cancelled or delayed, or couldn’t contact a human in a Qantas call centre, his most vocal supporter won’t survive.

Goyder clearly doesn’t think he is taking a great gamble.

He has seen the evidence from private surveys of shareholders and investment banking analysts that show there are “overwhelmingly positive and strong views [about Joyce] from those that understand the industry”, he said.

The corporate bible on the views of large shareholders, the Corporate Confidence Survey, rates Joyce in the top five in the executive stakes.