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    This Month

    Mick O’Brien

    Why most executives don’t reach their full potential

    Early in his career, a senior colleague suggested Mick O’Brien, now a $900 million company CEO, take on a management role. Luckily his colleague could see his potential.

    • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
    Nelson Mandela

    ‘If I stand behind Mandela and he gets shot, I’ll take a bullet, too’

    In the final years of apartheid in South Africa, a young doctor was asked to prepare for an assassination attempt on current and future presidents.

    • Peter Friedland and Jill Margo

    July

    The six tips that stuck with 2024’s BOSS Young Executives

    There’s no single route to the top. But a few good habits will help you on your way.

    • Sally Patten
    From left: Gurbaj Pawar, Renee Wootton, Sinead Booth, Chad Burke, Kiria McNamara and Todd Lacey.

    Four traits that stand out among the 2024 BOSS Young Executives

    This year’s BOSS Young Executives have a desire to master the task at hand, collaborate and inspire – and they are tech-savvy.

    • Sally Patten
    For Sinead Booth, a commerce degree was the quickest way to get through university and into the workforce.

    This top exec reveals the secret to having it all

    Sinead Booth is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. She first gained business experience helping with the books as a teenager at her father’s refrigeration business.

    • Sally Patten
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    From an early age Chad Burke discovered a love of commerce and fast-moving consumer goods

    How this retail executive found his calling in the school playground

    Chad Burke is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. As a teenager, he had a good business selling chocolates and chips to his fellow students.

    • Sally Patten
    Renee Wootton was unsure if she would be able to complete her degree in aerospace engineering.

    This exec wants more than a CEO role. She wants to be an astronaut

    Renee Wootton is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. She works in the fledgling sustainable aviation sector, but her real goal is to go to the International Space Station.

    • Sally Patten
    Tod Lacey says working as a vacuum salesman taught him “how to connect, and how to sell to people of all different backgrounds and types.”

    From selling vacuum cleaners to running Booking.com in Australia at 33

    Tod Lacey is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. His first proper job was selling vacuum cleaners at a department store in Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island.

    • Sally Patten

    This top fundie used to peel four sacks of potatoes every Friday

    Ausbil Investment Management’s Paul Xiradis says it’s at the fish market that he probably got involved in markets, understanding how they’re priced and cleared.

    • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
    Kiria McNamara says one of the hardest things about her job is having to make people redundant.

    My sixth form teacher told me to lower my sights

    Kiria McNamara is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. She was told she would have trouble getting the marks to get into her chosen university course.

    • Sally Patten
    Gurbaj Pawar moved to Australia with his parents and younger from India when he was 10.

    This young exec wants to make sure his parents’ sacrifice was worth it

    Gurbaj Pawar is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. He is head of strategy and projects at insurance broker network AUB Group.

    • Sally Patten
    Richard White’s WiseTech has always been profitable.

    Nation’s richest boss ‘can’t find anything to invest in’ but WiseTech

    This year’s list is stacked with tech founders such as Richard White – and shows how divorces can force bosses down the ranks.

    • Patrick Durkin and Sally Patten
    Rich bosses: Richard White, Andrew Forrest, and Peter Wilson.

    The 10 wealthiest executives in the ASX 300 revealed

    The Australian Financial Review’s Rich Bosses list for 2024 is dominated by tech and mining executives and also welcomes a new face.

    • Euan Black
    Sam Hupert of Pro Medicus says a lack of debt has been an important part of the company’s success.

    The secrets to becoming a rich boss

    There are good reasons why tech companies dominate this year’s Rich Bosses list.

    • Patrick Durkin and Sally Patten
    Melinda Snowden chairs the audit and risk committees at Megaport and Temple & Webster.

    The secret to joining an ASX 200 board, from two women who succeeded

    Eleven women were appointed to chair S&P/ASX 200 companies between March and June, taking the total to a record 25.

    • Sally Patten
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    Why only four execs have kept spot on rich bosses list over decade

    Chris Ellison, Graham Turner, David Teoh and Gerry Harvey have maintained their positions while some of their richer peers of yesteryear have bowed out.

    • Sally Patten and Patrick Durkin
    “Shōgun” offers tips for modern political parties.

    Power tips from ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Shōgun’

    The popular swords-and-scheming TV series have lessons for modern political parties.

    • The Economist
    You need a commitment bordering on obsession to set up a successful business, says David Dicker.

    This rich boss always wanted a private jet. Now he is on his second

    In his twenties, David Dicker had not yet figured out how he was going to make money, but he knew he wanted a private jet. Then he worked out how to afford one.

    • Sally Patten

    Why this top lawyer has a nanny

    For KWM chief executive partner Renae Lattey, having home help means that she gets time to herself, as well as time to devote to her family and job. 

    • Ciara Seccombe and Lap Phan
    Australia’s highest-paid CEOs include Greg Goodman (Goodman Group), Shemara Wikramanayake (Macquarie), Mike Henry (BHP), and Matt Comyn (CBA).

    Who are the highest paid ASX 200 CEOs?

    New research shows that ASX 100 CEOs earn on average 50 times more than the average Australian adult.

    • Hannah Wootton