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Paul Flynn grew up in a “good Catholic family of six girls and three boys.

This CEO of a $6b company was told he ‘could do better’ at school

Whitehaven chief Paul Flynn may not have been an enthusiastic student, but he learnt to debate around the kitchen table with his parents and eight siblings.

  • Sally Patten
Consumer law has marched on since 1975.

Drumstick Awards: Five biggest corporate stuff-ups of 2023

It’s been a golden year for corporate scandals. But one company has outshone the rest, taking home the inaugural Triple Drumstick. 

  • James Thomson
Boss 50 highest-paid CEOs

Revealed: Australia’s 50 highest-paid CEOs in 2023

Despite topping the pay ranks, Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake is just one of two women on the list.

  • Patrick Durkin
Roslyn Toms says the one-off donation of $5 million to the NIB Foundation was distributed to a variety of charities, including the Cancer Council and the Black Dog Institute.

Australia’s top corporate givers revealed

Woolworths, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and health insurer NIB were among the companies to record a surge in philanthropy in 2023.

  • Sally Patten
Domino’s Pizza CEO Don Meij says it’s important in business to “play the long game”.

For Domino’s CEO, pepperoni and a Tarantino movie hard to beat

Domino’s CEO Don Meij says investors expect perfection from large ASX companies, as he regroups and avoids becoming ‘lost in the past’.

  • Simon Evans
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November

Subsidised gym memberships are among the least used perks at some major employers.

The lucrative perks employees fail to exploit

Major companies reveal staff neglect to take advantage of these employee benefits.

  • Euan Black

This CEO was once told he wasn’t making enough mistakes

Renato Mota, the chief executive of Insignia Financial, talks about embracing risk and the importance of allowing the mind to wander.

  • Sally Patten
Paul Scurrah is the chief executive of Pacific National.

My ‘empathy’ for Qantas after fight to death with Joyce: ex-Virgin CEO

Pacific National CEO Paul Scurrah says the demise of Virgin Australia taught him the purpose of a CEO.

  • Kylar Loussikian
Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has said she will co-operate with the federal inquiries.

These are the big lessons from the Optus outage

Don’t be slow to respond, explain yourself clearly, don’t try to fake concern and war-game a response when things are quiet.

  • Patrick Durkin
Tribeca’s Jun Bei Liu at the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference in Hobart in 2022.

Five secrets to delivering the perfect pitch

Australia’s best stock pickers have just eight minutes to convince the country’s top money managers they have found an investment gem that the market has overlooked.

  • Patrick Durkin
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Adam Schwab took up barefoot running about 12 years ago.

What this CEO learnt from stepping away from his business

Adam Schwab, chief executive of Luxury Escapes, says terminating staff who are not right for the business is critical to a company’s success.

  • Sally Patten
Brad Welsh at the Ranger mine.

A pet crocodile is the least interesting thing about this CEO

ERA chief Brad Welsh has worked in child protection services, the Prime Minister’s Office and shares a house with a baby croc.

  • Peter Ker
Alex Schuman eschews breakfast and sticks to coffee in the AM.

This CEO’s morning is ‘entirely driven by coffee’

Alex Schuman, CEO of fashion house Carla Zampatti, normally skips breakfast, and other morning rituals such as jogging or meditating.

  • Lauren Sams
Canva software engineer Erica Hu limbers up in the company’s on-site gym in Surry Hills in Sydney.

Saunas, ice baths and health allowances: Welcome to the next wave of perks

Employers are ramping up their wellbeing offerings after the pandemic left many employees feeling burnt out. Subsidised gym memberships no longer cut it.

  • Euan Black
Gai Waterhouse with her horses Amazonian Lass and Oz Empress

‘No one thought I’d be good’: How Gai Waterhouse proved the doubters wrong

Gai Waterhouse had to defy the weight of her famous father to become a female trailblazer and legend of the track.

  • Zoe Samios

October

CSL CEO Paul McKenzie

How CSL’s new CEO stacks up against Brian McNamee and Paul Perreault

Less than a year into the job leading the blood products giant, Paul McKenzie is already under pressure to continue the company’s great Australian success story,

  • Patrick Durkin
British beauty entrepreneur Sarah-Jane Duncanson “Trinny” Woodall at the Park Hyatt, Sydney.

Trinny Woodall plans her weekly wardrobe every Sunday

The founder and CEO of Trinny London is an early bird and master packer who has her make-up routine down to three minutes.

  • Lauren Sams
Andrew Liveris, for BOSS

Andrew Liveris hits back at Joe Aston

The former Dow CEO is in charge of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics, but has found time to write about his life, reflecting on his corporate battles and critics.

  • Patrick Durkin
George Clooney as Ryan Bingham in the 2009 movie Up in the Air, who fired people for a job. Even he warned about firing people over the internet.

Downsizing by stealth: How not to lay off staff

Mass redundancies kicked up a gear this year as profits have been squeezed. But not all employers have been upfront about the cuts and some have done it better than others.

  • Euan Black
Zip Co group chief executive Cynthia Scott says AI could generate real-time scripts for call-centre workers dealing with tricky enquiries.

How these six CEOs are using AI in their businesses

It is clear that corporate Australia is only at the beginning of its journey with the technology, amid an era defined by low productivity.

  • Sally Patten and Euan Black
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Collingwood coach Craig McRae.

‘More Ted Lasso than Elon Musk’: lessons from Magpies’ success

The way premiership coach Craig McRae has gone about changing the culture at Collingwood offers valuable insights for executives and CEOs in the modern workplace.

  • Patrick Durkin

September

“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys. It was a tough, hard-fought contest,” says Adrain Fonseca of GWS Giants’ loss to Carlton last weekend.

This migrant went from Sydney’s west to two mansions in the east

Adrian Fonseca moved to Australia from India when he was 2. Now he GWS’ deputy chairman and has bought two properties in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill for $30 million.

  • Sally Patten
Propeller chief technology officer Jacob Richter says introducing dual career paths has led to improved engagement scores.

Hate managing others? Don’t worry, you can still get a pay rise

Companies are gradually cottoning on to the unintended consequences of offering just one way to climb the corporate ladder.

  • Euan Black
If nothing goes wrong, executives will be able to collect the full time-based stock grant, ]says Michael Robinson.

Why execs can now expect big bonuses no matter what

C-suite leaders in major banks and insurers may be able to receive up to half their long-term pay boosts without meeting strict performance criteria.

  • Sally Patten
Aurizon boss Andrew Harding.

Why the CEO of this $7b business wants execs to speak up in meetings

People who sit in meetings and disagree with everyone else, but leave without speaking up, are failing to act with integrity, says Aurizon CEO Andrew Harding.

  • Jenny Wiggins