Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake is one of those chief executives who hates the idea of the CEO as a hero. She abhors the concept of the powerful, central maestro with a hand in every aspect of an organisation’s success.

“It’s not me sitting here like Mr Burns in this little office in The Simpsons making all the plans for the nuclear plant,” she says. “It’s 18,000 people being empowered to go and achieve to their greatest potential and then work with their colleagues to deliver even more than the individual can.”