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Leadership lessons

January

Chook.

10 CEOs under the pump in 2025

Overextended stockmarket valuations equal heightened investor expectations. The market has these 10 chief executives in its sights. 

  • James Thomson

The brave career move that helped propel Matt Comyn to the top of CBA

The CEO of Australia’s biggest bank reveals pivotal moments in his career – and how much sleep he likes to get.

  • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
Regis Aged Care CEO Linda Mellors said learning about generative AI was one of her key lessons in 2024.

The most important lessons these CEOs learnt in 2024

Celebrating your wins, staying grounded and embracing generative AI were some of the key things these top business leaders took away from last year. 

  • Euan Black and Sally Patten
Ares MD and Cricket NSW chairman David Knox at the SCG.

Six leadership and investing lessons from cricket

Lifelong cricket fan and seasoned investment executive John Knox reflects on the impact of the game on his career.

  • Michelle Bowes
Booking.com’s Todd Lacey heads to the airport gym on layovers.

This exec has a fix for jet lag that’s been staring you in the face

Booking.com Oceania manager and BOSS Young Executive Todd Lacey says he also swears by two supplements to keep him healthy.

  • Sally Patten
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December 2024

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ASX falls 1pc; More Liberal chaos; Good, bad, ugly of corporate Oz

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Robin Khuda, Julie Coates, Shayne Elliott, Chris Ellison, Richard White,  Mike Sneesby.

The good, the bad and the ugly of corporate Australia in 2024

Big deals, big names, big disasters. From AirTrunk to Woolies to our own Nine Entertainment, here are the biggest moments of the year.

  • James Thomson
“Who feels nervous about tomorrow?” Murray Rodgers asked the entrepreneurs who came to a recent psychedelic retreat he led in Western Canada. Three hands shot in the air.

The CEOs are tripping. Can psychedelics help the C-suite?

A growing cottage industry is dedicated to the theory that mind-altering drugs can improve business leadership.

  • Emma Goldberg

Why Gurner gave up alcohol – and what he learnt

The property developer and wellness entrepreneur has rarely had a drink for 18 months. He doesn’t like what he sees from people who are imbibing.

  • Sally Patten and Martin Peralta
MinRes founder Chris Ellison will still be at the company into 2026.

Drumstick Awards: The five biggest corporate stuff-ups of 2024

From miners to retailers to tech giants, corporate Australia put its foot in it again this year.

  • James Thomson
Shayne Elliott has been the chief executive of ANZ since 2016. He will retire from the bank next year.

Shayne Elliott’s rented Corolla wasn’t enough for ANZ in the end

The career banker took the top job in 2016, unwinding a failed regional expansion and wowing shareholders. Those shareholders are a bit less wowed now.

  • Updated
  • Jonathan Shapiro
Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary and former jockey Michelle Payne.

What Cleary and Payne can teach us about winning (and Armstrong can’t)

Penrith Panthers head coach Ivan Cleary, Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne and mindset coach Ben Crowe share their secrets to success.

  • Campbell Kwan and Joanne Tran
Matt Comyn, CEO of CBA, is one of the AFR Business People of the Year.
Supplied

Matt Comyn finds his voice – and delivers for shareholders

The CEO has driven the Commonwealth Bank from strength to strength, propelling him on to the 2024 The Australian Financial Review Business People of the Year list.

  • James Eyers
From left, co-founder Richard White, chairman Richard Dammery and interim CEO Andrew Cartledge are interviewed by Mark Hall, WiseTech’s head of acquisitions & integration at the company’s investor day in Sydney.

WiseTech board is team White, and ‘Richard’s not going anywhere’

Richard White’s successor as WiseTech CEO will be free to practise the same “creative abrasion” style of leadership that invited accusations of bullying.

  • Tess Bennett

Staff got a nine-day fortnight, but still waste time on one thing

Grant Thornton CEO Greg Keith doesn’t like to see staff, who work a nine-day fortnight, wasting time waiting for everyone to get their coffee before they go back to the office.

  • Updated
  • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
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November 2024

IAG CEO Nick Hawkins.

How IAG boss Nick Hawkins weathered the perfect storm

In the past four years, the CEO of the $20b insurance giant has battled both cyclonic conditions and swirling regulators and politicians.

  • James Eyers

Why being good at your job isn’t enough to get a promotion

Brighter Super CEO Kate Farrar reveals the secrets to getting a promotion, what she does at 4am and what she learnt from failing at an investment bank. 

  • Updated
  • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
While being fast and “doing things right technically” are essential to win, Piastri said, the mental game gives you the edge.

Six tricks to focus like a Formula 1 driver

McLaren’s team driver, Australian Oscar Piastri, along with a sports psychologist and an attention expert share their tips for staying on track.

  • Updated
  • Adam Bluestein
Adam Rytenskild left Tabcorp in March after being accused of making a lewd remark about a female industry regulator.

Deposed Tabcorp boss has a warning for CEOs everywhere

In his first interview since being sacked as the chief executive of the wagering giant, Adam Rytenskild says he was put “six feet under” with no warning.

  • Zoe Samios
VFMC CEO Kate Galvin.

How a jibe from this CEO’s teenage daughter triggered a career rethink

Kate Galvin, the chief executive of the $92 billion Victorian Funds Management Corporation, hadn’t applied for a new job in 23 years and, without realising it, needed a push.

  • Patrick Durkin

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/leadership-lessons-1mwr