David Gonski has always had a long queue outside his office – as a Freehills partner, at his corporate advisory firm and, today, as a pre-eminent chairmen. Leading director Maxine Brenner, remembers waiting outside his Investec office at Chifley Tower in Sydney when a young woman – a newly recruited receptionist at the investment bank – joined her.

Brenner tells the story: "I asked, 'Do you have a message for David? Do you want me to take it in for you?' And she said, 'No, no. David said hello to me the other day and asked me how I was enjoying Investec and how my career was going. He was so nice that I've decided to come down to him and ask him for some career advice.'"