Damage controller

QANTAS chief Alan Joyce has emerged from recent industrial strife as one of the most powerful CEOs in the country.

QANTAS is finished ... I'll never fly with them again." Such statements from frustrated passengers in the days after the fleet was grounded last October must have struck fear into the heart of Qantas boss Alan Joyce.

But predictions that the brand was irreparably damaged were premature, and Joyce has emerged as one of the most powerful CEOs in the country (indeed, he was named by The Australian as the most influential person in business for 2012).

In this week's cover story Cameron Stewart cuts through the industrial relations issues arising from the restructuring of the airline to focus on the man himself.

How did Joyce manage the crisis on a personal level?

And what drives someone to put everything on the line in the first place?