Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statement
  • Advertisement
    Work & Careers

    Boss

    Featured

    Mick O’Brien

    Why most executives don’t reach their full potential

    Early in his career, a senior colleague suggested Mick O’Brien, now a $900 million company CEO, take on a management role. Luckily his colleague could see his potential.

    • Sally Patten and Lap Phan
    Altium CEO Aram Mirkazemi came to Australia when he was 18 as a refugee from Iran. Now, he’s behind Australia’s biggest software deal.

    How an Iranian refugee landed Australia’s biggest software deal

    When Altium CEO Aram Mirkazemi landed at Hobart Airport as a refugee from Iran he had very little English, but six weeks later he was studying at university.

    • Yolanda Redrup
    Pronouns in bio don’t have to be a deal breaker at work.

    I won’t be bullied into stipulating my pronouns. Even if I get fired

    Why do my colleagues feel they must bring gender activism and their self-actualisation journeys into the office? Because I don’t.

    • Judith Woods
    Renee Wootton was unsure if she would be able to complete her degree in aerospace engineering.

    This exec wants more than a CEO role. She wants to be an astronaut

    Renee Wootton is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. She works in the fledgling sustainable aviation sector, but her real goal is to go to the International Space Station.

    • Sally Patten
    Kiria McNamara says one of the hardest things about her job is having to make people redundant.

    My sixth form teacher told me to lower my sights

    Kiria McNamara is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. She was told she would have trouble getting the marks to get into her chosen university course.

    • Sally Patten
    Advertisement

    July

    Richard White’s WiseTech has always been profitable.

    Nation’s richest boss ‘can’t find anything to invest in’ but WiseTech

    This year’s list is stacked with tech founders such as Richard White – and shows how divorces can force bosses down the ranks.

    • Patrick Durkin and Sally Patten
    Sam Hupert of Pro Medicus says a lack of debt has been an important part of the company’s success.

    The secrets to becoming a rich boss

    There are good reasons why tech companies dominate this year’s Rich Bosses list.

    • Patrick Durkin and Sally Patten

    Why only four execs have kept spot on rich bosses list over decade

    Chris Ellison, Graham Turner, David Teoh and Gerry Harvey have maintained their positions while some of their richer peers of yesteryear have bowed out.

    • Sally Patten and Patrick Durkin
    You need a commitment bordering on obsession to set up a successful business, says David Dicker.

    This rich boss always wanted a private jet. Now he is on his second

    In his twenties, David Dicker had not yet figured out how he was going to make money, but he knew he wanted a private jet. Then he worked out how to afford one.

    • Sally Patten
    Jenn Morris won two Olympic gold medals with the Hockeyroos before going on to have a stellar career in business.

    Secrets of Olympians who have conquered the business world

    BOSS speaks to six Olympians, including Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott and Generation Life CEO Grant Hackett, about the most valuable business lessons they learnt from sport.

    • Euan Black and Patrick Durkin
    Advertisement
    Joy Krige at Vans Cafe in Cottesloe, Perth. Krige likes to exercise in the morning, which she says is her time.

    What this CEO eats depends how bad the last meeting was

    Joy Krige, CEO of Cranecorp Australia in Perth, grazes from her snack drawer during the day, rather than eat a formal breakfast or lunch.

    • Sally Patten
    Anna Wiley, BHP’s asset president of copper South Australia; Siobhan Toohill, Westpac’s chief sustainability officer; Tammy Medard, managing director of ANZ’s Institutional in Australia and PNG.

    ‘I shot Bambi’: Women leaders on their toughest decisions

    Often the toughest decisions are those that affect other people. Here winners of the Women in Leadership awards share their hardest calls.

    • Updated
    • Sally Patten
    Sue Houghton is happy to make calls on her way to work, but the drive home is her time.

    Why the local CEO of this $26b company likes her commute

    When QBE Australia chief Sue Houghton rises at 6am, the self-described introvert relishes a walk on her own.

    • Sally Patten

    June

    Productivity Commission chairwoman Danielle Wood.

    ‘You smile too much’: the early career advice Danielle Wood ignored

    Be brave and have fun, is what Australia’s leading women would say to their younger selves.

    • Lucy Dean
    AOC chef de mission Anna Meares knows a thing or two about going to the Olympics.

    Why Anna Meares chased the job of leading the Aussie Olympic team

    As one of the country’s most decorated athletes, Australia’s chef de mission knows the triumph and heartache of competing at this level better than most.

    • Zoe Samios
    .

    Tax cuts will prolong rate pain: directors

    Economic uncertainty and the energy transition are among the top issues being debated in our biggest boardrooms.

    • Patrick Durkin and Sally Patten
    Paul O’Sullivan says it is appropriate for directors to disclose personal information about themselves if they wish.

    ANZ’s openly gay chairman warns on ASX’s sexuality disclosure

    Asking boards to disclose the sexuality, age and ethnicity of directors risks encroaching on their privacy and could make them a target for activists, leading directors warn.

    • Sally Patten and Patrick Durkin
    Orica CEO Sanjeev Gandhi and chairman Malcolm Broomhead at Orica House in East Melbourne.

    What do Nobel, Dulux and Australia’s first high-rise have in common?

    From making bricks for the 1956 Olympics to paint, explosives and mining technology company Orica’s long history mirrors the Australian economy.

    • Patrick Durkin

    Why this top 100 CEO goes undercover shopping

    Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre showcases the very latest in fashion. It’s also a test case for how the big mall owners manage their vast real estate.

    • Nick Lenaghan
    ABC chair Kim Williams.

    Kim Williams shares Paul Keating’s lesson on art of persuasion

    The ABC’s new 72-year-old chairman plans to use a speech next week to argue a tsunami of American and British content is diluting Australian culture.

    • Sam Buckingham-Jones
    Advertisement
    Janet Menzies eats breakfast at Industry Beans in the Sydney CBD.

    Inside Amazon’s art of decision-making

    Janet Menzies, Australian country manager for the online retail giant, discusses business dinners and the surprising way decisions are made at the company.

    • Sally Patten

    Top CEO reveals the biggest mistakes he ever made

    Koda Capital CEO Paul Heath says among the worst errors he has made is failing to realise how difficult change can be for staff.

    • Ciara Seccombe and Lap Phan
    Mark Cubit at The School of St Jude in Tanzania.

    These high flyers have money and status. This is what they did next

    Meet the former high achieving, highly paid executives who, having had it all once, are determined to have it all again. But they are striving for different things.

    • Sally Patten
    Nathan Damm is one of four AI prompt engineers at KPMG.

    Why KPMG employs four full-time ‘prompt engineers’

    Amid warnings that AI could destroy millions of jobs, the emergence of prompt engineers offers an insight into the type of job the technology might create.

    • Euan Black

    May

    Three-time Olympic gold medallist Grant Hackett.

    Olympian Grant Hackett’s rise from rock bottom to top 500 CEO

    The three-time Olympic gold medallist has always been a long-term planner, and had his career mapped out well before his illustrious swimming career ended.

    • Patrick Durkin