Four career lessons from top Australian business leaders

Executive overview

Most career advice is generic. These four leaders offer specific, tested principles drawn from real experience at the top of their fields.

Bad times, growth sectors, selective feedback, and doing unglamorous work well are the four levers that shaped these careers.

Not all career advice deserves equal weight — and not all feedback comes from people qualified to give it.

Do the unglamorous work exceptionally well

• Whatever you're asked to do, do it at the highest standard — including the tedious parts.
• Visibly excelling at low-status tasks signals reliability and capability.
• Avoid complaining about the boring or difficult parts; every role has them.

Lean into hard times rather than bailing

• Difficult periods — such as regulatory crises or high-pressure roles — produce disproportionate growth.
• Sticking it out through adversity builds resilience and positions you better for the next role.
• The instinct to leave at the first sign of difficulty costs you the development that only hard situations provide.

Choose growing sectors and businesses

• Growth in a sector or company creates opportunity; you can rise with it.
• Positioning yourself in a declining or stagnant industry limits upward mobility regardless of individual performance.
• Two decades in digital is a case study in how sector selection compounds over time.

Filter whose feedback you act on

• Seeking approval from everyone makes you vulnerable to the judgments of people with poor judgment.
• Identify who is well-placed to give wise, informed feedback — and weight that heavily.
• Discount feedback from people who lack the context or track record to assess your decisions well.

Reject assumptions about what others should want

• Advising someone to "slow down" after having a child assumes their preferences rather than asking.
• The problem is not slowing down — it's treating one path as the default for everyone.
• Enable people to identify what matters to them and make choices accordingly.