We’re talking about public mistakes: big, flagrant, public mistakes that might best be described as “failure” and earn the derision of the press and cost your family hundreds of millions of dollars. Warwick Fairfax was the heir apparent to run John Fairfax, Ltd, an Australian newspaper and media conglomerate that owned The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne, and The Australian Financial Review and other valuable properties.
In 1987, with corporate raiders lurking, Warwick took on massive leverage and launched a $2.25 billion bid to take control of the 150-year-old company that had been founded by his great-great-grandfather. Three years later, under Warwick’s leadership and due largely to the weight of the debt he sanctioned, the company went into receivership, bringing to an end his family’s media dynasty.
In Warwick’s book, Crucible Leadership, he shares insights into the opulence of his youth, the pressure he felt to work in the family business, the lessons he learned when he botched things up, and — most importantly — how he survived and forgave himself.
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