resources sector and boasted some big institutional clients on the east coast.
By thistime, with his confidence soaring, Forrest was also able to bring his stammer under greater control as he worked the phones in search of new business. Just two years after being unable to speak in the presence of John Poynton, Forrest had earned the nickname “Silver Tongue” in Perth stockbroking circles for his powers of persuasion. “He was phenomenal at making phone calls,” recalls Graeme Kirke,the principal of the firm. “He was always on two phones on the desk at a time – I’d never seen that before.”
Forrest’s time at Kirke Securities was brief but formative. Above all else, he learned the importance of establishing contacts with the biggest names in business. And the biggest name at the time in Australia was Alan Bond, who had become a client of Kirke Securities through a connectionestablished by Forrest’s colleague Brett Fogarty. (Fogarty himself would go on to make hundreds of millions of dollars in the mining boom of the 2000s through his engineering company GRD.) Forrest also wrote plenty of business for some of his wealthy connections in the pastoral industry. But the boy from the bush did take a while to adjust to life in the corporate world. Recalls Graeme Kirke:“We had to buy him a suit; we said to him, ‘You can’t keep wearing the chinos and the RM Williams.’ He would come into work and there would be red dust stained from the seatbelt across his white shirt. Those sorts of things weren’t an issue for him.”
Although Forrest was unconventional, his peculiar brand of naïve enthusiasm won him admirers. One day the staff at Kirke Securities were workingaway in their first-floor office in central Perth when they were startled by a horrifying screech of brakes on the street below as a car slammed into a motorbike. Graeme Kirke remembers Forrest as the only employee who immediately ran downstairs to help. It was an impulsive act that, Kirke believes, underscores Forrest’s strong sense of morality. “We all went to the window to have a look, butAndrew was the person who went straight down and got the guy off the bike. It was quite ugly and Andrew looked after him until the ambulance arrived. He does those things not because he wants anything from it; he does it because it’s what you should do.”
Fifteen years later, when he had become one of Australia’s richest men, Forrest would perform a similarly impulsive act when he witnesseda vicious brawl between two men in the Perth CBD. According to media reports, the “incredibly brave” Forrest jumped in between the two men – both of whom were much bigger than him – and managed to break up the fight, but not before being walloped in the chest for his troubles. A television station showed mobile-phone footage of Forrest, dressed in a suit and tie, leading one of the men away fromthe brawl and calming him down, with the report labelling him a “good Samaritan” and a “humble billionaire”.
In 1983, another significant event took place in Perth that would shake up the old regime: a youthful former television reporter called Brian Burke came to power as premier of Western Australia. Burke promised a fresh, entrepreneurial style of Labor government and immediately set aboutforming close alliances with the local businessmen who had long supported – and donated to – the Liberal Party.
Burke’s intentions, at least initially, were pure: he wanted to boost the economy while rewarding Perth’s business community – all for the greater good of the state’s taxpayers. But his execution was deeply flawed. In what would become known as “WA Inc.” Burke handed out contractsto his chosen tycoons in a series of dodgy deals that cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. He would end up going to prison before re-emerging in the 2000s as a brilliant lobbyist for Perth’s new breed of business leaders, including Andrew Forrest.
In the
By thistime, with his confidence soaring, Forrest was also able to bring his stammer under greater control as he worked the phones in search of new business. Just two years after being unable to speak in the presence of John Poynton, Forrest had earned the nickname “Silver Tongue” in Perth stockbroking circles for his powers of persuasion. “He was phenomenal at making phone calls,” recalls Graeme Kirke,the principal of the firm. “He was always on two phones on the desk at a time – I’d never seen that before.”
Forrest’s time at Kirke Securities was brief but formative. Above all else, he learned the importance of establishing contacts with the biggest names in business. And the biggest name at the time in Australia was Alan Bond, who had become a client of Kirke Securities through a connectionestablished by Forrest’s colleague Brett Fogarty. (Fogarty himself would go on to make hundreds of millions of dollars in the mining boom of the 2000s through his engineering company GRD.) Forrest also wrote plenty of business for some of his wealthy connections in the pastoral industry. But the boy from the bush did take a while to adjust to life in the corporate world. Recalls Graeme Kirke:“We had to buy him a suit; we said to him, ‘You can’t keep wearing the chinos and the RM Williams.’ He would come into work and there would be red dust stained from the seatbelt across his white shirt. Those sorts of things weren’t an issue for him.”
Although Forrest was unconventional, his peculiar brand of naïve enthusiasm won him admirers. One day the staff at Kirke Securities were workingaway in their first-floor office in central Perth when they were startled by a horrifying screech of brakes on the street below as a car slammed into a motorbike. Graeme Kirke remembers Forrest as the only employee who immediately ran downstairs to help. It was an impulsive act that, Kirke believes, underscores Forrest’s strong sense of morality. “We all went to the window to have a look, butAndrew was the person who went straight down and got the guy off the bike. It was quite ugly and Andrew looked after him until the ambulance arrived. He does those things not because he wants anything from it; he does it because it’s what you should do.”
Fifteen years later, when he had become one of Australia’s richest men, Forrest would perform a similarly impulsive act when he witnesseda vicious brawl between two men in the Perth CBD. According to media reports, the “incredibly brave” Forrest jumped in between the two men – both of whom were much bigger than him – and managed to break up the fight, but not before being walloped in the chest for his troubles. A television station showed mobile-phone footage of Forrest, dressed in a suit and tie, leading one of the men away fromthe brawl and calming him down, with the report labelling him a “good Samaritan” and a “humble billionaire”.
In 1983, another significant event took place in Perth that would shake up the old regime: a youthful former television reporter called Brian Burke came to power as premier of Western Australia. Burke promised a fresh, entrepreneurial style of Labor government and immediately set aboutforming close alliances with the local businessmen who had long supported – and donated to – the Liberal Party.
Burke’s intentions, at least initially, were pure: he wanted to boost the economy while rewarding Perth’s business community – all for the greater good of the state’s taxpayers. But his execution was deeply flawed. In what would become known as “WA Inc.” Burke handed out contractsto his chosen tycoons in a series of dodgy deals that cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. He would end up going to prison before re-emerging in the 2000s as a brilliant lobbyist for Perth’s new breed of business leaders, including Andrew Forrest.
In the
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