Author(s): Geoffrey Blainey

Biography

The symbols of industrial might--iron, steel, power and energy--come easily to a description of Essington Lewis, perhaps the most formative CEO of BHP, and director-general of munitions and aircraft production during World War II. A personality of immense force, he had a deep and abiding dislike of pretension and publicity, an obsessive regard for order, an impressive ability to focus on end goals while maintaining a grasp of detail and, above all, a driving energy and strength of purpose.