Andrew Forrest leadership style

This article aims to explore and analyse Andrew Forrest as a contemporary leader of Fortescue Metals Group, also known as FMG, while using theoretical concepts relevant in leadership to interpret his actions as a leader. 

The information will be presented in several parts starting with a brief description of FMG and Andrew’s life relevant experiences. Followed by an analysis of Andrews’ strategic leadership effect on the top management teams, human resources and development of ethical practices within FMG. 

Finally, a description of the main lessons learnt will be presented thanks to the analysis of the leader’s actions and theoretical concepts.


Company’s overview


Fortescue Metals Group is an Australian mining company founded in 2003 by Andrew Forrest with headquarters in Perth which bases its operations in Western Australia. 


FMG is currently the fourth largest producer of iron ore in the world, following closely the biggest three: Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP. Most of the FMG’s production (over 200 million tones) is exported to China every year. 


Together, those four companies provide over 70% of the total global iron ore produced annually, being Australia the country with the highest amount of iron ore reserves in land (Sheperd, 2022). 


According to Burrells’ biography “Twiggy: the high - stakes life of Andrew Forrest”, Andrew first led the company Anaconda Nickel during 1993 until 2001, then with some lessons learnt Andrew started FMG in 2003, being its CEO until 2011 and consequently serving as chairman (Burrell 2014). 


Andrew, now 61 years old as for January 2023, owns a third part of the FMG and is currently the second richest person in Australia according to the Financial Review (Rich List Australia 2022). 


Having introduced FMG and Andrew Forrest briefly, an analysis will be provided based on theory and Andrew’s leadership role.



Andrew’s leadership style


In order to analyse the effect of Andrew Forrest on the top management team at FMG it is important to differentiate the leader’s role from the manager’s one, which according to Lussier in the book Leadership, “A manager is a person with authority but not necessarily a leader, whereas a leader is a person who is able to influence people and not always holds a position of authority to do so” (Lussier 2016). 


FMG top management is conformed by the current CEO Elizabeth Gaines and nine more people whose directions are also integrated by several hundreds of people (FMG, 2022). 


While Andrew is part of an eight member’s board of directors, whose vision of the company are performed by the managerial positions and then implemented on a top-down cascade, requiring many of the managers to be leaders in order to influence their teams and achieve the desired results. 


Andrew’s effect on the top management can be explained by Thomas Murrell on his article “10 leadership lessons from Australia’s wealthiest man”, which suggests that setting a strong vision, eliminating waste and focusing on deliverables, are Andrew’s key points in order to achieve objectives (Murrell 2022). 


Also, based on Andrew’s life undertakings, described on his biography by Burrell, clearly indicate that Andrew is constantly setting up very ambitious goals which drives up efficiency and innovation along the process. 


As an example, in 2003 FMG initially wanted to partner with some of the main companies working in Western Australia, BHP and Rio Tinto, to use their infrastructure to transport the iron ore through their railways and ports.


However the deal didn’t work out and that’s one of the breaking throughs for the company’s success as then FMG decided to develop all the required infrastructure on its own using a great deal of recursiveness, efficiency and innovation, but at last, allowing FMG to expand its capacity to a similar scale to the most well stablished companies at the time. 


Consequently, Andrew’s effect on the company’s top management can be understood as making things possible through ambitious objectives and applying strategic leadership helping teams to perform at their best.





Written by Sergio Quintero, 2023, student of Master of Business Administration, 
Kaplan Business School, Melbourne, Australia.





REFERENCES


Burrell, Andrew, Twiggy: the high - stakes life of Andrew Forrest - biography, Black Inc, 2014.


Bush, Tony, Part 1 - Principles of educational leadership and management, Principles of educational leadership and management, SAGE, England, 3rd ed, 2019, pg 3-18.


Forrest, Andrew, A radical plan to end plastic waste, TED talk, retrieved 2022, <https://youtu.be/I5g9-4fx60A>


Fortescue Metals Group website. Our culture. Retrieved 2022, <https://www.fmgl.com.au/about-fortescue>


Forrest, Andrew, Never, ever give up, Fortescue Metals Group, retrieved 2022, <https://youtu.be/t9A3ribtheA>


Lussier, Robert, Part l - Individuals as leaders, Leadership, theory, application and skill development, Cengage learning, USA, 2016, pg 7-22.


Murrell, Thomas. 10 Leadership lessons from Australia’s wealthiest man - Andrew Forrest, 8 Media, retrieved 2022, <http://8mmedia.com/10-leadership-lessons-from-australias-wealthiest-man-andrew-forrest/>


Seek, Fortescue Metals Group reviews, Retrieved 2022, <https://www.seek.com.au/companies/fortescue-metals-group-432558/reviews>


Raducan, Ramona, Leadership and management, Science Direct, Procedia - Social and behavioural sciences, volume 145, 2014, pg 808 - 812. 


Sheperd, Tory, ‘Judge me on my actions’: can Andrew Forrest become Australia’s clean,  green hero?, The Guardian, retrieved 2022, <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/27/judge-me-on-my-actions-can-andrew-forrest-become-australias-clean-green-hero> 





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