Books by Damon Kitney
Heroic Humility
90 Years of Life – Red Dirt to Riches
Ron Manners is a rare breed of Australian entrepreneur: a man who has spent a lifetime challenging convention, backing his instincts and building businesses without losing sight of what matters most. His story is one of ambition, courage and curiosity, shaped by an unrelenting belief that there is always a better way to do things. But Heroic Humility is about more than business success. It is about the character required to achieve it, the values that sustain it and the quiet strength of a man who has never believed that success should go to his head.
Through the highs, setbacks, risks and unexpected turns of his remarkable journey, Manners reveals the thinking behind the decisions, the people who influenced him and the lessons that only experience can teach. He challenges conventional wisdom about leadership, wealth and achievement, showing why independent thinking, resilience and a willingness to question the accepted order can be more valuable than following the crowd. His is a practical philosophy forged in the real world, where ideas must be tested, decisions have consequences and character is revealed when the going gets tough.
At its heart, Heroic Humility is a book about how to succeed without losing yourself along the way. Manners offers a reminder that true achievement is not measured solely by what you accumulate, but by what you contribute, the relationships you build and the legacy you leave behind. It is an invitation to think bigger, remain curious, act with conviction and stay humble enough to keep learning. In a world that too often celebrates ego and appearances, Ron Manners makes the case for a different kind of heroism: the strength to achieve extraordinary things while remaining grounded in the values that matter.
The Fortune Tellers
Untold Stories of Success
After 25 years of one-on-one interviews with Australia’s preeminent business leaders, Damon Kitney knows how to tell the stories of our fortune makers.
The Fortune Tellers sets out 32 personal stories of wealth building – sometimes warts and all – the wins, the losses and the lessons learned.
The book features insights from a who’s who of Australia’s business community including David Hains, Warren Anderson, Carol and Alan Schwartz and Jennifer Nason
The Inner Sanctum
The Secrets of Australia’s Most Private Leaders
In modern journalism there is an insatiable desire to be first with the news online and to uncover scandal. But the patient fisherman simply seeking to tell a story can still be rewarded. This collection of Damon Kitney’s articles and profiles from over a decade writing for The Australian perfectly illustrates this.
The Inner Sanctum is a sample of Damon Kitney’s finest catch over a decade of working for The Australian newspaper. It is a product of his firm belief that behind the share prices, EBITDA and endless sanitised investor briefings, it is still human beings that are our leaders. From Mike Cannon-Brookes nursing his children or Malcolm Broomhead, Ray Horsburgh and Kathryn Fagg talking about their cancer battles, to Paul Anderson recalling his wife’s brush with death or Carol Schwartz or David Fox speaking affectionately about their beloved fathers, these are deeply personal stories that had never been told before. Some of the subjects in this book may have more wealth than any of us can ever imagine, run the biggest companies or sit on the most powerful boards in the land, yet they still have their own failings, trials and triumphs. The Inner Sanctum offers a different perspective on some of the nation’s most celebrated leaders of the past decade. They are living proof that power and influence are one thing, but humanity conquers all.
The Price of Fortune
The acclaimed biography of James Packer
James Packer turns to Greek mythology in an attempt to explain the most exciting yet tumultuous period of his 50 years on earth.
“I was like Icarus,” the billionaire tells his biographer, journalist Damon Kitney, of the heady days of 2016 when he broke up with pop star Mariah Carey, abandoned living in Hollywood and Israel, left the global casino stage, and divided the family fortune in a bitter separation from his sister. “I flew too close to the sun.”
