This week’s Virgin Australia initial public offering is being hailed as a turnaround story, and rightly so. Just four years ago, the airline was bankrupt. But today it’s back on the ASX with impressive momentum, thanks in large part to the leadership of recently departed chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, who steered the business through its ambitious post-pandemic rebuild.

But what’s often overlooked in these complicated, high-stakes restructures is what it takes to drive that kind of long-haul transformation. Strategy alone does not supercharge a comeback like this, it takes a leader who knows how to manage their energy.