But in a weekly series, BBC News Online looks at the lives of the UK's top bosses - and uncovers the early secrets of company head honchos.

Mick Davis, 46, joined mining firm Xstrata as chief executive in 2001. So who's the man behind the company?

I bought my first car from my earnings from holiday jobs.

It took me three years to save enough to buy a broken-down Austin - it's only redeeming feature was that due to its unique state of disrepair it was never a target for would-be car thieves.

Given my pecuniary circumstances, I did not really allow my eye to roam and gaze longingly at other more sporty or luxurious motor cars.

One of the enduring problems, which I never really did resolve with the Austin, is that I did not get to drive it much as I could not afford the petrol.

My first job, when I was a university student in South Africa, was costing and then casting stock sheets of a company manufacturing bus bodies.

I was paid 15 South African rand (�1.30) an hour.

It was an appropriate product for this company to manufacture, as its main works were opposite the cemetery, which of course contained bodies of another kind.

The job was dead boring and it seemed just right for me to eat my lunch sandwiches in that very cemetery.

My first job after graduating was serving articles with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co in Johannesburg and I was paid 500 South African rand (�43.48) per month.

A number of people have inspired me, including many historical figures and characters of fiction.

However, the first person - other than of course my mother - who I think had a great impact on me was Mark Cohen, my school principal.

I think that was because of his approach to education and his willingness to interact with a person much younger than himself.

A modest house in a good area in Johannesburg - 275 000 South African rand (�23,914) and I could not afford it.

To employ people who are going to be better than you.

Being appointed as the Financial Director of Eskom, one of the world's largest utilities, at the age of 29.

I did not have the experience for the job which came with the requirement to commercialise the company with the inevitable downsizing, refinance billions of dollars of debt, and create an enduring and depoliticised electricity pricing formula.

But the chairman, Dr John Maree, had great faith in my ability to do the job and I relished the opportunity to take on the challenges and show what I could do.