The Bastard's a Genius The Robert Clifford Story

The authorised biography of Robert Clifford, founder and chairman of INCAT - builder of high speed wave piercing catamarans. 'Bob Clifford is a hero of mine. I actually sought him out because I wanted to find out how on earth he had learned to do what he has done ... How did he do it? I believe he is a genius.' - Dick Smith. The story of how Robert Clifford went from being a poor student to a global shipping entrepreneur reads more like adventure fiction than cold hard fact. But it is all true. The tale contains the usual quota of disaster and triumph, spiced with a fascinating account of ingenuity and invention at work. After all, if you go into business, you might as well experience a financial meltdown and a bank receivership. If you take up yachting, you might as well win the Sydney-Hobart race in a near photo-finish. If you invent and then dominate a global fast-ferry market, you might as well win the Hales Trophy for the fastest Atlantic crossing, not once but three times. But behind the swashbuckling adventure story lies a complex, affectionate and little-understood man of surprising sensitivity and creativity. He is an all-action hero consumed by the need to conceive, shape and bring to fruition objects of great utility and beauty. He is a man quite unlike the standard-issue 'businessman' and much more like those distinguished artists and scientists who are impelled by some inner voice to do the work they do.

Alistair Mant is Chairman of the Socio-Technical Strategy Group, which advises on the inherent capacity for change and responsibility within work systems, and specializes in leadership development, the assessment of talent, the de-bunking of fashionable dogma, and the avoidance of crippling blunders. He is the author of Intelligent Leadership.