Season 5 - Ep. 3 | Digging Deep: Leadership, Growth & Risk with BHP CEO Mike Henry

The world needs more metals, minerals, and natural resources to fuel the global economy, power the energy transition, and feed a growing population. As the CEO of the world’s largest mining company, BHP’s Mike Henry is redefining his business in a competitive industry which is projected to grow to $2.8 trillion by 2028.

In today’s episode, Clarke digs into Mike’s leadership lessons and insights, including his career journey, his CEO transition in the midst of two major crises, and the advantages of being a global citizen living and working in multiple countries. Mike shares how he balances growth alongside risk, safety, and respecting communities in the company’s mining efforts. He also talks about the BHP Operating System, which serves as the foundation for how BHP’s 90,000 employees continuously improve and make decisions in the face of uncertainty on a day-to-day basis.

Mike Henry
CEO of BHP

Mike Henry is Chief Executive Officer of BHP, the world's largest mining company. He leads a global workforce of 90,000 people, with major operations and projects in Australia and North and South America.

BHP's purpose is to bring people and resources together to build a better world. BHP is creating significant value for shareholders, and society more broadly, through sustainably meeting the world’s growing demand for certain metals and minerals, including those needed for the energy transition and for more sustainable agriculture.

Mike was appointed CEO at the beginning of 2020. Since then, enabled by a sharp focus on operational excellence and disciplined allocation of capital, BHP has delivered more than US$70b in cash returns and in species dividends to shareholders.  The company has been reshaped to be better positioned for future growth and to benefit from the megatrends of population growth, urbanisation, rising living standards and the energy transition.

BHP is a major producer of steel making raw materials and copper and will be one of the world's leading producers of potash by the end of this decade from its Jansen project in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mike was born in Canada and holds a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) from the University of British Columbia.