And, let's face it, profits and share prices are easy to measure. But the Westpac takeover bid for St George is a prime example of how the fickle finger of fate impacts on reputations and remuneration. It was August, the very month Kelly was negotiating her new package at Westpac, when the wheels fell off the world's financial system. The first signs to emerge here of the impending doom were when the young titans of the business world, the private equity players, began falling like tenpins.