12:20pm Friday 16th July 2010
By Chris Koenig
What sort of person becomes a chief executive of a multi-national company? One person who might know the answer is Andrew Cave, former business editor of The Oxford Times, who has spent much of the past 14 years interviewing chief executives for the Daily Telegraph.
Now Mr Cave, who lives in Marston, and Steve Tappin, chief executive of leadership specialists Xinfu, have teamed up to produce a book — The New Secrets of CEOs:200 Global Chief Executives on Leading — to delve into what makes this rare breed of human tick.
Mr Cave said: “What intrigued me from the start was their human side; their motivation; their insecurity even. For instance, there is the story of the CEO of a large company who felt so introspective that he hired an actress and brought her into the office with him — just to teach him how to become more extrovert.”
And indeed, one secret revealed here for anyone aiming at the top in the coming years, is the whole business of self-evaluation, the almost creepy ability to stand outside yourself and take an objective look at where you are going, and what you want out of your career.
Tycoon and Kidlington resident Sir Richard Branson, writing in the foreword to the book, said: “Steve and Andy have identified the new facts of life that most businesses are hit by on a daily basis, especially hard globalisation, sustainability, and the war for talent.”
He added, comfortingly for some of us, that the developments on the Internet, particularly when it comes to reaching out to your customers with new and interactive content, both fascinate and totally baffle him — which would not surprise Mr Cave, who told me most of the CEOs he interviewed understood Internet intricacies.
Less comfortingly, Mr Cave said: “Very few CEOs are in the job for anything other than money. They want to make money for themselves.”
The book identifies five leadership types that the authors have encountered while producing 200 profiles of CEOs, though Mr Cave pointed out there is crossover between types.
First, there are the commercial executors, obsessed with relentlessly driving sales forward. Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco and Andre Jung of Avon Products are prime examples.
Then there are those focused on the financial worth of their business. They are experts at identifying value-enhancing corporate transactions. Mick Davis of international mining company Xstrata and Kraft Foods’ Irene Rosenfeld illustrate this type.
Third are corporate entrepreneurs, such as Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of advertising firm WPP, and Michael Spencer, of inter-dealer broking giant ICAP, who disrupt industries because they believe there is a better way of doing things.
Fourth, corporate ambassadors worry about the global impact of their industry, and are most effective in situations where interaction with governments and regulators is particularly critical. Interestingly, considering recent events in the USA, Lord Browne, former CEO of BP, is cited as an example of this type.
Lastly — and perhaps most endearing to those of us with a romantic idea of how an entrepreneur should believe in something as old-fashioned as enlightened self-interest — there are global missionaries. These are people who wake up in the morning and ask themselves: “How can I make the world a better place?”
Cisco CEO John Chambers and Zhang Ruimin of Chinese conglomerate Haier are presented as exemplars of this type.
But who, if anyone, in a world emerging from the 2007-2009 financial crisis, controls these large multi-nationals and their bosses? After all, the crisis seems to have shown us that no single government can control a multi-national.
Mr Cave said: “After the crisis, the net of globalisation is tightening and laws are coming in that control companies anywhere in the world. But yes, there will be gaps and there will be more crises.
“Many bankers have not got it, and think things will return to how they were, with their bonuses intact. They do not see that the rules are changing.”
Which brought us to the vexed question of top bosses’ pay.
Mr Cave said: “There is nothing wrong with CEOs receiving a lot of money if they are creating value for shareholders. But there are some who think they should be paid highly anyway.”
Speaking as someone who usually runs a mile from this kind of business book, I must say this one led me to have a greater understanding of how world business, and the goal of world economic growth, is evolving.
There is the story of the BT CEO trying to introduce dynamism into a formerly state-run business. He banged the table, Khruschev-like — though I don’t think he used his shoe to do it — and shouted: “Won’t anyone disagree with me!”
And what of the future? The authors believe that multi-nationals are becoming simply too big for bosses to lead in dictatorial fashion with command and control techniques, and that in due course firms will come to resemble organisms with cell-like structures and teams of motivated leaders operating within them.
But does Mr Cave wish he had become a CEO?
“No. But I love studying them.”
o The New Secrets of CEOs is published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing at £12.99.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/trade_directory/