News
Charlie Cornish, CEO, Manchester Airports Group - reflecting on his first year in the role and on building for the future.
Just over a year ago I had the good fortune to become CEO at Manchester Airports Group to help drive our growth over the next five years.
The move followed just over six years on the main board of United Utilities (UU) most recently as Head of the International and UK Commercial businesses. Having grown that portfolio substantially, the board took a strategic decision to divest the non-regulated businesses and I lead this process to a successful completion in autumn 2010.
The CEO role at Manchester Airports Group gave me the chance for a new and different challenge – to lead an already successful group through the next stage of its development. From a personal perspective it meant remaining in the North West and continuing to make an important contribution to the region. The sector is dynamic and fast moving presenting a number of opportunities for future growth both organically and through acquisition.
In common with most new CEOs, I had a 100 and 300 day plan, intended to provide a degree of structure to my learning needs in a new sector as well as setting out the steps for a strategic review of the business.
Manchester Airports Group comprises four UK airports and a successful property development company. We provide flights to around 200 destinations and are able to attract the major global airlines to Manchester. We are starting to see signs of increased airline and passenger confidence and expect to achieve a steady increase of c3-4% in passenger numbers over the next few years.
Moving forward our agenda will focus on growth opportunities and the provision of efficient customer services to the 25m passengers using our airports every year. We will also be developing the UK's first 'Airport City' - with Chancellor George Osbourne unveiling plans earlier this month.
In the next twelve months and now that the 'honeymoon period' is over, our priorities will centre on the delivery of strategic plans and the development of high performance teams.
Building a better and bigger airports group presents the team with many interesting challenges in the next five years. Setting the leadership tone and building leadership capabilities will feature high on my list of priorities and working with Orcid is a key part of our people strategy.
To discuss Chief Executive recruitment please contact Judy Atchison - 01904 481186
Posted 25.01.2012
What it means to be a non-executive director and the importance of diversity
Whether on the board of a publically quoted company, charity or other non for profit body, the role of the non-executive director is increasingly challenging and demanding.
Since the financial crisis all boards are under greater scrutiny from shareholders, regulators and the media. Taking on a non-executive role requires more time and commitment; getting to know the sector, the organisation and its people sufficiently to make a broad and informed contribution across a range of issues. Working harder than ever, the current environment is causing both experienced and newly appointed non-executives to think hard about the number of appointments they hold with many reducing their portfolio.
Working alongside the executive management team the role of any independent non-executive is to ensure effective Corporate Governance and corporate disciplines are employed. More widely they should add value to decisions, bring a fresh perspective to strategic debate, question robustly and act as a ‘critical friend’ to the executive team. Perhaps most importantly, the ability to stand back and retain independent judgement at all times remains at the heart of the role.
A copy of the Corporate Governance Code, revised in June 2010 is available as a PDF below.
The importance of a diverse board has received much publicity with the emphasis on increasing the number of women. More broadly it is important to widen the pool of available non-executive candidates, female and male, and think beyond the existing pool of NEDs who already sit on the boards of several companies. It is incumbent on search consultants to break this pattern and introduce outstanding candidates with relevant executive experience who will make a strong contribution as part of a balanced board. Chairman should be encouraged to insist on new talent as part of any search rather than allow the executive search firm to ‘get away with’ recycling their existing contacts. That is not to deny the importance of experienced non-executives, merely to encourage a wider candidate pool and broader outlook in constructing a strong and effective board.
To quote from the Davies Report – Women on Boards:
“Corporate boards perform better when they include the best people who come from a range of perspectives and backgrounds.
The boardroom is where strategic decisions are made, governance applied and risk overseen. It is therefore imperative that boards are made up of competent high calibre individuals who together offer a mix of skills, experiences and backgrounds. Board appointments must always be made on merit, with the best qualified person getting the job. But, given the long record of women achieving the highest qualifications and leadership positions in many walks of life, the poor representation of women on boards, relative to their male counterparts, has raised questions about whether board recruitment is in practice based on skills, experience and performance”.
A full copy of the Davies Report can be accessed through the link below.
At The Orcid Partnership I lead our Board Practice. We encourage clients wherever possible to consider a diverse shortlist. We offer tailored support and advice to those seeking to build a non-executive portfolio or take on their first appointment.
If you are chairing a board or nominations committee and would like to discuss how we can help build a more effective board or if you are a candidate looking for advice or support please contact Judy Atchison - 01904 481186 or Susan Ryder - 01423 568432
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Davies Report: Women on Boards (February 2011) | 2Mb |
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Corporate Governance Code (Revised in June 2010) | 160Kb |
Posted 24.01.2012
Developing talent in the consumer sector
The fast moving consumer goods sector has always been a core area of focus for Orcid – our Chairman and two founding Partners spent much of their early careers with Mars, RHM, Sara Lee and Northern Foods.
More recently we have started helping this sector develop their talent agenda in sales and marketing. Both these functions have been affected by significant changes in recent times which have led to increasingly intensive competition for high calibre people and difficult choices for aspiring executives.
Clients are focusing both on developing and retaining their high potential associates, as well as managing external recruitment effectively. This is done through a number of external, in-house, tactical and pipeline strategies.
From the candidate’s perspective, it is a very ‘noisy’ marketplace. It can be difficult for individuals at Senior National Account or Brand Manager level to make the right strategic decisions about their careers when it seems easier to focus on maximising short term income. However, in doing so, there is a risk that they ultimately limit fulfilling their longer-term potential.
For all parties, the big win seems to be moving external recruitment from a transactional, cash-based decision – often done in a crisis – to a longer-term and more strategic process. This needs to help individuals maximise their career aspirations and potential by moving into the right organisations, roles and support structures. It is in all of our interests that the quality of the ‘talent pool’ within FMCG is strengthened, and that more of our high potential talent reach leadership roles in the sector – rather than moving outside of FMCG to get the progression they are looking for.
Our solution is to focus on identifying and supporting these high potential individuals. We then work in partnership with a small group of clients on their talent agenda at this level. This enables us to offer an executive search based solution with minimum ‘off limits’ considerations. This way we can find candidates who are a strong fit and will thrive and develop in the culture of the clients’ organisations. The ‘holy grail’ in this area we believe, is about moving external recruitment from crisis transaction to proactive engagement and we are working hard to bring this vision to life.
If you would like to understand more about this approach, or to discuss some of the talent challenges in this sector, please get in touch with Louise Gatenby on 01244 571678 or Peter Kearney on 01244 571702
Posted 23.01.2012