succession

Andrew Hill Three benefits and two pitfalls of bringing ‘AG’ back at P&G

May 24, 2013 12:18 pm by Andrew Hill

In saying AG Lafley is “uniquely qualified” to lead Procter & Gamble – again – Jim McNerney, the board’s presiding director, somewhat understates the case.

Not only was Mr Lafley one of P&G’s most successful ever leaders between 2000 and 2009, he has literally written the book on how he achieved the corporate turnround – Playing to Win, co-authored by Roger Martin and published this year. But the record of chief executives who return to the top job is mixed: while there are benefits to bringing back the former CEO, there are pitfalls too. Read more

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Posted in Consumer Goods, Management |

Andrew Hill The Pope, the Queen, the Sage and the football manager

May 8, 2013 10:48 am by Andrew Hill

Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as manager of Manchester United gives the management world another example of how to bow out when you are, frankly, getting a bit elderly.

On this topic, we now have four great templates – the Pope, the Queen of England, Warren Buffett and Sir Alex – each of which could be applied by organisations whose leaders are grappling with questions about the frailty and mortality of their leaders. Read more

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Posted in Management, Sports |

Andrew Hill Arm handover adapts Grove’s advice

March 20, 2013 1:38 pm by Andrew Hill

Warren East’s unexpected retirement as chief executive of Arm Holdings, comes at “an inflection point” for the chip designer, according to the FT. Which raises the question: why go now, then?

Andy Grove, former chief executive of chipmaker Intel, wrote in his book Only The Paranoid Survive that he worried most about strategic inflection points. The book is full of valuable tips about how to tackle such moments, but quitting is not one of them. On the contrary. Read more

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Posted in Management, Technology |

Andrew Hill Popes, CEOs and poor succession planning

February 11, 2013 12:10 pm by Andrew Hill

Pope Benedict XVI. Getty Images

How does the Pope’s decision to step down measure up against best practice in corporate succession planning?

Luckily, the Association of British Insurers – which issues regular guidance on governance issues – has recently, ahem, pontificated on this matter, recommending that companies improve their succession planning and have strong candidates ready to take over as chief executive. Read more

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Posted in Business |

Andrew Hill Anglo Xstrata: missed opportunity?

January 29, 2013 1:17 pm by Andrew Hill

Getty Images

A merger between Anglo American and Xstrata falls into the “what if?” category of corporate counterfactuals. Anglo rebuffed Xstrata’s 2009 approach and the latter is now itself in the waiting room for a takeover from its largest shareholder Glencore.

But as Xstrata’s boss Mick Davis told me and Helen Thomas last week, he still feels he could have applied some merger-magic to Anglo, which on Tuesday confirmed speculation that it would write down the value of its Minas-Rio Brazilian iron ore project. Mr Davis said he had “absolutely no doubt” that he would have been able to liberate a more entrepreneurial culture at Anglo, by devolving more responsibility to operational managers, as at Xstrata. Here are his comments in full: Read more

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Posted in Management, Mining |