Lessons in leadership

Richard Baker, one of the youngest chairmen in the FTSE 100 shared his experiences and the challenges he faced in turning round the fortunes of the Boots Group in four years as its CEO. Today, Chairman of Whitbread, DFS and Virgin Active, he also chairs the Global Advisory Council of Aimia Group - owners of Nectar Card and is Senior Operating Partner at the private equity firm, Advent International. In an interview for Cambridge Judge Business School’s website Richard Baker said he does not believe that the roles of chairman and CEO can be merged. “I think it’s generally a bad idea for a chief executive to become the chairman. I think there should be two separate jobs because there are two separate jobs to be done. When a chief executive becomes a chairman they will not allow things to be changed because anything that changes subsequently is by definition is a criticism of what they did previously so it is much better to have an independent chairman and a completely separate chief executive. I think that’s a well-proven model.”