We look at The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Captains of Industry, coming out in June 2025. See mor about the book here.
The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Captains of Industry reviewed
In many ways this book is a bit of a horror show in terms of management for British industries. The authors do a good job of taking us through a variety of types of leader. This is informative and well written, however the constant theme seems to be, regardless of their origin or training, they generally still ended up making either a real mess of it all, or at least not performing optimally. Sadly, as the authors also clearly point out, the only constant is the increasingly dizzy rise of the renumeration packages for this motley crew of incompetents. The approach seems to get ever shorter and shorter in terms of time frames and KPIs to aim for. To compensate for their likely impending dismissal, the renumeration packages are ever more ludicrous and higher and higher multiples of the average working person’s salary.
This book is well written and researched, but it also became ever more depressing as you were reminded of the growing rogues gallery of poorly performing, but increasingly well paid CEOs that have had to be endured in many British companies. It is a challenging time when competence, ability or ethical integrity seem to be less and less in demand for leading companies or even countries. Here’s hoping that this book helps to at least raise the level of debate even while we have to endure as series of self serving leaders.
More about the authors
Michael Aldous is a business historian and Senior Lecturer at Queen’s Business School, Queen’s University Belfast. He is a founder and co-director of the Long Run Institute (LRI), which uses historical analysis to help senior executives and policy makers make better decisions.
John D. Turner is Professor of Finance and Financial History, Queen’s Business School, Queen’s University Belfast, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His previous Cambridge University Press book Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles (2021) was named an Economics Book of the Year by the Financial Times.
More about The CEO
After analysing 1500 CEOs, what does a good one look like? High cognitive ability; strong organisational and interpersonal skills; clear values and personal purpose; has judgement from career and life experience (so aged 50 or over)
History reveals why CEOs are fat cats this study of Britain’s corporate history reveals that corporate fat cats emerged because of the emasculation of private sector trade unions and changing social norms about pay inequality.
We need CEOs need to move slow and build things (not move fast and break things)
By the 1970s, CEOs began getting sacked in ever greater numbers. By this century, over 40% of CEOs were dismissed either for poor performance or because their companies were taken over; tenures fell too from an average of 10 years to under six. The trend of CEOs spending much less time in the role can be traced back to deregulation and privatization policies (of Thatcher era) but also to the financialization of companies and the wider economy. So, how can CEOs make meaningful change?
Who makes it to the top? Differing pathways influenced how CEOs historically operated and are perceived. They have been (in historical order): Aristocratic amateurs; Families and founders; Managers; Technocrats
It was not until 1997 that Marjorie Scardino became the first woman and also the first mother to become CEO of a FTSE 100 company. Across the century, women have worked to overturn deeply embedded social and cultural stereotypes. Back at the beginning of the twentieth century, even though women made up nearly half of the shareholders in some companies, shareholder voting registers simply de-platformed them from the list of those shareholders who held the qualifying number of shares to almost automatically stand as a director. Being a director was, apparently, no job for a woman.
CEOs behaving badly What exactly are the top five most egregious behaviours of CEOs over the last one hundred and twenty-five years?
CEOs are key to solving Britain’s productivity puzzle CEOs strategizing, decision making, and organisational leadership, directly impacts the capacity of their companies to innovate, scale their operations, and operate efficiently, all key drivers of productivity. Britain’s current economic growth projections are predicated on major improvements in productivity. If Britain wants to cure its productivity malaise, then its companies need to ensure that they choose their CEOs carefully & only select capable of driving these improvements.
Born to rule? social mobility was not a strong feature of Britain’s early corporate elite. Yet, post-World War 2, If anything, business success was a catalyst for social advancement.
Don’t carry on Accounting By the end of the first decade of C21st, 45% of British CEOs came from the accounting and engineering professions. Although often (self) regarded as the high priests of business, CEO history nonetheless suggests if you are looking for creativity and innovation you might want to avoid the bean counters.
The Mini is a microcosm of why British industry failed A design triumph – the highly innovative, stylish and iconic Mini drew royal and celebrity endorsements (including Twiggy and the Beatles) to become the bestselling car in British history. Sadly, its creator was an engineer fixated on production who carried out no market research and had no idea what buyers would be willing to pay. Priced at £496, the British Motor Corporation lost £30 on each Mini sold.
Beware of young CEOs, they are bad for the company & country’s wealth The average age at which CEOs are appointed has fallen to under 50. The four horsemen of the British banking crisis apocalypse – Fred Goodwin (42) of RBS, James Crosby (43) and Andy Hornby (39) of HBOS, and Adam Applegarth (39) of Northern Rock – were too young to be allowed to fly that close to the sun. Whilst the CEO role is a physically and mentally taxing jobs that requires stamina and commitment, declining levels of experience and the hubris of youth has had terrible outcomes for the British economy.
See more reviews here.
