Menu
A prominent UK Business Leader, former Chairman of GreaterSport Manchester and former MD of Metro Bank, Chris inspires change through his comprehensive knowledge of the practice of coaching and leadership.
We sat down with Chris to talk to him about making the most of opportunities…
How important is it for senior business people to hear the experiences of others to shape their own decision making?
Really important! I spend over 12 days per year attending Conferences listening to speakers share their experiences, across a range of disciplines. Why sit in a dark room on your own thinking how to do things, when others may have already successfully achieved the answer to the issue you are currently facing.
How has knowledge sharing about experiences helped you and the decisions you have made in your career?
The stories and experiences really stimulate my thinking, enabling me to make better informed decisions. Not only providing principles and tools that I can follow, but also confidence that my thinking is along the same lines as theirs. I have also developed some great working relationships with speakers that I have met, which is a real bonus!
How important is the information you receive as a Board member from the FD to assist you in making a commercial decision?
Essential! I operate a Balanced Business Scorecard approach with the Financial quadrant being one of them. The numbers are important and so is the insight as to what they tell you. Trends and forecasts are really important to. There’s a great saying that “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” and FD’s are really good at measuring!!
What has inspired you to make the best decisions?
Putting customers at the heart of every decision. Customers are the lifeblood of any business that aspires to grow and stick around for a long time. I know a lot of organisations that make big decisions without considering the customer impact, that often end in disaster!
What are your key learnings from your career so far?
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard! Success is a blend of technical knowledge + positive personal qualities x consistency in performing in both of those areas.
What makes a good leader?
Humility! Leaders don’t know all the answers, so be humble, ask questions and then listen! If you care about your people and customers, then profit will look after itself.
What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?
The definition of luck is “When preparation meets opportunity”. There is opportunity for everyone, but sadly lots of people choose not to prepare and therefore moan about lost opportunities!
What has been your greatest achievement so far?
Being a father to 2 wonderful children. Everything else pales into insignificance!
Who has been your inspiration and why?
My mum, because she taught me to have strong values and behaviours! Professionally, Jack Welch former CEO of General Electric (GE), he keeps strategy simple, grows talent and is outstanding at execution. From a personal growth perspective, Jack Black, founder of Mindstore for helping me shape my ‘mental architecture’ to set big goals and have the belief to achieve them through drive, resilience and visualisation.
What simple steps could policy makers take to help advance the cause for women in the boardroom?
All of the women I meet with don’t want any favours doing, they just want an equal opportunity to display their talent to decision makers. As a minimum, there should always be an equal number of women on every shortlist for any vacancy. I also applaud Sport England for insisting that sporting bodies should have a minimum of 30% of female Board members. Diversity, Equality and Equity is a success factor, so let’s have it at every level, not just the boardroom!
Chris is part of our exclusive CFO Club speaker alumni. If you are a finance professional and would like to attend the CFO Club, please take a look at the event page. If you are a business leader and would like to speak at our event, please contact us.
‘10 questions…’ is a series of interviews with senior business people. To be kept informed of the next interviews in our series, sign up to our announcements.
Catch up on the latest financial news and opinions from like-minded contributors plus interviews with influential industry figures.
