>> Peter Ellwood >> Download PDF >> Date: 01/09/2007 Peter Ellwood CBE has had a leadership role at many retail banks and now holds Chairmanships in public, private and not-for-profit organisations. Here, he offers compelling insight into the Chairman’s role at one of Britain’s most famous companies by opening his diary for our readers. Monday I usually come down to my ICI office in London by train from our home in Northamptonshire, and meet with the ICI Company Secretary who is also our head lawyer and runs our Mergers and Acquisitions team. This wide-ranging meeting always covers the Board agenda plus any governance issues. The Chairman’s role in a company in the UK is very clearly defined and centres on his responsibility for the effective running of the Board, which in turn has the ultimate responsibility to shareholders for determining the strategic direction, objectives, and broad policies of the Group consistent with enhancing long-term shareholder value. It is also the job of the Chairman to be available for consultation with the Chief Executive. This is a part of the job that I particularly enjoy. Having been a FTSE 50 CEO for 10 years, I have a very clear view both of what the Chairman should and should not do. The two roles must be complementary with no over-lapping of accountability. If a Chairman starts to think his job is to run the business, that spells disaster. I have a first class Chief Executive and there is a high level of openness and mutual respect and trust in our relationship which is essential. Over lunch I carry out the annual appraisal of one of our Non-Executive Directors which is a suggestion from the Combined Code of Corporate Governance. Non-Executive Directors play an important role in being constructively challenging and using their individual and collective skills and experience to input particularly on strategic direction. At ICI, they can and do make a very positive impact on our successful development. During the afternoon I have one of my four formal meetings a year with our external auditors about the quarterly figures to be considered by the Audit Committee and Board the following week. I use this occasion to try to get a feel for whether there are any little clouds on the far horizon which might have the ability to turn into a nasty shower well into the future. A lot of my job at ICI is about feel, and having a view about people issues or attitudinal issues that I can share with the Chief Executive to add to his own assessment of situations. Tuesday I start with a 7am one hour work out with my personal trainer. I am hardly svelte-like now but I dread to think what I would look like if I didn’t do the work-out. I think it makes me feel sharper and more mentally alert. I come into our central London office to read the daily press cuttings and assorted brokers reports. As a Chairman, whilst you don’t run the business you have to have a very good understanding about all the critical levers so that you can be informed when, for instance, I am abroad looking at some of our businesses. I can also use my past experience and that overlay of ICI business to help offer input to the CEO. He and I meet weekly, supplemented by a number of short conversations during the day if we are both in the office. We also have dinner once a month. Tonight I am a dinner guest of one of the Investment Banks. As ever, the setting is grand - one of the London museums - and it is a sophisticated, slightly understated marketing occasion for them. Wednesday I take a couple of calls from head hunters wanting to get my view about people I have worked with in the past and who are being considered for new, bigger jobs. I have lunch with one of the top team from ICI, which I do 3 or 4 times a year so that again I can get a feel for what’s on their mind and how they see the broader group issues. In the afternoon I chair the Board of the Work Foundation - a research-based consultancy and advocacy not-for-profit organisation whose objective is enriching working life and increasing productivity. It employs some very bright thinkers and has done excellent work on company leadership and what distinguishes a really good company from the ‘also rans’. It has a rather eclectic Board with a CEO who is also a writer and broadcaster, a senior member of the TUC, a CEO of a large FTSE company and a former Chief Constable. It’s fun to chair, though after some 6 years, I am now stepping down to give someone else a chance. Thursday and Friday I attend the Board meeting of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra where I am one of two businessmen on a Board otherwise made up of instrumentalists elected by their fellow players. That is a fascinating Board to be on and the attitude to capitalism is somewhat different from that of a FTSE plc! In the afternoon I go to New York for a Board meeting of First Data Corporation which is the largest processor of debit and credit transactions in the world. We have a working dinner, a Board meeting on Friday morning and I arrive back at Heathrow early on Saturday morning. It is interesting to compare the styles of UK and US Boards. The US Board tends to have only one executive on it, the CEO, who is also the Chairman of the company. I must say I prefer the checks and balances of the UK model although First Data is a very successful and well managed company. The Weekend Saturday afternoon is a marvelous time to walk around the garden where a couple of lakes and new landscaping I put in are beginning to mature, followed by dinner with family and friends. I attend Church on Sunday morning then, with a bit of luck, I can watch the F1 Grand Prix on television. It’s been a great season so far, and I feel very lucky to lead such a varied life. Peter Ellwood's Profile Peter Ellwood was appointed Chairman of ICI on 1st January 2004, having been Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chairman from 2003. He has held a number of senior leadership roles in the retail banking industry including Chief Executive at TSB Bank, Lloyds TSB Group plc and Barclaycard. He was also Chairman of Visa International. Peter was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to banking in 2001 and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers

Peter Ellwood, Chairman at ICI opens his diary for GS-insight