Making mistakes and still getting there

Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management London: +44 207 964 9100

www.hoggett-bowers.com Manchester: +44 161 234 0400

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“In hindsight, the banking

industry made big mistakes, for

which it has and must continue to

apologise. Central banks,

regulators and Governments

made mistakes too.”

Making mistakes but still getting there…. “It is often said that if you want to succeed in this world you need to go to the right schools, go to the right university and know the right people. Well, if you consider that being the Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association and then the Chief Executive of Energy UK is a success – and I think that that is a bit debatable – then I went to the wrong schools, all 7 of them, I went to the right-ish university in Bristol but did a degree in chemistry which is a wrong-ish sort of degree and as a Sheffield lass, did not know the right people in the meaning of that term.” So said Angela Knight CBE, Chief Executive of Energy UK. We had the pleasure to hear the views of Angela on her career and challenges across the wide ranging domains of politics, banking and energy at the most recent Hoggett Bowers HR Directors’ dinner at Lincoln’s Inn. These very different high profile arenas are generally bonded by the common themes of bad press, poor communication and sometimes just being plainly misunderstood. Representing them in times of crisis is not for the faint hearted!

Angela’s career to-date has been high profile; before joining Energy UK, in 2012, she was Chief Executive at the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) for 5 years (throughout the financial crisis) and before that she was Chief Executive of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers for 9 years. This was preceded by her political career where she was MP for Erewash from 1992-1997 and included being Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1995-1997, after being Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer. She was honoured with a CBE for services to the financial services industry in 2007.

Most telling were her perspectives on the banking and energy sectors through times of considerable turmoil: “I was offered the Chief Executive role at the BBA, and I said ‘yes’. Sir Peter Middleton was then the Chairman of the BBA and the Chairman of Barclays Bank and when he appointed me in early 2007 he said “Angela, what I want you to do is take banking off the back pages of the newspapers and put it on the front”. I think I met my KPIs!”

“Go for it. Take a chance.

Don’t wait. Get in early. Just

give it a try.”

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In her five years with the BBA she had to navigate crises, problems, changes and difficulties all the way. ‘Banker bashing’ became a common sport. She saw her role as attempting to bring a more balanced view to the issues being faced by the sector, and, importantly, to what needed to be done. It was clear then that across the Eurozone many governments “had borrowed too much, spent too much and were not taking the steps that the UK took back in 2008 and instead were postponing necessary action”. In the end, some of those European countries had to take losses in their financial systems, recapitalise and reduce public spending. Still today, at the end of 2014, some countries have failed to resolve their financial issues and the Eurozone is again facing both recession and deflation. In hindsight, the banking industry made big mistakes, for which it has and must continue to apologise. Central banks, regulators and Governments made mistakes too.

After 5 years at the BBA (which were some of the toughest years in banking over the last century), during which time she appeared before the Treasury Select Committee more than all her predecessors added together,

Angela decided to move on. This time, though, she thought she would go somewhere quiet, low-profile, stable and loved by all. So, in 2012, Angela decided to go into the energy industry – just before it started to be vilified by the press, politicians and public alike! The UK energy industry has some

enduring problems; as Angela says, “whilst everyone likes the green agenda, nobody wants to pay for it”. The lack of a consistent national energy policy and the resulting high cost of energy, has provoked the consumer and made energy “a political football”. The net result, for an industry that was never popular in the first place (because it didn’t do its customer service very well), was that it became caught “between the ‘rock of decarbonising’ and the ‘hard place’ of the customer bill”. However, since 2012 the whole industry has made some really positive strides and the key players are now in a better position to deal with the major issues. They recognise that there is a societal expectation, so they need to be more upfront with policymakers about what can and needs to be done and, when they get it wrong, to apologise. Angela feels she has achieved her objectives at Energy UK and she is now seeking a new opportunity. She

“Do your homework. Read the

notes and the papers. If you do

there’ll be a 70:30 chance you’ll

be better prepared than the

blokes.”

“Whilst everyone likes the green

agenda, nobody wants to pay for

it”




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has a robust, positive perspective on life which is evident in her career and outlook and she offers the following advice to women setting-out in their careers today: Lesson 1: “Go for it. Take a chance. Don’t wait. Get in early. Just give it a try.” When it comes to the glass ceiling for women, she told us “Sometimes you have to pick up your heel and smash it”. Lesson 2: “Dress for the fray. Why wear black and grey when red and green will do nicely? Put on your colourful clothes and your high heels. Be noticed, be there.” Lesson 3: Preparation, she told us, was often the key. “Do your homework; read the notes and the papers. If you do there’ll be a 70:30 chance you’ll be better prepared than the blokes. We love them dearly but they’re as bad at doing their homework in adult life as they were when they were ten!” Lesson 4: “There is much that will always be fundamentally irritating, frustrating, impossible and upsetting. There will be times when you will feel ignored and have been put to one side. But I have the best cure for when this happens: go home, have two glasses of red wine, walk out into the garden and shout “Bugger the lot of them”, then have a good sleep and start again tomorrow.” Angela’s first and fourth lessons, it could be argued, are sound advice for

any executive in any high-pressure, high-visibility role. Angela’s speech was followed by a question-and-answer session, a selection of which follows below.

Q: How easy was it to defend the

banks during the banking crisis?

A: It is obvious why the trust in the

banking sector was lost. In order to move forward, you have to do several things - it’s about bringing balance to discussions and changing the environment, not defending things that are indefensible. Trust is easy to lose but hard to get back. The banking industry has taught many other industries how not to behave. You must be closer to the customer, say sorry when you are wrong and do the basics well.

Q: With the instability surrounding

Russia, should we be worried from an energy perspective?

A: We should be more worried than

we are; it’s not just Russia, it’s the Middle East too, and most of Europe’s oil & gas comes from these two areas. We are one of the six EU countries that do not reply at all on Russia for gas – there are six EU countries who are entirely reliant on Russia. Security-of-energy-supply should be much higher up the political agenda and not just used for political rhetoric. Also, the European timetable on decarbonisation is too political, too




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emotive, and, ultimately unachievable. In summary, yes, we should worry about Russia.

Q: Do you think your career advice

is still valid for the female population graduating in 2015 or has the world moved on?

A: In terms of female opportunities I

believe we’re light years better-off than when I first started out. I accept things can be upsetting but my advice is generally the same: ‘just go for it’. Ignore the peripheral noise and just get on with it. Do a degree that’s got a point and purpose to it, which means it has a job at the end of it.

Q: Who is the person or people

that have most inspired you?

A: There are three people. My

grandmother is definitely one; Ken Clarke whom I worked with for four years is another, and the third person would be Stephen Green, former CEO of HSBC.

Q: It is said that successful people

have both male and female characteristics. What male characteristics do you have?

A: Well my father and brother only

allowed me to drive the car provided I did not move the seat. So I still drive cars with the seat in the position of a 6ft male.


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Making mistakes and still getting there