Few get to choose their manner of exit
At least one of the corporate titans to announce their departure yesterday had been thinking about it for some time.
Martin Gilbert told this newspaper nearly a year ago that picking the moment for a smooth exit is tough. “When things are going well,” he said, “you don’t want to leave — and when they’re not going well, you can’t.”
As a piece of leadership philosophy it has a nice ring to it, but the two other figures to reveal a departure yesterday prove that Gilbert’s personal mantra doesn’t extend to every boardroom.
Dave Lewis of Tesco has opted to leave on a high while Metro Bank’s Vernon Hill is out with his tail between his legs.
The only real lesson one can draw from this trio of resignations is that picking your own departure date is a rare and precious luxury.
For Gilbert, the move was on the cards since Standard Life Aberdeen called time on the controversial co-chief executive role that followed the £11bn merger.
It may have served a stabilising purpose but nobody saw it as a long-term arrangement and Gilbert’s departure isn’t a shock. He says he wants to play more golf but don’t expect him to disappear from view — the chairman’s seat at Revolut beckons.
Dave Lewis is more into photography than fairways, but whatever he does next he can walk away from Tesco with his head held high.
Retail analysts credit him with no less a feat than saving the supermarket — and considering the mess he found on arrival his reputation as a turnaround king is now beyond doubt.
If Lewis leaves with shareholders wanting more, Veron Hill departs under a cloud. The colourful founder of Metro Bank — a visionary to his supporters — is paying the price for a 90 per cent share price slump following a litany of errors that have rocked the challenger brand.
Speculation is growing in the City that someone big is going to make a move on Metro Bank, but Hill won’t be there to guide the board’s response. He had planned to stick around as a non-exec and president, but it seems a clean break was demanded.
So, three well-known leaders, three different sectors and three different paths to the exit.
But there should be a broader recognition of their contributions, beyond share price movements. Between them these three will have contributed close to 100 years of risk-taking, late nights, tough calls, pressure, failure, rewards, regrets and pay-offs.
None of them took the easy path in life and, ultimately, they each deserves a glass raised to them.
image credit: Getty