What’s the theory? “Make it happen.” Taking his naval credentials into the boardroom, he is an advocate of management through action. After transforming ICI losses into a £1 billion profit in five years, he became a household name in the 1990s with his groundbreaking makeover show Troubleshooter. The company doctor cured ailing businesses with one-sentence prescriptions to staff. Proud to be “blunt to the point of painfulness”, he chivvied the British for lacking ambition and said that four out of five of us could be entrepreneurs if we only developed the right qualities. His keys to success are imagination, commitment and speed, targeting niche markets for future enterprise.

A boardroom favourite, then? Not quite. Describing his last decade at ICI as “the bored years”, he halved the number of board members, dumped his deputy chairmen and ditched exclusive meetings in favour of broader ranging “strategy sessions”. The anti-bureaucracy bureaucrat stripped whole levels of management and treated divisions as companies. He claims that anything being done the same over three years is “being done the wrong way” and has never cared whose nose he puts out of joint in the process.

A hero of our times. Indeed. Awarded seven honorary degrees, a writer and motivational speaker, he has served countless public bodies and charities, was Industrialist of the Year three times and won a BAFTA in 1992. He even inspired his own teddy bear, on sale since April: the mohair toy sports distinctive red tie, briefcase and winning smile.

KAREN BAYNE

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