Simple or not, Sir Tom, 61, occupies a commanding position in Britain’s echelons of power. He is chief executive of AstraZeneca, the pharmaceuticals group, and a non-executive director of BP and Lloyds TSB.
His boardroom posts give him muscle in the business community. Yet Sir Tom bristles at suggestions that he is a member of an elitist club. “I have never been aware of any cabals or inner groups and I certainly don’t participate in them myself,” he says. “I think that’s a fear of the unknown.”
As for personality cults, he adds: “I have an aversion to that kind of hero worship. Good companies aren’t about a single person. I think there are lots of really talented people around and many of them are relatively unknown.”
It is not false modesty. Chief executives love to emphasise the team element in their companies. One man can set the tone, yet he cannot force decisions.
Sir Tom is no boardroom grandee. Born in 1943, the son of an Ayrshire coalminer, he began work as a research scientist with ICI, the chemicals group. The pharmaceuticals side was spun off into Zeneca in 1993. Six years later Sir Tom oversaw Zeneca’s £21 billion merger with Astra, the Swedish pharmaceuticals group.
His idea of relaxation is a spot of carpentry at home in Cheshire. He is married, with two daughters and a son.
Sir Tom recently joined the BP board and steps down from Lloyds TSB in December. After six years with the bank, it is time for a change.
“I have believed for a long time that two cycles of three years is about the optimal contribution a non-executive director can make,” he says. “Of course, people can go on beyond that and still add great value. But when you join a new board, you have a freshness, you ask different sorts of questions. It’s healthy to have new people coming in.
He adds: “All directors have an obligation to consider the shareholders’ interests, but particularly the independent directors. You’re not making your living, so to speak, at that company as an executive. You can take a truly independent view of things and you can be more objective than it’s easy to be as an executive. Executives do try to be very objective, but, intrinsically, it’s more difficult when they’re so tied up in the day-to-day running of the business.”
Perhaps non-execs have sharpened up their act. It is easy to be cynical about their role in light of debacles such as Equitable Life and Shell. Yet Sir Tom is adamant that non-executive directors make a contribution. His fear is that the red tape forced on boards in the aftermath of Enron and other US scandals will prove counter-productive.
“Boards are spending much more time on governance matters. Some of it is valuable, and we probably needed more of it. But those kinds of governance demands are not going to stop the Parmalats or the Enrons of this world. We have to be careful that we don’t think we can set up governance mechanisms that will stop deliberate fraud or things like that.”
He adds: “I believe that good boards, and good non-executive directors who have a genuine interest in the business, are not going to pick up poor management or anything like that. I don’t think that has changed because of changes in the governance rules.”
There is a concern that directors are being distracted from their real tasks. Sir Tom says: “There is a real danger that boards spend too much time on the wrong subjects.” Non-execs should be looking at strategic options and ensuring that the true position of a company is accurately communicated to stakeholders. “These are the fundamental planks: how is the business doing, what is the financial performance like, what are the opportunities ahead, are we evaluating strategy well, do we have the depth of management balance, and so on.”
Sir Tom describes his role as articulating a strong sense of vision for the company —“not mission statements and all that stuff, but what is the company really all about? What is it trying to do?” — and generating strategic options for the business. He then must ensure that decisions areimplemented.
Communication, he says, is vital. “There has to be an honesty in communication, and a consistency. People are not stupid. If they see different messages being pushed to different audiences, it becomes incredible. The chief executive has a particular role in ensuring a coherence and consistency of communication.”
Before joining ICI, Sir Tom was set for a life of research and teaching at the University of Glasgow. He has a PhD in chemistry. “I don’t think I could go back into a laboratory today and be credible,” he says. “But when I want a day of sanity, I love to be back in a research lab hearing the excitement of the projects people are thinking about.
“Our business is all about trying to discover innovative medicines to treat sick people. If you want to get excited about that, you want to hear some research scientists talking about how they’re going to tackle Alzheimer’s disease or cure cancer, or something. You come away absolutely buzzing.”
Getting products on to the shelves is another matter. Shares in AstraZeneca fell 20 per cent recently after US regulators recommended that a new anti-clotting pill, Exanta, be rejected.
But drug companies have to keep innovating. Sir Tom says: “The first duty of leadership is not to screw up. That might sound trite, but leaders can’t do much by themselves. I don’t make any new drugs. I don’t go out and get prescriptions written. But sure as heck I can get it wrong for everyone else.”
Slipping into ambassadorial mode, he adds: “It’s the tremendous contribution of people right throughout the company that makes success. Your first contribution is to not get it wrong so that you at least give them a chance to get it right.”
