COVER STORY: The Midlands Power 100
Here it is again - our eagerly awaited and unique guide to the region's most powerful figures. Read on to find out who walks the corridors of power in the Midlands and why they matter read on....
THIS IS NOT BINGO WITH EGO'S
Here it is again - our eagerly awaited and unique guide to the region's most powerful figures. Read on to find out who walks the corridors of power in the Midlands and why they matter
Get ready to change your numbers, boys and girls, it's time to plug in to see how that power has changed hands across the Midlands.
The reference to numbers comes in the wake of the revelation that each year the entrants in our Power 100 routinely correspond with each other via their ranking in this list, rather than by name.
However, although it might be fun for our 100 to communicate in such fashion, our survey is not all about playing bingo with egos. It's far more about profiling individuals who have a significant role to play in the region.
Put aside the jobs and profits they bring in (although some have been cutting a fair few jobs in recent times too) for one minute, what the survey is also about is how these individuals connect together and, most significantly of all, how they come together to champion the region.
We would argue that there has never been a more important time for this region to be championed. With Labour looking set for a third term, devolution is only going to rise further up the political agenda. London and the South East are at bursting point (congestion, house prices and so on) - surely now is the time for the Midlands to really makes its voice heard as it seeks a new wave of meaningful inward investment. And that means government investment too - on our railways, on our roads, in our IT infrastructure.
Given the above it should come as no surprise that Digby Jones tops our list again. We have said it before but will say it again - if the region had 100 Digbys it could be a very very different place.
Talking of the devolution debate Sir Michael Lyons is right at the heart of it. He jumps into our top three this year. Other big risers include motor racing mogul Dave Richards, Sir Nigel Rudd and developer Alan Curtis.
Plenty of big fallers too. Not such a good year for Paul Spooner, Alan Chatham and Sir Paul Smith.
The list is not a closed shop either. It demands to be regularly refreshed as the balance of power shifts in the region. We say hello this year to Alastair Darling, Richard Pym (Alliance & Leicester), Mark Fields (Ford), John Peace (GUS), John Cheffins (Rolls Royce) and Sir Colin Campbell (Nottingham University) to name but a few. Likewise it's goodbye to the likes of Kevin Threlfall and Tim Radford who have both sold their businesses (T&S Stores and Project Telecom respectively) and Richard Bowker at the Strategic Rail Authority who we mistakenly thought could improve the region's chronic rail network.
We hope you enjoy our list and, as ever, any suggestions of people who you think should be here but are missing are always most welcome. Please email editor jim.pendrill@newsco.com
How we assessed power
In compiling this Midlands business Insider Power 100 we have looked at three key areas of power and the exercise of power. To make it into the list of the region's most powerful, a presence in all three areas was usually required.
i. Executive Power
This is power that is derived directly from the job or position in an organisation held by an individual. This power can be enhanced by the respect in which the person is held and the willingness of those who work for them to go the extra mile for them out of personal respect or loyalty. A company chief executive, therefore, is invested with more power than the office clerk through their position. But the chief executive does not always finish above the office clerk in our list. This is due to our consideration of...
ii. The exercise of power
Latent power should not be underestimated, but it is the ability to influence events that is the most public manifestation of an individual's power. We have examined the key business developments and moments in the region over the past 12 months and looked at the players who shaped them most. They may have worked openly to bring about the result they desired or they may have worked quietly behind the scenes to achieve it. To exercise power does not always require an executive position. Sometimes individuals with considerable executive power are forced to yield to outsiders who change the course of events, whether it be through winning a campaign or argument on a specific issue, or the prolonged application of pressure.
iii. Influence
The hardest form of power to assess and arguably the most potent. This recognises the ability of an
individual to set the parameters within which business is conducted, the climate of political debate, or the shaping of ideas (rather than events which is recognised in ii) above). Political spin doctors are typical of those who exercise power in this way, but those power players who score heavily in this section do not have to be shadowy figures. It is quite possible to exert influence from a frontline position of executive power.
Our assessment of power and how it works is based on the principles set out by Professor Stewart Clegg in his book Frameworks of Power, published by Sage in 1989. Clegg is professor of management at the University of Technology, Sydney.
For the Full Power list read on...
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