This year is Director's 60th in publishing. And what better way to celebrate than with a campaign to raise awareness about the contribution directors make to the economy and society in general? I've already aired my views on the public's antipathy to business people. It's since been picked up by David Cameron in his speech at the IoD Annual Dinner, and by other media and business organisations. The FT's Jonathan Guthrie summed up public feeling nicely in his description of the business leader as "ugly capitalist bogeyman".
There's only so much the magazine can do to influence public sentiment, but we can certainly ask the questions. Do directors deserve a better reception? Is it a case of a few rotten apples spoiling it for the rest? And how important is the public's perception to you?
This is the starting point for the "Good Director" campaign, which aims to draw attention to examples of good leadership while encouraging better practice in areas where business is weak.
This edition features a campaign survey which I hope you'll find time to complete. We've also put together a list of well known leaders who epitomise the traits that make up a good director. It's unlikely you'll agree with all of those on our list (we didn't). As one contributor suggested, each person's idea of a "good director" is indicative of their personal values.
We've selected famous directors to illustrate the point of the campaign, but we're hoping you'll put forward your own candidates (or yourselves). A codicil: the director's main role is running a successful business. Doing this well qualifies you. But I know many of you do more for your communities-and it's time to celebrate!
What makes a good director? We've identified three broad areas that mark out business leaders as such:
SUCCESS Wealth creation through entrepreneurship is at the heart of what good directors do.
RESPONSIBILITY They take the mantra of "do no harm" seriously and, wherever possible, seek to minimise the negative
impact of their organisation.
COMMUNITY SERVICE They seek to do some good, whether through individual acts, or corporate work in the community.
We identify some of the individuals in UK public and private sector organisations who embody these ideals and are making a significant contribution to the country, economically and socially.
In an era where consumers are more powerful, more connected and more vociferous than ever, business success will depend on reputation. That reputation, whether directors like it or not, will be closely tied to consumers' opinions of company directors' behaviour.
This list is by no means definitive-there are more successful directors than we can feature in one edition. And we are also aware that not all the chosen directors are saints. But each of the directors on the following pages displays those characteristics-to a greater or lesser degree-that define good leadership.
Disagree? Know someone who qualifies as a good director?
Click here to send us an email
All saints
Richard Reed, Adam Balon & Jon Wright
Founders, Innocent Drinks
Fundamentals: "We want to leave things better than we find them," proclaims the company website. But amid the quirky marketing and regular awards for being "one of Britain's coolest companies", it's easy to lose sight of the business success: Innocent sells about a million fruit drinks a week and has a turnover of £75m. A passion for the products is combined with the offbeat employment approach, all to great effect.
Do no harm: Innocent's claim that "we ain't perfect, but we sure are trying hard" hints at its attempts to be sustainable. It claims to use "absolutely no virgin finite materials in any of our packaging".
Do good: Ten per cent of profits go to the Innocent Foundation, which supports a range of charities. It also donates excess stock to FareShare for distribution to the homeless.
Business angel
Julia Cleverdon
Chief executive, Business in the Community
Fundamentals: Julia Cleverdon is out to prove that business can, and must, have a positive impact on society. As chief executive of Business in the Community for the past 15 years, she has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her members and she was listed by The Times as one of the 50 most influential women in Britain.
Do no harm: Her dedication is helping to raise the game of business leaders across the land.
Do good: As UK business' number one fan, Cleverdon has given it a positive spin by promoting companies' responsible practices, work with local communities, environmental projects and diversity.
Retail maestro
Stuart Rose
Chief executive, Marks & Spencer
Fundamentals: Currently enjoying rave notices, Rose has overseen one of the best turnaround stories of recent years. With results for the first half of 2006 showing a 32.2 per cent rise in pre-tax profit (to £405.1m), shares are hovering just below the £7 mark, up from £3 in January 2004.
Do no harm: M&S's food division continues to win praise for its responsibly sourced, organic and healthy products. The launch of a new line of fair trade products is expected in 2007.
Do good: Last year M&S was named Business in the Community's Company of the Year for the second time. It also won awards at the RSPCA Good Business Awards and praise for it support for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Wind-up merchant
Rory Stear
Executive chairman, Freeplay Energy
Fundamentals: South African entrepreneur Rory Stear set up Freeplay to exploit Trevor Baylis's wind-up radio, but understood that to help Africa in the long term he had to create a successful business. Thus Freeplay's renewable energy products (now powered by a mix of wind-up, solar, wind and foot pump) have got smarter and more appealing to consumers in the developed world. In the six months to June 2006, turnover was £1.5m.
Do no harm: Freeplay's focus is on renewable and sustainable energy.
Do good: The Freeplay Foundation-which is supported by a grant from the company-provides radios to Africa's poor, giving them access to life-saving health information and education. Last year it won a World Bank Global Development Marketplace Award for a Foundation scheme in Rwanda.
Great Scot
Sir Tom Hunter
Founding partner, West Coast Capital
Fundamentals: With all the noise surrounding his good deeds-it's rare to see his name without the word philanthropist attached-it's easy to miss the business story. Sir Tom admits that success is down to good timing as much as judgement. He started selling training shoes just as they became a staple of everyone's wardrobe. He then launched Sports Division, anticipated the move to large-scale, out-of-town retailing and took advantage of market consolidation by selling his company to a rival for almost £300m.
Do no harm: He's sold a few hoodies in his time, but we can't pin much else on him.
Do good: The Hunter Foundation has allowed Sir Tom to pursue his dream of making Scotland more enterprising, through better education. It has also donated large amounts to help children in Africa and funded other projects.
Rough diamond
John Bird
Founder, the Big Issue
Fundamentals: When it comes to pioneering social enterprise, it's hard to ignore John Bird, founder of the Big Issue-the magazine he set up with Gordon Roddick in 1991 to help the homeless help themselves. There are now 45 papers sold in 27 countries. Bird says he has drawn heavily from his own experiences: "I was born into the underclass, made homeless at the age of seven, in prison by the time I was a teenager, slept rough on the streets of London, and from there went on to buying and selling products and services, and building businesses."
Do no harm: Helping the homeless to help themselves. Where's the harm in that?
Do good: He pushed the plight of the homeless into the spotlight and up the government's agenda. The Big Issue Foundation, created in 1995, campaigns on behalf of the homeless and runs training and support programmes.
Clean-up king
James Dyson
Founder, Dyson
Fundamentals: The story of how James Dyson stuck doggedly by his conviction that a bagless vacuum cleaner was a great idea inspires inventors everywhere. Subsequent innovations-washing machines and a recently launched hand dryer-have failed to capture the imagination in the same way. But his iconic vacuum cleaners are hoovering up market share across the world, so does it matter?
Do no harm: His pro-UK stance took a knock when he moved manufacturing to Malaysia.
Do good: Dyson was ahead of many of his peers in the area of social responsibility and charitable giving, having been named philanthropist of the year back in 1997. In 2002, he created the James Dyson Foundation in order to bring a more structured approach to his charitable work.
Fair lady
Penny Newman
Chief executive, CaféDirect
Fundamentals: Proving that fair trade can be profitable, Newman has built CaféDirect into a credible, feelgood brand. Sales have topped £23m-it's now the fourth largest roast and ground coffee brand in the UK. Its 2004 flotation (which was oversubscribed) prospectus was distributed as a leaflet on its products and easily achieved its $5m target.
Do no harm: Cafédirect, the first UK coffee brand to carry the Fairtrade mark, brought ethical sourcing into the mainstream and raised customer expectations of coffee suppliers.
Do good: An alumnus of that ethical pioneer, Bodyshop, Newman is a role model for new entrepreneurs. She was on the Small Business Service's Women's Enterprise Panel and the Prowess judging panel for women entrepreneurs. Voted Ethical Idol of 2006, ahead of Ecotricity's Dale Vince and the Innocents, Newman's up for a "Great Briton" gong this month-against fellow "good directors" John Bird and Stuart Rose.
A beautiful mind
Dame Anita Roddick
Founder, Bodyshop and ARP (Anita Roddick Publishing)
Fundamentals: When Anita Roddick opened the first branch of Bodyshop in Brighton 30 years ago, few would have predicted a multinational beauty chain could be built around a mission "to dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change". One of life's natural communicators, Roddick was also a pioneer in guerrilla marketing, never failing to spot the potential to get her message across. The sale of the company to L'Oreal seems to fly in the face of everything Bodyshop stands for, but Roddick says it will show the French cosmetics house how to do things the right way.
Do no harm: Sustainable business pioneer. Despite the L'Oreal sale, her track record makes her untouchable.
Do good: Over the years, Roddick has campaigned tirelessly, implementing a range of community-support schemes. Bodyshop even has a director of values-need we say more.
Father figure
John Timpson
Chairman, Timpson
Fundamentals: Timpson is a favourite in the employee care stakes, having applied "upside down management" techniques to his chain of shoe repair and key-cutting outlets. Each employee has the right to make decisions on things such as pricing policy and hours of work. Famously straight-talking, he says: "Businesses are built by people-you cannot replace that with a system." And what a business he's built, with sales of £99m and a profit of £11.2m. He's also written a series of successful how-to books.
Do no harm: He's taken some big risks for the family firm-he sold the core shoe sales company in 1987 and developed its shoe-repair business.
Do good: Timpson has played dad to 86 foster children (his wife received an MBE in 2006). He's also created a "hardship fund" to cover emergency needs of employees. Staff can use their shops to drum up support for their chosen causes or for the corporate charity, ChildLine.
Organic entrepreneur
William Kendall
Chief executive, Green & Blacks
Fundamentals: Kendall spotted the potential of the organic movement before others. He's made a fortune buying, growing and selling organic businesses. He did it with the Covent Garden Soup Company, which he and business partner Nick Beart bought cheaply and sold for £22m. And he's done it again with the organic, fair trade chocolate business Green & Blacks, which was recently sold to Cadbury Schweppes in a deal estimated at £20m. Kendall dismisses talk of a sellout. "There's a perception in this country that big business is evil... but that just isn't the case," he says. With founder Craig Sams, retained as chairman, the company should remain true to its roots as fair trade chocolate goes mainstream.
Do no harm: The sale caused howls of protest, but the business remains sustainable.
Do good: He's relentlessly spread the organic message but also bypassed the official Fairtrade movement to work on projects to educate the farmers supplying his ingredients. He also supports new start-ups through his funding venture, Nemadi.
Media darling
Sir Bob Geldof
Co-founder, Ten Alps TV
Fundamentals: Relentless badgering of senior politicians on anti-poverty issues is not all former chart-topper Sir Bob does well. An influential player in the media sector and an early entrepreneur, he dreamt up Ireland's answer to classified ads paper Exchange & Mart, called Buy and Sell, putting £2,000 into the venture before being lured away by pop stardom. He rode the youth-telly wave with production company Planet 24-sold to Carlton for around £15m in 1999, and made money from the dotcom boom by selling Deckchair.com for an estimated £9m. His latest venture is TV production and publishing firm Ten Alps, listed on AIM in 2001. Interim results to September 2006 had Ten Alps turnover at £33m.
Do no harm: The thought of Saint Bob doing harm is too much to bear. But he's upset some in the charity sector who accuse him of riding roughshod over carefully nurtured political connections with aid-receiving nations.
Do good: His relentless campaigning-from Band Aid in 1984 to Make Poverty History in 2005-created global awareness of the causes of poverty, especially in Africa. His efforts saw him nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He's also got an eye for social enterprise, endorsing truancy management start-up Groupcall, in which he has shares.
One man brand
Sir Richard Branson
Founder and CEO, Virgin Group
Fundamentals: Unofficially ordained as the "most respected businessman in Britain", Branson is something of a Teflon director-nothing (bad) sticks. Failure in one venture rarely seems to dent his spirits and has little or no effect on the rest of the group (whose sales are reported to be around $8bn), despite a strong common brand.
Do no harm: Poor green credentials are inherent in his line of work, but he has announced a £3bn fund-from airline and train business profits-for research into climate change and sustainable fuels. The Virgin Aware campaign tries to make employees aware of the impact of their actions.
Do good: Virgin Unite attempts to bring together all the charitable work within the Virgin Group. Branson has a long track record of helping others, having started his first charity-a student drop-in-in the early 1970s.
Collective genius
Sir Stuart Hampson
Chairman, John Lewis Partnership
Fundamentals: Due to step down later this year, Sir Stuart leads the UK's best-known employee-owned business and has presided over a period of prolonged prosperity-sales have doubled in the past 10 years. Supermarket arm Waitrose flies the flag for organic produce and ethical trading and the 64,000-strong partnership is thriving. Innovations such as financial services arm Greenbee have boosted sales by 10 per cent to £252m in 2006. Some £95m has been earmarked for reinvestment in the business and partners' bonuses were up to 15 per cent.
Do no harm: A former civil servant Sir Stuart is very civic-minded: he's helped to launch London First, chaired the RSA, advised on a company law review in 2001 and exhorted retailers to trade fairly with farmers as the Royal Agricultural Society's president. And that's just a handful.
Do good: Hampson claims he's a "simple shop-keeper" whose responsibility is to customers and "not to save the world". But he also says: "Business morality is not a contradiction in terms. We can, through our own principles and through our actions, make a difference as an employer, as a purchaser and as a neighbour."
Beer baron
Lord Karan Bilimoria
Founder, Cobra Beer
Fundamentals: One of UK enterprise's greatest cheerleaders, "beer impresario" Bilimoria started his business with £20,000 of student debt and no brewing experience. Cobra is now a £96m gem with Cool Brand status and a clutch of awards, while Bilimoria is ever accessible to the media, has just written a guide to enterprise, and is smoothing the way for a possible company float in 2009.
Do no harm: Conservative in dress-the blue blazer of an Oxbridge man or the traditional garb of a Zoroastrian Parsi-he's nevertheless got the patter. "At Cobra, we hire for will, not for skill," he says. His commitment to corporate culture and lifelong learning earned Cobra a spot on the Sunday Times 2006 "Best Companies to Work For..." list, where he scored well on inspirational leadership and imbuing staff with pride.
Do good: Entered the charity frame last March with the Cobra Foundation, an initial £15,000 donation and four key causes-one in India. Also funds the CobraVision short film awards.
Captain cook
Jamie Oliver
Founder and director, Fifteen Foundation
Fundamentals: It seems like no time since Jamie Oliver first popped up as a fresh-faced youngster sliding down banisters and riding all over town on his scooter. Thanks to his recent efforts to promote better school meals, he's had a huge impact on the diet of the nation's children. Just how much of an impact was evident when Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco-and remember Oliver front's Sainsbury's advertising-cited Oliver's work while announcing a record interim profit of £1.1bn.
Do no harm: It seems churlish to mention he's swapped his scooter for a 4x4.
Do good: His Fifteen Foundation exists "to inspire disadvantaged young people" and Oliver has set about turning them into working chefs. There are now four Fifteen restaurants across the world (London, Cornwall, Amsterdam and Melbourne) with money raised being ploughed back into new Fifteen projects.
The idealist
Jeff Skoll
Founder, the Skoll Foundation
Fundamentals: He may have written Ebay's business plan as its first president, but Skoll had to endure a couple of failed ventures in his native Canada before striking gold with Pierre Omidyar's idealistic internet auction business. He was only there for two years, yet his name remains inextricably linked with Ebay's fortunes-the stock today is worth some $44bn. Skoll cashed out with a couple of billion and set up the Skoll Foundation, which invests in social enterprise.
Do no harm: Before his exit, helped set up the eBay Foundation with 107,250 shares of pre-IPO company stock. Current share price is around $32.63. You do the math.
Do good: The Skoll Foundation last year gave away $20bn in grants. He's also become a "filmanthropist", using his production business, Participant Productions, for socially-conscious flicks such as Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and Fast Food Nation.
Sandwich sages
Julian Metcalfe & Sinclair Beecham
Founders, Pret A Manger
Fundamentals: University friends Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham set up the first Pret in 1986; offering healthy lunches using natural, preservative-free ingredients. Their success is evident in the company's astonishing growth to 150 stores turning over £150m annually. Innovation is a theme, with an average of 20 new products launched a month. At the same time they take staff seriously, offering salaries and benefits above the market norm, resulting in loyal and informed employees.
Do no harm: Pret has played the green card from the start and innovations include the bio-box 100 per cent recyclable sandwich pack. But concerns remain over the 33 per cent minority stake owned by McDonald's.
Do good: Pret distributes leftover sandwiches to the homeless and the tradition has grown into the Pret Charity Run now organised by the Pret Foundation Trust, which distributes over 12,000 meals a week.
Accidental moguls
Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Founders, Google
Fundamentals: When developing what has become the definitive Web search engine, Page's starting point was "a healthy disregard for the impossible". Today the business has all the bases covered: phenomenal growth, tick; oversubscribed IPO, tick; easygoing culture, tick (Googleplex, the cool California HQ has an on-site masseuse, a piano and days off for your own projects); wealth creation, tick-employees number around 4,000 and some estimates suggest Google and Yahoo accounted for nearly half of the $4.2bn spent on Web advertising in the third quarter of 2006. The company, 10 years old in September 2008, turned a profit in 2001 and, upon flotation in 2004, had sales approaching $1bn.
Do no harm: The company mantra is "Don't be evil" and, for the most part, its premise and practice appear to uphold that aim. It lost some of the faithful when it allowed China to censor Web content.
Do good: Brin and Page founded Google.org, donating $1bn to "good causes"-including start-up funding and Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop per Child initiative. They have pledged a consistent one per cent of Google's equity value (now standing at $150bn) for future projects.
Buffett's banker
Bill Gates
Chairman, Microsoft Corporation
Fundamentals: The original technology geek. Thanks to his born-in-a-garage software business he's ludicrously rich-so rich that there are websites given over to estimating how many 777s he could buy (around 96) or the surface area his money would occupy. Thirty-year-old Microsoft remains sound and stable. In the 1990s a surge in equity value guaranteed that by the year 2000, an estimated 10,000 employees had become millionaires. Many of them went on to form charitable or social organisations and credit Microsoft's corporate culture as a driver.
Do no harm: Detractors claim Microsoft is too big and the Department of Justice and the EU agreed, ruling against the firm in separate antitrust cases. Under appeal in the US, the order to break Microsoft in two was waived.
Do good: With some $29bn in funds for education and healthcare, the Gates Foundation is what's famous, although the wealth creation of Microsoft is not to be underestimated. In July 2004, $75bn was returned to shareholders. The Foundation's inception in 2000 is usually attributed to Gates's wife, Melinda, whose holiday in Africa was more eye-opening than she expected. Priorities include medicine for AIDs, TB and malaria, and educational endowments. Since then, Gates has given magnanimously-his $3bn bonus in 2004, for example. But it was Warren Buffett's pledge of an annuity that will reach $37bn that made the real headlines.
The business of giving
Out of the people who made the top 10 of the giving index in the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List, nine are businessmen and the top two (by donation as a percentage of total wealth) were self-made. Donors gave away 36 per cent less than in 2005 and the top philanthropic donation was £43.7m from car importer Robert Edmiston. Sir Tom Hunter-with the help of Bill Clinton-was the second biggest giver. There were some unusual causes, such as London-based Swede Johan Eliasch. He bought a chunk of the Amazon rainforest-the "lungs of the world"-to protect it from loggers.
