Captains Of Industry Survey

Once again, for sixth time, John Browne, Lord Browne of Madingley, has been voted by his corporate peers as the most impressive business person in Britain. This puts John Browne back in pole position, after last year losing out to Tesco's Chairman Sir Terry Leahy.

These are the results from the Ipsos Captains of Industry survey. Of the 132 executives interviewed face to face in their offices by MORI executive interviewers, 102 hold the title of Chairman, CEO and/or MD, and another dozen are the CFOs of their FTSE 500 firms top industrial firms by turnover and top 100 financial companies by capital employed. This year's survey was carried out between 5 September and 28 November 2005.

With just under a quarter of the vote, 24 per cent, Lord Browne was well ahead of Sir Terry, who this year polled 16 per cent, well down from the nearly 40 percent who voted for him a year ago. Philip Green from BhS & Arcadia and Fred Goodwin of the Royal Bank of Scotland tied for third place with 9 per cent each.

Browne scored best among top bosses in manufacturing and mining/natural resources, while Tesco's Leahy did well in the retailing sector. Among the bankers and other top executives in financial services, the two were level pegging, at 17 per cent each. It was really the multinationals who put Lord Browne in a commanding lead, as four in ten of them chose him, compared with one in ten who voted for Leahy. The reverse was the case among domestic companies, twice as many of them choosing Sir Terry as John Browne, 21 per cent to 10 per cent.

The MORI measure of the esteem with which top business people in Britain are regarded by their fellow executives has been conducted annually since 1981. Then the late Lord Weinstock, chief executive of GEC, won the prize, as he did twice more, in 1983 and again in 1993. He was followed by Sir John Harvey-Jones, then chairman of ICI, who later became somewhat of a television star, featuring as a company doctor, advising companies in trouble what they should be doing differently.

Harvey-Jones was followed by a five year run by Lord Hanson, 1988-1992, and then again in 1994. Sir David Simon, one of Lord Browne's predecessors at BP, won twice, sharing the honours in 1996 when he tied with Colin Marshall, now Lord Marshall, who for some years chaired British Airways. Then came Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, and Sir Richard Sykes, then chairman of Glaxo.

The nation's most senior corporate executives believe Britain is in for a worsening economy this coming year. When asked "Do you think that the general economic condition of the country will improve, stay the same or get worse over the next 12 months?", 66 per cent of the 132 top business executives said 'get worse', and only five people, 4 per cent, said they expected the economy to improve.

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