Notes from the CEO
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Sir Terry Leahy has been an outstanding leader of Tesco, and was voted by The Marketing Society our ‘Greatest Brand Builder’ of the past 50 years at our 50th Anniversary Awards last November.
It was typical of him that after receiving this accolade in front of an audience of 1500 senior marketers, and hearing an emotional tribute from Sir Frank Lowe, that he walked over to the Tesco table to say hello to his colleagues and his opening words were, “Sales weren’t very good yesterday”. Like all good retailers he is also obsessive.
He is a CEO that all marketers should be proud of. Having joined Tesco as a marketing assistant, he made a brilliant transition into general management, and has always kept his marketer’s understanding of customers and markets at the heart of all his decisions. He certainly adds weight to the theory that CEO’s from a marketing background add more shareholder value than those from any other discipline. Over 14 years he has achieved compound profit growth of 10% per annum – from £774m in 1997 to £3457m in 2010
I predict that Tesco will go from strength to strength after Sir Terry, which is perhaps the ultimate testament to him as a leader. The marketers I meet at Tesco are all intelligent, un-flash, hardworking and driven, just like Sir Terry. They don’t use a lot of marketing jargon. They just keep close to their customers.
Aside from their supermarkets, where Tesco use their Clubcard more effectively than any other retailer, Tesco also have a successful strategy in non-food, convenience stores, home delivery, international markets, online retailing, banking, and telecoms which leaves Asda and Sainsbury’s trailing in its wake. They don’t just talk about new ventures, they get on and do them. Anyone concerned with investing their pension fund at the moment (and for once I have taken my own advice) should back Tesco, because if any UK business survives and prospers in the next 50 years it will be them.
Posted: June 9th, 2010 | Author: hugh.burkitt | Filed under: Leadership Central, Notes from the CEO | Tags: 50 Anniversary Awards, Greatest Brand Builder, Sir Terry Leahy, tesco, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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