WEBVTT - AlixPartners' Simon Freakley on Why Being a CEO Is Tougher Than Ever 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:02.320 I was walking down the street in the States a 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.080 couple of years and twenty years ago and my phone, 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.400 my mobile phone. I didn't recognize that. I picked it up, 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.559 and this guy said, hello, is that sign of Freeplus? 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:12.360 I said, I said, no, this is Richard Branson here, 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:14.280 because I'd never met him before in my life. So 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:16.720 I said, is that Richard Branson Richard Branson, who said yes, 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.680 I'm Richard Branson. Richard Branson. So he said, I have 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.880 a my friend has a problem, and I'm told that 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.840 you're the person that can solve it. And so I 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.000 laughed and said, You've no idea how many times people 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.479 say that to me, Richard, that my friend has a problem. 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.600 It turned out that George Michael had bought what he 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.560 thought was John Lennon's piano and paid a vast amount 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.640 of money for it, millions of pounds for it, to 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:40.839 only find that it was just any old piano and 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.280 it wasn't John Lennon's at all, And so he's trying 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.720 to get George Michael's five million pounds bag. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:46.720 Where did you buy it? 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:48.959 Like brought to an auction house? And did you get 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.440 it back? We did? Yeah? I did, No, No, we 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.840 did No, it was a complete fraud. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.720 But how did you so what you call the auction 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:58.240 house and say, well, we just. 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.360 Did the profdance on the piano and good that it 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:01.880 wasn't the right piano. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:02.920 What a story. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:04.559 It was a bizarre moment. 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:13.200 I must say, that was a story there from our 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.399 guests this week, Simon Freakley, who's the chief executive officer 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.000 of restructuring group. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.840 Alex Partners now Dave. To be fair, we caught the 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.000 anecdote just as he sat down in the podcast studio, 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.360 but frankly was too good nut to keep and he 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.759 kindly let us keep it in the podcast because it's 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:30.840 a story about problem solving. 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.720 That's right, you know, Elton John Pianos. I mean, we 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.960 always get the best stuff beginning right before we actually 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.039 start talking. But luckily he's happy for us to keep 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:39.640 it in. But you know, as you say, this is 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.640 a story about fixing problems. Chief executives across the globe 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.440 turned to Simon and Alex Partners for help when they 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.400 are facing some of the biggest hurdles that are happening 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:51.080 in the world right now. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.320 Yeah, it's not all about Pianos. I think maybe at 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.440 the moment. It's more about market volatility and inflation, how 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:57.920 you deal with all of that, but really how you 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.000 also communicate your vision more effectively. 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.560 I'm David Merritt and I'm Francine Laqua and this is 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.320 in the City, Bloombo's podcast, connecting you to the conversations 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:09.880 at the heart of the City of London. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.000 Now this week, Dave, what advice are city leaders seeking 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.400 from the boss of one of the biggest restructuring firms. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.600 That's right, we ask Simon Freakley, chief executive officer of 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.079 Alex Partners, an international business advisory firm known for its 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.240 work in corporate turnarounds. 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.959 And we've seen the name Alex Partners quite a lot 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.160 around the potential sale of the Telegraph newspapers and Spectator magazine. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.440 In our conversation we talk about how the challenges CEO's 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.000 face have changed over the last twenty years. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.680 We're joined by Simon Freakley, chief executive officer of Alex Partners. Simon, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.760 thank you so much for joining us. So when you 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.240 introduce yourself to someone new, what do you say. I'm 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.760 like the restructuring guy. I advise on all matters. There's 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:53.800 nothing I can't fix. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.440 I don't do anything as grand as that. I just 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.799 say I'm run a consulting firm that specialses in difficult problems, 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.120 often problems that need to be solved at speed, and 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:11.799 we're somewhat industry and geography agnostic. We just tackle difficult. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.960 Things, talk us through those difficult things on at the moment. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.240 How does how difficult is the economy at the moment, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.080 and the sort of problems that are crossing your desk. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:25.080 The UK, of course has had the triple calamity of Brexit, 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.919 then the pandemic, and now of course this awful human 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.200 tragedy which is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So I 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.720 think those three things have had individually a massive impact 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:42.320 on Europe generally and the UK specifically. And these disruptions 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.160 layer on top of each other. And of course it 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.680 isn't as if nothing else has been going on. You know, 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.160 we've come to the end of a thirty year supercycle, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.440 so everybody's been forecasting a recession. It looks like a 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.360 small R rather than a big R recession, and it's 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.800 yet to really bite. But here we are with double 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.400 digit core inflation. It's a very challenging time. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.240 Your industry has come under quite a lot of fire. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:06.960 Right there's this new book by Mariana Matsukada, how the 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.720 consulting industry weakens our businesses and fantalizes our governments and 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.760 warps our economies. Do you feel like you're included in that? 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:18.320 Have you had to justify consultancy firm fees and just 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:18.680 your work? 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.479 In general, everybody's entitled to a point of view, and 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.839 I think how you use consultants, of course is tailored 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.919 to the circumstances. But consultants who don't deliver value for 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.760 money are always wide open to those accusations. And of 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.920 course there are many stories of people talking about being 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.080 infested with consultants and ones then they can't get rid 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.920 of them. But I think ultimately the way in which 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.560 consultants make a difference is to make things happen with 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.640 clients that they can't get done on their own. And 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.120 ultimately we're only as good as our last job. 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.719 You mentioned the triple whammy that's hit Britain, the problems 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:56.839 harder to fix right now, And are you having the 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:01.280 success with these restructurings with the consulting that you're doing 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:01.839 with companies? 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.479 Well? Interesting David, Probably restructuring is only twenty percent of 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.680 what we do. Eighty percent of what we do is 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.880 helping healthy companies reposition themselves or grow faster. And we 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.760 talked about those three specific disruptions just now, but there 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:21.000 are profound shifts going on around technology, around environmental pressures, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.039 and it's the multiplicity of these pressures that are so 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.159 challenging for executive teams and chief executives because they layer 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.400 on top of each other. These disruptions are getting quicker 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.000 in terms of the cycles that companies need to go 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.560 through to respond to them. And so what we're finding 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.120 is that the companies that do best, the leaders that 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.680 do best, are ones that don't wait for perfection. They 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.480 do it nearly right, but do it now. They have 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.520 a preponderance to move to action because the markets are 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.479 changing so quickly. If they don't move to action quickly, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:52.840 they will simply be left behind. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.600 Do you think Simon that the consultancy industry is sometimes 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.400 used as scapegoat, so even if you add value, it's 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.880 easier for each executive rather than taking the hard decisions, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.560 say look, I'm going to have a third party tell 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.920 me this, and so it keeps me popular within my company. 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.919 The challenge Francine, I think with a description of the 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.160 consulting industry is a very very broad description of what 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.200 are really quite different offerings. So clearly there are the 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:22.320 strategy consultants, there are operational consultants, there are crisis consultants. 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:24.760 So I think, depending on the nature of the problem 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.280 to be solved, you know, some of these challenges are fair. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:33.240 But ultimately a consultant pointed at a problem where they 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.160 can really make a difference, will give speed to insight, 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.080 to understand what the choices are and therefore inform the 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.320 executive teams what their real choices are, and then, having 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.279 focused on their best choice, speed to execution. And it's 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.040 the speed to execution that really makes a difference, because 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.520 for whatever reason, it's very difficult to do surgery on yourself, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.800 and so companies do find it hard to pivot in 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.760 their operating models, or carve out non core activities, or 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.520 do difficult things, and often it is helpful to have 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.800 a catalyst to change agent to make that happen. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.000 So something this would be like what an Elon Musk 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.520 calling you and saying, I've lost half of my advertisers. 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.200 What do I do talking about self inflicted injuries. I mean, 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:19.160 I think that appointing an independent chief executive is probably 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.360 the most sensible thing that he's done in the last 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:23.480 few weeks. And of course, you know, bringing in an 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.080 expert who has seemingly made in a relatively short time 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.280 a difference. So I mean, obviously Elon Musk is an 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.560 exceptional person, an exceptional business leader, but he's not a 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.679 specialist in advertising, he's not a specialist in social media. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.080 So oftentimes the consultant's role is to work out what 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.560 the real choices are and then to support teams move 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.680 to action and make the critical things happen on a schedule. 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.320 What are the biggest challenges that you think CEOs have 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.400 at the moment or what's on their mind? Is it 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.400 how do we harness AI? 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:56.160 Is it? 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.400 How do we cope with rising interest rates? What are 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.320 the problems of twenty twenty three the most kind of 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:02.559 front at center of people's minds? 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.400 Well, David, it's all of the above. And this is 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.480 the big challenge for business leaders now because everything is 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.800 moving so quickly. We do this survey every year three 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.760 thousand executives around the world. We ask them what's top 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:15.880 of mind for them. One of the interesting stistics that 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.720 came out this time round from those interviews, at ninety 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.800 five percent of all three thousand respondents felt that they 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.520 had to fundamentally change their business model in the next 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.720 three years. Seventy five percent of them felt they weren't 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.320 making swift enough progress and doing it. So to give 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.800 you a sense of the velocity of change that's going on, 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.400 which is the compounding effect of all of these different 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.839 forces and pressures, it's overwhelming for CEOs. 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.319 And sorry, is that stat much higher than it was 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:42.000 a few years ago. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.600 Significantly higher than it was a few years ago. Another 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.400 stet which you'll be interested in. I think we also ask, 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.360 you know, CEOs, what's top of mind for them? What 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.640 are they anxious about? Well, seventy percent of them this 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.520 year were anxious about losing their jobs, up twenty points 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.360 from last year. So I rather joke that we should 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.640 call our disrupt index the anxiety Index, because that anxiety 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:04.400 is becoming real. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.040 I'm going to play Devil's advocate that if ninety five 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.360 percent are wondering about their business model and the fact 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.040 that they need to radically rechange, are these companies that 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:12.680 should even. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.719 Survive, well, some of them won't, but some of them 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.000 will thrive. What our work in this area is also 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.440 demonstrated is that there are winners and losers at times 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.800 of profound disruption, and the winners use those disruptions to 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.160 capitalize on the opportunities that those disruptions present. And so 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.439 we talk a lot about technological disruption. When you look 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.480 inside that and look at connectivity. For instance, the connectivity 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.000 that's facilitated by the three billion or so smartphones and 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.920 tablets around the world allow consumers to create their own 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:48.319 ecosystem of news of products by reference to values of organizations. 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.920 And so it's an example of how using new technologies 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.959 companies can pivot and actually thrive on the back of 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.559 these disruptions. But sure there'll be winners and they'll be losers. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.000 Disruption to be or can be a good word. Can't say, 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.280 you know it must probably cause himself a disruptor. But 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.360 then married with this anxiety that actually the disruption is 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.560 going to possibly see the end of their firm that fills. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.679 What's different at the moment are the levels of anxiety 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:17.200 higher in Britain than in the rest of your global clients. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.120 I don't think so, David, I mean, I think it's 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.280 a general it's a general condition for CEOs. I mean, 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.400 let's just sort of put a fine point in it. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:29.240 The job of CEO now is much more demanding that's 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.640 ever been. Why is that. Well, the corresponsibilities of revenue 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.320 growth and earnings growth dividends to shareholders remain, but there 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.839 are additional pressures that simply weren't there twenty years ago 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.280 or even ten years ago. The need, for instance, to 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.360 have a voice about the values of the organization, the 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:48.200 purpose of the organization, and to comment on important issues 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.120 of the day. You know, whether it's social justice issues, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.160 or whether it's Row versus Wade if you're in the US, 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.320 or whether it's voting changes. CEOs are expected to have 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.680 a voice on the things that are relevant not just 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.120 to their companies, but to their customers, to their employees, 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.640 to their other stakeholders. And so it's overwhelming for executives. 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:08.200 But at the same time, they have a lot more 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.480 data than the twenty years ago, so that presumably also 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:12.520 makes their job easier. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.040 Well, funnily enough, we found it makes it more difficult 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.800 because often people are data rich but insight pau So 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.280 back to David's question about you know, in the UK 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.760 and maybe more globally, is the pressure on chief executives 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.120 higher than it was? It absolutely is, and. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.400 This is not because the quality of leaders is inferior 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:30.280 to twenty years ago. 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.240 It's not because the quality of leaders is inferior. In fact, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.200 I think one could argue that it gets better all 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:35.600 the time. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.000 So do you help these anxious chief executives through this 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:42.120 process to advise on things like how to communicate a 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.120 political point of view? 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.160 That example, David, would not be something that we would 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.480 advise on. They're a specialists that do that and that's 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.160 not in our field of expertise. But we would absolutely 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.840 advise chief executives and executive teams about, you know, how 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.920 their market is moving, where the opportunities in that market 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.040 might be, how they capitalize on those opportunities, and how 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.719 they move quickly to action, how they do it nearly right, 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.600 but do it now. Because what are analysis and in 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.840 fact all of our stories from the front line of 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.840 working with our clients have demonstrated, is that the people 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.080 that have a preponderance for action, even if they change 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.360 their mind and pivot the strategies, on average, do much 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.920 better than those that actually are more careful and deliberate 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.360 and bake out strategies without moving to action quickly. 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.360 What's the biggest most common mistake that chief executives make. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.240 There are a number of things one could point to. 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:38.079 I mean, the days of the hero CEO are over. 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.920 You know, it takes a team. You know, group heroics 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.840 will always always try and triumph over individual heroics. So 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.160 clearly it's important to have a team. It's important to 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.480 have a diverse team for diverse perspectives. And that isn't 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:54.320 just gender and ethnicity, it's also in terms of age group, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.440 having an environment, a culture in which challenge is encouraged 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.960 so that there isn't group think, ensuring that people do 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.520 have not just the data, but the insights, which of 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.480 course requires digital tools to be able to read where 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.720 their customers are going, read what their employees want in 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.720 terms of quality of work experience. That helps them then 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:15.640 inch ahead of their competition. 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.559 So the hero CEO is a thing of the past. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:20.599 So which is the other most important role? Is the 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.120 chief financial officer more important these days than they were 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:24.640 in the past. 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:26.600 I mean it's difficult to rank people, you know, whether 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.400 it's this CFO chief financial officer, whether it's a general 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:34.040 counsel or there are different roles of course in different businesses. 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.480 It takes a team. The CFO of course is very 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.319 important in public markets, you know as a public company 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.880 or has public debt. But the team composition, I think 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.400 is the most important thing rather than just the individual position. 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.880 So how does it work concretely? So I'm a CEO, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.920 I have, you know, a disaster on my hands. I 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.720 have to respond to the price, I have to fix something. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.200 Do I call you and then you build a team 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.400 for me? Do you have like lead partners in industries? 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.720 And actually what kind of servers do I get? 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.040 What we aspire to be is on people's speed doal 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.320 So when people have a problem, we may not know 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.880 exactly what they should do in that given moment, will 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.040 have a good set, good idea as to what they 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.520 should do to assemble a point of view. And of 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.320 course we all have these speed down numbers we reach 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.560 out to for different types of problems. Some problems, of course, 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.160 don't elegantly fit into something one should phone a lawyer about, 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.280 or someone something one should phone a consultant about. But 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.280 I think that a trusted business advisor is critical in 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.720 those moments, and we aspire to be that for our clients. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:36.160 Can you give us an example. 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.360 The pandemic, of course gave us some very real challenges 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:46.080 and urgent challenges. So the pandemic profoundly disrupted supply chains, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.280 and so when people find that these wonderful just in 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.680 time supply chains of course no longer worked. It then 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.520 became a matter of how do we have a strategy 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.080 that's just in case, not just in time, and so 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:02.040 how to very quickly second source materials critical for a 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.600 production facility to continue. So an example would be an 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.360 automotive client of ours found, as with so many people 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.440 in the automotive sector and others, that they couldn't source 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.600 enough of the right silicon chips for their production process, 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.000 and so asked us to help with what became a 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.720 very urgent and important matter because they were literally going 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.120 to end up with stall production. And so we ended 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.680 up using generative artificial intelligence to analyze all of the 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.240 import data into the US to identify not just where 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.760 the which the countries were to produce the necessary chips, 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.840 but narrowed it down to the factories we're able to 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.240 model by triangulating different public source information what we thought 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.160 their surplus capacity might be, and then in a matter 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.360 of days managed to book that surplus capacity and those 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.040 factories in multiple countries to be able to second source 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.360 for the automotive manufacturer, and indeed they didn't have a 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.640 delay or an interruption to their production facility. 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.640 How do you think Britain's doing in the to kind 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.880 of assimilate AI into corporate life, do you know? 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.120 I don't think there are any further ahead than anybody else. 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:10.200 I mean, tragically, I think that the UK hasn't been 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.000 relevant in the technology race. If you look at UK 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.520 public companies compared, for instance, to US public companies, we're 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.960 sort of nowhere in technology. We missed that boat. Now. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:23.880 I think there's all sorts of reasons for that. I 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.320 think that there's been a better availability of venture capital 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.800 in the US, particularly on the West Coast, to sort 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.000 of seed so many of these enterprises that have now 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:36.640 become unicorns. Whether that mistake will be repeated with AI, 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.160 I don't know the fact that Rishisuna went on to 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.240 the front for to talk about regulation. I think it's 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.680 a good thing, but I think it's very difficult to 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.120 know how to regulate AI. I don't think people have 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.880 a clue at the moment, and I'm always very suspicious 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.160 when the industry itself starts to tell governments that they 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:53.680 should take the lead on regulation. 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.760 Samon, if you think we've missed the boat on technology 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.320 in the UK, I mean a's UKPLC cooked. I mean 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.440 all of our economies is based on technology and how 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:02.920 we use it. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.600 Well, it's so interesting when when looks at UK public 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.479 companies as a certainly in the major exchanges, we are 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:15.200 overweight in things like mining, we're overweight in energy, We're 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.760 really nowhere in technology. Now why is that? Well? I 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.520 think that the UK markets, UK investors have largely prized 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:27.320 dividends rather than growth. The US exchanges of prioritized growth. 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.040 The US has a much much larger pool of liquidity. 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.239 Valuations tend to be a little higher over there, so 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.160 it's been an inevitable pool of companies from the UK 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.960 to the US exchanges. Now is that reversible? Probably not. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.840 I don't think that UKPLC is dead, but I do 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.240 think that, you know, Brexit hasn't helped us. I think 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.199 that you know, we have lost significance in terms of 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.280 being a world financial center. Notwithstanding, by the way that 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.320 you know, financial and professional services set generated sixty four 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:05.240 billion pounds worth of surplus last year, larger than any 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.600 of the other developed Western nations. But notwithstanding that, I 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.200 think that we have lost our footing. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.639 And you divide your time between New York and London, 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.719 simon looking forward a few years, do you see London 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:22.119 continuing decline in relative importance versus New York as a 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:22.840 financial center? 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.000 I think so. Unfortunately. I think that my own view 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.919 is that Brexit was disastrous. I think that we lost 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.879 some significance in the eyes of the US as it 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.240 related to our position in Europe. Is no mistake. I 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.399 think that President Biden's first international visit after he was 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.919 elected president was to France, not to the UK. I 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:46.880 think that we talk a lot in the UK about 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.480 the special relationship with the US. Boris Johnson always used 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.080 to say that that sounded rather needy, and I think 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.160 he was right. We are in the Five Eyes from 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.399 an intelligence and security point of view, along with Canada, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.040 Australia and New Zealand. But I think when you look 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.480 at the flow of commerce and the significance of London's 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.480 financial center, I think we have lost our footing and 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:08.800 I don't think that's reversible. 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.440 So what happens next? As a consultant, like, what would 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.600 you advise UKPLC to do well? 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.600 I think UKPLC has got to make sure that its 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:22.920 regulatory environment is attractive for business. Obviously, a robust regulatory environment, 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.800 a regulatary environment that encourages business to keep on building 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.679 their foundations here. I think that there have to be 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.480 tax strategies that make that attractive for people. I think 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.520 that we have to make sure that our talent is 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.080 fit for purpose. We know we talk a lot about 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.080 the being the shrinkage of talent, but the talent war 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.359 is actually not nearly as significant as the skills or 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.520 the skills that people need. Particularly in a digital environment 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.880 that's accelerating fast. The skills war is critical. So how 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.440 do we make sure we have enough people of the 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.760 right skills to be able to keep the business in 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:00.160 the U. 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.760 Are there any particular sectors that you've got your eye 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.040 on in terms of stress where you feel like there 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.960