Morning:
8°c
Yes, Archie Norman watches X Factor. And football and films, all on ITV. When he gets the chance.
But his wife Vanessa is more of a viewer than he is. He's not at home much in the evenings, holding business meetings and away in Australia, where he's been helping to run Coles, the retail firm.
Now, though, with his appointment to chair ITV he will have to take a closer interest. He's relishing the challenge, telling friends he sees it as another step in a career which, to use one of his favourite words, has been about achieving "transformation".
Educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, he was at McKinsey, the management consultants, where he first learned the art of going into an organisation and exacting change. He left and did it with Woolworths (which became Kingfisher for a period), Asda, the Conservative Party (he was MP for Tunbridge Wells), Energis, Coles and now hopefully, ITV.
If past form is a guide, he will inspire confidence and loyalty. At the last count, a remarkable 23 business leaders had worked under and been mentored by Norman. They include Allan Leighton, Richard Baker, Andy Hornby, Tony DeNunzio, Paul Mason, Justin King, Ian Macleod, Andy Bond and John Pluthero.
In conversation, he's quick, sharp and has a very dry wit. He doesn't care for ceremony. The making of him was Asda in the early Nineties, and for seven successive years it out-performed the majority of its rivals.
When he arrived, Asda was in a mess and he swept aside all the old structures. Offices were made open plan, meetings were held standing up, staff were encouraged to have their say, surnames and titles were abolished. Bin-liners were handed out to get rid of unwanted waste paper and to inspire clear thought. Managers were given baseball caps to wear to denote they were thinking and not to be disturbed.
He was also tough - Norman cut 5,000 jobs, an experience he describes as "miserable", and sold stores to bring down the debts.
At the invitation of fellow McKinseyite William Hague, he entered politics in 1997. He didn't make the difference that others thought he was capable of, saying later: "I joined just as the Conservative Party was heading for eight years in the wilderness."
He did produce a new constitution for the Tories, create a more democratic structure and reform Central Office. But it wasn't enough. He quit at the last election.
ITV is a return to centre stage. The TV executives should brace themselves.
