director profile
Since his appointment as CEO of Bord naMóna in 2008, Gabriel D’Arcy has been driving the semi-state’s agenda toward diversification and sustainability. He has a strong vision for the future of his organisation and for Ireland
A CONTRACT WITH
Shortly after his appointment as CEO of Bord na Móna in 2008, Gabriel D’Arcy announced a distinct business direction for the semi-state organisation, which would see it invest up to €1.4bn, diversifying and growing over the following five years. It was all part of a new vision for the business that it would “work in harmony with, and minimise the impact on, the environment”. It was named “A New Contract with Nature”. When we meet at the margins of the Chartered
Accountants’ Leinster Society luncheon in February, it’s easy to see how the sustainability agenda fits into his leadership philosophy. An alumnus of the Enterprise Ireland Leadership 4
Growth Programme, which included a stint at Stanford, leadership is a pet subject of D’Arcy’s, and something he says he learnt much about in his army career, when as a young officer he did two tours in Lebanon.When we dis- cuss leadership. he is quick to cite Peter Drucker’s famous quote: “Management is doing things right … leadership is doing the right thing.” “Itmight seemglib, but it describes perfectly what lead-
ership is,” says D’Arcy. “Doing the right thing is not about getting the expert report and implementing it. It’s about getting the expert report, considering it yes, but as a leader you have a responsibility in a commercial organi- sation to be speaking to your customers, looking at your key stakeholders, looking at the environment, at what’s coming ahead, not today and tomorrow but next year, and in five years’ time. Then you can look at the expert reports in context. “That’s my definition of leadership, but it is also about
physical energy and leading from the front. That’s what I’mtrying to create within Bord naMóna, an organisation
NATURE
of leaders, of peoplewho are enabled tomake decisions and know how they go about it. Once they can do that, my job is to back them 100pc, to coach them, to bring them on. “Not all decisions will turn out to be correct, absolutely
not,” he continues.” But you know what? If you can learn from those that aren’t and then move on, then you’re building the leadership capability. That’s what was done for me in Lebanon, and later on when I joined Kerry Group and found myself in the tailwind of Denis Brosnan. That was an organisation of great leaders.” D’Arcy is referring to the 19 years he spent with Kerry
Group after leaving the Irish Army back in 1988, when the food group was led by the iconic Brosnan. Having honed his leadership skills in the military arena, D’Arcy says he was lucky to find himself with such a role model in the commercial world. Most of these 19 years were spent abroad, largely in Europe, but the experience gave him “powerful exposure to leadership,” he says. “There are so many aspects to leadership – there’s a bit
of bravery, there’s adventure and, of course, there’s inno- vation and change,” says D’Arcy. “Change and innovation I use interchangeably, because there’s no difference. People talk about innovation as if it was some new prod- uct development. It’s not. Innovation is about change.”
Sustainable future D’Arcy points to the many changes and iterations Bord na Móna has seen since it was set up in the Thirties as the Turf Development Board. “The original remit was to supply peat and extract it
from the Bog of Allen, and supply it in as a source of energy for the production of electricity. The first move away from the original remit took place back in the
26 Irish Director Spring 2011
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