Glasgow Business . 21
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
Glasgow Talks… with Chris Weston, CEO, Aggreko
Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; Chris Weston, CEO, Aggreko; and Jim McHarg, Deputy President, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
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SUCCESSFUL LEADERS SUPPORT AND REWARD THEIR TEAMS
hris Weston, the Chief Executive Officer of Aggreko, one of Scotland’s most successful companies, captivated a recent
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Glasgow Talks audience with his insights into successful leadership. Speaking at the Blythswood Hotel in
Glasgow, he set out the direct challenges faced by Aggreko in remaining a world-leading, energy and technology firm with 6,300 employees operating in more than 100 countries. He believes that leadership is oſten
under-valued and intellect overvalued in businesses. His early leadership thinking was forged as a 19-year-old Royal Artillery officer, fresh out of Sandhurst military college. He spoke about the heavy responsibility of giving soldiers orders that could potentially lead to their deaths, and the importance of instilling belief in people to undertake the tasks in hand. “How that soldier has a belief in themselves,
and you as a leader, is critical… Tere is a big difference between a soldier who is told to do something and someone who believes in what they are doing. I think this is at the heart of leadership wherever you go.” Mr Weston’s leadership lessons have
been refined as he took on major positions with
One.Tel, Cable & Wireless, then Centrica, before taking over from Rupert Soames as Aggreko’s CEO in January 2015. Since joining Aggreko 18 months ago, he
has travelled to more than 30 countries. It has been a baptism of fire working in
a global ‘modular mobile power’ company, re-sharpening the focus of the £1.57bn turnover business in utilities, oil and gas, petro-chemical and refining, and events, and creating specialist applications for these sectors that can be applied elsewhere around the world. “We operate in some prety interesting
countries, including Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Russia and Venezuela. It is definitely a riskier world now than it was five or six years ago. We do think an awful lot about risk: risk to our people, risk to our equipment and risk around payment. We have to manage all of those.” Aggreko has been re-organised, creating
two divisions: Rental Solutions and Power Solutions, which is further divided into two focus areas: Power Solutions Utility and Power Solutions Industrial. “We used to roll out exactly the same depot with the same infrastructure everywhere in the world. Tere were about 80 depots across Power Solutions. We are looking at the asset base, assessing the amount of capital and fleet we require, and how we can centralise and reduce the capital and the cost base.” Referring to Rental Solutions, he said
it had struggled because of a slump in oil and gas prices but he describes it as a ‘hidden gem’: “It is much more transactional. If we can get this one right then I think
we will have some surprising returns.” He talked about the imperative to automate
manual processes, boiling his strategy down to customer, technology and efficiency. He explained his key role was to select the right people to create a high-performing team. “Tis is something I think about an awful lot. Sometimes I get it right – and sometimes I get it wrong. It is so rewarding when you get it right. You have to be wary of people who are selfish and overly ambitious. “Te hardest thing to do is to make people
believe in themselves, to give them confidence that they can achieve more than they ever thought. He said leaders have to be listening, seeking opinion and geting the people they lead making the decisions.” Chris Weston quoted the Chinese
philosopher and writer Lao-Tzu, founder of Taoism, who said: “As for the best leader, the people barely notice their existence: Te next best people honour and praise, the next the people fear. But when a best leader’s work is done, the people say: ‘We did it ourselves’.”
In the printed version of Glasgow Business (October 2016) we incorrectly printed the wrong headline under the Glasgow Talks... with Chris Weston, CEO, Aggreko. We apologise for this and any confusion it
may have caused.
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