“As a business we need to have capacity to
embrace change and spot, or be ahead of trends. We need our people to have the mindset where opportunity doesn’t make them anxious.” “In the same way my parents empowered me
to make decisions, I want our own people to feel empowered too. I’d rather people ask for forgiveness for when things go wrong than permission to do something in the first place. I don’t care about failure per se, I care about the cost of failure, but if someone fails quickly, through having tried something, at least the cost of failure will be low. I want to challenge people to take risks.” Ricard accepts he’s making these big cultural
changes, while still being the custodian of the family’s fortune—something which requires a steady hand. But it’s in these instances, he argues, where the Ricard name does actually help. “On the one hand, it grounds me, it ensures I
always take decisions that have a long-term view in mind,” he says. “But on the other, it gives investors the confidence
that decisions I take will have been carefully thought through.” Heritage plays a big part here. Ricard often talks
about the DNA of the business being about passion and excitement, and wanting to take advantage of new opportunities.
Learning curve Ricard literally is the DNA, but despite all he’s already done, he is still coy about taking personal credit, preferring to talk-up the culture-creating foundations set out by his grandfather. When pressed though, he does yield—a little. “Bearing the name brings responsibility. If I
didn’t feel capable I wouldn’t have taken it [the CEO job] on. “But does a man know everything? No, of course
not, I’m on a learning curve. But what gets me going is the people side of the business.” For the immediate future, taking advantage
of new growth areas is his main agenda and his outlook is in part eastward. It’s not hard to see why. Asia has quickly grown to comprise 40% of Pernod Ricard’s annual business, and it’s growing at 7% according to the company’s latest published figures, with India growing 9% and China 8%. “In India there are 17 to 20 million new
consumers entering into the market every year,” Ricard says. “We have a lot of clarity in the business about how we leverage these markets more.”
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES If it’s the people in the business that really excite
him, they’re definitely following his lead. Ricard’s latest employee engagement scores show satisfaction rates in the high 90th percentile. In fact, a small percentage of the business—2%—is actually employee owned. Then of course comes the inevitable question: What
of his own succession? Will the business continue to be a Ricard-run one? “I have people in mind,” he says. “But obviously, this is the extent of information I
can divulge to shareholders. It’s the essential role of a CEO to ensure their own succession is smooth, and for shareholders to know there is a plan in place.” Changing tactic then, will there be a change
in leadership anytime soon? Ricard is once more pleasantly non-committal, although this time more personal. “The moment I don’t enjoy my job, I’ll step down,”
he says. “Or, I’d step down if the board didn’t think I
was doing the right thing. Life’s too short not to have fun.” Pernod Ricard is an empire where family can mean
staff, but also lineage—and not just the Ricards. There are members of the Pernod family also in the business, as well as several generations of family members from brands it owns, like Jameson. It feels like shareholders wouldn’t mind either way which pool of people their next CEO comes from. In the meantime though—and aged just 46—you
sense there are plenty of years ahead for this superbly able third generation Ricard. As the man himself put it: “My grandfather once
told me the reason we are so successful is not just because we’ve got a great brand, but because we smile when we do business with people. That’s my mantra. As long as I’m smiling I’ll still be here.”
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