Making mistakes but still
getting there….
“It is often said that if you want to
succeed in this world you need to
go to the right schools, go to the
right university and know the right
people. Well, if you consider that
being the Chief Executive of the
British Bankers’ Association and
then the Chief Executive of Energy
UK is a success – and I think that
that is a bit debatable – then I went
to the wrong schools, all 7 of them,
I went to the right-ish university in
Bristol but did a degree in
chemistry which is a wrong-ish sort
of degree and as a Sheffield lass,
did not know the right people in
the meaning of that term.” So said
Angela Knight CBE, Chief Executive
of Energy UK.
We had the pleasure to hear the
views of Angela on her career and
challenges across the wide ranging
domains of politics, banking and
energy at the most recent Hoggett
Bowers HR Directors’ dinner at
Lincoln’s Inn. These very different
high profile arenas are generally
bonded by the common themes of
bad press, poor communication and
sometimes just being plainly
misunderstood. Representing them
in times of crisis is not for the faint
hearted!
“In hindsight, the banking
industry made big mistakes, for
which it has and must continue to
apologise. Central banks,
regulators and Governments
made mistakes too.”
Angela’s career to-date has been
high profile; before joining Energy
UK, in 2012, she was Chief Executive
at the British Bankers’ Association
(BBA) for 5 years (throughout the
financial crisis) and before that she
was Chief Executive of the
Association of Private Client
Investment Managers and
Stockbrokers for 9 years. This was
preceded by her political career
where she was MP for Erewash from
1992-1997 and included being
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
from 1995-1997, after being
Parliamentary Private Secretary to
the Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke MP,
Chancellor of the Exchequer. She
was honoured with a CBE for
services to the financial services
industry in 2007.
“Go for it. Take a chance.
Don’t wait. Get in early. Just
give it a try.”
Most telling were her perspectives
on the banking and energy sectors
through times of considerable
turmoil:
“I was offered the Chief Executive
role at the BBA, and I said ‘yes’. Sir
Peter Middleton was then the
Chairman of the BBA and the
Chairman of Barclays Bank and
when he appointed me in early
2007 he said “Angela, what I want
you to do is take banking off the
back pages of the newspapers and
put it on the front”. I think I met
my KPIs!”
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
Page 1 of 4
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400
In her five years with the BBA she
had to navigate crises, problems,
changes and difficulties all the way.
‘Banker bashing’ became a common
sport. She saw her role as
attempting to bring a more
balanced view to the issues being
faced by the sector, and,
importantly, to what needed to be
done. It was clear then that across
the Eurozone many governments
“had borrowed too much, spent too
much and were not taking the steps
that the UK took back in 2008 and
instead were postponing necessary
action”. In the end, some of those
European countries had to take
losses in their financial systems,
recapitalise and reduce public
spending. Still today, at the end of
2014, some countries have failed to
resolve their financial issues and the
Eurozone is again facing both
recession and deflation.
In hindsight, the banking industry
made big mistakes, for which it has
and must continue to apologise.
Central banks, regulators and
Governments made mistakes too.
“Do your homework. Read the
notes and the papers. If you do
there’ll be a 70:30 chance you’ll
be better prepared than the
blokes.”
After 5 years at the BBA (which were
some of the toughest years in
banking over the last century),
during which time she appeared
before the Treasury Select
Committee more than all her
predecessors added together,
Angela decided to move on. This
time, though, she thought she
would go somewhere quiet, lowprofile, stable and loved by all. So, in
2012, Angela decided to go into the
energy industry – just before it
started to be vilified by the press,
politicians and public alike!
The UK energy industry has some
“Whilst everyone likes the green
agenda, nobody wants to pay for
it”
enduring problems; as Angela says,
“whilst everyone likes the green
agenda, nobody wants to pay for it”.
The lack of a consistent national
energy policy and the resulting high
cost of energy, has provoked the
consumer and made energy “a
political football”. The net result, for
an industry that was never popular
in the first place (because it didn’t
do its customer service very well),
was that it became caught “between
the ‘rock of decarbonising’ and the
‘hard place’ of the customer bill”.
However, since 2012 the whole
industry has made some really
positive strides and the key players
are now in a better position to deal
with the major issues. They
recognise that there is a societal
expectation, so they need to be
more upfront with policymakers
about what can and needs to be
done and, when they get it wrong,
to apologise.
Angela feels she has achieved her
objectives at Energy UK and she is
now seeking a new opportunity. She
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
Page 2 of 4
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400
has a robust, positive perspective on
life which is evident in her career
and outlook and she offers the
following advice to women settingout in their careers today:
Lesson 1: “Go for it. Take a chance.
Don’t wait. Get in early. Just give it
a try.” When it comes to the glass
ceiling for women, she told us
“Sometimes you have to pick up
your heel and smash it”.
Lesson 2: “Dress for the fray. Why
wear black and grey when red and
green will do nicely? Put on your
colourful clothes and your high
heels. Be noticed, be there.”
Lesson 3: Preparation, she told us,
was often the key. “Do your
homework; read the notes and the
papers. If you do there’ll be a 70:30
chance you’ll be better prepared
than the blokes. We love them
dearly but they’re as bad at doing
their homework in adult life as they
were when they were ten!”
Lesson 4: “There is much that will
always be fundamentally irritating,
frustrating, impossible and
upsetting. There will be times when
you will feel ignored and have been
put to one side. But I have the best
cure for when this happens: go
home, have two glasses of red wine,
walk out into the garden and shout
“Bugger the lot of them”, then have
a good sleep and start again
tomorrow.”
Angela’s first and fourth lessons, it
could be argued, are sound advice for
any executive in any high-pressure,
high-visibility role.
Angela’s speech was followed by a
question-and-answer session, a
selection of which follows below.
Q: How easy was it to defend the
banks during the banking crisis?
A: It is obvious why the trust in the
banking sector was lost. In order to
move forward, you have to do
several things - it’s about bringing
balance to discussions and changing
the environment, not defending
things that are indefensible. Trust is
easy to lose but hard to get back.
The banking industry has taught
many other industries how not to
behave. You must be closer to the
customer, say sorry when you are
wrong and do the basics well.
Q: With the instability surrounding
Russia, should we be worried from
an energy perspective?
A: We should be more worried than
we are; it’s not just Russia, it’s the
Middle East too, and most of
Europe’s oil & gas comes from these
two areas. We are one of the six EU
countries that do not reply at all on
Russia for gas – there are six EU
countries who are entirely reliant on
Russia. Security-of-energy-supply
should be much higher up the
political agenda and not just used
for political rhetoric. Also, the
European timetable on
decarbonisation is too political, too
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
Page 3 of 4
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400
emotive, and, ultimately
unachievable. In summary, yes, we
should worry about Russia.
Q: Do you think your career advice
is still valid for the female
population graduating in 2015 or
has the world moved on?
A: In terms of female opportunities I
believe we’re light years better-off
than when I first started out. I
accept things can be upsetting but
my advice is generally the same:
‘just go for it’. Ignore the peripheral
noise and just get on with it. Do a
degree that’s got a point and
purpose to it, which means it has a
job at the end of it.
Q: Who is the person or people
that have most inspired you?
A: There are three people. My
grandmother is definitely one; Ken
Clarke whom I worked with for four
years is another, and the third
person would be Stephen Green,
former CEO of HSBC.
Q: It is said that successful people
have both male and female
characteristics. What male
characteristics do you have?
A: Well my father and brother only
allowed me to drive the car
provided I did not move the seat. So
I still drive cars with the seat in the
position of a 6ft male.
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
Page 4 of 4
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400