Justin Keatinge’s post last Monday Career Change for CEO on his move to the Board and my promotion to CEO prompted some to wonder if this might be another case of PWC opening the wrong envelope. Perhaps he meant to say Emma Stone was the new CEO? (Not that I\u2019d object to that outcome personally).<\/p>\n
On a more serious note, my discussions with Justin over the last few months has really made me pause for thought and consider my own comfort zone and capabilities. Progressing to become CEO of Version 1 was not something that I expected nor anticipated. That\u2019s not down to any lack of ambition \u2013 more that we\u2019ve created a culture within Version 1 of delegation and autonomy, where people (such as me) are given the authority and responsibility of running individual lines of business. I\u2019ve always felt we\u2019ve had loads of CEOs in the business \u2013 and that\u2019s been key to our growth.<\/p>\n
Officially though, there\u2019s only one CEO and the question then became did I want it? If anyone had asked me 12 months ago, the answer would have been an excited \u2018when can I start?\u2019 but when an opportunity is re-categorised from hypothetical to immediate, it makes you look at things in a completely new light.<\/p>\n
When you start to think about the responsibility of taking on a rapidly growing company, that has established itself as a Great Place to Work with over 900 people and a Customer Satisfaction rating that sets us apart with over \u20ac100m in revenues \u2013 it starts to appear a pretty daunting proposition.<\/p>\n
So I did have to think seriously about it. But when I did think about it, I came back to those core values that underpin everything we do in Version 1. \u2018Drive & Personal Commitment\u2019 are two of our 6 core values, and in the end I felt I wouldn\u2019t be living (and certainly not inspiring) our values were I to pass up this opportunity.<\/p>\n
Since the news became public lots of people have asked me how I felt about it. My answer has generally included the term \u2018bricking it\u2019! However, the rational side of my brain kicks in at that point and asks me what\u2019s to worry about?<\/p>\n
Most times when a CEO hands over the reins, there\u2019s a negative reason \u2013 something isn\u2019t working, plans aren\u2019t being delivered on. That\u2019s transparently not the case here and that\u2019s what\u2019s really unusual about the situation I find myself in; I don\u2019t have to come in with an agenda of \u2018making Version 1 great again\u2019, or a huge transformation programme to restore us to health.<\/p>\n
For me it\u2019s more a case of \u2018Preserve the Core, and Stimulate Progress\u2019.<\/p>\n
Preserving the Core means that lots of things won\u2019t change \u2013 our core values, our mission, our relentless focus on customer satisfaction and staff engagement (resulting in our 6th successive top 10 finish in the Great Place to Work awards recently). These are constants which I will be relentless in preserving and they will be here long after I\u2019ve passed on the reins to my successor.<\/p>\n
But no CEO can sit back and rely on what has brought you success in the past to do the same in the future, past performance being no guarantee\u2026 and all that. So inevitably there will be some change, but only change that will Stimulate Progress (and if there is anyone reading this who believes they can help stimulate progress please contact me).<\/p>\n
I firmly believe we\u2019ve built something special in Version 1, a uniqueness based on a Version 1 way of doing things that helps differentiate us. Most services companies struggle to answer the question \u2018what\u2019s unique about you\u2019, we don\u2019t and I believe we have truly created something special, a Version 1 way that covers staff, customers and financial performance. My job is to continue to build and strengthen that brand and, as a customer focussed CEO, to lead the next phase of our growth, not just in the UK and Ireland, but eventually across Europe, while ensuring that we never lose sight of our Mission \u2013 to make a real difference to our customers\u2019 businesses.<\/p>\n
So as the carefully selected transition date of 1st April approaches for #Jexit, I\u2019m confident but nervous, excited but a teeny bit scared, ambitious yet cautious but above all else honoured and privileged to be taking on the reins of this great company that will forever be imprinted with the brilliance, genius and vision of its co-founder Justin Keatinge.<\/p>\n
I used to joke with Justin that the CEO position in Version 1 was the easiest job in the company \u2013 I\u2019ll soon find out, and I\u2019ll try to let you know how I get on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justin Keatinge’s post last Monday Career Change for CEO on his move to the Board and my promotion to CEO prompted some to wonder if this might be another case of PWC opening the wrong envelope. Perhaps he meant to say Emma Stone was the new CEO? (Not that I\u2019d object to that outcome personally). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[104],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-7677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-corporate-updates"],"acf":[],"translations":[{"blog_id":1,"post_id":7677,"name":"Europe","code":"EN-GB","hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.version1.com\/blog\/role-change-to-ceo\/","is_current":false},{"blog_id":13,"post_id":7677,"name":"Americas","code":"EN-US","hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/www.version1.com\/en-us\/role-change-to-ceo\/","is_current":true}],"yoast_head":"\n