Page 195 - James Caan - The Real Deal

18 · Fightback

Jonathan Wright came in to advise me on the best way to proceed.
As Jonathan talked, I realised that I had found my general manager
– he had previously worked in recruitment and he was now in
private finance – and all I had to do was convince him he was the
right man for the job.
I painted a bit of blue sky and told him my vision for the
company and that I thought there was a real opportunity to make
Alexander Mann one of the big names in recruitment. ‘Our
turnover was over a million before the recession; Michael Page
used to make £100 million and I think that’s the level we should
be at.’ However, Jonathan said he really didn’t want to go back
into recruitment.
‘Really, why is that?’
I kept questioning him until I had got to the bottom of his
reservations, and, needless to say, five hours and a parking ticket
later Jonathan had got himself a new job and he started a few
weeks later. I realised Jonathan could do such a good job that I
would soon be able to step back. However, I wasn’t going to make
the same mistake I had made before: this was going to be a gradual
handover, and only he and I knew that the ultimate plan was for
him to become the chief executive. The staff had reacted badly to
Peter, and I thought it was important that Jonathan be given a
chance to get to know the business, and for the staff to trust him,
before he took the senior role.
After his first week, we had a chat about his initial observations,
and one of the things he told me was that he thought one
particular staff member wasn’t pulling her weight. More than that,
he said, she was disruptive and demoralising.
‘What do you think we should do?’
‘To be honest, James, I think there’s only one option. We should
let her go.’
I wasn’t sure if he was right, but he probably was, and it was
important he knew that I trusted his judgement.

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