Til treat this business like
someone near and dear to
talking heads
Bill Cuthbert, who took over global financial markets in January, is well known
for his comments on shareholder value, especially the one about his major
shareholder, Mrs. Cuthbert. He is a vociferous exponent of the take-home pay
incentive, but argues with equal ferocity for commensurate accountability. As
this month's Talking Head, he explains how he sees the business and his role at
Rl: 'This is not just a job,' he says, 'l'm not just visiting Rabobank for the
duration. l'm living it, sleeping it, eating and breathing it.'
i 6 What'sNewS
Issue 5* May 1999
Bill Cuthbert, who prefers the
professional soubriquet of.'banker'
without the 'investment' qualification,
spends a lot of time on the phone. 'It's a
habit in this business,' he reckons. 'You'11
hnd a lot of bankers do the same,
making sure with a final phone call that
everything is okay. It gets to be a way of
life. Most people would never leave
something they could finish today until
tomorrow. Okay, some people overdo it,
but it's just how the industry works. We
have heavy incentives, but are a little
vulnerable as well. It's rather like
walking along a motorway with a three-
year-old child. You'd never turn your
back on it, never take your eyes off it.
It's the same with this business. With a
similar sense of anxiety, you always
make that final check.'
Talking to Dr. Bill, which is the usual
nickname for the Oxbridge-chemist-
turned-banker within the organization,
can quickly turn into an exposition on
accountability. It is one of a trinity of
'things he most believes in'. The others
are leadership and transparency. 'I think
people will probably grow tired of me
because l'm always asking that one extra
question,' he says with the bluntness that
is something of a personal trademark. 'I
ask questions like: what role does that
person perform? How can we measure
performance? That kind of thing.'
He says (with what feels like a hint of
bravado) that he is clearly one of the
most right-wing people in the
organization - at a recent Group synergy
building session in Lausanne, that
became particularly obvious, he believes.
'This industry is now a portfolio career
industry. It's not a job for life, there are
Cuthbert on maximizing the human element
no jobs for life any more.' Given that
reality, he reckons, you have to act
accordingly. 'In this industry, people are
the capital goods.
This is not as clinical as it sounds,
however. He immediately adds that his
view 'is that you have to somehow mix
qualities of openness, fairness and issues
like social values with the challenge of
maximizing returns. In an industry where
rewards to the individual can potentially
be quite high, you can expect people to
be efficiënt. I think my style is to make
sure they can be efficiënt, that they are
rewarded commensurate with their
performance, either way.' Shareholder
value is another of Bill Cuthbert's
recurring themes. Looking back on close
to 15 years in banking (he had what he
describes as a brilliant time for eight
years at Oxford University, first reading
chemistry, then doing a doctorate and
research), he thinks he performs best in
organizations where the pressure to
create shareholder value is the norm, be
it external or in the case of Rabobank,
internal shareholders. 'And l'm not very
good at managing people in a direction
which appears counter to the interest of
the bank.' This is where his right-wing
reputation comes from it seems, this
apparent inability to accept a lack of
accountability in others.
Cuthbert talks easily about how he sees
the industry and is frank about where he
sees his own future - 'I believe you have
to shuflle people around in the bank, that
includes me'. Surprised at being asked to
speak about more philosophical issues,
although he seriously considered reading
Greek at university because he was
fascinated by the mythology and
philosophical side, 'Gosh,' he says, 'can
we stray into that?' He seems slightly
taken aback, though not unwilling to
answer questions on his family - the
major shareholders are his wife Alison,
and two girls, Poppy, 9 and Harriet, 7 and
a boy, Henry, of 3. He admits to having
'quite strong beliefs'. But adds immedia
tely that one of 'the best ways to be good
to your fellow man is to do what you do
best, do it well and pay your taxes'.
Asked about what he sees as the longer
term challenges, he's clearly back on
firmer ground and explains his take on
people management, without any
reference whatsoever to capital goods.
'This is not a static environment, and I
believe people like change. I often say to
the people who work for me: "Look at
your people, think about where they are
going to be in, say, 18 months time.
Think how best to help them develop
their potential".' This is just as much
part of the shareholder value he is
constantly seeking as the continued
vigour of the P/L. A man whose meta-
phors for this business include comparin
it to a small child on the side of a
motorway, and as something very near
and dear to him, may be right-wing, but
he's also on the right track.
