Tony douglas laing

Why was he going? And not surprisingly, the plans involve holding a great deal of sway in the future. It had to be an ambition like that to tempt him away from BAA and its new owner Ferrovial - even to work at all.

He has held senior positions

What I do have though is a degree of liberty that allows me to do what I want to do rather than what I have to do. Most of those, he says still elude everyone. How do we continue to drive an agenda that brings a real edge and makes a difference? Yes probably. He liked the qualities of the business and they were instrumental in his decision to move over to run the company in the UK and Europe.

Ray is inspirational and there is a very different business model. I call it the Power of Now! There is such an energy and a purpose in the business that if you decide to do something, you do it. Ray, and I and the senior team have high level strategic discussions about the business and our customers. In many businesses, he says, if you want to instigate change or start something new, you have to go through the rigmarole of committees, board papers, long discussions.

At the root of that is the fear of risk he says. He says that as a client he saw this behaviour all the time and watched businesses with no appreciation of the risks they were taking on go to great lengths to protect themselves, nevertheless.