Interim Chief Executive Officer — Delivery

Twelve months, one programme

A delivery programme in industrial manufacturing succeeds or fails on unglamorous things: whether milestones are set against what the business can really do, whether plant schedules reflect real capacity, whether the people accountable for a milestone actually control the resources it needs. The Interim Chief Executive Officer will lead the business through such a programme over 12 months, reporting to the Board Chair.

Full authority from the first day

The seat carries full executive authority. You will agree how decisions are made and what each plant or country head may sign off alone, and define the proof a request for capital, capacity or a control change must carry. Each commitment gets your ruling on whether it proceeds, holds or closes, and plans that would leave a plant, supplier or customer team holding exposure it never accepted are refused. Investment cases that leave out adoption, dependencies or the downside will be declined. You will approve who runs each part of the business and how problems surface, settle disputes between the Board Chair and plant heads, and fix the rhythm of board reports on progress, overruns and open choices.

When a stopped commitment is the result

In a private-equity-backed business the temptation is to show momentum by adding initiatives. Often the more valuable act is ending one. You should be able to point to a well-supported commitment you closed in an earlier role, explain what persuaded you and show what the freed capacity did next, and be willing to do the same here if the evidence leads there.

Three points that matter

The first ninety days should leave the Board Chair with an agreed programme scope, milestones and accountable executives, and with the local thresholds recorded. By month nine the programme should be on its agreed path, with every off-track commitment either recovered by the executive who owns it or formally stopped. By the last day of month 12 the programme should be complete and the board reporting cadence working on its own, so that the business keeps its discipline after the interim chief executive leaves.

The leader the board has in mind

In industrial manufacturing you have made general management calls where waiting would have cost real money, in businesses with at least $665 million in revenue and 1,800 people, operating in seven or more countries. Your experience includes geographic expansion, professionalisation and succession. Strategy formation is sought at level 4, with P&L ownership, operating cadence and risk judgement at level 3. In past roles you have let evidence move people, capital and leadership time, and you can show where it moved them. You can set out an open gap for a board chair without letting uncertainty stand in for a decision. If ending a commitment would need every country head to agree, or you want influence without 12 months of accountability, you will not be comfortable here.

Meeting the Chair, then the board

Your first conversation, with the Board Chair, is by video and kept confidential, during week one. The third week brings time with the Audit Committee Chair, working through a real problem together. Week five is a face-to-face meeting with executives who run the various functions, and week seven is reserved for the full board. Our written view follows within three working days of every stage.