ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6 we explored the concept of company personality, the characteristics which shaped it as a community and defined its approach to the outside world. Policies which conflict with company personality are rarely successful in the long term, and this may be a key factor in the demise of most conglomerate businesses in recent years. A number of banking groups, e.g. Barclays, continue to struggle to reconcile commercial and investment banking ethos ‘within the family’. Company personality reflects the values of those who work in it and is likely to change as those persons are replaced by others. Sometimes it is the personality of a key leader which shapes company personality, as seen recently with Formula 1 racing and until recently with Tony O’Reilly of Independent News and Media. With the departure of the key leader, company personalities usually revert to a more collegiate model.
