Past Featured Chairmen

The next banking crisis happens the day after the retirement of the last person who remembered the last one. So said David Potter, paraphrasing his close friend, the veteran City commentator Christopher Fildes, has certainly the depth and experience to remember more than his fair share of crises.

The technology sector, perhaps more than any other, has reaped the benefits of the unprecedented bull market. So much so that many companies have no experience of how to survive when the bears prowl.

And, predicts Potter, a man with more than 30 years experience in the City, and a portfolio over-flowing with directorships, without too much self-serving, it will be the older business executives who could be big winners. 'What you need is people with track record, with experience. You need a board with its foot on both the brake and the accelerator - and knowing which to push and when - and that is all about experience.'

So in the looming recession it is time to re-learn some old lessons.

And perhaps the oldest business lesson of all. Cash is king.

'In 2009 the only thing that matters is survival. Focus all your attention on that. And cash is king. You must have the cash, because you certainly aren't going to be able to go to the bank for any more.'

'You must do everything you can to conserve it. In one company I work with they were faced with having to cut costs - and were looking at layoffs. But the staff got together, and came back with a counter- proposal. They offered to take a 20% pay cut. It would result in the same savings.

'But the effect on the company culture was dramatic. This was a staff that believed passionately in their company, and they showed it. If you are paid in shares, not cash, then you have an investment in the future.'

And Potter cautions against simply battening down. 'For companies that have cash, and are strong, recessions can be good times to expand. Weaker competitors will go to the wall, or will may be looking to sell up and get out. There can be rich pickings.'

Let Woolworths be a lesson. 'You need to move quite quickly. If a company has called in the receivers it is going to be much harder to get a good deal. So listen to what is going on.'

What also comes with experience is a healthy disregard of taking everything that bankers say as gospel. 'The closer you get to the City, the more things become black and white. Well as we know, the world isn't black and white.'

Perhaps uniquely, Potter combines his vast experience of the past, with a refreshingly pragmatic view of the future and what most would agree is the next, Next Big Thing, green technology. Rather than adopting the proselytising zeal of so many, Potter sees it as a fantastic business opportunity.

'It is a strategic question. We are in a process that started 20 years ago, it was driven forward in Posnan and will be again in Copenhagen. There are so many opportunities.

'For example my company, Camco, was at the Democrat convention. We did the carbon footprinting for the whole convention. A British firm playing a leading role. What I did learn is that the Democrats are serious about this. America's role will be very different from the Bush administration. The Democrats see it as a way to re-establish US global leadership.'

'It could be something very big. No one has an idea where it's going. And that means there is huge potential.'

Potter's background is about as diametrically opposite to the conventional green as could be imagined.

The son of a school teacher, Potter started life in the City mainly, he says 'as an act of rebellion against his father. We grew up with no money at all, and even then the City seemed like the sort of place you could make money.'

Ironically, as he admits, leaving Oxford, he and his first wife both chose their careers. 'I joined the City, she went into the Civil Service. She earned ?200 a year more than me.'

Potter's time in the City corresponded with the dramatic explosion in the square mile's importance. I was at White Weld (the predeccessor company to CSFB) when the euromarkets really started. There were 19 of us in the old P&O Building. They were very exciting times.'

But it was working with the Japanese that had a profound impact on his views. 'They take a long-term view - faced with bad debt they would write it off over ten years rather than do a quick kitchen sink job.' Allowing companies the time to grow, to find their own pace, is not a feature that many would recognise in the City. Perhaps things will be different now.

Potter reached the top as group CEO of Guinness Mahon, and when it was bought by Investec in 1998, stayed on for a year as deputy chairman to help manage the process of integrating the two - very different - companies, although, as Potter says 'they were a very impressive operation. They built a fantastic culture. It was very open, very equal.'

After 30 years in the City Potter felt it was time to move on.
'Companies don't want 50yo CEOs - they want them young and dynamic.'

After a short time as a consultant, it was inevitable that non-exec roles would be offered. And they were.

'I wanted to play a part in small companies - not the big FTSE ones. With small companies you can really make a difference. Sure the pay isn't as good, but the rewards are much greater. You can add much more value, you are, in a very real sense, helping the company.'

It is a role that Potter relishes. 'Perhaps it is the teacher in me - but I love the mentoring role. Helping CEOs and their management teams to develop and grow.'

And as we stand on the brink of a recession that has the making of a very serious one, that mentoring role is never going to be as crucial.

David Potter is Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Camco International - a leading carbon asset developer. David has been the chairman and non-executive director of several listed companies including Solar Integrated Technologies, Vycon and Spark Ventures. He has worked in the finance sector for 35 years with Investec, Guinness Mahon, Midland Bank, CSFB and Samuel Montagu.
David has an MA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.

Ben Rooney is a freelance business journalist. Ben can be contacted at ben@benrooney.com