Sir Adrian Cadbury

Chairman of Cadbury Ltd from 1965 and of Cadbury Schweppes from 1975-1989, Sir Adrian Cadbury remains one of the UK’s most respected businessmen. In retirement Sir Adrian was appointed Chair of the UK Corporate Governance Committee assessing and recommending standards of conduct for company directors. He is also a lecturer on the subjects of Business Ethics and Tomorrow’s Company.

In his time leading Cadbury, Sir Adrian oversaw the merger with Cadbury Schweppes. “We were failing to move fast enough into tomorrow,” he recalls of the pre-merger era, and under his guidance the move led to greater investment in Marketing and R&D, created a window of opportunity to help make these and other necessary changes acceptable, and led to successful expansion into international markets.

So what are Sir Adrian’s leadership style and beliefs?

Seeing the Whole Person

Sir Adrian describes his approach as rooted in the founding Quaker ethos of the Cadbury business: “The Quaker principles of respect for the individual and the importance of arriving at decisions through reaching a ‘sense of the meeting’ have been very important to me. I have always believed that everyone in the business has a useful contribution to make and that one should look for each person’s strengths and attempt to build on them. Equally, we took participation seriously and aimed to involve people at the point at which decisions affecting them were taken.”

Valuing Differences

His desire to include people is typical of the most effective leaders: “Leaders need to listen, an underrated art,” he observes. To facilitate a two-way communication process, Sir Adrian also ensured that he was present and available as much as possible: “I believe it is important to visit sites and meet people personally as opposed to using a video! You cannot ask questions of a video.”

Many who have met Sir Adrian will attest to his openness and warmth, and an interest in people that is apparent despite a very busy lifestyle. Together these qualities encourage people to contribute their views and to want to work with him.

Basing his work on the effective development of people, Sir Adrian comments: “Good leaders grow people, bad leaders stunt them. Good leaders serve their followers, bad leaders enslave them.” This entails the belief in leadership as facilitating the achievements of other people, rather than in a command style of leadership. “We escape from coercive leadership as soon as we may. We remain voluntarily under leaders with whose values we identify.”

But are ethics and trust just luxuries in the drive for profit? Sir Adrian emphatically believes it is impossible to be effective without being trusted. Highlighting recent Institute of Business Ethics research showing that companies with effective codes of ethics are on average more profitable than those without, Sir Adrian asserts: “There is therefore no necessary contradiction between profits and principles.”

Staying True

He describes how a leader inspires trust and effectiveness over the long term: “If our trust in a leader is based initially on their competence, it is retained by regard for their integrity and for what they stand for.” Exemplifying the trusted leader’s trait of Staying True, Sir Adrian sees a company’s values, rather than its structure and systems, as “the glue which holds a company together.”

In his view the maintenance of these values depends on example, and leadership involves acting as the guardian of those values. “Values are important because they play an essential part in attracting people to a company and in retaining them … Tomorrow’s company has to be seen as a goal worth working for.”