Peter Speirs is one of the youngest Company Secretaries in the UK FTSE100. His company – Hikma Pharmaceuticals, a (Jordanian) family-owned enterprise – develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of branded and non-branded generic pharmaceutical products.
Peter was the guest speaker at the September dinner of the Leadership Development Programme. What lessons was Peter able to offer about how to become, and succeed as, a top company secretary?
Peter’s first observation was refreshingly candid – he had enjoyed his fair share of luck, through becoming a Deputy Company Secretary at a company whose business model was eventually to propel it into the top tier of UK listed companies. (Although, as Gary Player, the top golfer, reportedly said, ‘The harder you practice, the luckier you get.’)
Peter’s subsequent reflections offer hope to the ambitious company secretary:
- Technical skills are not that important. Boards don’t care about your experience and knowledge – all they want is excellent advice.
- A board will take a punt about their governance adviser – does this person fit our culture, and the way we do things?
- You need to be able to deal with – and advise – senior directors. This means hearing the sound of your own voice with confidence. ‘Fake it till you make it’.
- Saying less is more. Traditional company secretaries feel the need to offer comprehensive advice. That is NOT the way directors operate. All they want to know is what matters
- Discretion and tact are everything. Soft skills are everything. Emotional skills are everything. You are dealing with people with egos – big time – and challenging them poorly could be fatal
- The biggest learning of the evening. NEVER, EVER say “this is on fire”. The Company Secretary is there to put out fires, not fan the flames.
- The guiding principle – ‘what does my boss want?’ Within the parameters of high-quality governance, this is the ONLY thing that matters. What does my Chair want? What does my line manager (CEO, CFO) want? How can I make their lives easier? What is the one-line advice that helps them?
- Again within the parameters of high-quality governance, do anything you’re asked to do. Secretaryship means service. If you don’t want to serve, don’t become a (company) secretary
- (Another big one.) Be seen as the solutions – rather than problems – provider
- Be able to get on with others – or choose a new career
[Subsequent edit by Seamus. I thought I’d clarify points 1 and 7, because my journalistic style might give the wrong impression of what was meant here, and some colleagues have made useful points which are worth reflecting. So I’ve left the post in its original form and offer the following additional commentary.
On point 1, Peter was making clear that for a company secretary operating at that level in that big a company, there is an expectation by the board that the individual will already have all the necessary technical skills, experience and knowledge, and that that is how he or she secured the role. What the board then wants is the value-add – excellent advice. As Eric Sanders FCIS has commented in a discussion on the blog from another LinkedIn site, ‘You have to have the technical knowledge and experience, but delivery and timing are everything.’
(It’s a similar situation with non-Execs – to have got onto the board in the first place they will have been through a rigorous selection process in terms of evidencing their skills, knowledge, experience and independence. Once appointed, however, the board doesn’t concern itself with the person’s qualifications but looks to them for their value-add, comfortable that the constructive challenge and oversight is based on those criteria of skills, knowledge, experience and independence.)
On point 7, the qualification ‘within the parameters of high-quality governance’ is critical, and is repeated in point 8. Again, this is shorthand for the company secretary already knowing what is, and is not, possible/legal/ethical etc.. His or her job is then, within those parameters, to help the board achieve its objectives. The company secretary is a principal officer of the company, and will always be the first to point out that directors’ fiduciary duty is to act in the interests of the entity.]