There are skills a CEO can bring to government, in terms of providing decisive leadership, creating accountability and guiding long-term planning
AT A recent conference in the British Virgin Islands, I was asked to imagine the country was one of my new companies: what would I do to help it perform better?
There are skills a CEO can bring to government, in terms of providing decisive leadership, creating accountability and guiding long-term planning. This year, the US presidential election is being fought on a mandate to turn around the largest company in the world — the US economy — after years of under-performance and faltering growth.
President Barack Obama will have to prove he can be an effective CEO by presenting a concrete plan to get the economy going, create jobs and bring the deficit down.
Leading the imaginary company BVI Ltd would be a somewhat smaller challenge, but one that would include my home, Necker Island. As chairman and CEO, here is my five-point plan:
Review Your Assets
To work out how strong BVI’s position is, we must ask these crucial questions: What made this company successful to date? What does it sell and where does its income come from? How secure are its assets, in case of future problems? What are the threats to the business?
BVI relies on its strengths in financial services and tourism. As an offshore financial centre, it is one of the top five countries in the world for the incorporation of companies, with hundreds of thousands of companies registered. Its business-friendly environment and proactive government should attract interest from around the world. However, this source of income is reliant on the policies of overseas governments, which can change unexpectedly. More
Does The Cayman Islands need to undertake a similar exercise to what Richard Branson describes in this article? Have we forgotten our core strengths and and direction? Editor.
