The honorary degree of Doctor of Science was conferred upon John Brian McGrath on 11 July 2002. The citation, read by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor L M Thomas, was as follows:
"Chancellor, you may remember what it was like in 1953. We’d just had the Coronation; Everest and the four-minute mile had been conquered and it was a time of great hope and renewal. But for John McGrath, as a 15-year-old, it was a disastrous time for he found that he was suffering from nephritis, which is inflammation of the kidneys. It doesn’t sound very serious to a lay person, but this was the era before dialysis, kidney transplants and sophisticated antibiotics were available and he was lucky to survive. In the event he spent a year in and out of hospital before being declared totally fit.
"Having lost so much time he decided to make up for it by leaving school once he’d gained his ‘O’ levels. This was a rocky start to a career in business but it didn’t hold him back for long as you can see just by looking at him. Even in semi-retirement doing just one or two little jobs to keep himself busy, he’s Chairman of Boots the Chemist.
"At least he started small, working in a local engineering company making gearboxes but then he quickly got a job with the Atomic Energy Authority. It was nominally a research position, making bombs, but he had to do his share of floor sweeping, too. After a year in the job, just as he was becoming bored, his boss offered him a sponsorship to study at University. He doesn’t underestimate the significance of that move, for it brought him here to Brunel, a first class degree in Applied Physics and what he describes as the kind of training in logical thinking that means that he can judge what is significant and what is not. In the kinds of fuzzy situations he encounters in business and in life, this allows him to focus very quickly on what is crucial. Incidentally, it’s something that has stuck. The other day, a journalist asked him if the introduction of Boots products in six Sainsbury’s stores meant that a possible merger between Boots and Sainsbury’s was on the cards. His reply, interestingly, was ‘No, because I don’t see the logic of it’. One of higher education’s most cherished goals is to foster the development of logical, independent minds that can recognise what is of value, for, as someone once said, when we focus on the trivial we become it. It’s good to hear from a highly successful captain of industry that, in Brunel at least, we’re getting it right.
"John McGrath has certainly put that early training to good effect. During the forty years since he left Brunel he has had a glittering business career. In the 60s and 70s he worked for the National Coal Board, Ford, British Leyland, the Stone Platt organisation and Jaguar. In the early 80s he was Managing Director of Compair’s construction and mining division and then its Chief Executive before joining Grand Met in 1985 as group director of Watney Mann and Truman Brewers Ltd. By 1996 he was Chief Executive and in charge of the merger between Grand Met and Guinness, the largest non-premium merger in Europe.
"The story of the merger is fascinating. It was important to keep the share prices stable in the weeks leading to the announcement so everything had to be completed in total secrecy. Very important people met in hotels, making sure that they didn’t arrive or leave together. They used their personal mobile ‘phones just in case some financial journalist spotted lots of ‘phone activity between the two companies and they used taxis rather than company cars – just some of the tricks you can use when you arrange your first mergers. The tactics were successful and there were no leaks before the 24 billion pound merger was announced. Diageo was formed on 17 December 1997 employing 58 thousand people world-wide with combined profits of 2 billion pounds and owning, among other things, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Burger King and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
"John McGrath retired as Chief Executive of Diageo at the end of 2000 having been in the energy business, in construction and mining, in manufacturing and in the service industry. And now he’s even selling us nappies.
"If any of you want to follow in his footsteps, what should you do? Well, obviously, get a degree at Brunel. So you can tick that one off your list. Even if you don’t become a serious player like John McGrath you will still benefit from Brunel’s reputation with employers and enjoy a significant advantage in the employment market.
"But what if you want more than that? John McGrath has five messages for you. One, concentrate hard on your customers in order to achieve sustained, profitable, top line growth and get that embedded in the culture of your organisation. Two, remember that a fish stinks from the head so take care to lead from the front. Three, understand the value of people and make sure you have the right people to do the job. 30% of the time this will mean bringing people in but 70% of the time you can achieve it by developing and coaching the people you’ve already got. Four, when you can, give something back, for example by becoming chairman of the trustees of the Cicely Saunders charity and getting your business colleagues involved as well. This is the charity that aims to raise money to research and improve palliative care and to raise awareness of the needs of the terminally ill. Five, keep a positive attitude so that when you retire you will be able to list enjoying life every day as one of your major achievements. "Boots recently commissioned the Henley Centre to conduct a study into the nation’s well being. The authors of the report state that when people have well-being they feel broadly in control of their lives and able to shape the direction that it takes. The Chairman of Boots knows exactly what they mean.
"Chancellor, it is my great pleasure to present to you John Brian McGrath for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa."
DSc - July 2002
