Short audio preview

Gerry Robinson isn't short of confidence. Indeed, the title of his talk at London's IMAX theatre makes him sound like an aggressive man-manager with a point to prove.

But Robinson himself is a surprisingly avuncular character. Calm, eloquent and unflappably reasonable, he comes across as a good man to have by your side in a crisis - which is, it seems, precisely where he feels most comfortable.

In recent years, Robinson has forged a reputation as a corporate Red Adair, fighting fires in organisations large and small, rescuing them from disaster. His BBC documentary series, Can Gerry Robinson Save the NHS?, saw him tackle one of the thorniest management problems in the world.

While Robinson appears affable and approachable, his CV demands respect. This is a man who has held top jobs at Coca Cola, BSkyB, Granada, ITN and Arts Council England, making tough decisions and causing controversy along the way.

He's not afraid to stand by his principles, and a key theme in his talk was courage.

"I'm not one of these people who thinks that executives are overpaid," he said. "If anything they're underpaid. Taking responsibility is frightening. I've worked with people who won't make decisions because they're frightened and the business stagnates. When you see a successful business, it's usually a sign that someone has had the courage to take a bold decision, to try something new."

Courage is required whenever change is necessary. According to Robinson, everybody has an innate resistance to change.

"People will believe it is impossible at first. But change things and the very same people will be there, making a go of it."

Certainly, there are few places more resistant to change than the public sector. On arriving at Arts Council England, Robinson remarked that the most enthusiastic voice he heard there was the one in the lift saying, "Doors closing." Yet he found that change could be effected even there - given a measure of courage.

When he wanted to appoint a handful of top people to lead the Arts Council, he was told that the pay structure would not allow anyone to be brought in on the six-figure salaries he was proposing. He dutifully pursued the matter through the appropriate channels, wading through government bureaucracy and red tape until he finally found a decision-maker - who decided that the appointments could never be sanctioned.

"Bollocks," said Robinson. He placed a full-page ad in The Guardian, recruited the people he wanted, and waited for the fallout. None came. Despite so much reluctance to change, people adjusted to the new situation and quietly accepted it.

You also need courage to admit you've made a mistake. During his series Back from the Brink, Robinson encountered a family business managed by the sons-in-law of the owner. It wasn't going well. When Robinson asked the sons-in-law to identify the main problem, their response was, "The management."

"But you're the management," replied Robinson.

"Exactly. We make a total f***ing cock-up of the whole exercise. Then we pass it on to Pappy upstairs and he makes a cock-up of it at a higher level."

At least they showed a laudable level of honesty.

Robinson is willing to admit to his own mistakes too, the biggest of which was to fire David Plowright from Granada. Plowright's clever PR campaign led to a national outcry. Even John Cleese sent Robinson a personal note telling him to "F*** off out of it, you upstart ignorant caterer." Robinson stuck to his guns, but he knew he'd lost the battle when his own mother asked him why he was firing that nice man Mr Plowright. He finally had to admit that he'd got it wrong.

This kind of admission doesn't sit well with Robinson. His management style is characterised by a single-mindedness that doesn't leave room for wooliness or u-turns. Indeed, if he had to choose one quality that a good manager needs, it is clarity.

As a leader, you need to know what you're trying to achieve so that everyone else in the organisation knows what their aim is. This isn't the same as having a mission statement - a concept that Robinson dismisses out of hand.

"Everyone should already know what the business's mission is. If you have to write it on a brass plaque on the wall, you're probably already dead."

People want a clear view of what success is and, in the vast majority of cases, they want to deliver it. The key is to break down any complicated objectives into a simple series of actions. Crucially, those objectives need to tread a fine line between being ambitious and achievable.

In his time with the NHS at Rotherham General Hospital, Robinson set just two objectives: reduce waiting times to the lowest in the area; and have the lowest return rates. Every action was focused on delivering those two overarching aims. The strategy worked. Not only did the hospital achieve their main goals, but their success had a knock-on effect across the organisation, which began buzzing with energy and optimism. The lesson is: crack your primary objectives and everything else follows.

Robinson is a strong advocate of not trying to do too many things at once. His advice is to focus on the five or six big things that will change the organisation for the better. He has a secretary to filter his emails every day. Meanwhile, he concentrates on a few key objectives and, by his own admission, bangs on about them to his team at every given opportunity. He's found that by the time he gets fed up of talking about those issues, everyone else is just waking up to their importance, so persistence is vital.

Another important element of clarity is consistency. From Robinson's measured tone, one senses that he is not prone to losing his head or making decisions on the spur of the moment. As someone who watched the endless parade of policy changes and restructures at John Burt's BBC, Robinson knows how demoralised a workforce can become when the leadership keeps changing direction.

Robinson's approach isn't flashy. He doesn't offer miracle cures or formulae for success. He simply picks a direction and is consistent in pursuing it.

This attitude is reflected in the way he deals with those who report to him. Every month without fail, they have a one-to-one meeting, set objectives, and clearly agree timescales and expectations. The next month, he follows up and asks what's been achieved - and because the employee knows they'll have to answer a straight question from the boss, they make damn sure that they've done what they said they would.

It's a simple and effective form of motivation, and the ability to motivate is one of the two essential management skills that Robinson believes cannot be taught. The other is, in his terms, 'nous'.

He defines nous as an instinct for what will and will not work. Somebody who has nous by the bucket-load is Sir Alan Sugar, and Robinson quotes Sugar to emphasise his point.

"Business skills can be acquired just as any fool can learn to play the piano. But the ability to see an opportunity, the alchemy of turning that into a profit, is a god-given talent just as surely as perfect pitch."

It's certainly a rare talent, and one that Robinson says should be nurtured in every organisation. If a member of your team shows talent, don't fear it - develop it. ("You can always take credit for it yourself later," he adds.)

More importantly, a failure to back talent will lead to the most gifted individuals leaving your organisation, perhaps to compete against you. And while many management gurus say that no individual is bigger than the team, Robinson is adamant that every business, ultimately, needs an individual in charge.

With the increasing speed of business in every sector, the ability to make quick decisions is becoming more and more important. Management-by-committee is not a viable option in Robinson's eyes. Certainly, you should consult other people. You should listen to expert advice. But in the end, it is not a democratic process. One person has to make the decisions. It's all part of giving the organisation clarity.

As Robinson puts it, "Leadership separates you." It's a lonely position, and one that is only undermined by trying to be one of the lads. You need courage to take unpopular decisions and a willingness to keep your social life well away from the workplace.

Robinson was discussing just this issue with Sam Chisholm, who ran Sky TV, when they were covering the Monica Lewinski story. Chisholm's viewpoint was illuminating.

"If you can't get your leg over as President of the United States, I can't see the point of doing the bloody job in the first place."

So while being the boss can be lonely, perhaps it's best that it stays that way.