Britain's Captains of Industry: the evolution of the CEO in the twentieth century

In this episode, we meet for a second time with Prof. John Turner to discuss his recent book (with Michael Aldous)  'The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Captains of Industry.' John takes us through the twentieth century using the new database that he and Michael have assembled. We look at the economic backgrounds of CEOs, their interaction with the economy and policy making and consider the evolution of the role with examples from economic history on what makes a "good" CEO. We review the positive and negative legacies that various generations of CEOs left on their industries. Finally, John outlines the dramatic shifts that have taken place in the last 40 years and consider whether economic history can offer lessons for policy makers and businesses.