“Profits are a by-product ... but they don’t define us”
In Cardiff tonight, at the Cardiff Business Club, Marjorie Scardino demonstrated her gift of being a natural CEO. Approachable, less cynical, more human than most she received warm praise which was from the heart of the audience who listened and questioned with respect. It took 12 years to get her to Cardiff Business Club, the foremost speaking club in the UK.
Stating firmly, "future generations are part of our business planning because we're making material intended to educate them, directly or indirectly. At Pearson we think that corporations have a social purpose—particularly corporations in education and journalism that have a public trust—and that purpose is to move civilisation along.
She added tellingly, "We think profits are a by-product of what we do. We say, profits sustain us but they don't define us. “
Her decade long quest to transform the FT group from a publishing company to a content, technology, and services company is ongoing. Digital paid FT subscriptions mitigated a decline in print circulation, with an 18% increase in paying online subscribers to more than 117,000.
Digital services accounted for 67% of FT Group revenues in 2008, up from 28% in 2000. That has helped wean the company off advertising, which in 2008 accounted for 25% of FT Group revenues, down from 52% in 2000.
It is often said that in the early years of her reign at least, the "Marj factor" accounted for a good quarter of the company's share price value. Without it, the City might not so wholeheartedly have backed the strategy.Dame Marj Scardino rarely gives interviews and she dislikes the media spot light.
Not only after dinner was she charming, approachable, and clever, she also impressively managed to deal with the banter from the very agreeable Peter Griffiths, the fine CEO of Principality Building Society who sponsored the evening. Tonight she seemed to be doing all the right things. She is respectfully known as the "First Lady of the FTSE", we now know why.
NOTE: Pearson is an international education and media company, with headquarters in London and more than 30,000 employees in more than 60 countries. The company operates in three main areas—educational publishing for schools, universities and professions; consumer publishing through the Penguin Group; and business information through the Financial Times Group and the FT newspaper. Pearson is dedicated to helping people learn and make the best of their abilities at every stage of their lives, so it is involved in "education" in the broadest sense of the word.
