Reinventing Retail

Chapter 11

Taking people with you

It’s always worth reading the small print. Sometimes it even ends up being helpful.

When you become a director of a company, one particularly relevant chunk of small print is the company law that sets out your responsibilities and your legal obligations. In the UK, this is governed by the 2006 Companies Act and in the US and other territories there are equivalent frameworks.

When I first became a director, I was lucky enough to have someone who took the time to talk me through the obligations I was taking on, and I’m glad they did because I learned something new.

I knew enough about business that I was certain that my responsibility as a director was to maximise the value of the business for its shareholders, ...