Was Barclays right to fire Antony Jenkins?

By Daniel Hunter

Barclays today (Wednesday) announced that sacking of chief executive Antony Jenkins following disagreements over the bank's future.

But was Barclays right to fire him?

Colin Price, Chairman at strategic consultancy firm Co Company, thinks not.

It seems shareholders often care far more about a company's short-term financial performance than the overall health of the organisation," Mr Price said.

"This is a misguided view to take, and unhappily widespread: too many leaders still focus on delivering strong short-term financial performance over and above long-term robustness of the business, not that you can entirely blame them if that's what their job is perceived to be.

Following the aftermath of the recession, most companies are shifting from a cost-cutting attitude to prioritising growth. While financial performance is an excellent measure of a company’s success today, organisational health must be assessed to create a clear picture of how the same company will fare in the years to come. In fact, roughly 50 per cent of performance variation between companies is accounted for by organisational health. This is something that should matter to CEOs and shareholders, since the largest and most influential of them will tend to be institutional, and thus in it for the long term."

"Boiling a company’s achievements down to its P&L can give a very misleading impression, as the collapse of Lehman brothers shows. They were characterized by an obsession with financial shareholders, and indeed managers. The bank’s collapse can in part be attributed to inherent cultural problems and a complete disregard for the needs of clients. Unfortunately, banks are not the only companies to have focused on financial results above all else. BP have learned some lessons since the Gulf disaster about the impact of a performance culture and taking the eye off the fundamentals."

"Antony Jenkins' focus on the values and culture of Barclays was a crucial part of rebuilding trust in the organisation and Barclays have praised his achievements and promised to continue this work. It is important that they do so; changing the culture at the top is one of the most important things a company can do to drive growth and implement long-term success."