The Coucher Years: Revolting, but right?

Iain Coucher is stepping down as chief executive

George Muir was director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies between 1999 and 2008. Before that he was a director of Morgan Grenfell and a financial advisor to the privatisation of the UK electricity industry and to many oil and gas companies.

George Muir was director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies between 1999 and 2008. Before that he was a director of Morgan Grenfell and a financial advisor to the privatisation of the UK electricity industry and to many oil and gas companies.

Most great and effective leaders seek control - Reagan didn’t but war leaders from Stalin to MacArthur did, and Wellington had a microscopic knowledge of and control over his forces. So, coming rapidly down to earth, we should not hold Iain Coucher’s mania for centralisation against him. What separates the great and effective from the failures is not about style, it is about being right, and it is about working with, and not against, the grain of events.

The story of the Coucher...