The National Federation of Demolition Contractors is on the hunt for a new CEO ahead of the imminent departure of the incumbent Duncan Rudall.
Please do not panic – I am definitely not throwing my hat into the ring. But I would like to offer up a few points to help in the selection process.
In an ideal world, the successful candidate will have some demolition experience. This is an industry like no other, and the successful candidate will have their hands filled with internal politics and opposing factions without having to learn an entirely new industry at the same time.
They should be mature enough to have some life and business experience, yet youthful enough to be unafraid of the technology that is part and parcel of the modern demolition world.
They should be friendly and approachable, yet aloof to avoid demands for favouritism among members and senior officers alike. Equally, they should be ruthless when trying to figure out why a trade body with so few members requires so many staff.
They will need to be smart (both the academic AND the street kind, ideally) quick-thinking and erudite. This is a job that requires a lot of speaking and a lot of questions to answer. Bumbling is not an option.
And, speaking of questions, they should also be media-savvy and media-trained. Through no fault of their own, NFDC CEOs often find themselves in the journalistic firing line over accidents, fatalities, scaffold collapses, member company collapses, and collusion and corruption. The ability to field probing questions whilst not looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights would be a major benefit.
They will need to be blessed with a skin thick enough to withstand the slings and arrows of criticism that will inevitably come their way. The old adage is “you can’t please all the people all the time”. In NFDC circles, pleasing a single person is verging on the miraculous.
Most of all, they need to demonstrate the leadership and moral fortitude required to herd 100+ members in roughly the same direction towards a common goal.
Just one final point. Experience is unquestionably valuable. But just because someone has been around, seemingly, forever doesn’t necessarily mean they are actually good. Maybe they just never rocked a boat that so clearly requires some rocking.
