When I went to university in Southampton in 1976 Whitbread became an important part of my life. They were the dominant local brewer.<\/p>\n
Whitbread has not brewed beer for many years now. But I have drunk a lot of its Costa Coffe, which was still a brew, of sorts.<\/p>\n
And now that\u2019s to be sold to Coca Cola. And Whitbread will just run Premier Inn.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to say I have come a long way since 1976, but I am still recognisably me.<\/p>\n
Whitbread is not. It has instead became the typical modern corporation: it follows the money. What it does and how it does it is not really what matters. The return rules.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never felt that a basis for a business. Return matters, of course, when running a company. It is what ultimately drives cash flow, and that is the core of all business activity, like it or not. But it is never enough for me.<\/p>\n
There is value in knowing who you are, what you do, who you serve and why. The Whitbread of 1976 would not know the Whitbread of today and I very much doubt it is really a better company as a result.<\/p>\n
Doing what you do well matters. And making money is always a consequence of that. The transient enterprise - in an activity today and gone from it tomorrow as the whim of finance dictates - seems to have forgotten that critical fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"