CEPH Research Associate Michael Aldous and CEPH Co-Director John Turner, both of Queen’s University Belfast Business School, have spent the last decade studying the CEOs of big businesses in the UK. The culmination of their efforts is their new book The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Captains of Industry, which will be published by Cambridge University Press this month and receive its Belfast launch at Harvard Lecture Theatre, Student Hub 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5EE on Thursday 26th June 2025.
The CEOs of Britain’s largest companies wield immense power, but we know very little about them. How did they get to the top? Why do they have so much power? Are they really worth that exorbitant salary? The authors provide the answers by telling the story of British CEOs over the past century. From gentleman amateurs to professional managers, entrepreneurs, frauds, and fat cats, they reveal the characters who have made it to the top of the corporate ladder, how they got there, and what their rise tells us about British society. They show how the quality of their leadership influences productivity, innovation, economic development and, ultimately, Britain’s place in the world. More recently, issues have arisen regarding high CEO pay, poor performance, and a lack of professionalisation and diversity. Are there lessons from history for those who would seek to reform Britain’s flagging corporate economy?
Programme
18:00 – Welcome by Professor M. N. Ravishankar, Dean of Queen’s Business School
18:10 – Presentation and Q&A with the authors
19:00 – Drinks reception
Advance praise for the book includes ‘This is a treasure of a book. It is outstandingly well researched, deeply insightful and beautifully written. It holds important lessons for anyone interested in the rise and decline of one of the world’s major industrialized nations in the 20th century.’ Colin Mayer, professor at the University of Oxford and author of Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them.
‘The CEO dives into history to reveal how Britain’s business leaders shaped – and sometimes stalled – economic progress. Aldous and Turner connect past and present, calling for new leadership pathways, stronger corporate governance, and robust market competition. An essential read for anyone invested in the future of Britain.’ Tom Nicholas, professor at Harvard Business School and author of VC: An American History.
The CEO is on the Financial Times’ ‘What to Read in 2025’.
* For more information about this event, please email Ruth Donaldson at rdonaldson@qub.ac.uk
* Further details about the book can be found at the Cambridge University Press website
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