Do things the right way to avoid the scandals that have tainted other industries, says Neil Gillis

When I was a student – which I admit was a considerable time ago – there were three professions to which most people aspired.

Those who sought wealth went into banking, the more literary types went into journalism and the most commercial found careers in retail.

It is interesting that in the past few years two of these three great professions have been tainted by scandal. Banking may never get over its association with the financial meltdown and I fear that we have much more to hear on unscrupulous behaviour in journalism. But retail retains a clean and largely unsullied image.

However, I fear for the reputation of the retail sector and worry that our industry runs the risk of going the same way. Most retailers, like most bankers and most journalists, are decent, honourable and hard working people who do credit to the sector in which they work.

There are some, though, who operate to different standards.

There are some for whom winning and acquiring personal wealth are the only values they recognise. Some for whom the end justifies any means.

I spoke to a colleague recently in another retail business who mentioned that their offices were swept for listening devices every month. I cannot believe this is the norm in most industries, but through experience this company has now come to expect that its competition will stop at nothing to acquire information or influence over it for the sole purpose of harming the business.

The unedifying spectacle of seeing the Serious Fraud Office investigate some sectors of our industry is an alarming development that we should be deeply concerned about.

If we are seen to be a sector in which ethics and honourable behaviour are regarded as soft and dispensable characteristics then it will damage us in many ways.

It will deter the brightest and the best from joining our industry, it will undermine our reputation with the public who constitute our customer base and it will waste considerable energy and management time on tactics and activities that have little place in a professional industry.

I was disappointed to see David Bernstein resign as chairman of Blacks. David has given many years of great service to retailers – not only Blacks Leisure but to French Connection and Ted Baker where he has been a long-standing director.

Those who know David will agree that he is a decent and very honourable man with strongly held values and ethics. If we are to retain our excellent reputation as an industry he is exactly the kind of individual we should retain within the retail sector.

Perhaps my concerns are alarmist. I am sure that they only apply to a very small minority of operators within our industry. But then the scandals which have tainted both banking and journalism were similarly the work of a small, self-seeking and unethical minority.

From an individual perspective my advice would be very clear. Vote with your careers. Before you join a new company, look closely at the people at the top and if you do not like what you see, steer well clear.

  • Neil Gillis is former chief executive of Blacks Leisure

Topics