Maybe I just don’t know enough about what chief executives of major FTSE 100 companies get up to, but I’m mildly gobsmacked to find half a dozen of them hanging out in Gateshead on a wet Wednesday in October. At a reception for local councillors, I stumble across the CEOs of Argos and E.ON deep in conversation and watch the CEO of Everything Everywhere, a Dutchman of athletic build enjoying a casual lunchtime sandwich with a member of north Tyneside council.
“I am impressed,” the latter tells me later, “with the seniority of the people here.” He’s not kidding. But then, another CEO, Dido Harding, of TalkTalk, explains it me. They’re here “because Martha told us to be”. It just about sums it up. We’re all here, the CEOs, the local councillors, the cream of the north-east’s business fraternity, dozens of community groups, a hundred or so volunteers, me, because Martha told us to be.
