One of John Kay’s columns in the FT  (March 24 2010)  tells the story of Nobel prize winner James Black, who was responsible for the development of highly successful drugs which made massive profits for the pharma industry, including ICI.  He had joined ICI because it offered a ‘stimulating and well-funded research environment’. For Black it was a great place to work, but it changed under a non-scientist chairman to a hard-driving business dedicated to maximising profits. The culture change triggered Black’s departure – he went on to make millions for ICI’s competitors.

What a contrast to the history of John Lewis which has always recognised the business value of a great place to work, and whose objective (written in its constitution) is the generation of ‘sufficient’ profit.