John Balchin discusses his relationships with the other managing directors on the Stevenage board

Transcript:

Interviewer: I was going to speak to you about that. Yes, in fact the relationship wasn’t always and I suppose couldn’t be like that of a company chairman and a managing director with you in the managing directors position. In fact it had to be more informal than that

John: Oh yes, yes, oh yes I suppose it is conceivable that some boards may have operated on that basis. But what goes on depends upon the character, the personalities of the individuals involved and although I had known Evelyn all those years and she had known me quite closely and observed each other’s operations.  Harold was brand new to me and he hadn’t been there very long at Stevenage before I came and the fact that he had been more or less imposed as deputy chairman on the board from ministerial direction but we all got on famously but it was a very, very informal, there was no division between general manager and chairmen the only difference was I drew a large salary than they did