When Harriet Green arrived at Thomas Cook in 2012, the package holiday operator’s market value was £148m and there had been genuine fears about its survival. She changed much of that.
Slashing 2,500 jobs, cutting debts, hiring a string of new managers, revamping holidays, and increasing internet sales were all part of the Green turnaround package – which saw the shares surge by 14 times and her being named as Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year in May.
To some this means that the 52 year-old is “incredibly tenacious when she gets the bit between her teeth”, but the savage nature of some of the surgery needed on the company – and the robust style with which Green delivered it – has left its mark. While Green describes herself as a “landa” – a cross between a lion and a panda – one former colleague says: “She has no respect for anybody – even the chairman or the non-execs – and she doesn’t hide it”. Another talks of Green’s “colleagues, who all work so hard for her, [living] in fear of her public humiliations”.
The tales of working for this driven boss – who famously needs even less sleep than Margaret Thatcher and has finished her morning workout by 6.30am each day – are popular within the company. They include stories of employees receiving dressing downs in the presence of Green’s beautician, as the boss receives a manicure; and the “ballistic” reprimands of her brother Jimmy, whom she hired as a driver.
She strongly denies these suggestions and says: “These anonymous quotes do not reflect the reality of my leadership of Thomas Cook, which was declared positive by 93% of staff respondents to my recent appraisal. I am proud of what I and the wonderful team at Thomas Cook has achieved in the past two years and wish them well in the future.”
Green can also point to such accusations being an occupational hazard of the turnaround specialist – there is always collateral damage inbig cost-cutting programmes. Green slashed£440m of costs, including the Thomas Cook job losses and 400 high street branch closures. And she doesn’t seemed fazed by the prospect of doing it all again, as those close to her say she has received job offers and hankers after another company to rescue. Thomas Cook chairman Frank Meysman reckons Green “can do any transformation job.”
Green, who is married with two stepchildren, lives at Brown’s hotel in Mayfair from Monday to Thursday because of the rigours of the job. Last year, as part of her agreed remuneration package, she charged the company £82,000 for her accommodation and travel, according to last year’s annual report. This year Green has shared that cost with the company, paying for two nights herself.
“She has ‘trained the staff’ [at Brown’s] so would find it too inconvenient to move somewhere cheaper,” says a former colleague. Green points out that her total pay package is less than her predecessor’s.
