Why it is better to be a footballer than a CEO

As both Tony Hayward and John Varley have found to their personal cost in recent weeks, being a CEO of a UK plc with extensive operations in the US can be very stressful.   Despite agreeing with the Obama administration to set aside $20bn to pay 'legitimate claims' in the Gulf of Mexico, Hayward is still regarded by many in the US as public enemy number one due to wanting 'his life back'. In contrast, Varley and his colleagues at Barclays have been accused in a New York court of making a ‘secret $11.2bn windfall’ on the purchase of Lehman Brothers’ US brokerage business at the height of ...