You can still be a leader while being in a non-executive role because leadership is as much to do with qualities as it is to do with titles. Lots of people with titles aren't leaders."But doesn't he ever get confused, and start talking about vacuum cleaners to the Consignia people, or cardigans to BSkyB? "No. I can switch on and off between different businesses easily," he says. Did he have a prior idea of which sectors he was going to work in? "No, I'm in everything. Vacuum cleaners with James (Dyson) to lastminute here to Weston over in Canada which is baking, to Scottish Power to football to the post office, Insignia."I thought he said Insignia during the interview, and when I play the tape back several times afterwards, it still sounds like Insignia.
It could be his way of speaking, or a sign that Consignia, the name the Post Office chose for its rebranding, was so bizzare even one of its directors gets it wrong.Or maybe Mr Leighton has too many jobs. "People do ask, 'How do you do all this and how have you got the time'," he says "I just say to people I can do even more Which I can." What, even now? "Yes. I wouldn't do anything unless I could give it the time it needed."It's 9.50am and the interview is over; Mr Leighton springs up, says goodbye, and even as he's walking out of the door his mind has switched to something else. As he strides away, he reminds me of nothing so much as a father.
A hyperactive, patient corporate dad, doling out advice and orders to 10 corporate children "with invention or reinvention either required or happening", as he puts it.As for his real children, they must be looking forward to spending the £80m he is clearly never going to have the time to use.. BSkyB, the satellite television group that has transformed British football since it secured the rights to the sport in 1992, is betting it can do the same for horse racing. The TV group has teamed up with Arena Leisure, the racecourse owner, and Channel 4, the main terrestrial broadcaster of racing. They have formed a consortium called Go Racing and taken a massive gamble by paying £320m for the media rights to the races at most British courses, under a ground-breaking 10-year deal NTL and the BBC have options to join the party. BSkyB, the satellite television group that has transformed British football since it secured the rights to the sport in 1992, is betting it can do the same for horse racing. The TV group has teamed up with Arena Leisure, the racecourse owner, and Channel 4, the main terrestrial broadcaster of racing. They have formed a consortium called Go Racing and taken a massive gamble by paying £320m for the media rights to the races at most British courses, under a ground-breaking 10-year deal.
