Who Would be a Chief Executive ?
| Published date | 01 September 1975 |
| Author | BRIAN WILSON |
| Date | 01 September 1975 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1975.tb00220.x |
Who
Would
be
a
Chief Executive
P
BRIAN WILSON,
C.B.B.
An address
by
the Town Clerk and Chief Executive
of
the London Borough
of
Carnden
to
the Annual General Meeting
of
the
RIPA on
22
May.
Mr. Wilson had
just
completed two years’ service
as
Chairman
of
the Institute’s Executive
Council.
A great deal has in the past been said and written about the Town Clerks
and Clerks of Councils, the precursors of the modern, new-style, new image
Chief Executives
-
about their qualifications, their qualities, their recruit-
ment and their training. But
I
make no apology for talking about the
subject yet again, because the problems we face in our new fangled role,
and the problems of getting the right sort of person to do the job, are as
great, if not greater, then ever before. Moreover the
RIPA
has recently
decided to carry out a review of its aims and functions, and it may well be
right that it should play a leading role in ensuring that
a
cadre of potential
future Chief Executives is properly recruited, properly trained, and
properly qualified. After all, the large bulk of the membership and the
supporting finance for the
RIPA
now comes from local government,
so
it
seems only right that some of its future policies and activities should be
directed
to
that end.
The problem was recently put simply and succinctly by hIr.J.C.Swaffield,
Director-General of the
GLC
and
a
past Chairman of the
RIPA,
in the follow-
ing words
:
‘Not
so
long ago
a
young man entering local government, with
his eyes on the top posts could be advised reasonably confidently how to
map out his career and indeed how and where to start it. What would we
now advise?
If,
as
I
suspect, we are unsure of the answer should not an
attempt be made to try to find one? And might not such an exercise lead
us towards thinking more constructively about the future of those Assistant
Solicitors and the like we have left behind
us
and the “professionals” in the
management team who become less and less “professional”
as
they are
made to become more and more “corporate”
’.
I
can illustrate his
point from my own early career. Even before leaving school
I
was attracted
to
local government.
I
sought an interview with the Town Clerk of my
local borough and his advice was clear and simple.
I
should article myself
to
a
Town Clerk, qualify
as
a
solicitor in local government, be prepared to
move around
a
bit, and with reasonable luck
I
might become
a
Town Clerk
in the next twenty years. ‘Would there’,
I
asked, ‘be any advantage in
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