Given its source is a 14th-century headmaster at Eton and Winchester, ‘Manners Maketh Man’ might be an unexpected mantra for a self-made chap who grew up in a council house in Manchester, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe likes the basic ethos behind it.
It’s why every Ineos employee is discreetly advised to acknowledge him with a cheery greeting and senior managers are expected to be brutally honest about performance. His company’s structure is famously lean, as is its HR department. Blusterers and bullshitters need not apply. Grit, rigour and humour are his other prerequisites, if you fancy it.
Aged 70 and not without his controversies, Ratcliffe is Britain’s richest man, with an estimated wealth of £40 billion. But his humble roots and the fact he found mega-success relatively late in life – Ineos was created when he was 46 – mean he retains a grounded sense of perspective.
Read more: Ineos
