ReHeat, speaking of the Chairman of BA:
Whether he is any good at it is a totally different matter, but I hardly see it as relevant whether his past experience was in tobacco, or indeed environmental activism...if he has the skills.
ReHeat, the Chairman has the final say in who the Directors are, and perhaps more importantly, who the CEO is, and they will hire people who "mirror' their own values and behaviours.
To put it another way, someone who is quite happy Chairing a Company selling a toxic addictive product that kills millions of people each year is going to hire a Board and a CEO that mirrors exactly these same values and behaviours.
That is why you have got WW You wouldn't have him if the Chairman didn't get on with him, and WW wouldn't have accepted the job unless he was happy working for someone with that background. It's as simple as that.
Would you work for the Tobacco industry or for someone strongly associated with that industry? Sorry, I won't, because at some point the nasty rotten personal qualities possessed by someone associated with selling that product are going to show through.
To put it another way, the Chairman ain't no saint, and if you work for him, then you are no saint either, and so on and so on..
The trouble Reheat is that the attitude of the Board and CEO then cascades down the management of the business because managers hire and promote people who mirror their values and behaviour. The arrogance starts at the top, and by all accounts now has cascaded down to all the lower levels of BA management.