'One has to seek a balance here. This is a fantastic project and will be the biggest in Europe, so you have to keep in mind the reasons why we're doing it'

摘要

Having conducted interviews with senior executives in some of the world's biggest companies for nigh on twenty five years now, I can count on one hand the number of women among them. Included in that number though, was one female non-executive director who would only conduct the interview via email because she regarded herself as far too important to meet face-to-face. So meeting Alison Munro was quite a novelty in that sense, and a first impression is that she is slightly regal, but on speaking further that opinion widened out with the realisation that her manner is more to do with her no-nonsense single mindedness and razor sharp intelligence - attributes that would be hard to better in driving through one of the most contentious projects in recent times.