Haven’t Stanley’s boys done well? Eight years ago Ian Livingston, then the youthful finance director of Stanley Kalms’s Dixons group, hired fresh-faced Jeremy Darroch as his assitant. Yesterday Mr Livingston was appointed chief executive of BT where one of his toughest competitors will be BSkyB, whose newly installed chief executive is the same Jeremy Darroch.

It is striking enough that two top-100 companies are run by fortysomething guys from the same stable. But it does not end there. Another alumnus of the Dixons finance department, John Pluthero, is joint managing director of Cable & Wireless and there are several other former members of the Kalms crew in senior positions in the retail sector.

What is it that made Dixons such a good training ground for corporate talent? Mr Livingston says it was the way Lord Kalms and his chief executive, John Clare, gave executives the chance to prove themselves, or not, at a very young age.

Mr Livingston proved himself in spades and after six years at BT, as finance director and head of the retail arm, he has now got one of the top jobs in British business. And he is still only 43. Some believe the hand-over from Ben Verwaayen may represent part of a generational change in the leadership of some of the UK’s top companies. Cynics suggest that long-serving chief executives may bring forward their departures before a slowing economy takes some of the shine off their record.

Mr Verwaayen insists he has been thinking about stepping down for months and there is little doubt that he has been grooming Mr Livingston to be his successor for years.

He certainly leaves BT in better shape than he found it. When he was brought in by Sir Christopher Bland in 2001, BT was stumbling under the weight of a £30 billion debt burden.

After repairing the balance sheet with a rights issue and the spin-off of the mobile arm, Mr Verwaayen focused on building BT’s international business and becoming a leader in broadband services. Since Mr Verwaayen and Mr Livingston “wrote the recipes together” there is unlikely to be any change in the strategic menu.

Mr Livingston promises continued investment in the international business and renewed efforts to improve customer services. He also wants to make BT a “more agile” company.

He recalls his old boss saying that when Dixons was a small company he tried to operate it as a large company and when it became a large company he tried to retain the feel of a small company. That is what Mr Livingston wants for BT.

There will be some change of style from the Dutchman, who is big on vision, to the Scotsman, who is seen as a bit more down to earth. But insiders say Mr Livingston has as much passion about the business.

Although Mr Livingston may be cooking the same dishes as his predecessor, the kitchen is definitely getting hotter.

BT’s share price has sagged badly in recent months as investors have worried about mounting pressures on the business. In 2005 BT agreed to give rivals access to its network and it is now facing stiff competition from the likes of BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse.

Meanwhile, the international business has struggled to raise its profitability, although it reported some margin improvement in its third quarter.

A slowing global economy is not going to make that task any easier. It may be unfair to suggest that Mr Verwaayen is leaving while the going is good but there are certainly tougher times ahead for his successor.

david.wighton@thetimes.co.uk

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