Britain's Most Admired No.3: Unilever, Patrick Cescau

Cescau's four-year stint as boss of Unilever comes to a close at the end of this month, when he retires to be replaced by Paul Polman, formerly head of Nestle's US business. Cescau's management reforms have brought the geographically dispersed and traditionally largely autonomous Unilever businesses together under much slicker central control. It's a model that should preserve the company's famous resilience, while improving its growth potential when the upswing eventually comes.