The MT Interview: Chris Hyman
Resolutely fit, abstemious, religious, the CEO of service-supply firm Serco - 4th in our Most Admired Companies list - is an unusual businessperson in an unfashionable sector. Surviving 9/11 reinforced his belief in 'people first, profits second'. Just don't call it outsourcing.
On my way to meet Chris Hyman, I realise it's early Monday evening. Tomorrow is Tuesday and he will not eat anything at all. Every Tuesday, without fail, he fasts. I'm thinking on this and the considerable difference in our repective girths when I greet him. He's whippet-thin for someone in his early forties. Me, well... let's not go there.
It's not just abstaining one day out of seven that gets him in such shape - after all, he could gorge himself senseless on the other six. But Hyman is not the sort to indulge in such out-of-control behaviour. A top athlete in his youth, who once ran 100 metres in 10.8 seconds, he has remained resolutely fit ever since.
That's only part of it, however. He doesn't drink, doesn't swear. He's devoutly religious, attending the Pentecostal church in Surrey, where he lives, and giving 10% of his salary as a tithe to the service of God.
