Graham Barr, Chairman of Sans Frontières, reflects on exactly what his company does. He begins: "We deliver high-level strategic communications advice to individuals, corporates and countries, devising and implementing strategy and directing implementation."
"It’s very difficult to categorise narrowly what we do… because of the range and depth of expertise we muster, we literally can cover the waterfront! It is a rare ability."
Such is the mercurial nature of an international communications agency’s work that glib definitions are inadequate. But what Barr is sure of is that the company "wants to be a force for good in the world" and has "great scope for growth", leveraging the abilities of the team using a collaborative partnership model.
Born in Bloemfontein, Barr was the son of a Scottish newspaper editor and an Afrikaner mother. He followed his father’s footsteps into the newspaper business and became a journalist. He worked for several newspapers in South Africa and abroad, the last being the Eastern Province Herald in Port Elizabeth. He then became Managing Director of a national South African communications agency. His first client was BP Southern Africa, who soon asked Barr to join the Board and to take on the Government and External Affairs portfolio, which he dealt with throughout the apartheid years.
"We were integral to the process of change," says Barr. "Through the Consultative Business Movement in the 1980s, we helped move the country down the path to democracy. For instance, the CBM was the Secretariat for the constitutional talks."
PW Botha, South Africa’s hard-line President through the mid-1980s, was far from impressed, but unable to counter the weight and influence of the CBM. "I learned that the power of the business community as a change agent is phenomenal," Barr says, "providing it has the leverage to do it."
Barr chaired BP’s Black Advancement Committee from the late 1970s, deliberately breaking apartheid taboos. He also rubbed shoulders with FW de Klerk, the then Energy Minister, who was destined to become President in 1989 and to oversee the dismantling of apartheid. Barr describes de Klerk as "a good friend" and "one of history’s truly great statesmen". He also aligned with Nelson Mandela.
After 28 years at BP, the final seven as a Vice President with Global Accountabilities at Head Office in London, Barr was ready for a change and joined Sans Frontières in 2003. "I enjoy solving problems," he says. "Every day is different - you get to meet some fascinating people in this job."
Barr’s relationship with de Klerk has continued, in their co-founding of the Global Leadership Foundation, a group of former presidents and prime ministers, supported by a council of leading business people and set up to give advice on a strictly confidential basis to current world leaders.
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