“You compete by being different, not by being better.” So says David Craig, the founder and former CEO of Refinitiv, one of the world’s largest financial data and technology platforms. Under his leadership, the business was carved out from Thomson Reuters, overhauled and ultimately sold to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) for £20bn.
The Refinitiv carve out is a remarkable story in corporate reinvention, not least because it unfolded in just three years. Rather than trying to outgun competitors through imitation, Craig made a strategic decision: “We were in a head-to-head fight with Bloomberg, and we decided we wouldn’t try to out-Bloomberg Bloomberg. We chose to be different.”
The strategy paid off. But, in hindsight, Craig says the carve out should have happened sooner. “Internally, the project was given the codename ‘Texit’, short for Thomson Reuters exit, because it felt like releasing ourselves from a structure that no longer fit,” he explains. “The irony is that once we separated, Thomson Reuters’ share price quadrupled. It proved the relationship had been holding both sides back. It was a marriage that simply wasn’t working.”
Refinitiv’s real transformation began after the carve out. Freed from its former constraints, the company benefitted quickly from fresh thinking, new capital and a radically reimagined strategy. After receiving private equity backing from Blackstone, “the business was put on steroids”, Craig says. “We completed 10 years of digitalisation in just a few months.”
For business leaders, Refinitiv serves as a rare case study in achieving true organisational change and overcoming the unique challenges of building a data company.
‘People, not plans, prove decisive’
Craig’s experience at Refinitiv reinforces a simple, enduring truth: transformation is ultimately about people. Technology and strategy were never the firm’s primary differentiators, Craig explains. Success came from aligning structure, culture and leadership around a shared purpose – and empowering people to deliver it.
This is a central theme in his recently published book, Bluebook: How Bold Leadership Unlocked a $27bn Success Story. “People, not plans, prove decisive,” it reads.
But creating an environment where people can thrive means sometimes making difficult and uncomfortable decisions. Refinitiv’s approach to performance management, for instance, was uncompromising. His team eliminated the notion of ‘average’, introducing a system where every employee was classified as either overperforming or underperforming and managed accordingly. “Get the bad people before they get you,” he says.
By his own admission, the approach was “pretty brutal” – but it was effective. “It’s not working unless it’s uncomfortable,” Craig adds, noting that a leader’s responsibility lies with those who want to perform, not those who don’t.
Don’t waste a crisis
Craig is quick to dismiss the idea of a single magic formula for transforming a business. “It’s usually lots of things coming together at the right time,” he says. In fact, he avoids the word “transformation” altogether. “It makes people roll their eyes because everyone’s being transformed repeatedly. Instead, I call it a reset.”
For businesses attempting major change, ownership and clarity of purpose are essential. “Make the ‘why’ loud, clear and constant,” Craig says. Under Thomson Reuters, the focus had been largely on improving margins – an approach Craig insists was far less effective than having a compelling vision supported by shareholders and the right capital structure.
We wouldn’t try to out-Bloomberg Bloomberg. We chose to be different
“A strategy is only as strong as the capital backing it,” he adds. “Your vision, the resources it demands and the associated risks and rewards all need to resonate with your investors. Assuming they’re automatically aligned is a mistake many leaders make.”
He also emphasises the need for flexibility. Senior leaders must be ready to seize opportunities the moment they arise. “Plan with the end in mind, but stay flexible – and never waste a crisis.”
Disruptive moments can provide rare opportunities to enact long-overdue change. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic opened a window for quick digitalisation across the business. “Our China office had nearly 1,000 people, and they went into lockdown much earlier than the rest of the world. While many regions were still in denial about what was coming, we got an early glimpse of the situation and were able to act quickly.”
The team learned many unexpected lessons in the process, he continues, but the importance of people and maintaining human-centric strategies was perhaps the key takeaway. “It shouldn’t take a crisis to remind leaders that looking after your team is the number one responsibility.”
Unique data is precious
The opportunity for data businesses has never been greater, Craig says. “Data is becoming more valuable and more powerful – and unique data is even more precious.”
While systems based on large language models, such as ChatGPT, learn primarily from public sources, true differentiation comes from proprietary data. “Public market data only gets you so far,” Craig explains. “To outperform in trading, foreign exchange, equities or debt markets, you need access to data that no one else has.”
Value is not just in the data itself, but in how it is curated, distributed and managed. “At Refinitiv, most of our data was public, but our value-add was how we packaged and delivered it. Combine that with exclusive private data, and that’s where the real opportunity lies.”
He warns that too many businesses are rushing into AI and overlooking the basics. “After people, your most important asset is your data. But in many companies it’s messy, poorly governed and fragmented. Jumping into AI without fixing those foundations is a huge mistake.”
In an AI-driven world, Craig insists, empathy, purpose and partnership matter more than ever. “Systems don’t run companies, people do,” he says. Sadly, in the rush to deploy AI for greater efficiency, profit or some other competitive advantage, that lesson is increasingly at risk of being forgotten.
“You compete by being different, not by being better.” So says David Craig, the founder and former CEO of Refinitiv, one of the world’s largest financial data and technology platforms. Under his leadership, the business was carved out from Thomson Reuters, overhauled and ultimately sold to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) for £20bn.
The Refinitiv carve out is a remarkable story in corporate reinvention, not least because it unfolded in just three years. Rather than trying to outgun competitors through imitation, Craig made a strategic decision: “We were in a head-to-head fight with Bloomberg, and we decided we wouldn’t try to out-Bloomberg Bloomberg. We chose to be different.”
The strategy paid off. But, in hindsight, Craig says the carve out should have happened sooner. “Internally, the project was given the codename ‘Texit’, short for Thomson Reuters exit, because it felt like releasing ourselves from a structure that no longer fit,” he explains. “The irony is that once we separated, Thomson Reuters’ share price quadrupled. It proved the relationship had been holding both sides back. It was a marriage that simply wasn’t working.”
