The chief executive of Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company in terms of sales, relaxes as he slips off the jacket he was advised to put on for photographs, looking more at ease once restored to his shirtsleeves: informal, engaging and ready for business.

Our meeting has been switched at the last minute from the company's Manhattan headquarters to its office in the heart of Washington DC, where Mr Kindler has just attended a morning panel on healthcare reform. Before that, the 53-year-old, who says his hectic schedule has forced him to give up golf, flew in from a short tour of his French subsidiary.

Mr Kindler says he relishes the peripatetic management style. He picked up the habit of spot visits to local offices at the start of the decade when running restaurant chains for McDonald's, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Pret A Manger. “I got to know people on the frontline, dealing with customers, and gaining a clear appreciation that you get a lot more value being in the stores than in your office,” he says.