Davie, who became director general in September 2020, is being replaced by Rhodri Talfan Davies for the next six weeks, before former Google executive Matt Brittin takes over permanently on 18 May.
Davie said Mills’ sacking had been a “real shock to the organisation”, adding: “When something happens where I think there’s a lot of grief, there’s a lot of shock, I think all I would say is we’re trying to act as the leadership with kindness.”
BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent questioned Davie about when the organisation had learned there was a problem.
He reiterated a statement from Wednesday, which stated the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the investigation into allegations of serious sexual offences, but that new information had recently come to light that led management to sack Mills last Friday.
“I think people need to look at the statement; we made [it] as clear as we can. We obviously have to be sensitive when you’ve got personal information, and we work carefully through it, but the statement is really clear,” he said.
When asked if staff culture had changed during his tenure at the BBC, he said: “It’ll never be fully fully fixed, but I think it’s changing, I really do.”
He added: “I think if you come in and behave in a way that some of this industry saw 20 years ago, it just would not be acceptable, you want to create an environment where it’s just ludicrous to do that.”
The executive said he felt “real progress” had been made, adding: ” I think the industry is kinder.”
He also talked about people in senior positions in the industry “who have had a lot of power – and if they misuse it, that has not been called out, let’s face it”.
“I do think we’ve reached a point where people behaving badly now, you can see we’re not going to tolerate it,” he added.