| What drives you? |
| Achievement. Success. |
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| What inspires you? |
| Many things, but particularly: great talent at work and seeing real effort paying off. |
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| Strongest influences |
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My father: a strong and principled man, who, amongst many other things, taught me that life isn't always fair and that no problem gets solved by running away from it.
My wife: warm, compassionate, a great listener-and a saint for putting up with me and my business meanderings for the last 30 years!
My mother: the personification of user-friendliness
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| Other interests |
| My family generally. Listening to music. Reading. Current affairs. Most things Italian. Modern art. Films. Trying to stay reasonably fit. Football. |
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| Best decision |
| (Business). Making the decision to row our own boat with Quantum. |
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| Greatest regret |
| Very few actually. Not taking up the opportunity of a position in the U.S. before we had the children is the closest thing to a 'regret' I can think of. |
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| Happiest business moment |
| First major contract win at Quantum in early 1993. |
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| What would you change about British business if you were given the opportunity? |
| Focus government on ensuring that markets are genuinely open and then let businesses get on and do what they do best with minimal interference and bureaucracy. |
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| Fantasy job |
| Steven Gerrard's role in the England football team. |
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| Favourite quotation |
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"Nothing in the world can take the place of determination. Talent will not - nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not - the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race."
--Calvin Coolidge
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| Most admired businessperson |
| Mark McCormack |
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| Least favourite personal characteristic |
| Excessive perfectionism |
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| Pet hate/s |
| Litter. Political correctness. People who can't park their cars between two white lines in a car park. |
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| Most over-used phrase |
| "A pint of Stella Artois please" |
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| Other people's most over-used phrase |
| "At the end of the day" |
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| What makes you laugh? |
| Champagne Socialists. Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. Woody Allen. Steve Coogan. Ricky Gervais. The Simpsons |
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| Favourite city |
| Florence |
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| Greatest extravagance/s |
| New suits and shirts - and cd's |
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| Current reading |
| 'The Looming Tower' by Lawrence Wright |
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| Favourite albums |
| 'Kind Of Blue' Miles Davis. The First Roxy Music Album. ‘Everything Must Go’ Steely Dan. ‘Station To Station’ David Bowie. |