Life was tough but sport was our salvation and I guess it gave me a sort of driving determination to make something of my life and fortunately I had a reasonably successful academic career.
My first song is when my mother came to visit me in Cape Town. She was living some 500 miles away and she took my brother and me to see 'Singing in the Rain' which I still love to this day.
On leaving school I went to Cape Town University to do a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Money was very tight so I used to do all sorts of odd jobs to earn extra cash and again, being one of the poorer students in a perverse way, gave me the ambition to succeed and do as well, if not better than many of my fellow students.
While wooing my wife and working there, a song that used to resonate a great deal with me was “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty. Celia and I were married in 1981 and have two wonderful daughters. I then spent 4 happy years between 1982 and 1986 running the UK arm of IDV in Harlow Essex. It was a great hands-on experience after being in a strictly global marketing role.
When I got married in 1981, “Jerusalem” was clearly one of the most significant pieces of music at the wedding and of course, I would like you to think about that today. It evokes all the right patriotic sentiments for this great nation. As a sportsman who played rugby for Richmond and was involved in sponsoring the club, I passed the Tebbitt Test i.e. “you may live in this country, you may vote in this country but you are not one of us until you support us in sport."
I then joined Chivas as the Chief Executive of Chivas Bros. and later Chairman of Seagram Distillers, an interesting time between 1992 and 1998. Again, I travelled the world and launched Chivas in China in 1993 when China was not that open but on the other hand, what I also believe in with brand marketing is that patience and consistency are crucial as it usually takes 10 years to build a great brand. You need patience, tenacity, and commitment. Fast up, fast down!. At the same time, you need the courage to try things. “If you never leave the shore you will never reach the other side.”
I had a rewarding and interesting time at Chivas, and we were awarded The Queen’s Award for Export in 1994. I am delighted, as I look back at the company as an old boy and see how well the brand has prospered.
Strangely enough, my involvement with Chivas Regal eventually got me fired. Why you ask? Firstly it was a very political company and then when I launched Chivas Regal 18, the chairman of the company Edgar Bronfman Senior, did not agree with me. He said his father invented Chivas Regal 12 and there would never be an 18. I launched it anyway and was fired. Today it is the No. 1 brand in the world.....again, the 10 year rule.
Another tip: Plan your exit from the company when they are trying to employ you because that is when you are strongest in negotiation. When I was asked to take over running Chivas I negotiated an exit contract of 2 years. Why? Because I thought I might get fired as I am outspoken and I say what I mean and mean what I say. I wanted security for my family and children who were still at school, l wanted their education to be safe. I refused to join the company until I got the contract which made good sense because when the time came I called in the lawyers and they paid me out 2 years. So, it’s not so bad being fired.
My advice for those looking for a new job: if you are desperate you will take what you can but if you are in a position to negotiate make sure you have an exit contract from day 1 to put in the drawer and forget about.
In my travels I started listening to classical music. I am a great lover of Pavarotti and therefore my next song will be “Nessum Dorma”.
Moving on, I then became a Non-Executive Director of a variety of companies, from Church Shoes to Fuller Smith & Turner-London Pride, to A.G. Barr- Irn Bru etc and also had a lot of fun no longer being part of a corporate machine but being an entrepreneur
I helped start a software company called Mimecast, where I backed a 28 Year old with an exciting idea. I am a great believer in backing the future. Employ people brighter than yourself, support people who have promising ideas. I therefore helped them get established, we had the first Board meetings in my dining room and would you believe there are now 850 staff and last November it floated on the NASDAQ---symbol MIME and is worth in the region of $1.4 billion. Again, this took 15 years – the patience rule.
Separately from that, 9 years ago, my partner Tom and I decided to start our own whisky company, The Last Drop Distillers Limited “before there is no more”. That is our slogan. We sell tiny releases of unique, unusual liquor. Again, swimming against the tide, doing something that has never been done before, we took a chance selling tiny parcels of rare Whiskies and Cognac. Indeed our smallest release was 32 bottles – crazy, not commercial – but we did it. We have just released a 70-year-old Cognac and our 1971 whisky, which is coming out in September has been voted the best Scotch whisky in the world. So we are a company selling exclusive rare, unusual brands which retail in the region of £3000 a bottle. That much you might say? Yes, why not? It is rare, old and superb, rather like a fine wine. If you are interested look up the website www.lastdropdistillerslimited.com.
We sold the company to Sazerac, the largest private distiller in the world, who are a US based company, in September of last year because they want our brand to be the pinnacle brand at the top of their portfolio selling rare Whiskies, Cognacs and who knows what other spirits.
So life is good but at 74 years young I am always looking to help people, work with people and recognise that it is brands that are built by people. Brands are not a notch on a stick.
To conclude ---Companies must focus on people and employ the best people to give them the opportunity to achieve and create. It is exciting for me to look back and see the number of young people I have mentored or employed who are in big jobs. Which reminds me of my final thought “be nice to people on the way up because with a bit of luck they may remember you on the way down”. I am delighted to have a lot of friends now in their middle age, who were young people when I first employed them and in fact, ironically, when I first started my whisky company, have helped me.
If you have the perfect job, it is a balanced 4 legged table, which is as follows:
- Respect or better still, like the people you work with
- Add value and be seen to add value
- Have fun
- and make a little money
My final song is by a little-known Detroit artist who became a big hit in South Africa on a tour in 1998—shortly after Nelson Mandela became President. All his songs offer great insights into life and I have chosen 'Sugar Man'.
And for my book? “Long Walk to Freedom”---Mandela’s biography of course.
Looking at the roller coaster of life, few people realise that mental health is one of the biggest issues facing our nation. Most problems start at school and in the UK there are 126 suicides a week. I have become a Patron and Trustee of the Shaw Mind Foundation.
This is the last major brand I will be committed to. We are very hands on and raised over 100,000 petition signatures to force the government to address the subject in schools. Further we, have set ourselves a ten-year goal to try and halve the suicide rate in this country. So do look at the website and if you have any ideas as to help please get in touch. This is my major personal challenge for my remaining active life .
Last but not least, I wrote a book, which I published 2 years ago called “Making Your Marque – 100 tips to build your personal brand and succeed in business”. This is not a commercial, it is a simple statement. The average text book is dull, boring and heavy. This is full of anecdotes and tips with illustrations and humour and each topic is usually no longer than 2 pages and I conclude with 100 quotes, which you are very welcome to plagiarise. At my age perhaps my favourite quote is number 99 “no-one on their deathbed ever said they wished they’d spent more time in the office”. If you are interested, look up my book on Amazon. One Reader called it a £15 MBA from the University of life.
