From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
If your strategy is to do everything, you have no strategy at all.
The tendency is to avoid the need for more options because anything that's unfamiliar, as human beings we tend to flee uncertainty. We naturally go towards what we already know because we know how to deal with something we have done before.
If you look at the notional value of trading on our exchanges in any given year, they range from $600-700 trillion to a quadrillion dollars in total value. People can use these markets very effectively, not just for bona-fide risk hedging and transfer and risk management but also for asset allocation, portfolio management and trading strategies as well.
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.
In December 2007, Listed credit derivatives stood at USD 548 trillion - to put that in context, The GDP of the entire world is USD 50 trillion. On top of the listed credit derivatives, there was also an OTC derivatives bubble which had a notional face value of USD 596 trillion.
Excellence is almost a tactile feeling – and it starts with a vision… sometimes a vision that shows you a path that's so good that it cannot not succeed.
For over 40 years however, we've fostered trade and investment relationships because we're in the EU. A lot of investment has flowed into the UK because we're in the EU; Nissan in the North-East, Toyota in the Midlands and other prospective investors such as Hitachi.
One of the best ways to make money is not to lose it. If you can learn not to lose money, you're making money. When you lose your own money, it hurts, it makes you careful, but you cannot let it take the mojo… the hunger out of you.
I firmly advocate the idea of reinventing oneself every 5 years.
I got into boxing promotion by accident. I went to the meeting, turned around and said, 'I don't need you, we'll promote it...' I don't know why I even said that! The next minute, I was in the promotion business and helping to get this thing together; I got bitten by the bug, and it went from there.
A lot of people fail at what I do because they group all talent together. Just because they are labelled as 'talent,' doesn't mean they are similar at all. They are individuals with unique business models.
The biggest opportunities relates to the branded companies who are excellent at exploring opportunities in the BRIC and N-11 world, especially those with a consumer brand that is difficult to replicate and compete with, for example German cars, Louis Vuitton.