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People can come to me, and no matter how expert they are, I can virtually always see a way of doing something better.
John Caudwell -
In the early days, I had everything to prove. A very working class lad with a burning ambition. A very crude way of measuring success is how much you are worth.
John Caudwell
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The power of fear of failure, with will to win, is an incredible force. I don't think we should be worried about having a fear of failure; I think it's quite natural. If you surveyed any top businessman or any top athlete, I bet if they were truthful, they would all say they've got a fear of losing and a fear of failure.
John Caudwell -
Sometimes your worst competitors are the ones which are dying because they do stupid things.
John Caudwell -
My father was unwell when I was 11, had a stroke at 14 and died when I was 18. My mother going to work at seven in the morning and coming back to look after him and me and my brother left its mark on me.
John Caudwell -
When my back's to the wall, I want to fight.
John Caudwell -
I might have made more money if I had outsourced to India, and I knew I'd find it easier to hire senior managers in London. But I wanted to be in Stoke. What could be more satisfying than creating work for 3,000 people in my home town?
John Caudwell -
As the years passed, and I was nine, 10, 11 years old, it became obvious I was going to start up a business of some sort.
John Caudwell
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Journalists like to say I started off sweeping the pottery floors. But it was just a short-lived part time job doing that after I left school.
John Caudwell -
I considered several names, but Titania, a character from Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', was best able to portray the image I wanted for what is a fantastically elegant and sexy yacht.
John Caudwell -
I realised I've got quite a talent for coming up with ideas for design. I've got so many ideas about fashion.
John Caudwell -
When I came into the mobile phone business, I was really the upstart who pretty much took the business, not quite by storm, but really made an impact on it quite early on. But it was from a position, really, of feeling that I was a last mover.
John Caudwell -
I don't think I'm going to live until I'm 70, no; I could die tomorrow. So there isn't a panic that time is running out, but there is an element that anything could happen.
John Caudwell -
In any business opportunity, you'd be looking, probably, primarily at the risk and return. Some business can be very risky with a low return; what you want is the lowest risk with the biggest return.
John Caudwell
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At the end of the day, if you've got the great idea, and someone judges you've got the managerial capability, you'll probably get the backing for it.
John Caudwell -
I do want to keep the Wedgewood Collection in place, intact, and open to the public. Selling it off would be a real tragedy.
John Caudwell -
Business is about being the best that you can be, and there are always glowing examples of people that we can all learn from.
John Caudwell -
If you throw money around like confetti, it just becomes shallow and meaningless.
John Caudwell -
E-mails are the cancer of modern business.
John Caudwell -
I was always interested in ladies' fashion.
John Caudwell