John Caudwell
John Caudwell
John David Caudwellis an English businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a charity which benefits ill or disabled children and their families. He is also known for being the UK's biggest taxpayer...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth7 October 1952
people
People can come to me, and no matter how expert they are, I can virtually always see a way of doing something better.
becomes money
If you throw money around like confetti, it just becomes shallow and meaningless.
paying wasting
I don't like paying too much for anything or wasting it. I think that I'm more of a balanced individual rather than a dichotomy.
die element panic running time until
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.
british happy help living moving people reasonably stay support
I will stay living in Staffordshire. Other people would be moving offshore. I am reasonably happy to help support the British economy. I have done very well out of Britain.
create encourage government money people rich strangle taxes
Taxes aren't the way to go. They'd strangle the economy; you wouldn't create the wealth. And nothing squanders money as well as a government. What we need is to encourage rich people to give.
born brought careful definitely factor family frugal known money success value
I'm known for value for money. I was brought up to be frugal, and it's definitely a factor in my success. I was born in the Fifties, which was a frugal era, and my family had to be very careful with money out of necessity.
bigger motivated percentage profit wanting work
I make no apology for wanting to make a profit - the more I make, the bigger percentage will go to charity. So most of the work I do now is motivated by that.
colossal deficit obligation pay people reasonable
When the country's indebtedness is so colossal and where the budget deficit is so huge, there is a moral obligation on people to pay their fair and reasonable dues.
executive executives lots needs sites surrounded
There are lots of brownfield sites in Stoke, but they are not suitable for building executive homes. It needs to be surrounded by fields. It needs to be on greenbelt land. That's what executives want.
giving people advice
Really good customer service will deliver sales. You are training salesmen to give the best possible advice and then to achieve the sale. People actually like you to ask for a sale because it shows you value their business.
cancer mail modern-business
E-mails are the cancer of modern business.
phones mail saws
I saw that e-mail was insidiously invading Phones 4u, so I banned it immediately.
jobs believe rights
I believe in workers rights when people are doing a good job.