Stuart Rose
Stuart Rose
Stuart Alan Ransom Rose, Baron Rose of Monewdenis an English businessman, who was the executive chairman of the British retailer Marks & Spencer. Following the appointment of Marc Bolland in May 2010, Rose stepped down as executive chairman at the end of July 2010 and remained as chairman until early 2011 when he was replaced by Robert Swannell. He was knighted in 2008 for his services to the retail industry, and created a Conservative Life Peer on 17 September 2014,...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth17 March 1949
We face a dilemma because although everybody is better off than they've ever been at any time in our history, we've also got the biggest gap between the rich and the poor that we've ever had, and we've potentially got a planet which is going to go bust any day.
There's no abhorrence about wearing M&S. We just haven't been delighting the girls.
It's P for Progress not R for Recovery.
I have always been an advocate and was, in my last job at M&S, a supporter of the Al Gore dictum that a sustainable business can be a profitable business. We were the first sizeable company in the UK to prove that was the case.
Ultimately, growth is essential for increasing a company's value.
I believe in a uniform for work, but why, because we're men, do we have to be ghettoised into grey suits?
There is a responsibility on all companies to look at the quantum of pay and the relationship between the top and the bottom.
We've got a bit of growth a bit earlier than expected.
I actually think the whole concept of retirement is a bit stupid, so yes, I do want to do something else. There is this strange thing that just because chronologically on a Friday night you have reached a certain age... with all that experience, how can it be that on a Monday morning, you are useless?
I don't believe in retirement.
We live in a world where there are a hell of a lot of new inputs that need to be factored in to your business. It used to be just about your employees and your customers. Now there are all the issues about global warming, about sustainability, about ethics and now about gender and the distribution of wealth.
When my mother died, my father was in a crisis, my sister was in a crisis, everyone was in a crisis. I went round the night my mother was lying in the kitchen, and I organised everything, from the undertaker to the funeral... I looked after everybody, I sorted it all out and Ive done so ever since.
I think fashion is the best value way, the most affordable way in the 21st century, that men and women can express their personality.
I think that business leaders today have to be more rounded than they used to be, they have to be completely multi-functional and fast-moving.