Dawson, John

A-List 2006

Job title: Managing director.

Company: Griffin.

Year of birth: 1957.

Place of birth: UK.

Career outline: After university I spent six years as an officer in the royal navy, followed by 10 years in large telcos: Mercury (London) Bell Canada (Toronto) Vebacom/Otello (Dusseldorf). In the past 10 years I have run several companies in the telco/internet space, all have focused on the business market and all with a strong channel presence, notably Telefficiency, Interglobe, Redstone and Griffin.

What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? Moving the company forward as fast as possible. In a high-growth business, it is always stimulating to balance the needs of the customers, employees and shareholders. Getting this right makes everyone happy and richer, which makes it worthwhile getting up every morning.

What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? Voice over IP and 3G.

W hat will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? 3G.

Which technology would you most like to have invented? Windows.

Do you have any regrets from your time in the industry? Not buying a voice reseller that was offered to me at what now looks like a knocked-down price in 1992.

If you could swap places with anyone in the industry, who would it be? I am very lucky to be running Griffin at a very exciting time of change, why would I want to swap when everything is moving forward so well?

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in your career? Persuading my wife to move from Toronto to Dusseldorf because of something called the internet in the mid 1990s.

What is the biggest success of your career? Building Telefficiency and selling it to Redstone.

What piece of technology could you not live without? My laptop provides me with all the information I could need wherever I am.

What would be your advice to anyone starting a career in IT? Listen and experiment, do not follow the herd.

What would you like for Christmas if you could have anything? A Hanse 461 yacht.

What is your favorite karaoke song? Can anyone have a favorite?

What would be the title of your autobiography? Still Learning.

Do you have any phobias? No.

How many beers before you fall over? 2.

Number of staff you manage? 90.

What is your golf handicap? 0.

What car do you drive? Jaguar.

Number of air miles you have? Embarrassingly, more than 200,000.