Chris Gabriel
Chief strategy officer, Sapphire
What has been your business highlight of 2022?
My highlight as to be re-branding Sapphire. As we extended our portfolio and transformed our value offer to our customers, it was vital the brand identity transformed and reflected who we now are. My team did an amazing job and their passion for creating a brand the whole company can be proud to be part of was astonishing.
If you were ruler of your own country, what law would you introduce first?
I would mandate that I controlled all TV and on-demand channels every night at 9pm to watch some of the UK's finest comedies. My people would become firm friends of Green Green Grass, King Gary and Gavin and Stacey until I was deposed in a ruthless coup. But until then my people would all feel some joy every evening. On a serious note, I would ban all exploitative TV dressed up as entertainment. We have not become nicer people or a nicer society since it became mainstream viewing and sometimes people need protecting from themselves however alluring 15 minutes of fame might sound.
Which channel or tech leader (outside of your own company) has impressed you most in 2022?
John Chambers. The man who helped define the world of connectivity, the internet and collaboration has now come back with Nile, the network you will never own, never run, never be at risk, and of course you will be happier for it. John also inspired my favourite drink, gin and tonic with three cherries, which is now drunk on at least three continents. My second is in energy tech and the inspirational Dr Chris Mann of Bennamann Energy in Cornwall. I got to interview Chris and visit their HQ and farms where they are turning cow poo into methane energy to make farms 100 per cent energy self-sufficient and re-sell their excess and low-cost energy to others. Chris is without doubt one of the finest human beings I have met with a purpose and passion that means he and his team are 100 per cent going to change the world of energy for farms, rural communities and beyond.
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
"When miserable give pep talk to - will recover quickly."
What was your first job?
I was actually in the very first Information Technology College in Wrexham in North Wales which was a YTS [I am that old] but it was £27.50 a week and it basically started my career. I had to stand in front of Margaret Thatcher in my second week and talk about what we did and then be her tour guide, so I spent 45 minutes walking her around. That removed any fear of presenting at the tender age of 17. There is a video on the Wrexham Leader website - I look dashingly thin and handsome if I may say so. I then got poached by Microcomputer Workshops in Llay and their CEO Patrick Kingsley Williams.
What was the last book you read, and was it any good?
I dipped back into a Jeeves and Wooster and of course it was magnificent. I am a bit of a radio play and podcast fan so my reading has become listening and I do it in bed too much, so I can recommend the first 15 minutes of quite a few books, plays and true crime shows but not much else about them. Although to be honest most business books/ podcasts have about 15 minutes of high-quality advice in them and a huge amount of padding. I just need to be awake during those 15 minutes.
What's the most important lesson you've learned from another business leader or mentor?
Tom Kelly OBE was the master of vendor partner engagement and he taught me that you are always selling to them as much as they are selling to you, so engage, engage, engage. If I am asked to do anything by our partners I say "yes of course", and make sure I thank them for the opportunity. Never ever say no. Debbie Beale another put it another away: "If they are with you then they aren't with somebody else." Wise words indeed.
Who would play you in a movie of your life?
It used to be Tom Cruise, but after a lack of tennis in the last two years it's becoming more John Candy. Of course, after he bought Wrexham AFC it has now to be Ryan Reynolds. If you find that video online of me in 1984 I think most would agree there is definitely a passing resemblance.