20 years
supporting businesses in the region
In our very first issue of The Business Magazine 20 years ago, we interviewed Kevin Gaskell, then managing director of Porsche GB in Reading. Now Gaskell, an explorer, adventurer and entrepreneur, looks back at what’s changed, and forwards to the Thames Valley’s future
Kevin Gaskell: A man who lives life to the full
Kevin Gaskell is not the sort of chap to challenge to a game of: "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt."
As he sat in glorious sunshine savouring a cream tea by the Thames, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a man at leisure, writes John Burbedge. But, Gaskell was merely taking a break between meetings at his latest business challenge – Dorney Court Kitchen Garden and Landscaping company.
Oh, and he’d just got back from successfully walking to the North Pole with his son (pictured). “I’ve also done the South Pole with Matt to raise charity funds.” (Fewer than 100 people have ever walked to both Poles.)
Overcoming challenges and achieving success are what make Gaskell tick – that and passing on his leadership skills and experience through international motivational presentations and practical support for entrepreneurs.
“Ordinary people can produce extraordinary results if you can align them to a clear vision, give them objectives and the freedom to be creative. You can find business leaders at every level of a company.
“In this recession, garden centres went down 30%, and us only 2%, but we have worked really hard to buck that trend. If you run a business during a recession, then you can run one anytime.”
Gaskell was appointed MD of Porsche GB based in Reading during the early 1990s recession, when The Business Magazine was being launched. “In five years, we took Porsche from losing 20% to making 20% on sales and to the UK’s most profitable car company.”
Similar success came when he
headed up Lamborghini GB (then owned by Porsche GB) and BMW (GB) in Bracknell, generating three years of record growth, by focusing on customer relationships, technical quality and the rise of diesel engines – “motivating our team to do the basics incredibly well".
of a multinational procurement company, an executive search company, a software development company and a partner in a leading corporate development consultancy.
Internet communication has brought the biggest business change in the past 20 years, says Gaskell.
“24/7 communication has transformed our lives. Being a full time CEO or chairman now with constant availability and immediate data is very challenging. The world never stops and there is almost an overload of information.”
In 1998, Gaskell was among the Top 40 UK managers aged under 40, but was already a ‘high-achiever’ – he climbed Mount Everest that year.
At the turn of the millennium, burgeoning Internet and e-commerce opportunities gave Gaskell his next challenge. “I didn’t really know what the Internet could do, but knew it was going to be big, and I like to go places I’ve never been before. You have to keep an open mindset and take calculated risks in this fast-changing world.”
Senior roles with
CarsDirect.com and epyx (developer of 1link) led to the Group CEO position at EurotaxGlass, Europe’s leading automotive data service. Gaskell led a €480 million MBO in 2006 and left in 2010.
Today keen skier, scuba diver and former international cricketer Gaskell, is chairman
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – SEPTEMBER 2013
Although entrepreneurs can set up global businesses from their bedrooms, Gaskell believes e-comms needs to be used wisely, not impersonally. “People still buy from people.” And he worries about the focus on Internet-led product price comparison. “Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.”
While happy to have lived and worked in the beautiful and convenient Thames Valley for 25 years, Gaskell admits he is a little disappointed about the region’s progress over that period.
“Transportation is still poor by train or car. Why do I have to go to London to get to Heathrow? Why are trains so crowded that you have to buy a very expensive £110 first- class return ticket just to get a seat?
“We have good jobs here, but why is it a constant struggle to get high- quality staff?
“And, an awful lot of good Thames Valley businesses outside the major conurbations don’t have the broadband service they deserve.” Gaskell lives near Newbury. It took
him two days to upload North Pole pictures.
“We always seem to talk about the cheapest infrastructure option. We have the money, skills and technology here, why can’t we do these things properly? They do elsewhere around the world.
“We have many major companies here, but have we a Thames Valley centre of fast-moving creative start-up businesses? Where is our Silicon Valley? I’m staggered to still see empty buildings at Green Park when I drive down the M4. The Thames Valley should be such a vibrant hub of commerce and technology, but have I seen it change that much? Not really.”
You get the impression that if Gaskell had headed up ‘Thames Valley plc’ over the past 20 years, the answers to those questions today would have been different.
So is Gaskell content with his life? “Content? There’s no such thing. Do new things now. You are a long time dead.”
Gaskell recently celebrated his 54th birthday in Spain with his skydiving children and qualified for his freefall parachute licence. His next challenge? Climbing Carstensz Pyramid, the highest mountain in Oceania, with his son, before taking his wife for a drive …. in the Sahara- crossing Dakar car rally.
www.businessmag.co.uk
20-year insights
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