Meet new member, Jeremy Stern

This week we meet new member, Jeremy, chief executive of PromoVeritas.

What’s your golden rule?

Begin with the end in mind. I say it at least three times a day to my team. It helps!

Who has been your biggest influence?

Not sure that I have had a single biggest influence. Probably several:  from the likes of Martin Sorrell and Richard Reed (ex Innocent) to my father, who when, at the age of 82, he was interviewed by a newspaper, was asked to describe himself in three words, chose: creative, inquisitive and ambitious.  Ambitious, at the age of 82! I hope I can maintain that heady aspiration as I move towards 60!

What is your most hated business expression?

‘I’ll get back to you’ rarely happens.

How can marketers be braver?

Stop doing what everybody else in their industry does, and look at what happens in other industries, then adapt it. Lo behold you have got ‘originality’

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Leaving mainstream brands (Tesco/Coca-Cola/Sega) to set up my own business that has created a whole new niche industry of Promotional Compliance. It worked!

Which leader do you admire most and why?

My daughter – who moved to Australia, fell in love with metal lockers and unhappy with what she was able to buy, created her own brand. Having designed and sourced it from China, she launched the brand Mustard and it is now sold in 6 countries and places such as Liberty’s, Urban Outfitters and Oliver Bonas. Single minded determination and true grit.

What’s your favourite word?

Pulchridutinous  -  sounds horrendous but means the opposite: beautiful

Tell us a secret

I have a total passion for magnets. I find the way that they send out their invisible fields of attraction fascinating. Round, square, large or small. Love them.