Stuart Rose Quotes & Sayings

“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?”

“If you wait for customers to tell you that you need to do something, you're too late. Good business leaders should be half a step ahead of what customers want, i.e. they don't actually quite know they want it. That's what innovation's about. With Plan A, we didn't wait for the consumers to tell us.”

“I was the chief executive once, I've been there. My recommendation to anybody is don't go backwards.”

“As retail goes through a fundamental shift into the digital world, I believe Ocado's model and the high standards of customer service it provides will see it emerge as a powerful online player.”

“When I got married in my twenties, I had a happy marriage and happy kids but at some point in time I let it go off the rails; I let it go off the rails.”

“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 I've done so ever since.”

“Customers want good value, but they care more than ever how food and clothing products are made.”

“I don't believe in retirement.”

“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.”