John Gordon has founded several innovative companies: Intelligence Squared (a global forum for debate), Contagious (a new media consultancy), Globalista (a travel information service) and The How To Academy, created to offer unconventional educational experiences.
We were lucky enough to sit down with the entrepreneur to gain an insight into his many ventures.
The most memorable place I have been in the past year is…
Puerto Williams in Sub-Antarctic Chile.
If I had to choose one vacation destination for the rest of my life it would be…
The Atacama Desert in Chile.
My favorite city is…
Venice because I’ve been going there for 45 years and it still remains full of architectural surprises and exquisite beauty the moment one ventures (not very far) off the beaten path.
I always go back to eat at…
Dinings in Marylebone.
The most exhilarating culinary experience I have ever had was…
In the New York Grill in the Park Hyatt in Tokyo.
I am currently reading…
A bad biography of Mark Rothko and a memoir by Roger Cohen, the Girl from Human Street.
If I was asked to fill a large domestic space with art I would…
Buy a Rothko, a Gauguin and photographs by Sergio Larrain, Desiree Dolron and Paula Rae Gibson.
My style icon is…
Alidad and Stephen Bayley.
My best loved piece of clothing is…
Alas what I don’t possess. Badly in need of a makeover.
If I had to choose between theatre, opera, film and dance I would…
Pick dance particularly contemporary dance – Rambert, Twyla Tharp and New York City Ballet.
My favourite movie is…
Fitzcarraldo and Con Air.
When I was 25 my ambition was to…
Work for Reuters, Granada TV or the BBC
My alternative career path would have been…
and was, as a Barrister.
The fundamental characteristics of being a successful entrepreneur are…
The ability to multitask and to love mastering and engaging with every aspect of the business.
The person I would be most interested to meet, dead or alive is…
Alive Leonard Cohen and dead Karl Krauss.
The greatest challenges I have had to surmount in my life have been…
Trivial in nature and nothing special.
As a member of a Pub quiz team, my specialist category would be…
Literature.
This time in ten years I will be…
Presiding over the How To Academy in its soon to be launched guise as a global Intellectual Uber, from my bucket list of destinations to be visited ticking off Siwa and Vietnam, welcoming grandchildren and seeing my youngest go to Prep School.
How To Academy; www.howtoacademy.com
Globalista; www.globalista.co.uk
Dinings; 22 Harcourt Street, London W1H 4HH; www.dinings.co.uk
New York Grill; 3-7-1-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, 163-1055; [email protected]