By Business & Finance 
Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals takes the Business & Finance 60 second challenge.
Q. What was your first job?
Injecting the liquid jelly into pork pies.
Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?
I managed to persuade the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to partner to try to harness the Cannes community for the greater good.
Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Never start a land war in Asia.
Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why?
Martin Sorrell. I am intrigued by his email etiquette. If you send him an email, he replies within 10 minutes. He has an organisation of 180,000 people but is seemingly on top of every tiny last thing. It’s very impressive.
Q. In three words or less, how do you define success?
Never give up.
Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff?
You can’t motivate other people, motivation comes from within. And that comes from loving what you do. If you don’t love what you do, forget it.
Q. How do your relax?
Skiing, scuba diving, watching rugby. Anything that takes 100% concentration. Drinking.
Q. What’s your motto?
All things must pass.
Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business?
Will it be growing, and doing some good in the world?
Who is Philip Thomas?
Philip Thomas is CEO of Lions Festivals. He began his career as a journalist, working on national and international magazines and newspapers, and editing Empire, the UK’s biggest-selling movie magazine, before moving into the role of managing director of FHM Worldwide. During his tenure, Thomas took the UK edition of the iconic men’s magazine to more than 700,000 per month, establishing it as Europe’s biggest-selling monthly magazine, and launching editions throughout the world.
He was appointed managing director of Emap’s Australian and South East Asian division, based in Sydney for three years before returning to the UK, and in November 2006 was appointed CEO of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The division now runs six festivals: Cannes Lions, Eurobest, Dubai Lynx, Spikes Asia, Digital Asia and the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival. Thomas is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media.
