David King is CEO of Financial Insourcing, previously known as Legacy Ventures. Katy Chance chatted to him about caddying, the classics and cabernets
David King describes his management style as “very entrepreneurial. Even with individual employees within the company, we really work on a performance basis. Big salaries and small bonuses are a thing of the past as far as I’m concerned. We tend to go for small salaries and large performance-based bonuses.”
And what did he want to be when he grew up? “Coming from a poor (Scottish) background, money was always a motivating factor. Whatever would make me money was what I wanted to do!”
But he’s not all work and no play far from it, in fact!
“Work is definitely not life. I probably get to enjoy more social activities than most.”
A rabid golf fan, occasionally he caddies for Gary Player at professional tournaments around the world. He’s also soccer mad a Glasgow Rangers fan, naturally. Recently he flew to Monte Carlo just to watch them play. Other recreational pursuits include reading, art appreciation and “playing around in my wine cellar”.
And so to some favourites:
Favourite drink: Red wine, of course. His favourite local is Glenhurst Estate, owned by King himself. He has another wine farm in Cape Agulhas, which shall remain nameless as it isn’t producing yet. He enjoys all good Burgundies but nothing too young. The best wine in the world, in his opinion, is La Tache from Burgundy.
“I once shared a 1964 La Tache with Michael Fridjohn. It’s a night I shall savour forever.”
Favourite food: Firstly, does he cook? “No!” It’s his shortest answer of the day.
“I enjoy all Italian food but most especially pasta.” Despite his Scottish roots he assures me that “no red wine, however good, can make haggis a culinary option”.
Best books ever: Clearly a man of letters and classic to the core he cites Dante’s Divine Comedy, Goethe’s Faust and Milton’s Paradise Lost as his top three.
Best films ever: Another classic heads the list: The Sting. More recently he enjoyed The Gladiator “I like all that Roman antiquity stuff.”
King’s most embarrassing moment in business was his first board meeting with Powertech when Graham Boustred swore at him.
“I was young and incredibly intimidated. Graham Boustred who’s now a neighbour was and is one of my business ‘heroes’, a true legend for me. I desparately wanted to impress him with my presentation on year-end results. Obviously I didn’t. He actually swore at me and Bill Venter had to come to my rescue.”
Let the record show that Boustred hasn’t sworn at him since.
And the thing that irritates him most in business? “The herd instinct! People rely on the ‘survey of one’ a single comment made over lunch is suddenly a fully-fledged rumour which becomes a ‘market trend’.
“This is especially true of the stock market in South Africa. Sometimes it’s worked for me, sometimes against, but what we really need is more independent analysis and more application of individual intellectual capital. Let’s not have rumour-driven markets based on the last lunch meeting!”