Everywhere I go all people want to talk about . . . is John Rocha.

On the company's "smash hit", its new John Rocha designed range.

. . . the company should be aware that there is not an assembly line of young people . . . that want to buy Waterford.

A key line in market research which prompted the company to modernise its range.

You're more or less locked up from about six in the morning until midnight with the food slipped under the door.

On his 13 weeks on the Harvard Advanced Management Programme.

At the end, when I was on the plane home I remember asking myself what was it all about? And my answer was that it teaches you to become an agent for change.

On what he learned there.

Businesses that . . . re-invent themselves all of the time are the ones that flourish.

On putting that into practice.

There isn't a party where someone doesn't button hole me in quiet corner and say you're missing a great opportunity . . .

On his own market research.

I follow in a long line of illustrious chief executives but by chance I happened to be the only one to come from Waterford.

On being the first local boss of the company.

I don't know if it changes their lives . . . but it gives a sense that you're not a carpetbagger in for three to five years and then off again.

On what the workforce thinks of his local connections.

I like to remain accessible both to people here and those working for Waterford overseas.

On his busy travelling schedule.

There's no denying that times were very difficult but we have moved on.

On past industrial relations problems and rationalisation at the company.

Outsourcing was very much a dirty word.

On the company's decision to manufacture crystal outside Waterford.

Anything that's not perfect gets smashed. It's quite a costly but necessary part of our marketing strategy.

On company policy that no seconds leave its plants.