David James says the best advice he has ever been given is to focus “personal development on your greatest strength and worst flaw, as it is very rare to be famous for more than one thing”. At BT he was responsible for the evolution of the telecoms brand following the launch of BT Sport in 2013. Less than a year later, James and his team won the rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League, taking it away from main rival Sky Sports. Last year, he left BT for a wider commercial and marketing role at Vodafone. Stating that he “prefers to drive than to navigate”, innovation is key to James, who is also the inventor of the JetRest travel pillow.