“Fall down seven times, get up eight. To find something you’ve never had, you need to do something you’ve never done. Have the guts to fail. Fall forward” – Denzel Washington.

I learned a lesson at 18 years old that catapulted me out of my teenage fug and upended my approach to life – namely that there were no shortcuts to success, and only hard work, grit, determination and a “never-give-up” attitude will help take you to the mountain-top. Shoot for the moon and you will land among the stars. Or to use my Dad’s favourite line “Plus et en vous” (“there is more in you than you think”).

It was February 1995 when I walked into that high-octane, uber-intense, screaming and frenzied newsroom. I timed it well as my arrival coincided with the breaking story of the Barings collapse and rogue trader Nick Lesson’s flight from Singapore. I was a rabbit in the headlights. Twenty years later and the infectious hunger of those I worked alongside helped to open up a pantheon of opportunities and experiences that I could not have imagined. It also drilled into me a work ethic that I am indebted to. No day in any newsroom is the same, every day is an adrenaline rush and you are only as good as your last story. Never sit on your laurels!

“I was smart enough to go through any door that opened” – Joan Rivers.

I never covered a war zone and I have the utmost respect for those men and women who brave such dangerous and tragic climes and with so focused a determination. Nevertheless, my foreign postings were always intense albeit pegged to political or business stories.

The OB (outside broadcast) Bloomberg team usually consisted of the reporter, one producer and one, maybe a two-strong camera crew. The competition’s team would be 10-strong. We had no excuse though so, like a street-dog chasing a bone, we HAD to lock down a scoop. I can still hear the news editor screaming across the newsroom as I headed out to the airport, “Get that exclusive, Dawson, or you lose your spot.” Score a goal or you’re dropped. Simple as that. Nothing is impossible and I am proud to say we were rarely beaten. Bloomberg TV may have always had the smallest team but we were a fantastic unit. Those stories are some of my favourite memories.

In September 2001, two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, General Electric CEO Jack Welch flew to London and we landed an exclusive. Amid heightened security and with three former Navy Seals stationed in the corridor of a London hotel suite, I sat down with the famed business leader for a career-defining interview. I was 29 years old and my boss had taken me aside the day before and asked me if I was up for it. I obviously said yes and decided to worry about the nerves later. Jack was up for it too!

As he walked over to our three-camera shoot position, he shook my hand and, with his steely Boston gaze, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Do you think you can take me on, son?”

“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears” – Laird Hamilton

Those words shook me out of my nervous stupor and quickly galvanised me into a “Sink or Swim” mentality. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t nervous because the pressure was on from HQ in New York. It was the holy grail of interviews and my boss had put her faith in me. Game on.

Jack Welch proved to be an astute sparring partner and, at the end of a fairly combative interview, he leaned over, smiled, and said, “You took me on.” It’s a myth to believe that CEOs do not like a challenging interview. They live for it. That fire is one of the reasons why they are in the top job.

“Don’t follow where the path may lead but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Simon Murray